Even though I recently stopped reading comics, including my second favorite Ultimate Spider-Man, I'm glad that I haven't sold off the trades. It seems that this April, Ultimate Peter Parker will be Ultimate Spider-Man no more.

First of all, let us all tip our hats to Brian Michael Bendis, the architect behind the Ultimate Marvel U and only writer for USM over its 133 issue run. He shares the award for "longest creative team" with original artist Mark Bagley, who joined him until issue 110. Bendis has yet to surpass Will Eisner's record of "longest writer" for The Spirit, but that's not a record meant to be broken.

I started reading USM early in my re-entry to comics in 2001, getting in at issue 20 or so. Even though I also read Amazing Spider-Man, it was refreshing to see Spidey as a teenager again, suffering the effects of balancing his civilian and superhero lives. Bullies, girlfriends and jobs conflicted with thugs, villains and supervillians, all with Bendis's trademark Yiddish jokes that quickly became part of Peter's dialect. I collected issues until about 120 and stopped because I couldn't stand Stuart Immomen's art. My collection of Amazing and Ultimate Spider-Man hardcovers is the last thing that I'm holding onto and it looks like I'll finish my USM collection without breaking the bank.

Of course, the question now is, "Why is Ultimate Spidey no more?" The blame falls in the lap of long-time DC writer Jeph Loeb. Now, I'm not saying he's a bad writer. He did great work on Batman. However, Jeph, dear Jeph, you have royally screwed up my world. You do not know how to write for Marvel characters. Your work on Wolverine: dreadful. Ultimates 3: disasterous. Now, your Ultimatum event that will forever change, and in some places end, the Ultimate MU is poised to take out everyone's favorite neighborhood Spider-Man.

Granted, this article is just to say that Ultimate Spider-Man is ending. But all good things must come to an end, yes? Especially to make way for better things along the way. Unfortunately, The UMU is all but imploding on itself right now and I doubt anyone worth caring about will be left standing. At least we have the traditional Marvel U, right? Oh, right, about that.