When the Ultimate comics line started in the early 2000s I was out of the loop with comics and so I missed the chance to read this series at start-up. Prior to that, I had read various stories from the Amazing Spider-man line, Spectacular Spider-man, and some other stories here and there. I lost interest after awhile and didn't get back into the mix until after SM2. When I did find myself reading again I was put off by the concerns/negativity surrounding the Ultimate comics in general so I never read them. It wasn't until I received some inspiration from some members on this board actually, that I started reading this series. All I can say is I am very glad.
First off, Bendis and Bagley work really well together and I find that Bagley's art is just beautiful. He totally morphed his art style for this series from the past works he had done for Spider-man. It should also be noted that Bendis and Bagley worked together on Ultimate Spider-man for somewhere around 110 issues and I think they still hold the record for the amount of issues by a pair in a row. That kind of consistency is rare in comics and part of the reason I think this series was so successful and well-liked.
I think a lot of the criticisms come from the fact that they reimagined the world of Peter Parker and made changes to the roles of other characters, MJ and Gwen for example, and also made significant character/design changes to the villains. The basic story is there and I like how it's presented...the key elements remain, i.e. Uncle Ben's death, etc. and I like how Bendis took his time with the origin. I also found the clone saga in the Ultimate series to be better than the saga in 616. But back to the criticisms. Let's take the Green Goblin. This is a much different interpretation than what we got with 616 but I don't necessarily think it is bad. I'm not advocating that Ultimate GG is a great thing or that it's better than 616, because it isn't quite frankly, however this version suits the universe created by Bendis. The Ultimate universe imo is a much harsher, more dangerous world than that of the 616 and its villains need to fit that mold. The way I look at it is this...the 616 Spider-man will always be there no matter what, I can always go back and re-read those stories and enjoy them. Those stories hold a special place for me but imo there's nothing wrong with liking another take or interpretation of the characters. I certainly don't mind that they made changes throughout the stories and there were definitely some surprising twists that I really liked. Others not so much. I think Joker was right about the Carnage arc and was my biggest wtf moment of reading these stories...I won't say much more Picard cause I don't want to spoil you but brace yourself, lol.
All in all I thought the Ultimate Spider-man was a really good read. I enjoyed it much more than I thought I would based on the many critisicms I have heard over the years. It's a shame that I didn't read this sooner is my only regret and it kinda sucks that they killed off PP when he was in his prime. It was awesome though that Bagley returned for the final issue. I am so glad they opted to make this series something different and unique...another rehash of the material would have been a drag imo...I mean, Spider-man Chapter One...yeah, that was dreadful.