Better in Hardcover
Ultimate Spider-Man Reprints (Hardcover) #1
| Reprints: | Ultimate Spider-Man #1 |
| Reprints: | Ultimate Spider-Man #2 |
| Reprints: | Ultimate Spider-Man #3 |
| Reprints: | Ultimate Spider-Man #4 |
| Reprints: | Ultimate Spider-Man #5 |
| Reprints: | Ultimate Spider-Man #6 |
| Reprints: | Ultimate Spider-Man #7 |
| Reprints: | Ultimate Spider-Man #8 |
| Reprints: | Ultimate Spider-Man #9 |
| Reprints: | Ultimate Spider-Man #10 |
| Reprints: | Ultimate Spider-Man #11 |
| Reprints: | Ultimate Spider-Man #12 |
| Reprints: | Ultimate Spider-Man #13 |
| Reprints: | Amazing Fantasy #15 |
Ultimate Spider-Man Reprints (Hardcover) #2
| Reprints: | Ultimate Spider-Man #14 |
| Reprints: | Ultimate Spider-Man #15 |
| Reprints: | Ultimate Spider-Man #16 |
| Reprints: | Ultimate Spider-Man #17 |
| Reprints: | Ultimate Spider-Man #18 |
| Reprints: | Ultimate Spider-Man #19 |
| Reprints: | Ultimate Spider-Man #20 |
| Reprints: | Ultimate Spider-Man #21 |
| Reprints: | Ultimate Spider-Man #22 |
| Reprints: | Ultimate Spider-Man #23 |
| Reprints: | Ultimate Spider-Man #24 |
| Reprints: | Ultimate Spider-Man #25 |
| Reprints: | Ultimate Spider-Man #26 |
| Reprints: | Ultimate Spider-Man #27 |
Instead of looking at another comic worthy of notice outside the boundaries of Spider-Man's titles, I thought I might look at a different format this month: the hardcover!
When Joe Quesada and Bill Jemas hit the scene at Marvel one of the things they aimed to do was improve the reprint program. Part of this plan was to present selected titles in deluxe hardcover editions, with extra size, volume and features at a reasonable price. Well, they certainly delivered!
I'm not really into buying trades if I already have the issues, but the deluxe idea had me interested and I loved the first 13 issues of Ultimate Spider-Man so much I thought it would be cool to have them in a hardcover. So, I picked up Ultimate Spider-Man Harcover Volume 1. Boy was I impressed! It is an awesome format! The printing quality, paper quality and production quality are all top notch. There are extras, including scripts, sketches, behind the scenes info, character profiles, short essays and even a reprint of Amazing Fantasy #15. You get 13 regular issues as well of course, which really deserve the standard they are reprinted at. Plus, it's printed at a larger size. To illustrate here are a couple of comparison pics:
The price point is great too. It's US$34.95. With single issues at US$2.25 each, you are paying roughly US$5 more, but you get alot of extras for that money.
There are other Spider-Man hardcovers out now, while I don't think the extras have quite matched the first Ultimate edition, they are still a beautiful way to read great Spidey stories. The only thing negative I can think of is that they are quite heavy and often require two hands just to hold open. I really recommend picking up some of your favourite Spidey stories in this format, I doubt you'll be dissapointed.