The "ULTIMATE" Thread! (Well, technically it is)
Welcome to the first Odin Comic Symposium of the new year!
Yaaaaaaaaaaaay! *blushes and coughs* Anyway…today we’ll start the new year with a new universe!
NO. No, Not that one. No, today, we’re going to focus on Marvel’s ULTIMATE universe.
Despite the very 90s name, this is a ten year old concept that has seen great success since its execution. You see, the concept behind this imprint is to take the whole of the Marvel Universe, and reboot it entirely, setting all of it now, as opposed to 40s and 60s. So, in short, Spider-Man is a teenager at a High School, the X-Men are just forming, and the Avengers don’t exist…yet. But why wipe away years of history and character development? Simple, there was TOO much.
Sure, long devoted comic book fans can keep up, but the comics industry saw the problem of trying to bring new fans into the fold, so, the Ultimate Universe was forged. Stories and characters were adapted into the modern era, trying to change certain aspects of the characters to fit into today, such as Spider-Man gets his powers from being bit from a genetically alter spider, as opposed to a radioactive spider. Many even MORE complex changes were made, to both success and failure, but we’ll talk about that later. So, what was another factor in the birth of a whole new universe? Marvel was becoming a heavy hitter again, after a decade of bankruptcy and huge flops in stories and titles (the 90s…I seriously wonder how comics survived it), they were coming back with new directions and creators, not mention achieving great success with film franchises Spider-Man and X-Men…Which is also why, it was Ultimate Spider-Man and Ultimate X-Men that would be the first of the Ultimate Universe comic titles to premiere in the year 2000.
Ultimate Spider Man
One of my absolute favorites of the whole line, Ultimate Spider-Man did something that I never thought would ever happen again: Make Spider-Man entertaining again! You see, before Ultimate Spider-Man, the original Spider-Man was suffering many problems in the 90s : clones, bad writing, clones, bad artists, clones, bad characterization, clones, and much more…did I mention clones? But, Ultimate Spider-Man changed that. It put Spider-Man back to square one…sort of. Taking in elements of the Spider-Man movie, as well as some innovation on the part of Brian Michael Bendis, a mastermind who would orchestrate the five year string of massive crossover events in the original Marvel Universe, including House of M and Secret Invasion.
What came from this was clever use of established Spider-Man stories/continuity, and putting an all new spin on it. Such as Spider-Man’s origins, where the lab which bore the spider that blessed him with powers, an attempt to replicate said incident resulted in an accident that caused the creation of not one but TWO of Spider-Man’s greatest enemies : Doctor Octopus and Green Goblin!. It accomplished so much, doing unique spins on supporting casts (They made Uncle Ben cool…and last more than one issue!), villains (The Shocker has never been so entertaining…even if he loses SO humiliatingly), fellow heroes ( Moon Knight never made so much sense), and even flops (remember the clones I had an issue with? The Ultimate Clone Saga was actually FUN to read). Overall, this series is one of the best things to come out of this imprint…despite it ending…but, more on that later…
Ultimate X-Men
This title on the other hand…had SO much promise. However…
Despite beginning with some pretty good storylines, introducing our heroes as a green, still forming team of young mutants brought together by Professor X, much like the movies, although the founding members had a lot more of the All New X-Men of the 70s as opposed to the original X-men of the 60s : Cyclops, Marvel Girl, Storm, Colossus, Beast, Iceman, and Wolverine. The Brotherhood (of Evil Mutants, but they dropped this bit) was envisioned as a terrorist organization, with Magneto still serving as its founder and head, still believing that Mutants are the next step, and should be held high above humanity. Of course, this leads into Sentinels being implemented. Once both these obstacles are dealt with, things begin to go down hill. Now, Ultimate X-men attempted to follow Ultimate Spider-man’s move and try and re-envision old characters and older storylines.
