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Post by Reptisaurus! on Jun 2, 2015 10:43:19 GMT -5
The Ultimate Universe: Ultimate Spider-Man: I like Ultimate Spider-Man and think it's probably the most consistently good work that Bendis has ever done. The switch from Peter to Miles worked as well. And Aunt May's Home for Wayward Superheroes is one of my favourite runs on superhero comics ever. Ultimate X-Men: Some parts worked, some parts didn't. I liked Brian K. Vaughn's run the best on it, but Kirkman drove me from the title and I haven't followed it ever since. Ultimates: I liked Millar's first two series (only thing keeping them from being really great is Millar's tendency to go for shock value.), hated Loeb's series and haven't followed it since then. The recent revival looked interesting, but I didn't have the budget to get it. Ultimate Fantastic Four: Had a really rough start, but I like the Carey-run on it. (Especially the Fourth World/FF crossover.) The best thing I liked about Ultimate Fantastic Four was that they made Susan an intellectual equal to Reed, just in a different field. The most recent version of UFF looked terrible though. Definitely a series hampered by artwork and bad design. Ulitmate Spider-Mam: Agreed - I've read probably 90% of the run, and it's just rock solid all the way through. I don't remember much about SPOILERS AND I DON'T KNOW HOW TO DO SPOILER TAGS BUT YOU ALL KNOW WHAT I MEAN IF YOU READ THE SERIES' death, except that I was legitimately annoyed that SPOILER died. Although I did like his replacement. Really dug Ultimate Venom - This was the first time Venom "worked" as a Spider-man character. The idea of Venom as experiment gone wrong is a lot more consistent with the rest of Spider-man's world rather than a Terrible Tinkerer style alien from space. And I looooved Ultimate Gwen Stacy. On the other hand, the original Spider-man run is my favorite superhero run comic run ever, so it falls a little (lot) short by comparison. Ultimate X-Men: Eh. I read maybe the first couple years of it. Started off as too many characters without much introduction, got better, and then I stopped reading. I remember reading an interview where Mark Millar said he was doing Dark Phoenix as an Excors ist type story, which I thought was a cool approach. Did anything ever happen with that? Weird that the two biggest Image writers followed each other on the same Marvel book - I probably read some of their runs, but not much and I don't remember anything about 'em. Ultimates: The first series is one of my 15-or-so favorite superhero comics, ever, full stop. I'd still say it's the most perfectly paced and constructed superhero-comic-as-summer-action-movie type comic. And I miss the days when we had 6 months between comics. I'm not made of money, and the wait made it feel like the creators were really taking the time to make it good, rather than having random bums draw the books in exchange for bottle of Boonsefarm when the regular artist gets behind. (I'm at least 90% sure that's what they do nowadays.) And then it got worse - Although I kinda like Loeb's stuff. (I pretty much always like Loeb's stuff.) Millar's return to the book didn't do much for me, but I did like what I read of Hickman's run. Which is a little odd, 'cause his current Avengers stuff is kind of interesting structurally, but the part where you actually try to read it is... unpleasant. And boring. Ultimate Fantastic Four: Oh My God I hated the beginning of this - A "young" Fantastic Four just felt wrong to me, although I agree that the changes to Sue Storm were vast improvements. But I do vaguely remember it getting better as it went. (I have not thought about Ultimate Fantastic Four in years.) Was that Mike Carey? Gosh, I pretty much hated everything else he did for Marvel, although I think he's a great writer of other stuff. Good to know!! I should probably reread the Warren Ellis DOOM arc - I don't remember anything about it except a general feeling of terribility. And Ultimate Marvel Team-Up was obviously the greatest thing ever, and contained the best story ever published in a Marvel "Team-Up" book, the Bill S ienkiewicz Punisher arc. (# 4 on the all time list, behind Superman Vs. Muhammad Ali, DC Comics Presents # 81, with Ambush Bug, and the first Haney/Aparo Deadman story in Brave and the Bold # 104. ) But the whole run was an interesting mix of story structures, tones, and themes - basically a lot less predictable, more experimental, and weirder than the rest of the line, which is what team-up books should be. |
