Geekery Wankery: Ultimate Marvel.
Warning: this post is probably of interest to two people who read my lj.
So Ultimate Spider-man debuted in 2000 and Ultimate X-men followed not long after, and then after that, The Ultimates.
All of them in one way or another, landed with a big sonic boom. The first twelve issues of Ultimate X-men rank up there among the all time class X-men stories, comparing with the best of the Claremont/Byrne eras. Ultimate Spider-man is probably the best Spider-man title Marvel has put out since the good old days when Roger Stern was writing the book. And the Ultimates, love it or hate it, really did redefine superheroes for the 21st century.
But 8 years in, is the Ultimate line still vital? Let’s look at the books coming out currently.
Ultimate Fantastic Four is kind of fun, but totally inconsequential. I really like Mike Carey, but this book is just utterly missable.
Ultimate Human is the typical Warren Ellis “I did some research into nifty science and here’s a whisp of a story about it.” Love Ellis, but let’s face it, he’s not taking this seriously, and this book is done because coming soon are Iron Man and Hulk movies.
Ultimate Iron Man is a book I don’t read. Don’t care for the writer’s politics, so I can’t say anything about it. But I can’t say there’s any buzz around it.
Ultimates 3 is like All Star Batman and Robin the Boy Wonder. Goofy and utterly stupid. But one gets the sense that Frank Miller intended ASBARTBW to be goofy and stupid, whereas Jeph Loeb thinks this is good. Also, Jim Lee > Joe Mad.
Ultimate X-men is a real guilty pleasure of mine. But that’s because Robert Kirkman is totally doing the greatest hits of the 90’s, and I loves me some Apocalypse. I don’t know how well its reaching other people.
Ultimate Spider-man is still the best Spider-man title Marvel is putting out. And after reading Slott’s Brand New Day issues, and the first Guggenheim issue, the only Spidey title I’ll be reading for the foreseeable future. Its quite amazing that Bendis has kept the book this good for so long.
I suppose one great title out of 5 isn’t bad, but for a line that was supposed to turn comics on its ear, the Ultimate line has really grown stale and bland, and nowhere near the same level as when it started. I don’t think anyone would be terribly upset if the entire “line” became nothing but Ultimate Spidey.
So Ultimate Spider-man debuted in 2000 and Ultimate X-men followed not long after, and then after that, The Ultimates.
All of them in one way or another, landed with a big sonic boom. The first twelve issues of Ultimate X-men rank up there among the all time class X-men stories, comparing with the best of the Claremont/Byrne eras. Ultimate Spider-man is probably the best Spider-man title Marvel has put out since the good old days when Roger Stern was writing the book. And the Ultimates, love it or hate it, really did redefine superheroes for the 21st century.
But 8 years in, is the Ultimate line still vital? Let’s look at the books coming out currently.
Ultimate Fantastic Four is kind of fun, but totally inconsequential. I really like Mike Carey, but this book is just utterly missable.
Ultimate Human is the typical Warren Ellis “I did some research into nifty science and here’s a whisp of a story about it.” Love Ellis, but let’s face it, he’s not taking this seriously, and this book is done because coming soon are Iron Man and Hulk movies.
Ultimate Iron Man is a book I don’t read. Don’t care for the writer’s politics, so I can’t say anything about it. But I can’t say there’s any buzz around it.
Ultimates 3 is like All Star Batman and Robin the Boy Wonder. Goofy and utterly stupid. But one gets the sense that Frank Miller intended ASBARTBW to be goofy and stupid, whereas Jeph Loeb thinks this is good. Also, Jim Lee > Joe Mad.
Ultimate X-men is a real guilty pleasure of mine. But that’s because Robert Kirkman is totally doing the greatest hits of the 90’s, and I loves me some Apocalypse. I don’t know how well its reaching other people.
Ultimate Spider-man is still the best Spider-man title Marvel is putting out. And after reading Slott’s Brand New Day issues, and the first Guggenheim issue, the only Spidey title I’ll be reading for the foreseeable future. Its quite amazing that Bendis has kept the book this good for so long.
I suppose one great title out of 5 isn’t bad, but for a line that was supposed to turn comics on its ear, the Ultimate line has really grown stale and bland, and nowhere near the same level as when it started. I don’t think anyone would be terribly upset if the entire “line” became nothing but Ultimate Spidey.