However, this failed for Ultimate X-men due to this: Unlike Ultimate Spider-Man, which through out its whole run of 130+ issues had only ONE creative team, Ultimate X-Men had a series of creative teams working on the title…which lead to a number of problems: a series of scathing continuity errors, bad characterizations, and horrible decisions, with shining moments few and in between. Well loved characters were either killed for reasons of just shock value, or miswritten as either being idiotic/horrible/ignorant. It was no surprise it barely made a hundred issues before it was ended…but like before, more on that later.
Ultimate Marvel Team-Up
If Ultimate Spider-Man was the high point in the founding series of the Ultimate Imprint, and Ultimate X-Men was the low point, then Ultimate Marvel Team-Up was the middle ground. An anthology of sorts, the series dealt with team-ups with this universes’ Spider-Man with the OTHER heroes of this universe, ranging from Dr.Strange (who in fact is the SON of the original Doctor Strange, in this universe) to Man-Thing…yes, Ultimate Man-Thing (who is pretty much like his Original Marvel Universe counterpart, with no visible change). However, as I said middle point, it was prone to great stories (such as the first storyline, a teamup between Ultimate Spider-Man and Wolverine) to stories that aren’t even considered in continuity anymore (The teamup between Ultimate Spider-Man and “The Fantastic Four”, which never happened, as this wasn’t this universes “real” Fantastic Four.). Sadly, the title barely lasted more than a year before it was ended with a Super Spider-Man Special, which gave us brief glances into the future issues of Ultimate Spider-Man, a rather befitting end, providing fans a look into the popular title…although, it would be outshined by the first of many Ultimate mini series
The Ultimates
This would be this universes Avengers, and yes, I agree, its bit of a silly name. However, The Ultimates Volumes 1 and 2 were akin to massive summer blockbusters, from great battles, clever plot twists, and engaging characters, all thanks to the work of Mark Millar and Bryan Hitch. THIS is the book, outside of Ultimate Spider-Man, that would stand on the forefront that would make Ultimate Imprint the superstar it was known in its day. However, the only slight in its name (for these two volumes) is delays. Trying to produce such high quality material made it incredibly prone to being late, late, and LATE. Vol. 1 took two years to finish, while Vol.2 took three. But, sadly, Ultimates Vol.3 was not only a vague shadow of the heavy hitter it once was, but it produced some of the WORST material the Ultimate Universe would be unfortunate to print. It fell to the weaknesses of Ultimate X-Men, but it didn’t have the excuse of being written by a serious of writers and artists. No, the blame fell to a writer I admire for many other projects, Jeph Loeb, and a former super star artist of the 90s, Joe Madureia. What should’ve been yet another blockbuster hit was essentially a massive re-write of characters and history, resulting in a mix of characters being otherwise poor reproductions of their Original Marvel universe incarnations and plot lines that made utter nonsense, especially when it comes to disappointing “twists”. And of course, this was just become the lead up to THE worst event ever to “Shake up” the Ultimate Universe…but we’re getting much too ahead of ourselves.
Ultimate Adventures
This is…a guilty pleasure, I must admit. As some could probably guess ,this is both an “original” work of the Ultimate Universe, as well as a satire series based on a certain Dynamic Duo, with nods and inside jokes to the comics, movies, and campy 60s TV show starring Adam West. There’s not very much to talk about it, as it too suffered constant delays, and the characters were never seen again, at least, not according to my reading and research. Still, it is a very amusing and oddball addition to the Ultimate Universe, and suggest giving it a read at least, but there’s no need to purchase it. If it helps, it also has a rather funny appearance by the Ultimates, Pre Vol.2 and Vol. 3.