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Post by Ozymandias on Jun 2, 2015 11:48:12 GMT -5
I like Ultimate Spider-Man and think it's probably the most consistently good work that Bendis has ever done. […] Ultimate X-Men: Some parts worked, some parts didn't. I liked Brian K. Vaughn's run the best on it, but Kirkman drove me from the title and I haven't followed it ever since. You didn't like his run on DD? Kirkman didn't enjoy the privilege, of working with Immonen, I think he did more than ok, considering what he was dealt with. In fact, during Apocalypse, you'll notice the graph reaches a 6 (only repeated with Ultimate X #2). I remember reading an interview where Mark Millar said he was doing Dark Phoenix as an Excorsist type story, which I thought was a cool approach. Did anything ever happen with that? #25, although I wouldn't call it an "Exorcist type story", but the other way around, an evil cult trying to get a girl possessed. I will refrain from commenting on the other franchises, until the graphs are uploaded, but I should say USM already was, here. |
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Post by Dizzy D on Jun 2, 2015 12:02:44 GMT -5
I like Ultimate Spider-Man and think it's probably the most consistently good work that Bendis has ever done. […] Ultimate X-Men: Some parts worked, some parts didn't. I liked Brian K. Vaughn's run the best on it, but Kirkman drove me from the title and I haven't followed it ever since. You didn't like his run on DD? Kirkman didn't enjoy the privilege, of working with Immonen, I think he did more than ok, considering what he was dealt with. In fact, during Apocalypse, you'll notice the graph reaches a 6 (only repeated with Ultimate X #2). I remember reading an interview where Mark Millar said he was doing Dark Phoenix as an Excorsist type story, which I thought was a cool approach. Did anything ever happen with that? #25, although I wouldn't call it an "Exorcist type story", but the other way around, an evil cult trying to get a girl possessed. I will refrain from commenting on the other franchises, until the graphs are uploaded, but I should say USM already was, here. I liked his run on DD (I actually like a lot of his work), but I think his Spider-Man is both longer, better and more consistent in quality. |
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Post by Ozymandias on Jun 3, 2015 0:44:21 GMT -5
I liked his run on DD (I actually like a lot of his work), but I think his Spider-Man is both longer, better and more consistent in quality. Longer, for sure, better? I haven't rated DD, but I think it's not, neither on average terms, nor in absolute heights. More consistent? It's been years since I read DD, but I recall it as being good to really good, with no lows (at least when Maleev was drawing). If you've seen the USM graph, you'll already know, I don't find Bendis work over the past 15 years, to be very consistent (4 to 7). |
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Post by Nowhere Man on Jun 3, 2015 11:25:50 GMT -5
I might one day get around to reading some of the more well-liked Ultimate series on Marvel Unlimited, but I've always had an aversion to the concept. I never cared for the idea of modern re-telling's of stories I've already read and have access to. I think when I saw scans of the infamous Ultimate Spider-Man issue where Peter and Mary Jane talk for 22 pages, I stopped even entertaining the idea of trying out the line.
And what in the hell was the deal with overusing "Ultimate" to an insane degree? There was a recent comic out called "Ultimate Comics Ultimates." What the hell does that even mean?! That makes as much sense to me as calling a Batman Comic Batman Dark Knight Batman.
