Ultimate....

bombidol

Any one read any of the Marvel ultimate line? I was very put off at the start, cause I've always been more of a DC/Vertigo kinda guy, the idea of what looked like "Kiddy" marvel titles kinda seemed stupid to me. I was wrong.
I picked up a few titles over the last year or so just to see and i was totally amazed. To see all these titles that actually fitted together and worked was amazing. The guys writing and doing the art on these things are some of the best in the business and they are far from "Kiddy" comics. As of a while ago im addicted to

Ultimate Spiderman
Ultimate Fantastic Four
The Ultimates

Then the stuff like
Ultimate Adventures
Ultimate Galactus trilogy
were all fantastic to me

Now im debating the UXM as im not an Xmen fan at all....But it is Mark Millar!
Is it any use?

Fysh

I'm reading The Ultimates and will complete the Ultimate Galactus Trilogy when I have money again. Aside from that, I'll probably get the full Ultimate Iron Man Series and that's about it. I've liked what I've read of the Ultiverse so far, but I'm not arsed with reading the Xmen or Spiderman books, I must admit.

bombidol

I read ultimate Iron man and wasnt impressed at all to be honest. Maybe it needs another read. Galactus trilogy is excellent, Ellis does a great job. I like spiderman in a kind of 10 year old way so I thought id check out the USM and I was so surprised. Its written really really well and some of the art is absolutley amazing, I think the colouring clinches it for me though its so feckin vibrant it just jumps off the page at you. Its a good dumb read but its a feast for the eyes.
The only member of the Xmen i like is wolverine and the ultimate wolverine seems to be pretty ****.
I wonder what an ultimate punisher would be like......hmm

bombidol

I was in chapters the other day and they had a collectors edition of the UG Trilogy. All 3 books in a binder type deal for 30 Euro so i picked it up.

Fysh

I have to admit, part of the reason I like Ultimate Iron Man is that, while I've always liked the character there have been very few stories in 616 continuity which showed him at his full potential. Plus the constant use of Iron Man as a villain in the crossovers is annoying. Different strokes for different folks, I guess...

the Shades

Millar's Ultimate X-men was a good read, a lot of the stuff he did with Magneto and Xavier was used in the movies. I read it when it first came out in single issues and having stopped reading the X-men about a year or two before he kept me until his run finished. Some of it is just re-hashing old X-men storylines but for the most part it's a good read with some cool updates on the characters.

Fysh

bombidol wrote:

I wonder what an ultimate punisher would be like......hmm

He's made appearances in the Ultimate universe, but the character hasn't been used much by the look of things...

bombidol

Yeah he has popped in the odd time but nothings really changed. In fairness, Garth Ennis's Punisher is probably the closest you would get to "ultimate". But Ennis is the only guy out there that can write for punisher. The only thing i dont like is the way he pisses on other characters like spiderman and wolverine etc.

Longshadow

bombidol wrote:

The only thing i dont like is the way he pisses on other characters like spiderman and wolverine etc.

Funny as that was (hilarious, in fact) it hasn't happened at all recently. Ever since Ennis' Punisher moved to MAX there hasn't been so much of a mention of a superhero. Appearances by a brilliantly written Nick Fury is the only nod to the fact that it's still the Marvel Universe. By the time Punisher made the move to MAX in fact, there was far too much superhero silliness that just didn't suit the character, and the title was in decline. Obviously the move to MAX suited Ennis style. I've collected almost all of his Punisher, and the best stories are after the MAX move. 'Mother Russia' immediately springs to mind. Now that was a Punisher story.
Oh, hang on, this is an Ultimates line thread. oops.
Love Ultimate Spider-Man, one of the most consistent titles there is right now, and will probably remain so as long as Bendis is writing.
Millar's Ultimate X-Men was excellent, more recently, Brian K Vaughan's all too brief run on the title was a master-lesson in writing a team book. Right now Kirkman is writing, and it's unquestionably the worst the book has ever been. I kept making allowances for him, thinking things would pick up (this is the guy that writes the Walking Dead!) but I've had too much now. It's simply not well written. At all. Sticking with the book though, as I'm hanging on until Brian Singer's run. Hopefully soon..?

bombidol

BMB is amazing. Powers rocks the ass! I was talking to BKV the other day actually and Brian Woods from DMZ about maybe doing some intros for Fail both are great in my opinion. As far as Punisher goes I find it hard to top the Ennis/Dillon team. Is dillon still doing some of the art in MAX?

qwertplaywert

ao....im read every issue of ultimate x-men[been collecting the monthly british reprints since issue 1],ultimate spidey[1-7,in ptb],ultimates bol 1[im waiting for volume 2 of ultimates 2 to come out beofre i get volume 1 so i can read them back to back straigh away]

i plan to buy furter spidey trade backs,ultimate daredevil/elektra ,and ultimate iron man and ultimate team-up when i get some money.
ive no interest in fantasic 4 or the silver surfer so i wont be picking up galicus or ff

Longshadow

bombidol wrote:

Is dillon still doing some of the art in MAX?