Ultimate Daredevil and Elektra / Ultimate Elektra : Devil’s Due
A pair of prequel mini-series chronicling the origins of the Ultimate Universe’s Elektra and Daredevil, as well as the characters attributed to their “personal universes”, such as the villains Kingpin and Bullseye, all of which had made their appearances in Ultimate Spider-Man before these 2003 / 2004 miniseries. Set during their college years, where we see the development of Matt Murdock’s foray in crime fighting and Elektra’s rise as a hit woman. They were rather middle ground, not being too bad while not being spectacular. I only suggest this to anyone who really enjoys Daredevil or Elektra comics. But I’ll say this: Its much better then the Daredevil movie that came out that year…speaking of those year, two crossover events occurred between the popular Ultimates and the two Ultimate Ongoings, Ultimate Spider-Man and Ultimate X-Men…the first of which…
Ultimate War
One of the better Ultimate X-Men stories, despite it technically being both X-Men and Ultimates, as it not only sees the return of Magneto and his Brotherhood in quite a destructive fashion, it also saw an epic battle fought between the X-Men and the Ultimates, who nearly beat the poor teenage mutants if it wasn’t by the most unlikeliest of its members. Written by Mark Milliar, who of course was behind the stellar work on the Ultimates series and drawn by Chris Bachcalo, a well known X-Men and Spider-Man artist, it was collected as part of the Ultimate X-Men trade paperbacks as Ultimate War, which I think is fair, given how Ultimate X-Men is held against the superior Ultimates.
Ultimate Six
The crossover epic between Ultimate Spider-Man and the Ultimates, much like Ultimate War, felt more of an epic Spider-Man story with the Ultimates guest-starring, it introduced the Ultimate Universe version of the Sinister Six, a group of Spider-Man’s greatest villains. In its membership of this universe were as follows : Norman Osborn (The Green Goblin), Flint Marko (The Sandman), Otto Octavius (Doctor Octopus), Max Dillon (Electro), and Sergei Kravenoff (Kraven the Hunter). Anyway, what follows is…oh, you’re probably wondering why I listed FIVE villains instead of Six. Well, I don’t want to spoil the surprise. Anyway, it had the feel of an Ultimates Story while retaining much of the humor which shines bright in Ultimate Spider-Man, which makes sense as its written by the writer of said series, Brian Michael Bendis, with art provided by Trevor Hairsine, an up and coming artist in Marvel’s stable of Young All-Stars. And like Ultimate War, this was collected as a volume of Ultimate Spider-Man, as opposed as a shared volume between the two titles. And the following year would see the introduction of the third ongoing title to run under the Ultimate line…
Ultimate Fantastic Four
Now, I covered the gist of this title in my Marvel Zombies article, but in short: Instead of a group of full grown adults riding an experimental shuttle into space, and being exposed to cosmic rays, it’s a group of gifted teenagers who’re chosen to experiment and explore an entirely new dimension (which many old fans would recognize it to be the Negative Zone from the original universe, referred to as simply N-Zone in this continuity). This results in the formation of the Fantastic Four and Doctor Doom, and…to be honest, it wasn’t that good of a title. Now, don’t get me wrong when I say this, but they at least TRIED to do something original with the material, like re-envision classic storylines with characters like Thanos and Ronan the Accuser, but…they weren’t very good stories, usually meshed in deep and confusing/conflicting story plots. The art was impressive, but issues covered by Greg Land are….*sigh* That’s an entire editorial in itself, but let me just bring one thing in Ultimate FF’s favor: It DID give us Marvel Zombies…and that does set it above something like…THAT event…but that doesn’t happen until five more years , so we move on to the biggest trilogy to encompass the whole of the Ultimate Universe…
Ultimate Galactus Trilogy
Now this was an impressive ordeal, as it builds up and re-imagines one of the earliest big events of Marvel’s history, the coming of Galactus the Devourer of Worlds! (And let me just say this now: Fantastic Four 2 : Rise of the Silver Surfer? *ahem*…GALACTUS IS NOT AN EFFING ANGRY CLOUD! *adjusts tie*That is all…). Anyway, when I say trilogy, it’s a three mini-series that are used to lead up to the big man himself, but also introduce more corners and characters of this Universe , helping stretch the possibilities for future stories…and written by the excellent Warren Ellis (Note to self: Do articles on The Authority/Planetary/Stormwatch).
