Robin The Boy Wonder
|
Ultimatum: Is It Worth It?This week marks the release of Marvel's Ultimate Universe event, Ultimatum.
I've read a lot of hype about Ultimatum and about how the Ultimate Universe will be forever changed by the events to come. I've read about Ultimate Origins and how it was revealed that mutants are, in fact, a by-product of man rather than of God's will. And, of course, I'm fully aware of the fact Mark Millar will return to the Ultimate Universe post-Ultimatum.
Now I'm curious about Ultimatum.
Should I buy it...?
Or do I avoid like the plague...?
Oh, and I don't mind spoilers. If anything, it may help me decide whether or not I buy or ditch!
|
Batmanuel
|
Boy Wonder:
| Quote: | | Should I buy it...? |
Yes 
But Seriously, i have it in hand, and will let you know when i have read it.
|
Reaper
|
The first issue wasn't bad, the ideas were fairly good and they start off in spectacular form but...... It has Jeph Loeb writing it which means the dialogue is toffee. The other problem is (which Ultimates 3 shared) is there isn't any exposition, nothing is really looked at for too long, so far anyway
|
Longshot
|
I guessed that the whole point of this is that the Ultimate univers had got too messy and they decided to clean it up. But just before that they decided to add another couple of books/annuals to make things a bit messier.
The way I was looking at it was that I would consider getting into the Ultimate universe after this happened, not just before.
|
Xeall
|
As I understand ultimatum (and yes ill be in for my comics soon, money problems again im afriad) is to stop all the plagarism of 616.
Ultimate spiderman has done a very good job of bringing in old characters and making sure its not the old stories, unfortunately the other ultimate main comics have not done the same. ultimatum is an event that apprently stops any 616 story to possibly be told, e.g Spiderman becomes a Villain.
|
Robin The Boy Wonder
|
OK, I've finally finished reading Ultimates 3 and I think the result helped me answer my own question.
Yes.
I really enjoyed Ultimates 3. It felt refreshingly different to Ultimates 1 & 2 (so different you can't even compare Mark Millar's run to Jeph Loeb's) and Joe Madureira's art was gorgeous.
Also, considering Ultimatum's erratic schedule (the third issue isn't due to ship until February), this might be worth buying now to read early next year.
Bats - If you're reading, I'd appreciate it if you would kindly pull these aside for me from hereon. If you have the first issue still in stock somewhere, I'd appreciate that too and I should be in the shop to collect next Saturday (20th Dec).
|
Reaper
|
You liked Ultimates 3? Wow, I'm a little shocked and I find your lack of judgement disturbing 
|
Batmanuel
|
Boy Wonder:
| Quote: | | Bats - If you're reading, I'd appreciate it if you would kindly pull these aside for me from hereon. |
Duly Noted.
Reaper: | Quote: | | You liked Ultimates 3? Wow, I'm a little shocked and I find your lack of judgement disturbing |
Come on Reaper, don't hold back, say what you mean 
I must admit to not being able to finish reading Ultimates 3, and although Boy Wonder found Joe Madureira's artwork awesome as do many others, i couldn't get on with it and it was a huge contributing factor to my dropping the book, that and Jeph Loebs script, oh, and the inking, the covers too, the paper stock didn't help, the R339875 shade of black used on page's 2 6,8,17, & 20. and the three at the end of Ultimates on the cover.
Xeall: | Quote: | e.g Spiderman becomes a Villain.
|
What....What,What! NO tis Stark.... oh hang on, differant thread, sorry 
Boy Wonder:
| Quote: | | Whatever Comics Awards 2008 |
I would like to suggest Wolfmen be added as a contender for best original Graphic Novel
|
Robin The Boy Wonder
|
Cheers!
Gah! I keep on adding titles. Must. Drop. One.
Anyhow, I'm planning to hold the Whatever Comics Awards early January, especially after my decision to do the same last year paid off after One More Day.
Geez! Imagine if we'd voted in something else as the Worst of the Worst after that tremendous pile of steaming shite!
|
Batmanuel
|
boy wonder:
| Quote: | Geez! Imagine if we'd voted in something else as the Worst of the Worst after that tremendous pile of steaming shite!
|
What, like Brand New Day
|
Robin The Boy Wonder
|
Brand New Day the Worst...?
And here I thought Diamond's price hike would be the outstanding favourite to win!
And, just to annoy Reaper: Ultimates 3 was great... in a completely different way to Ultimates 1 & 2.
|
God
|
You know what IS great about the ultimate universe? The end of Ultimate Spider-Man #128.
Yes, I did just catch up on that today. And all I have to say is "YES!!! YES!!!!!! YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THANK YOU BENDIS!!"
On the flip side to that, if he undoes this great and wonderful gift he's given to us I will, in fact, go insane and have to kill him. I was gutted when the event that was recently undone occurred a few years back because dammit I wanted the Ultimate Universe to be DIFFERENT from the regular, and what better way than that? But then he went and made that horrible, horrible decision. And now it's all fixed.
So yay Bendis!! YAY!!
Like my attempt at spoiler freedom? Somebody tell me I don't need to keep it spoiler free so I can celebrate properly...
On the subject of awards though, please tell me there's a "greatest resurrection" award, because I can think of half a dozen names that should be thrown in there, especially after the somewhat confusing return at the end of Secret Invasion.
|
Reaper
|
If you note before the spoilers that there are spoilers then everyone is forewarned and you can say what you want.
