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It’s hard to think of Ultimate Spider-Man without picturing Mark Bagley’s artwork. The legendary comic artist penciled the first 111 issues of the series and returned in 2011 for the five-part Death of Spider-Man arc. However, Bagley originally only planned on penciling six issues. In fact, Ultimate Spider-Man was originally conceived as a six-issue limited series.

“It was pitched to me as a six-issue miniseries, which is important to remember,” Mark Bagley says during a spotlight panel at Toronto Comicon 2012. “I was still going to be done after six issues. I was done. About three issues into me drawing it, they decided they wanted to make it ongoing, and they offered it to me ongoing, and I said no.”

“They said, ‘We’re going to make it ongoing, and we would like you to keep doing it.’ And I said, ‘No, I would rather not.’ So, this is a true story, Leonard Kirk, who is another artist, they offered it to him. ‘Do you want to do Ultimate Spider-Man when Bagley leaves after six.’ And he’s like, ‘Hell yeah.’”

“In the interim, literally overnight, [then-Marvel publisher] Bill Jemas apparently found out I was leaving the book and he’s like, ‘Who the fuck fired Bagley.’ And they’re like, ‘Nobody. He just didn’t want to do the book.’ This all happened within a week, and then the book came out, and it was beautiful. The coloring was great, the paper was really great, and it sold like gangbusters. People really loved it. And [comics retailer] Cliff Biggers, my friend, is like, ‘Dude, you’ve got to stay on this book.’”

“I called them up, it had been a couple of days I think, or a week since they had offered it to Kirk, and I didn’t know about offering it to Kirk. I just called and said, ‘Can I stay on the book.’ And the editor was like, ‘Thank God, yes, because Jemas is mad now.’ They call Leonard Kirk up and they’re like, ‘Hey Leonard, about Ultimate Spider-Man.’ And he’s like, ‘Oh boy, they want me to start early.’ And they’re like, ‘Uh, you’re not doing it.’ Everybody has this story. I’ve had this story, everybody has had the exact same story. Trust me.”

It’s interesting to imagine the journey Ultimate Spider-Man would have taken if Leonard Kirk had replaced Mark Bagley in issue 7. That being said, it’s amusing that Marvel fought to get Bagley on six issues of the series, and he wound up doing over 111. That’s a deal that paid off for Bagley, Marvel, and the fans.

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.