To open up would be the series titled Ultimate Nightmare, which is full of ominous foreshadowing as a strange broadcast which disrupts the world’s communication systems, showing images of death and destruction, causing thousands to commit suicide, causing a small team of Ultimates and X-men to investigate the source, which seems to be coming from Tunguska, Russia (which history buffs would know a massive comet did indeed crash there in real life). What occurs is the discovery of an abandoned complex built during the Communist Russian era…and the monstrous creations made from shadowy experiments. I won’t reveal how vast and disturbing this particular legion of creatures, or the details of the source they find deep in the heart of this dungeon, but it reveals the message it tried to broadcast to the whole world: He is coming. Gah Lak Tus. The art was great (the up and comer Trevor Hairsine once more).
Ultimate Secret was the next chapter of this ongoing trilogy, which opens to a S.H.I.E.L.D facility studying revolutionary methods of space travel when they’ve to repel an attack from a whole new race of alien, the Kree. But what does this have to do with an all new hero called Captain Mahr Vehl? (actual spelling). A very fascinating re-telling of the 70s space hero, as well as good exposition and build up to the ever present threat that is Gah Lak Tus. Drawn by Steve McNiven, shortly before he reached super stardom thanks to events like Civil War, it compliments Warren Ellis style, especially with the great sci-fi action and drama behind the introductions of a new race of enemy, a new hero, and of course, plenty of other new characters that may or may not become heroes and villains in this universe…that’s half the fun of these Ultimate books. Sometimes they do a very good job at surprising you.
The final volume is Ultimate Extinction, we get our very first look at Gah Lak Tus (and I admit to being surprised at what they did, but at least it isn’t an ANGRY EFFING CLOUD…sorry, I’m still sore about spending seven bucks to see that…), We’re introduced to a very different Silver Surfer as well, and the battle for survival begins! Now, it does suffer from very confusing and fast shifts in plot and story drive, but otherwise, it does both justice to the original material while being unique in its own wrapping up of the first “universal” event the planet of Ultimate Earth (yeah, mine as well as refer it to that designation). The art is by Brandon Peterson, who uses a mesh of classic 2D hand drawn/computer inked art with 3D generated imagery and photo imaging, which I was personally in the middle ground of opinion about, but otherwise, it was good work.
Ultimate X4
A rather calmer crossover in comparison of the Ultimate Galactus Trilogy, the rather meager plot and villain (Ultimate Mad Thinker) is outshined by the development and relationships shown between the two teams of Ultimate X-Men and the Ultimate F4, unique of which unlike the original universe, both teams are practically the same age (discounting Wolverine, who like his Original Universe counterpart, is MUCH older then he lets on). Thereby, its possible for Kitty Pryde to develop a deep crush for Reed Richards, where Susan Storm would be deeply jealous, and refer to Kitty as “cheap” and “like a terrorist”. We also see a very familiar rivalry set between Bobby Drake (Iceman) and Johnny Storm (Human Torch), which is very hormonal but friendly, much like the one carried by their original universe counterparts, which makes sense given their contrary based abilities. The art was also a high point of this crossover, drawn by Pasqual Ferry, who did a great job on the Adam Strange mini-series.