Ultimate Spider-Man 128 was a good edition and the resurrection of Gwen was an unexpected but welcome touch!
And to Boy Wonder, yes Ultimates 3 was a completely different angle to the first two.... the first two were well written, made sense and looked fantastic. The new one was badly written, gibberish and trite and didn't look as good (though not terrible).
|
Robin The Boy Wonder
|
Y'see, I understand why Ultimates 3 has its critics; really, I do.
But it's not as if Marvel hadn't made it clear that Jeph Loeb's Ultimates would be a completely different proposition to Mark Millar's. There was no point Loeb following up with more of the same (politically motivated super-heroics with a Silver Age inspiration). Loeb made Ultimates more a classic super hero title; one that allowed you to leave your brain at the front page and collect again at the end. Sure, his script wasn't great and there were plot-points that occurred that were completely pointless: Steve Rogers posing as Black Panther.
The art was excellent but I'm an unashamed Joe Madureria fan. I'd be happy reading any title with his art (and I did; I paid for Battle Chasers!).
It did build my interest for Ultimatum and, in that sense, served a purpose: stoked me enough to want to read the next chapter. Maybe Marvel saw me coming. Who knows?
|
Reaper
|
I know they said it was going to go in a completely different direction and I can live with a different direction but at least make it good/coherent/not have dialogue that was written by a 12 yr old! I think that was the thing that grated the most with me, the awful dialogue and complete lack of understanding of the characters that had previously been built up. It should go without saying that if you are taking over on a series then you should understand how the characters have been designed to talk and carry themselves. Loeb seems to have read all the rules on bad character design and gone nuts!
|
Reaper
|
So issue four has just been released.
What does everyone think so far?
|
Raien
|
| Reaper wrote: | So issue four has just been released.
What does everyone think so far? |
I was disgusted to see Ultimatum involved in the death of Peter Parker. I felt USM was going downhill with USM #132, and I can see now that it did so just to involve Ultimatum.
Otherwise, there's nothing to say that everyone on the internet hasn't already said.
|
Reaper
|
Wasn't the fact that it was part of the Ultimate universe enough of an idea that it might be part of Ultimatum?
|
Raien
|
| Reaper wrote: | | Wasn't the fact that it was part of the Ultimate universe enough of an idea that it might be part of Ultimatum? |
No. I just presumed Spider-man's story would be separate from the main event, as it has been for every issue except the last.
To quote an earlier rant in my reviews topic:
| I wrote: | If there's one thing that I hate worse than a simply bad comic, it's a wasted opportunity. An occasion where the writer is in a perfect position to bring out our emotions as readers, and yet doesn't take it. USM #132 is a prime example of that.
Despite most people's abhorrance of USM's connection to Jeph Loeb's Ultimatum, I have always thought that the Ultimatum Wave, which destroyed New York, was a perfect image with which to bring down Peter Parker's career as Spider-man. The depiction of Spider-man saving civilians from floodridden homes is immediately relatable with the natural disaster images we see on television, and a perfect way to showcase Spider-man's nature as a down-to-earth hero. If his collapse was brought about by exhaustion, it would have demonstrated his own mortality, serving as a fitting memoir for all the real people who save lives from situations like these.
So why the fuck did Bendis bring this Dr. Strange plot device out from nowhere!? It's completely irrelevant and disconnected from the context of the Ultimatum Wave. There's no way to emphathise with Peter's plight in this story, and Peter's apparent death just loses all emotional significance. It's not badly written, but I could not be more pissed off that Bendis decided this was the way Peter should go. With a magic explosion. |
|
Reaper
|
Generally though the event comics have an impact on the ongoing titles, e.g Civil War & Amazing Spider-Man, they were quite closely tied together.
The fact that Ultimatum was designed to affect every Ultimate universe (and this was quite heavily advertised) means that it inevitable that it will include Spider-Man in that. Which makes your objections to it somewhat moot.
While I feel that the Stephen Strange story in USM was an unusual route to go down it does address the issue of what happens when New York is involved in a major catastrophe and you have places of immense power like Stranges' house situated there.
In terms of having Spider-Mans apparent death in USM rather than Ultimatum itself, it means they dedicate more time to that story and flesh it would which they couldn't in an event piece.
|
Robin The Boy Wonder
|
My only thought is this...
Ultimate Comics Spider-Man will feature an all-new, all-different Spider-Man. At least, for the first story-arc or two. After that, it's inevitable that Peter Parker will return as our webbed wonder.
This all really comes down to the fact that Spider-Man is Marvel's primary character. No matter the iteration, Spider-Man will typically be Peter Parker beneath the mask. Someone else may claim the mantle temporarily, although after a period of time, it will always be Peter Parker who reclaims the mantle; and I daresay this will take place within the Ultimate Universe. Or the Ultimate Comics Universe. Or whatever we're supposed to call it now.
Ultimate Peter Parker will return.
|
Reaper
|
I was very glad to see Bagley back on the art for Ultimatum Spider-Man requiem. I really wish he had stayed on instead of the new guy (who is fairly good but not as good).
Thought the issue was a nice retrospective piece, and it is good to see Jameson getting some character development for a change.
|
|
|
