The first USM I picked up was #22, and I got the other 21 issues in trade. I've not missed an issue since, but frankly, I think USM is terrible.
It seems that Bendis has decided to ultimatise everything from the Marvel Spidey - including the god-awful grim and gritty era of the 90s. Look at the evidence - Carnage and Venom are clones. Clones, I tell ya. It's happening again.
Okay, so maybe that clone thing isn't true, but USM sucking pretty much is.
See the first 21 issues, are BEAUTIFUL works. Truly. The only thing I have a problem with is the Burglar in the origin story. I prefer the movie's version of the burglar (and that's all). Osborne, Doc Ock, Kingpin, all terrific. God, the Kingpin arc had me CRYING with laughter.
The second Osborne arc, with the bridge scene, wasn't so great. It was exciting, but it's lost its charm over time. Then we had the "chameleon" thing with the fake Spidey, which was a non-event. Good build up, then no ending.
#28 was nice, I liked that one. Then we got Venom, which missed the point, then god-awful Geldoff, in which nothing happened, but then Men of Influence was actually very enjoyable - felt like old school Spidey and I loved it. Then Black Cat non-happened, then Hollywood, which was pathetic. Doc Ock in Hollywood was okay actually, what pissed me off was the lack-of-Gwen story. Then, we got Carnage, which just as bad as Maximum Carnage, pointless in everyway. Then we got Wolverine, which was not ill-timed (anything to get away from "Mouring Spider-Man, with real crying action!") but ultimately stupid, Torch and Doc Strange, which were both pointless (noticing the pattern) and now DullGoblin.
Ugh.
The problem is not Bendis running out of ideas - he's just using everyone he comes up with. When he was working on half a dozen books, Bendis seemed to be able to edit his own work, in his head, producing his best. The first 21 issues of USM are superb, and proof of this. A writer, no matter how good, knows 90% of his ideas are terrible, with 10% being good. Because Bendis is writing so many books a month, he is unable to do this, so every 9 issues he seems to do is bad, with 1 being good. You can see this in his choice of endings. He just stops his stories, he doesn't end them, and everytime it just feels like he hasn't had time to work it out, and is instead relying on his terrible dialogue (which for some reason, people think is good) to carry his stories.
For example, look at his choices for Gwen Stacy. In Hollywood, we continually build up to Gwen Stacy meeting Peter, now knowing he's Spider-Man, blaming him for her father's death. When Peter returns home, I'm sure many of you were, as I was, on the edge of my seat, wondering what Gwen would do next. Peter manages to disarm her and she runs away before blowing his cover to Aunt May. Then what happened? Gwen walks in to MJ and Peter, and the three of them talk (or rather, stammer, stutter and start every sentence three times before getting to the end of it) with on-the-nose dialogue, voicing their hearts, and everything is sorted out. Yay. Then, in the Carnage storyline, Gwen and MJ, with on-the-nose dialogue, solve all their problems - and then Gwen is killed by the monster in the garden.
*cough*
I didn't find Gwen's death surprising. It was so obvious Bendis was setting it up, when I read the Gwen-MJ nice-talk scene. I wasn't annoyed Gwen died, but rather that her death was meaningless and cliched. (And I don't mean meaningless in the sense of feeling meaningless, it was a negative turning point - I just mean it has been shown to have had no purpose in the book.) I don't think, 20 years from now, another writer will be writing stories tying into Ultimate Gwen's death the same way that we have writers continually writing stories based on Marvel Gwen's death (even USM has based a story on that death).
Y'know what I thought was going to happen? I thought Gwen would return after running from Peter and she would not come in and tell Peter she's "messed up", and be nice to MJ. I thought Gwen would still hold a grudge against Peter, blaming him, indirectly at best, for her father's death.
Imagine it for a moment.
It's dinner time. Gwen, May, and Peter are eating. Peter wolfs down his food and May says that he should look after himself. Gwen says, "Oh, he gets plenty of exercise, don't you Pete? Swinging and climbing - on the gym bars."
Imagine Gwen, living with Peter and his Aunt, and she hates Spider-Man. The amount of conflict this could have created in Peter's life would have been amazing. The sheer tension would have been exhilarating. Peter isn't home when he's meant to be - is Gwen telling Aunt May? Is she moving around his costume? Is Gwen covering Peter? Getting him into trouble? You can just imagine how a character like Peter would worry himself sick in this situation - and it could build to a wonderful climax where Gwen and Peter can finally forgive each other.
But no, instead we get trite apologies, and then she dies to a red cliche'.
*sigh*
Honestly, I have some terrific books done by Bendis, and I truly believe the guy can write. But right now, maybe because he's doing too many books, or because he has a new child, or the success has gone to his head, or all three, or none, I don't know why - but Bendis hasn't produced a good issue of anything in almost 2 years, and it's really pissing me off.