Ultimate Wolverine Vs. Hulk
Ah, this is a very infamous mini-series, but lets save that for later on. This was a great concept, as many comic book fans would know the feud set between these two titans in the main universe. Hell, Wolverine made his first appearance in Hulk’s comic, years ago. Which starred the Wendigo, whose Ultimate incarnation is also in the story, as well as the premiere of a character connected to one of the stars (and I’ll keep it a surprise, so sorry!). Well, it is a well written story, and has plenty of action , great art by Lenil Francis Yu (who would be the artist behind the Secret Invasion event), we see great development from both powder keg powerhouses as the story progressed but, the great slight in this title’s case is…the DELAYS. It took nearly 5 years to finish this story…and its only six issues long! Now, there are a number of legitimate reasons of some of the delays, but…I still think it could’ve been finished sooner, but that’s just me…
Ultimate Iron Man I and II
The origins of Iron Man…revealed! This is a great example of how some characters were given a DRASTIC change to their origins and back-story, which in effect, changes the stories of other characters as well. However, this is quite impressive in execution, which could be explained by the writer of both volumes…want to know who? None other then accomplished Science Fiction author, Orson Scott Card (yes, the creator of Ender’s Game) provides us all there is to know about Tony Stark, his developments in creating the Iron Man armor, the history behind one of his greatest enemies, Obadiah Stane, as well as one of his closest friends James Rhodes (I.e. Ultimate War Machine). What occurs is an adventure filled with political intrigue, spy-movie thrills, and of course, armored heroes kicking lots of ass. Drawn by Adam Kubert (vol.1) and Pasqual Kerry (Vol.2), this was a fantastic read, and pretty good development for the Ultimate Universe’s greatest minds (and trust me, there’s more to Tony’s mind then you’d think here).
Ultimate Power
Now this is quite a crossover. This the second Multiversal crossover in the Ultimate Universe (I say second, cause remember : Marvel Zombies were from another universe). This crosses over with another popular re-envisioning of a Marvel property : Supreme Power. Supreme Power is like an Ultimized version of Supreme Squadron, which was an 80s satire of a certain League devoted to Justice, whose members included a man of steel, a dark knight, and a woman of wondrous quality. A massive effort written between not two but THREE people : Brian Michael Bendis, J. Michael Stracyznski (That’s right, Babylon 5 fans, that J. Michael Stracyznski), and Jeph Loeb. Drawn by Greg Land (who I have issues with but I admit, it did add to the whole thing well enough). Seeing such fantastic worlds collide in such a fashion, tossing in some SURPRISING guest stars later in, introductions to even more characters, and earth shattering effects to both Earths that actually MATTERED for once…this was quite simply, a great read, especially if you know as much about the original versions of these characters as I do. Great story, good art, it’s a packaged deal, in my eyes.
Ultimate Human
This…this is a bit hard to go into cause I really do think Warren Ellis is a fantastic writer, and he certainly did a lot for the characters in it but still…Anyway, getting ahead of myself. This is a crossover solely between Iron Man and The Hulk of the Ultimate universe, which the basic premises is Bruce Banner is trying to get Tony Stark to cure him of the Hulk. We learn more of The Hulk’s limits and physiology as well as a look at Tony Starks own innate abilities and improvements to his armor. Which is all well and good, with good dialogue and story by Ellis, and decent art by Cary Nord. But, the one thing that grinds my gears is the villain : The Leader. Now, if it was just the Leader, I would be fine with that, but Ellis combined him with a rather cult favorite character of the Marvel community Pete Wisdom. Now, there is a lot of back-story between this character and Warren Ellis, who created Pete Wisdom…but WHY make him and the Leader one and the same? I mean, ultimate versions of both characters would be great but…*sigh* I dunno, its just something that bothered me, just like its bothering me that the villain for the Iron Man 2 film is a combination of TWO Iron Man villains, Crimsons Dynamo and Whiplash…why not have them both…oh never mind. An alright book, higher above some titles, but not too high on my list.
