Ultimate Comics Spider-Man 1-8, Ultimate Doomsday trilogy. A new era for USM, a new era for me! Drawing and coloring this on a new tablet and a new computer in a new posture was really challenging, and that was before I decided to ape David LaFuente. LaFunete only actually drew about half the characters in the image, the rest came from Ultimate Doomsday, so not only was I copying his style to the best of my meager abilities, I was trying to draw people I didn’t even have reference for. Maybe more of a challenge than the situation called for, but them’s the breaks! In the wake of Ultimatum, Spider-Man is a beloved hero of New York, Peter and Gwen are dating and MJ is mad, and Aunt May takes in Johnny Storm and Bobby Drake when they have no where else to go, filling her home with superheroes. Meanwhile, Spider-Man meets the Gilmore Girls-inspired villain duo the Bombshells, and Ultimate Mysterio debuts, trying to position himself as a sort of folk antihero in much the same plotline as the Riddler in The Batman years later, with the video messages and everything. A new hooded vigilante on the scene turns out to be an angry and hurting Kitty Pryde. Mysterio sends a giant robot to kill Spider-Man at Peter’s school in a sort of update of ASM 8’s “Living Brain” story. All this and Kong has gone punk! Ultimate Rick Jones being made the savior of Earth by the Watchers right before Ultimatum is picked back up, as his powers manifest and, after talking to his Mom, Aunt May sends her house full of superboys to try to help him, but it doesn’t go so well. And that leads right into Ultimate Doomsday, wherein a deranged Reed Richards sends killers from another dimension to destroy Nick Fury, Spider-Man, the Baxter Building, Roxxon Industries and Project Pegasus so no one can stop him from remaking the world in his own image. Spider-Woman infiltrates Roxxon and finds Doc Ock there, Ben Grimm finds out his rocks were a cocoon and comes out with new powers, and Rick Jones’s teleporting powers help a big gang of super people stop him, saving the world.
This made me figure out how to render 5 different kinds of glowy people! Too much! Came out pretty good tho, I think, all things considered. And fun to do, unlike a lot of the last few. I think I’m getting the hang of my new drawing life. Spider-Man himself swiped from LaFuente (Using 3 drawings cobbled together), all others just inspired by. I always enjoy doing a “meet the new supporting cast” row across the bottom of one of these. This is #84 since 2019, for those keeping score at home. Sheesh!