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Post by Ozymandias on Jun 3, 2015 15:42:07 GMT -5
I think when I saw scans of the infamous Ultimate Spider-Man issue where Peter and Mary Jane talk for 22 pages, I stopped even entertaining the idea of trying out the line. And what in the hell was the deal with overusing "Ultimate" to an insane degree? There was a recent comic out called "Ultimate Comics Ultimates." What the hell does that even mean?! If you're talking about USM #13, I've got it rated at a 4.5, Bendis got to be much better than this. "Ultimate Comics" was the post- Ultimatum rebranding, every comic belonging to the imprint, got the moniker in the title. Of course, that implied a misnomer for The Ultimates. |
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Post by Nowhere Man on Jun 3, 2015 18:14:48 GMT -5
I think when I saw scans of the infamous Ultimate Spider-Man issue where Peter and Mary Jane talk for 22 pages, I stopped even entertaining the idea of trying out the line. And what in the hell was the deal with overusing "Ultimate" to an insane degree? There was a recent comic out called "Ultimate Comics Ultimates." What the hell does that even mean?! If you're talking about USM #13, I've got it rated at a 4.5, Bendis got to be much better than this. "Ultimate Comics" was the post- Ultimatum rebranding, every comic belonging to the imprint, got the moniker in the title. Of course, that implied a misnomer for The Ultimates. Ah, I see. I guess a better comparison would be Marvel Comics Marvel's? |
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Post by Reptisaurus! on Jun 3, 2015 18:56:29 GMT -5
I might one day get around to reading some of the more well-liked Ultimate series on Marvel Unlimited, but I've always had an aversion to the concept. I never cared for the idea of modern re-telling's of stories I've already read and have access to. I think when I saw scans of the infamous Ultimate Spider-Man issue where Peter and Mary Jane talk for 22 pages, I stopped even entertaining the idea of trying out the line. And what in the hell was the deal with overusing "Ultimate" to an insane degree? There was a recent comic out called "Ultimate Comics Ultimates." What the hell does that even mean?! That makes as much sense to me as calling a Batman Comic Batman Dark Knight Batman. I liked the talking issue - Probably the thing I'm most interested in when I read mainstream comics is the dialog (so to speak) between them and other art forms. So, like, Bill Finger's german expressionist phase which turns into pure, giant-prop-laden surrealism on Batman is fascinating to me. So Bendis' David Mamet-fan writing where superhero comics are influenced more than plays than pulps was really interesting to me, just 'cause it's an element in the comics-talk-to-the-outside-world conversation I'd never seen anyone do before - and it really worked! It was a good play! I'd like to see Bendis get more credit for how much he changed the possible structure and form of mainstream comics away from "pulp inspired" to "theater inspired." And, for the record, my "Best things" list: 1) Scarlet 2) Daredevil 3) Powers 4) Goldfish/Jinx 5) Ultimate Spider-man 6) Fortune and Glory 7) Dark Avengers 8) X-men. (Which I haven't read, but I just realized it's Frazier Irving and Chris Bachalo! Awesome!) |
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Post by crazyoldhermit on Jun 3, 2015 19:22:00 GMT -5
I might one day get around to reading some of the more well-liked Ultimate series on Marvel Unlimited, but I've always had an aversion to the concept. I never cared for the idea of modern re-telling's of stories I've already read and have access to. I think when I saw scans of the infamous Ultimate Spider-Man issue where Peter and Mary Jane talk for 22 pages, I stopped even entertaining the idea of trying out the line. And what in the hell was the deal with overusing "Ultimate" to an insane degree? There was a recent comic out called "Ultimate Comics Ultimates." What the hell does that even mean?! That makes as much sense to me as calling a Batman Comic Batman Dark Knight Batman. That issue of USM is one of the best in the series. USM did a really good job of not falling in the trap of just retelling old stories. There are a lot of major changes made to almost every character. Peter gets bit by a spider, Uncle Ben dies and Green Goblin throws someone off a bridge but the circumstances are usually quite different and original to the series. And in the case of more unfortunate aspects of the mythos, like Venom, Carnage and the Clone Saga, there are major improvements with wholesale remimagining of all three concepts. |
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Post by Nowhere Man on Jun 3, 2015 19:33:49 GMT -5
I'm going to give the Ultimate Universe a shot, but a lot of what I've learned about it I haven't liked conceptually. For instance, Thor as an environmental extremist/hippy misses the point of the character in my opinion. (I'm going to assume, having not read it, that the mythological aspects of Ultimate Thor are downplayed if not ignored.)