Ultimate Origins
The secret origin of…Well, the whole Ultimate Universe! Okay, that’s not true, what is revealed is how everything is connected to the back-story of super powers on Earth, starting as far back as World War II. It explains just about everything, from the attempts at recreating the Super Soldier project, to the Birth of mutants, to the creation of the Hulk, it explains and connects everything…and I was generally surprised b some of it! But it also shows an ongoing and looming crisis ahead (which I sadly know is…well, its next up on this list) as artifacts known as “the Watchers” activate all over the planet, which only happens when a disaster of an apocalyptic magnitude is to occur…and this of course means…*sigh* Ultimatum. Let it be known that I enjoyed and highly recommend this mini series but treat is as a standalone, and ignore its connection to…well…
Ultimatum
Let me open this portion of the editorial and say. I. HATE.THIS. MINI-SERIES. And given the universal negative response its gotten, I’m not the only one. David Finch’s art, despite being very good, couldn’t save this this…I’m speechless. I hope you’re happy Canaan, cause here I am, SPEECHLESS. But, anyway, how to count the ways this was a horrible miniseries (and isn’t it just sad that the WORST miniseries of the Ultimate Universe would be the one which would change it forever?) Don’t believe me? It killed off practically 2/3 of the established characters, all for the sake of shock value. All because of this, practically all the X-Men are dead, the Ultimates, and the Fantastic Four have parted ways. I don’t mind spoiling this for you, as to save you the horrors of reading this comic, or the ones that followed it under the heading “Ultimate Requiem”. This soured my taste in the Ultimate Universe, and I just wished they had someone who was much more beneficial to the Ultimate Imprint writing it, like Brian Michael Bendis or Mark Milliar. I can’t help but think they could have done a much better job with much less blood shed…but…*sigh* here we are.
Now, I’ve gotten everyone up to date to the “history” of the Ultimate Universe, I guess its time to show you how things have been since the end of Ultimatum…and don’t worry, its gotten much better since that train wreck…
Due to the effects of Ultimatum, the whole line of Ultimate has been relaunched as “Ultimate Comics”. It still retains the history/continuity of everything before in this universe, but the new name is to help define that it’s a new age and time for the imprint, as every ending leads to new beginnings.
Which leads to the present and future of the Ultimate Universe!
Ultimate Comics: Spider-Man
Still written by his creator, Brian Michael Bendis, but joined by new artist David Lafuente, the series picks up exactly six months after THAT event, New York has recovered from the destruction caused by Magneto, but many drastic changes have been made : The Daily Bugle no longer exists, there are harsh rules/laws made against any and all mutants, and Spider-Man…is hailed as a hero! That’s right. Those familiar with Spider-Man’s mythos would know that 9 times out of 10, people tend to view Spider-Man as a vigilante, villain, and many other negative connotations. However, due to the final issue of the Daily Bugle, and the footage of Spider-Man shouldering through every danger *sigh* Ultimatum put him through, he is hailed as New York’s Favorite Son now! Everyone is in love with Spider-Man…too bad the same cannot be said for Peter Parker. Now forced to work at Burger Frog, has to juggle his relationship with now girlfriend Gwen Stacy and his ex-girlfriends Kitty Pryde and Mary Jane (yes, that’s right, even Ultimate Spider-Man is bit of a player, natch. Don’t believe me? Look up the original universe Spider-Man’s love life…its messy but *whistles* Peter’s a ladies man…). Toss in the fact that now he’s now living with not only his girlfriend and his Aunt May (who I will go on record as saying she is the coolest maternal figure I’ve seen in comics, today), but has taken in several charges who have either been kicked out of their homes because of being a mutant, or been going through some very harsh trials post Ultimatum…and their names would be Johnny Storm and Bobby Drake. If I don’t smell Ultimate Amazing Friends in the works, I don’t know what…maybe Ultimate New Warriors, who knows.
But all this atop of a new crime lord named Mysterio and a mysterious crime fighter in a red hood, its clear Peter Parker and Spider-Man are going to have looooong days ahead…and I’m loving every minute of it. Despite all the damage Ultimatum has done to this universe, Brian Michael Bendis continues to prove to be the perfect man to keep this Wall crawler crawling, and keep readers reading. I salute him for that!