Nope. Hasn't done any MAX stories. The art has been great, various artist, It rotates between a few different artists, but it's consistent. Always dark and gritty, really suits the writing, and the feel of the book. Castle is drawn as old, worn and grizzled. A serious 'old soldier' kinda look. Very cool.
Looking it up, the artists are LEANDRO FERNANDEZ, DOUGIE BRAITHWAITE, LEWIS LAROSA.

qwertplaywert

has anyone read any of the team-up issues?i wanted to see whos in them but i cant check wikipedia......SO much spoilers

bombidol

Team up isnt great to be honest. its a little all over the place.
Longshadow, see that would kind of annoy me. Cause in my head only one person can draw the punisher for me and thats Dillon. Dont get me wrong, theres a lot of other artists who do real well. But to suit Ennis's tongue in cheek writing style, dillon is the only one for me.
Without that slight humour Frank is just another unstoppable killing punter.

qwertplaywert

what is mark miller[former writer of ultimate x-men] doing at present?

bombidol

Hes a resident writer with Marvel now, so you will only see him writing superhero stuff for a few years. According to his site he is currently working on..

Civil War
Ultimate Fantastic Four
The Ultimates 2

BlaasForRafa

Nah, i've never gotten into the whole Ultimate thing, its always seemed to me to be a pastiche of the proper Marvel Universe (theres probably some exceptions I'm sure)

Now I'm only judging from marvel promotional material in Marvel previews and Wizard etc but much of the ultimate stuff seems to revolve on "when does gwen stacy appear, when does kitty appear, when does some other character from 30/40 years ago appear because we couldn't be bothered coming up with new characters"
Or am I being a bit harsh?

bombidol

nar, seriously its pretty much all very good.

Longshadow

I can see why you'd be put off by promotional stuff like that, 'cos frankly, that is how they promote a lot of it. But that's simply a diservice to a great line of comics. The fact is the creators behind the Ultimate line have been brilliant, and are amongst the very best working in the industry today. (Bendis, Millar, Hitch, Vaughan, Ellis (excepting his first rather poor UFF arc) Kubert) It's only a few exceptions that aren't up to standard (Ultimate Daredevil & Elektra, I'm looking at you here), and unfortunately, some more recent arcs. I won't go into that again, as I'm sure I had a rant on this thread not too long ago.
But the point is, for poor material in the Ultimate line, you look to a few exceptions, and never the whole. Marvel really have done a good job on it, and it's to their credit that they have kept the line minimal and not flooded the shelves with an Ultimate version of every other Marvel Universe hero.

(Flooded the shelves? Mix metaphors much? egad..)

bombidol

Let me say this. I HATED the idea of the ultimate universe, it put me off the way it was marketed towards kids (or so I thought) But I picked up UFF vol1 on a whim and it grabbed me by the balls. Now im hooked. Im currently reading Ultimate Xmen and while im not a huge Xm fan this is ok, its not amazing by any stretch but its worth reading.

Draco

If you read nothing else from the Ultimates line, read The Ultimates. Beautifully scripted and illustrated, it is simply the best out of the line.

qwertplaywert

yep.........ultimate x-men is my second fav ultimate comic......but its art is good not great like ultimates

Tree

spent saturday night and sunday evening reading the first two volumes of the ultimates, i dunno is it amazing but i do want to read more and see where it's going

Venom

The Ultimates Book 1 and 2 are pretty damm cool. Not very happy with the new creative teams for books 3 + 4 tho but time will tell I guess.

Ultimate Spiderman is a damm book and ultimate FF would be almost as good tho some of the arcs take to long to get to the point.

Ultimate Xmen is ****. Same boring stories thats been done in 616 with redesigned villians. Such a waste.

The Ironman book kinda went nowhere and the messed up release date made me lose interest fast.

bombidol

Is Ultimates2 Vol 2 out yet?

qwertplaywert

if i gave my local library the isdn number for ultimates 2 volume 1,do u think they would order it?they have ordered books i asked for in the past..........

Fysh

Volume 2 of Ultimates 2 isn't out yet (much to my chagrin) and I can't find any info on when it's due out. Waiting for that myself, although I haven't yet read the full Ultimate Galactus story so I'd say that'll tide me over for a while at least....anyone heard anything about when Ultimate Iron Man 2 is starting?

qwertplaywert

volume 1 IS out....volume 2 aint though