Editor's Note: Ultimate Spider-Man - Requiem #1 arrives in stores tomorrow, June 17.

This comic is the first of two "Requiem" issues that exist to put a cap on the first volume of Ultimate Spider-Man before it is relaunched with a new "#1" issue under the new "Ultimate Comics" imprint. It deals with the aftermath of Ultimatum, a miniseries that hasn't finished yet, but which has already made waves in the Ultimate Universe by apparently killing off many popular characters -- including, it seems, Spider-Man.

However, anyone who has been reading comics for more than a year or two knows that death is rarely the last we see of popular superheroes. There are all sorts of ways for writers to undo their deaths (or retcon the story so that it didn't happen in the first place) making it difficult to really get worked up about the apparent demise of even the most popular and high-profile characters.

In the case of Ultimate Spider-Man, that cynical feeling is exacerbated by the fact that we haven't even seen a dead body yet: Spidey just disappeared, leaving a torn and tattered mask behind. Even this issue's recap page goes to great lengths to not commit to the fact that he's dead, stating that "Spider-Man seemed to not survive the encounter" (emphasis mine) with the Hulk and the demons from the Dark Dimension that had escaped from Dr. Strange's home.

Luckily, Brian Michael Bendis doesn't rely on the death of his lead character in order to give this issue emotional weight and meaning. Instead, he crafts a compelling framing sequence involving Ben Urich and J. Jonah Jameson struggling to cope with the aftermath of the flooding of New York, and uses this device to tell a flashback story that reveals an untold tale from Ultimate Spider-Man's history involving Mary Jane and Tony Stark.

Observant readers will have already noticed that this issue is illustrated by two artists: regular series penciller Stuart Immonen and original Ultimate Spider-Man artist Mark Bagley. Since Mark Bagley moved to DC comics a year ago, I was surprised to see his name on this book, and assumed that it meant the reprinting of a few unused splash pages or sketches from the period in which he worked on the title. However, the vast majority of the pages of this extra-sized issue -- essentially, a full regular issue of story -- are pencilled by Bagley. Whether this was an unused issue from a while back (perhaps an unpublished Ultimate Marvel Team-Up story?) or simply a project that Marvel had Bagley complete before his contract expired, it's a welcome surprise, and one that adds a little extra prestige to the issue by showcasing the talents of the artist who helped to make Ultimate Spider-Man such a hit in the first place.

The central story is actually pretty generic, dealing with a Hydra attack on Tony Stark's offices (and by sheer coincidence, Mary Jane happens to be visiting Stark at the time). However, Bagley illustrates it well, bringing plenty of energy to the page with his illustrations of hordes of Hydra footsoldiers battling with Spidey and Iron Man. Bendis' writing is nothing particularly special, but there's nothing particularly wrong with it either. It feels very much like a classic Ultimate Spider-Man story from the series' heyday, which will be enough to endear it to most fans of the title.

However, it's during the framing sequence at the beginning and end of the issue that things get really interesting. Having J. Jonah Jameson finally realise that Spider-Man is a hero, despite all his months of animosity towards him, is a masterstroke. It's an inspired move for the character, and one that feels like it takes full advantage of exactly what the Ultimate Universe was set up to do: explore familiar characters from new angles, taking them to places that their regular incarnations have never been or would never be taken. The idea that Jameson is the person who ends up writing the tribute to Spider-Man's heroism gives the issue an emotional weight that no number of cheap character deaths could match, and the surprise that Jonah gets at the end of the issue promises to make the concluding chapter of Ultimate Spider-Man: Requiem even more compelling.

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