Ultimate Spider-Man is the first comic book I collected. Not bought, mind you; that honour goes to Detective Comics #741, which I still have (for those of you playing at home: that’s the final issue of No Man’s Land, and I was 9). But, Ultimate Spider-Man is the one comic I’ve collected since issue one, and I’ve enjoyed every minute of it; even the issues that weren’t fantastic or innovative were fun enough that I didn’t care if they were introducing someone like Geldoff (nice one, Bendis).

So, to see it reach 150 issues is something special for me (even though, technically this is issue 149…or, if you include the Requiem issues it’s 151…in fact, the only way you can make it 150 is if you count the impossible to find issue 0, or the Super Special as one of the 150…but the Super Special is reprinted here…GAH! My head hurts).

Anyway, this was a fantastic issue; it’s essentially a one-shot dealing with various encounters between the Ultimates and Spider-Man. Each story is a fun little anecdote, and Bendis writes each member of the team, and Spider-Man’s reaction to them, brilliantly.

Then, we come to the art. This issue gets the prize for best art team of the year. David Lafuente, the regular artist, deals with the opening Spider-Man/Ringer story; Sara Pichelli deals with the narration scenes featuring Carol Danvers and the Ultimates; Joelle Jones does the Iron Man section; Jamie McKelvie does the Captain America section; and Skottie Young does the Thor section. Now, let me phrase this just right… Jamie McKelvie NEEDS to be drawing a Spider-Man book. Right now! And Skottie Young NEEDS to be drawing a Thor book. Their art on these characters is absolutely astounding, as is everyone else’s for that matter, but those two really pack a punch.

Also reprinted here as an anniversary bonus is the mostly Mark Bagley drawn hard-to-find Ultimate Spider-Man Super Special featuring numerous pin-ups by the crème of the comic book art crop.

The only problem with this whole thing, aside from the numbering, is that the reprint takes up more space than the new material. That said, it’s great to read the Super Special again, and the new stuff was worth the six dollars for the Young and McKelvie pages alone.