Ultimate Avengers
That’s right, the Ultimates are…well, technically, they’re not the Ultimates, but THE AVENGERS have assembled at last!…Sort of. Well, to get you up to speed. Set only three weeks after Ultimatum, Nick Fury and Ultimate Hawkeye discuss the current situation, as Captain America (the kickass soldier he is in this universe ) has gone rogue after hearing about a new threat call “The Red Skull”. it’s a big secret, but trust me, it made me blink in surprise to who it was. To chase both Cap and Red Skull down, Fury activates Project Avengers (sound familiar to everyone whose seen some of Marvels recent movies ), forming a group of new heroes as these “new Avengers”, with the help of Stark…but not Tony Stark, but Tony’s older, smarter brother (Hey, Sherlock Holmes had one…) Gregory Stark. At this point in time, we’re introduced to a brand new Black Widow, a new Wasp, War Machine (still James Rhodes from Ultimate Iron Man I and II), a killer Spider-Man look-alike, and a smarter clone of the Hulk, and they succeeded in encountering Steve Rogers…but fail EPICLY against him…and the story isn’t even half over yet! I have high hopes for this title, especially as its being written by the man who started the Ultimates off in the first place, Mark Milliar, whose signed on for several storylines, which apparently includes first appearances of Ultimate Ghost Rider, as well as the return of older characters like Perun and Ultimate Blade (the Vampire Hunter). I’ll admit this : I’m SO psyched.
Ultimate Armor Wars
Many of you are probably wandering by this point what has happened to Tony Stark while his brother seems to have taken his place in the Ultimates/Avengers? Well, this mini series chronicles Tony Starks adventures directly after the wake of the Ultimatum event, which leads into Ultimate Universe’s version of the great Iron Man storyline, Armor Wars. What has happened is his security has been compromised and now schematics to his Iron Man technology has been stolen…by MANY parties, resulting in upgrades in previously unknown villains, including the ultimate versions of The Ghost, Dr.Faustus, and many more. So far, he has been successful in his hunt, but things at this point are becoming quite sticky…especially after he found that the Iron Man Technology has been used to create Anti-Riot Iron Policemen…by the British Government, as well as the still over looming threat of the Ghost… So far, so good, the story has been quite a surprise with each turn of the page, and I applaud Warren Ellis at his style of story and writing once more, forgiving him for the whole Peter Wisdom thing…well, mostly. Still, this is quite a great story thus far, and cant wait to read how it ends, and see where Tony’s been…
Now I’ve got you up to speed for the present, its time I present a bit of peek in to the near future as many new titles and mini series are coming out in this brand new year!
New Ultimates
Written by Jeph Loeb. I want to get that right off my chest right now. On one hand, he’s done the abominations that are Ultimates 3 and Ultimatum. However, on the other hand, I can list DOZENS of excellent stories he’s done in the past. So, as much as I hate Ultimates 3 or Ultimatum, I’m willing to give him another chance. BUT…I’m beginning to feel doubts (as well as hopes) after seeing the two variant covers to the first issue
Now, this cover here does have me hopeful. I mean, given what I’ve read from Loeb’s interviews and solicitations captions, it looks like Loki’s taking advantage of the lingering effects of Ultimatum to launch the worst of Asgard upon Earth…and only the New Ultimates can stop them! But who are the New Ultimates? Now, if they could just fix the damage he did to Thor and Black Panthers character ,then I’d be alright with this…
HOWEVER…on the second cover…the one called the VILLIAN variant, we see…
THESE are the bad guys!? A heads up, during the Ultimates Vol. 1 and 2, we’re introduced to a farm league “Super team” called the Defenders (anyone who knows their original incarnation will get the in-joke) composed of “costumed” super heroes, each based VERY loosely off various Marvel heroes, all of which have no or little super powers or special skills that their original counter parts have. Their membership includes Power Man (Luke Cage), Hellcat, Nighthawk, Valkyrie, Black Knight, and Son of Satan…in fact, now that I’m looking at it…here’s the cover to the issue they premiered in. Compare it with the Villain Variant cover
Now, its pretty clear and easy to guess now WHO these villains are…and I’m kind of dreading where they are going with this. Of course, given that Ultimatum killed off as many bad guys as good guys in its wake, it is both expected for new ones to be made, and unexpected to see who they create in doing so, which is one of the missions of the Ultimate universe…to do the unexpected. So…This maybe good…but it can also be very bad.
