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Stuart Immonen has to be one of the most unfailingly professional, gifted, and diverse comic artists working today.

It was interesting to see the evolution of Immonen's current style during the course of the "Doom" story arc from Ultimate Fantastic Four #7-12. The heavily rendered, highly representational style he used for Superman: Secret Identity apparently took a lot out of him, and UFF was his first big project after that, so you could really tell that he was feeling his way into a quicker, more spare style as the story progressed.

I'm a big process junkie, so it was quite fun to witness an artist's evolution and thought process virtually playing out on the page from month to month.

I like Stuart Immonen's work a lot, but wasn't a huge fan of his Nextwave style. This looks much better, though; it actually reminds me of Kevin Nowlan; he's not inking it, by any chance, is he?

Wade von Grawbadger, his regular inker at least since Ultimate Fantastic Four, is inking it.

I could see the Nowlan comparison, but Immonen is much looser and, not to disparage Nowlan, but Immonen has more range. Stuart Immonen seems equally at home with broad slapstick or subtle, nuanced character moments. Nowlan is a fine draftsman, but his work is more mannered, and like Tom Palmer, his inks can overwhelm the penciller's work.

Immonen is incredibly impressive. He's a master of the craft, and his simplified style has blown me away since I cracked open the first issue of Nextwave.

As an aside, is Kitty's costume meant to evoke Hellcat's?

Thats what I was thinking as well other Ian. Its like Hellcat's but with Kitty's color scheme. I think it works for the most part but the mask could use eyes.

I remember seeing Immonen's work way back on one of DC's Zero issues in 1994 -- a Superman book, I think. He, Chris Sprouse, Tomm Coker and Tony Harris were the new-to-me artists that really jumped out at me, but only Harris was working on anything I actually wanted to read (STARMAN).

It wasn't until ULTIMATE FF that I noticed Immonen again, and I loved it (much better than the Kuberts preceding him, imho). I only read a couple of issues of NEXTWAVE, but was impressed with his growth. Now he proves he can do good old-fashioned Bagley-style superhero stuff too, and do it better ... whattaman.

I was very excited to hear that Immonen was taking over Ultimate Spider-Man. As a title I love, I didn't want it to falter due to the artist change. I have not been disappointed at all. Immonen is one of the few artists that I think can keep up with Bendis's fast release schedule and diverse demands.

My only critique is that Bagley always managed to let you know you were looking at teenagers and young adults. Something about the proportions and body shapes that he used, you were never in doubt that this was a young Spider-Man, in costume or out. I'd like to see Immonen follow that direction a little more

Ryan H.- With the possible exception of that first shot of Spider-Man, I think Immonen has absolutely nailed the youth of the Ultimate Universe Spider-Man. I believe the preview pages are the only ones in the entire book that feature Spider-Man in costume, and I find that he looks appropriately gangly and thin. Immonen's depiction of Peter Parker's teenage awkwardness really shines through when Peter is shown in school, out of costume.

So is Kitty the Ultimate Black Cat?

The mask really's got to go...looks like she's wearing a bag on her head.

It was interesting to see the evolution of Immonen’s current style during the course of the “Doom” story arc from Ultimate Fantastic Four #7-12. The heavily rendered, highly representational style he used for Superman: Secret Identity apparently took a lot out of him, and UFF was his first big project after that, so you could really tell that he was feeling his way into a quicker, more spare style as the story progressed.

I’m a big process junkie, so it was quite fun to witness an artist’s evolution and thought process virtually playing out on the page from month to month.

Totally agreed, Jack.

It was quite surprising when Immonen first debuted this style, because it was out of nowhere, and then we got to see him progressively tweak it until it was the Nextwave style of art.

And since then, he's apparently tweaked it even MORE, and wow - it works well.

My only critique is that Bagley always managed to let you know you were looking at teenagers and young adults. Something about the proportions and body shapes that he used, you were never in doubt that this was a young Spider-Man, in costume or out. I’d like to see Immonen follow that direction a little more

His depiction of a teenager WAS one of my personal critiques, too, in that his version of Kong was so different from Bagley's, I wasn't sure it WAS supposed to be Kong, especially when Bendis called him Kenny in the comic, instead of his nickname.

It was only the reference to being in the Spider-Man movie that solidified to me that it was, in fact, Kong.

Am I the only one that thinks that Wade von Grawbadger is the coolest freaking name ever?

I want more Shock Rockets!

My first time noticing Wade von Grawbadger's name was in the credits of Nextwave, and thus I initially thought it was a joke because I assumed there was no way anyone could actually have a name that awesome.

My only critique is that Bagley always managed to let you know you were looking at teenagers and young adults. Something about the proportions and body shapes that he used, you were never in doubt that this was a young Spider-Man, in costume or out. I’d like to see Immonen follow that direction a little more

To me that was actually something I hated about Bagley's depiction. A main part of Lee/Ditko's conception of Spider-Man is that he is a kid masquerading as a man. It's made abundantly clear that most people assume him to be a full-grown man, and when Doc Ock unmasks him, he assumes it must be a fraud because there's no way Spider-Man could just be some punk kid. That's why Stan Lee said he wanted his teen hero to be called Spider-MAN not Spider-Boy, Spider-Lad or any of the other kid names given to teen characters.

So when you make Spider-Man obviously look like a scrawny kid, it kind of ruins the original dynamic of the character to me.

I totally agree with Scavenger; it looks like kitty is wearing a frigg'n bag on her head. The design for her bag, er, mask is jarringly bad. That said, I *love* everything else about Immonen's artwork here.

To me that was actually something I hated about Bagley’s depiction. A main part of Lee/Ditko’s conception of Spider-Man is that he is a kid masquerading as a man. It’s made abundantly clear that most people assume him to be a full-grown man, and when Doc Ock unmasks him, he assumes it must be a fraud because there’s no way Spider-Man could just be some punk kid. That’s why Stan Lee said he wanted his teen hero to be called Spider-MAN not Spider-Boy, Spider-Lad or any of the other kid names given to teen characters.

Huh. I never really thought about that before, but that's a really good point.

There's something I like about that mask for Shadowcat. I know that if I saw on an actual person, it would look retarded, but one the page it kinda works for me. It has a nice 70's feel to it.

Too Bad they broke up. they made a really nice couple. i wish Spidey went back to Kitty rather than MJ, she really badly loves him.