Ultimate Spider-Man was a good idea, though. The older I get (I mentioned this recently in the new forum) the more I realize that Peter Parker works best young and single.
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Post by crazyoldhermit on Jun 3, 2015 20:46:39 GMT -5
I'm going to give the Ultimate Universe a shot, but a lot of what I've learned about it I haven't liked conceptually. For instance, Thor as an environmental extremist/hippy misses the point of the character in my opinion. (I'm going to assume, having not read it, that the mythological aspects of Ultimate Thor are downplayed if not ignored.) Ultimate Spider-Man was a good idea, though. The older I get (I mentioned this recently in the new forum) the more I realize that Peter Parker works best young and single. Ultimate Thor might have been the best Ultimatization (Spidey doesn't count because he's really just regular Spidey). Instead of being banished from Asgard to learn some humility he was sent by Odin on a mission to save the world from itself in the post-9/11 mayhem... Or at least, thats what he believes. Everyone on the team is skeptical about his story and officially is a Norwegian nurse who survived a mental break down and believed himself to be the reincarnation of Thor BUT at the same time nobody can really explain his powers (and there is an explanation in the second series). He has a far left stance, is strongy opposed to the Bush administration's foreign policy and is ultimately dedicated to spreading a pacifist worldview, although he has zero problems dropping the hammer when he needs to. In fact, he's not even a member of the team. The Ultimates are a government taskforce and are on a payroll but he refuses to take their money or their orders so he just helps out when they really need him. It's a very cool take that is totally different from the normal Marvel Universe and functions as a unique character in his own right. He's probably the only character in the whole series I'd actually want to hang out and have a beer with, and could actually do so. He's a man of the people and has his own group of followers, including Jane Foster. |
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Post by Action Ace on Jun 3, 2015 23:27:44 GMT -5
I'd rate Ultimate Spider-Man (Peter) and the first two Ultimates series among the best comic books I've ever read.
Ultimate Team Up had quite a few issues I liked.
Ultimate Fantastic Four is one of the biggest disappointments I've ever had in comics.
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Post by Ozymandias on Jun 4, 2015 5:23:04 GMT -5
Instead of being banished from Asgard to learn some humility he was sent by Odin on a mission to save the world from itself in the post-9/11 mayhem... Or at least, thats what he believes. Everyone on the team is skeptical about his story and officially is a Norwegian nurse who survived a mental break down and believed himself to be the reincarnation of Thor BUT at the same time nobody can really explain his powers (and there is an explanation in the second series). [my bolding] That explanation only went halfway, because it wasn't clear why, he depended on artificial gadgets. The complete explanation came later, via flashback, in Ultimate Thor. If you're talking about USM #13, I've got it rated at a 4.5, Bendis got to be much better than this. "Ultimate Comics" was the post- Ultimatum rebranding, every comic belonging to the imprint, got the moniker in the title. Of course, that implied a misnomer for The Ultimates. Ah, I see. I guess a better comparison would be Marvel Comics Marvel's? Or Marvel Comics Captain Marvel, you get the drill. I'm going to give the Ultimate Universe a shot If you do that, my advise would be to go to the better stuff first, and only if you like it, proceed chronologically. |
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Post by Nowhere Man on Jun 4, 2015 6:46:24 GMT -5
My first stop will be Ultimates and Ultimate Spider-Man. I browsed in some detail the first few issues of USM last night and I have to admit that I'm not crazy about Bagley's art.
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Post by Dizzy D on Jun 4, 2015 6:51:20 GMT -5
Then I have bad news for you, cause Bagley is on it for the next hundred+ issues.
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