Bendis & December's "Ultimate Starts"

[The NZA]

Newsarama, natch

 

BENDIS ON HIS TWO ULTIMATE STARTS

by Ryan McLelland

 

There’s one common thread running through Marvel Comics “Ultimate Starts” month and that thread is Brian Michael Bendis. An event that is taking hold of the December Ultimate books, “Ultimate Starts” has been billed as a perfect jumping point as both Ultimate Spider-Man and Ultimate X-Men begin fresh story arcs for new readers to jump into. While Bendis is writing both Ultimate Spider-Man and Ultimate X-Men, he’ll also see his name, along with co-writer Mark Millar, grace the byline of the new Ultimate Fantastic Four, which debuts at the end of December.

 

Ultimate X-Men #40 is the start of the “New Mutants” storyline which introduces well known Marvel characters such as Angel and Dazzler to the Ultimate continuity. “The President starts to put together his own mutants,” says Bendis on the story arc. “The X-Men are just not politically correct enough and his presidency is in jeopardy. We see teammates switch teams and we meet new mutants.”

 

What other new mutants can fans expect to see introduced? “We meet a little Emma Frost. We meet a little Havok,” Bendis states while adding, “And not everyone makes it out of the arc alive.”

 

Bendis is more candid about what is upcoming in Ultimate Spider-Man, which sees its Ultimate Start issue commence with an anniversary fiftieth issue. “It’s the next chapter in the Kingpin/Spidey head-butt-a-thon,” says Bendis. Fans however are very excited about another infamous Spider-Man character debuting in the Ultiverse, Spider-Man’s on-again off-again fling, Black Cat.

 

Bendis says, “The Black Cat will be very close to the traditional Black Cat in many respects, but Peter being fifteen and not one of her peers makes the dynamic between them very unique and very fun. Let’s say she takes a liking to him without knowing how old he is. Makes for the funny, me thinks.”

 

With Peter playing Ashton Kutcher to Black Cat’s Demi Moore, readers will also enjoy another crossover in the issue. “The ultimate Electra/ Black Cat catfight,” Bendis says. “Which is my proudest moment as an award winning writer.” Adding on his longtime collaborative artist Mark Bagley, “The issue is, no joke, Bagley’s best issue.”

 

With Spider-Man 2 soon to hit theaters in Summer 2004, will the film’s release affect Ultimate Spider-Man? Kinda. “Well, the next arc is ‘Ultimate Spider-Man: The Movie,’” Bendis notes. “A very fun story where Peter Parker wakes up one morning to the news that Sony and Marvel are making a huge budget Spider-man movie.

 

“Spidey is a public figure so they have the full right to do whatever they want and Peter has no way to stop it unless he reveals himself as Spider-Man,” says Bendis on this next arc. ”Sony isn't making a Peter Parker movie because no one knows he's Peter Parker. But it is directed by Sam Raimi and stars Tobey Maquire and is produced by Avi Arad and Kevin Feigi. It is a lot of fun.”

 

But there will be a few more similarities, Bendis adds - “Yeah, here comes the octopus. Doc Ock is so mad that his ex-wife sold his rights to Sony that he is inspired to break out and take care of business. That is just the setup.”

 

In asking Bendis if any of the stories from regular Spider-Man continuity would make their way over to the Ultimate title, Bendis stated, “Yeah, in issue #50 we’re giving a bit of a tip of the hat to the tablet story from Spidey past but that's about it for a while. The next four arcs on Spidey are all new material. ‘Ultimate Spider-Man The Movie’ is a total original story; ‘Carnage’ is a total head-to-toe revamp. So though there will always be these little tips of the hat and such, where we can, but there's so much new, new, new stuff to do.”

 

Back to the mutants, Bendis will end his Ultimate X-Men run with issue #45, a bit longer then he first intended to stay on the book, “I found it to be so interesting and so much fun that I stayed on six issues longer than I said I would. Mark Millar laid out some very generous groundwork and some great cliffhangers.”

 

“Mark and I are having the time of our lives,” Bendis continues. “These are the best gigs in comics and we know it. It’s just fun and challenging and rewarding, we're not bullshitting anyone and I think that's why we tend to stand out when we do.”

 

Thought leaving Ultimate X-Men, Bendis has no plans on leaving Spidey behind, “I am on Ultimate Spider-Man until they pry it from my cold dead fingers and I hope to give a nice healthy run, I really want to dig into this. It’ a really unique book.

 

“If I ever leave Ultimate Spider-Man I will be like [West Wing creator Aaron] Sorkin on the West wing and fuck it up so badly that the next writer will be dizzy trying to put it all back together. I’ll chop off Peter's arms and go to the next guy: good luck fixing that,” kids Bendis with a laugh.

 

Bendis fans can also look forward to a slew of upcoming projects from the writer, “I have my top secret Marvel project coming out in February and the debut of The Pulse. Powers volume 2 debuts in March, and also, there’s this thing Mike Oeming and I are hatching over at Marvel.”

 

“Ultimate Starts” kicks off December 3rd when Ultimate Spider-Man hits the stands. From Ultimate Dazzler to Ultimate Black Cat to the new Ultimate Fantastic Four series, fans will have a chance to jump right in with the introduction of many great characters into the Ultiverse. Bendis, however, has no plans to follow a suggestion and introduce an ultimate version of a certain Marvel duck, adding that if anyone is seriously wanting to see Howard: “You need to get outside. You need to rent the Howard the Duck movie, that will slap the silly right out of you.”

 

Angel, Black Cat, and more onna way...its Bendis at the helm, so i'm excited.

 

 

 

 

 

[Ganny McVagflaps]

Peter and MJ look like they're gonna get down!