Bendis keeps the series trucking along with the introduction of Gwen Stacy, the dangerous hip girl who just came to the school and is going to cause much turbulence in the newly formed Mary Jane / Peter Parker relationship.
The comic highlights the struggles of Peter has he tries to continue being a superhero: from getting badly beaten for the first time or losing his costume. Meanwhile, Parker's personal life goes through some hard times too. Besides the rocky waters that come from an insecure Mary Jane, Aunt May also comes down hard on young Peter.
Don't forget that Spider-Man has to deal with not one but two opponents. Dr. Octopus is revamped and done wonderfully. They've managed to keep all the good things about his character, jetison the bad and introduce some new tricks. The only problem is that Bagley still has him in his tights. I enjoyed the Dr. Octopus in a suit look that came up in the early ninties. It highlighted his intelligence and helped hide his slightly pudgy body. The fact that the tentacles are more of a "liquid metal" is a stroke of pure brilliance. It helps put distance between Dr. Ock and Stilt-Man, making him more terrifying instead of just gimmicky.
The crowning touch is the revamp of Kraven. He's the perfect example of the Ultimate line. He's very true to the original version but he's also totally reimagianed so that he fits in better with the world as it is now. The concept of a "Crocidile Hunter" TV show host who hunts Spider-Man is both more beliveable as well as being very funny. And that's what Ultimate Spider-Man is all about when Bendis writes it: truth of human emotion mixed in with the humor of the absurd.
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