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I expected him to leave once he and Bendis broke the record, but I didn't think he'd leave so soon after. Do we know for sure that the "scoop" is for real?

I'm really glad to see him leave! I thought he was mediocre. Ideally I'd like to see JR Jr replace him. I only hope that Bagley won't move to a comic I care more about. Couldn't DC snap him up, or something? That would be great.

Bagley leaving probably lowers the chances I'll stick with Ultimate Spider-Man. I'm a big fan of his art, and it got me through some of those story arcs that just went too damn slow.

Just have to wait and see I suppose.

Has there ever been one artist so intrinsically linked with ONE character as Bagley and Spider-Man? The guy is great, and it's going to be hard to find someone to follow him.

What was the record? Or "the old record" now, I guess.

Lee and Kirby on Fantastic Four did 103 issues, I think. A while back Bendis and Bagley said they wanted to break that, and it's kind of cool they have.

The old record is 102 and Bendis and Bagley break it at 103.

Hasn't Erik Larsen already broken the record with Savage Dragon? I know Marvel have a selective memory with these things (like Fantastic Four being the first Marvel book to get to #500).

So Bagley's going, what about Bendis?

The record is for the most issues in a row by a writer and a penciller doing a book together.

It's very hard for ANYone to do that many issues of a comic book, so to get TWO people to stay on a book that long?

Most impressive.

And yes, due to the 18 issues a year for a good part of the time, it is not the same time constraint 100 issues would normally be, but still, that's a lot of issues to have to draw!

Oh, I don't deny how impressive Bendis & Bagley's achievment is (although the way Bendis writes, there's only about thirty issues of content there), but Marvel do seem to be a bit selective when they talk about the "record".

What about Cerebus? Gerhard came on to do backgrounds before that book got to #100, and I don't think that's any less of a proper collaboration than Bagley/Bendis.

Again, I don't mean to belittle the achievement, but some of the claims about this "record" strike me as specious.

It's not an American comic record, it's a Big Two comic record.

All props to Bagley.
The guy is a workhorse.

(I wouldn't say he's the BEST thing in comics, but he's solid.)

Aside from that I call shenanigans on the whole "beat the record" thing.

Ultimate Spidey is little more than reading the "616" Spider-Man books and retelling them with a weird "upside-down, what-if" kind of sensibility.

It's not like Bendis actually CREATED the whole mythos from wholecloth like Lee/Kirby!

All he did was give reader-friendly "Spidey Super Stories" versions of the already existing body of work.

And, much in agreement with a previous post, the decompressed story writing makes all this just about 30 actual issues of writing.

However, for Bagley...it is ALL drawn so HE gets a prize!

~P~
P-TOR

I could have sword Savage Dragon has had guest artists/writers at some point.

But maybe I'm just remembering crossover books.

Huh.. sword = sworn Funny that.

Bagley and Bendis may break the numeric record (which I considered a Marvel milestone, not an industry-wide thing), but basically it's not the same as creating the backbone of an entire company ala Lee/Kirby or even 25 issues of the Lee/Ditko Spidey.

Still, I find the book entertaining enough and Bagley is a true pro. I'll miss him on the title.

Wait....Bendis and Bagley DIDN'T invent Spider-Man?

Then who the hell did?!?!?

Just PLEASE tell me Bendis and Bagley created Geldoff!!!

If Bendis and Bagley created Geldof, then who created Band Aid?

HAW!

I know that Bagley's art might not be to everyone's taste. In this day and age, however, when we're lucky to get a new issue of a major series once every four months (Civil War, anyone?), the fact that Bagley has not only kept up a consistent monthly schedule but sometimes even done two books a month, and done a quality job at that, is something to be respected and commended.

"Do we know for sure that the “scoop” is for real? "

It's real. I have a friend at Wizard, he filled me in a few weeks back. He didn't know exactly when, but he said Bagley would leave shortly after breaking the record at 103; "by #110" was how he put it.

Bagley's art is the only thing that keeps me from reading Ultimate Spider-Man. I look forward to someone else picking up this title.

You know, a small increase like that isn't that terribly impressive. If they wanted to break the record, they should have really gone out and kneecapped the damn thing. 200 issues. Maybe 206, to fully double it. Now THAT would be a broken record...

I'm the annoying guy who always argues that Lee/KIrby still have Bendis and Bagley beat, 'cause Lee and Kirby also did six FF Annuals that came out alongside their 102-issue run. Bagley hasn't done any of the USM Annuals to date.

Apparently everybody forgot Sergio Aragones & Mark Evanier's 120 Issue 'Groo:The Wanderer' run on Marvel/Epic

102 issues + 6 annuals = 108. 110 still beats it, and that's even without the #1/2 issue...