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When it comes to Ultimate Spider-Man, Mark Bagley has a lot to be proud of. The series was a critical and commercial success, selling over 20 million copies worldwide and launching Marvel’s Ultimate imprint. The series was so iconic that there were some months when it outsold Amazing Spider-Man. To this day, Brian Michael Bendis and Mark Bagley’s 111-issue run holds the record for longest unbroken team on a Marvel title, beating out Stan Lee and Jack Kirby’s 102-issue run on Fantastic Four.

However, in 2007, Bagley was beginning to feel stuck. After 111 issues, it was time for him to leave the title. When asked why he walked out when the book was still popular, Bagley has a simple answer.

“Because I did 111 issues and I was tired, and it was just time to go,” Mark Bagley says during a spotlight panel at Toronto Comicon 2012.           

Marvel's most reliable superhero has proven he can do a whole lot more than just 'whatever a spider can.' Swing into Spidey's history with Popverse's...

• Best Spider-Man comic books 
• The best Spider-Mans (or is it Spider-Men?)
• Spider-Man movie watch order
• Spider-Man's actors, ranked
• The best Spider-Man suits
• and the Spider-verse explained!

Just watch out for that radioactive blood.

“I love working with [Brian Michael Bendis] and I still love the book. I mean, it’s one of the only comics I still actually buy, because Marvel doesn’t give out samples. But it was, I felt like for my career it was time to go. I didn’t want to get stale. I didn’t want to get so known for it that I couldn’t do anything else. And you know, if you look at the banner by my table, it’s a huge Spider-Man. So, I am known for it, which is fine, but it was just time. And I had been talking to Kurt Busiek again, he was at DC. My contract was coming up at Marvel, and I felt like I needed to make a change, and to be honest, there were some things going on which I wasn’t happy about business-wise.”

“I decided to jump ship, and I was very upfront with Marvel. I actually talked to Brian about it, how the best way to do it. Because there’s guys who left, they burn the bridges behind them, and they’re not welcome back. And Brian said just tell them what you’re going to do. Just tell them you really want to leave. Let them make an offer and negotiate and just be upfront about it. I actually had lunch with Quesada, and he said you’re one of the few guys where if it doesn’t work out over there and you want to come back, you’re welcome any time. It meant a lot.”

Marvel's most reliable superhero has proven he can do a whole lot more than just 'whatever a spider can.' Swing into Spidey's history with Popverse's...

• Best Spider-Man comic books 
• The best Spider-Mans (or is it Spider-Men?)
• Spider-Man movie watch order
• Spider-Man's actors, ranked
• The best Spider-Man suits
• and the Spider-verse explained!

Just watch out for that radioactive blood.