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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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

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.

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.