Still…
Ultimate X
Now, you can tell that there is no X-men or mutant oriented title currently under the Ultimate Title. Which makes sense. Most of the X-Men and the Brotherhood were killed off in Ultimatum, including Magneto, Professor Xavier, and yes, even Wolverine. For good. I know, its long known comic book law that no one stays dead. Ultimate Comics however, has yet to see this rule happen. So far, all dead characters have STAYED dead…with exception to beings like Wolverine. However, the way they killed HIM off, made sure that every molecule was dead, so even a great healing factor like his would bring him back. He is dead and gone. Moving on! Along with the death of a majority of popular mutants, surviving mutants are under rule and law not to use their powers…ever. So, what’s Ultimate X then? Another book being written by Jeph Loeb but drawn by legendary artist, Art Adams, the focus of the book doesn’t seem to be primarily on mutants, but its hard to deny that the images shown of the covers and inner pages has me leaning that there is a STRONG possibility that mutants have something to do with it in one shape or form…I mean…look at this…
Yes, those are claws, but those are bone claws. Which means a connection to Wolverine, but not him as he would still be laced with adamantium…nerd moment aside, my theories lean to two possibilities who this is: Ultimate Mimic, who could copy mutant abilities by just being in the radius of mutants…and retain them permanently if in contact long enough. My second guess is perhaps a relation to Wolverine in some shape or form, be it brother/son, who knows? A second image was released…
Which shows our mysterious X with two (or three) blacked out figures. Now, given my knowledge of still surviving mutants, the fiery outline in the back could be Firestar/Sunfire. The winged figure could possibly be the Ultimate version of Archangel/Icarus (one who was a form of mutant hero Angel (whose Ultimate version is dead but could be someone else), the other who was a mutant with red feathered wings with powers like Angel). The possible third figure (who could be just a weird artist quirk and not another person), could be previously seen mutants set in the Ultimate universe , such as Havok/Geldoff/Magician. Well, as of right now, only speculation can be made on their identities. Although the quality of the art for this series can be guaranteed, the quality of the characters and story, remains open to debate…
Ultimate Comics : Enemy Trilogy
Rounding out the announcement of titles is that of a whole new trilogy of mini-series, the first of which will be called Ultimate Comics: Enemy, followed by Ultimate Comics : Mystery and Ultimate Comics : Doom. I have my suspicions of who may be involved on the first two, but all that has been released about any of this is that the introduction of a powerful, mysterious enemy (from the which the title can be drawn from) has risen to take advantage of the fragile balance the world is in post Ultimatum. The threat he carries is enough to pull the likes of Spider-Man, Sue Storm, Nick Fury, and many others into the events that will unravel over the first mini-series. With few details to work with, we’re to rely on the fact its being written by one of the Ultimate architects himself, Brian Michael Bendis and drawn by Marvel Young Gun, Rafa Sandoval. Having see his art on Avengers: The Initiative, I think his talent and Bendis’ story, have gotten me quite interested in this…and I don’t say this too much about many Marvel “big events”.
So, this is the Ultimate Marvel Universe: Past, Present, and Future. I hope I sparked some interest in some of these titles (while making explicit warning about others). I got on this particular train when Ultimate Spider-Man and Ultimate X-Men kicked off, and have enjoyed the ride ever since. And given how big and imposing the original Marvel Universe at this point, I’d have to say, this would be a much easier imprint to jump onto then its forefather…but, that’s my opinion. Either way, this IS an imprint to look into.
This is Odin Ashcroft, your Comic Book Wuff, saying to you, True Believers…
EXCELSIOR!
(Please don’t sue, Stan Lee n.n)
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Sorry for the delay in response, but been fairly wrapped in projects for final semester of college, so, expect more editorials here and there but not in a regular basis as before (as regular as they were before the holidays <..<). So, thank you again, and I'm glad you enjoyed it =3 Although, sorry even I couldn't convince you in picking up a few more titles...*nudges a bit* Come oooooooooon ;3
