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I just finished reading the first three post-Ultimatum Spidey TPBs and I loved them. Really enjoyed the art and the writing was really fun -- can't wait for the release of the softcover Death of Spider-Man, though I may have to spring for the hard cover of the aftermath because I am impatient. Are the Ultimatum books worth reading? I've heard that the event wasn't well received. e: \/ Are there any Ultimate must-reads? I never really read X-Men but I read the first ten issues or so Fantastic Four and enjoyed it alright. I recently read that Hulk vs Iron-Man TPB and I enjoyed that as well. I had previously collected enough of the #1-#100 Spidey issues to make me reluctant to buy the TPBs. There are some gaps, especially with Venom, but I don't think I care enough to plunk down money to fill them. Haven't touched the Ultimates, though. unlimited shrimp fucked around with this message at 06:30 on Feb 29, 2012 |
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Feb 29, 2012 04:45
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SpaceMost posted:Are the Ultimatum books worth reading? I've heard that the event wasn't well received. Only if you want to read terrible comics. If so, read Gavok's Ultimate Edits instead.
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Feb 29, 2012 05:38
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SpaceMost posted:Are there any Ultimate must-reads? UFF starts great but fizzles some when Land starts doing art at the zombie arc. The story is kinda clever but the art is just loving awful. IMO the book never really picks up much steam after he leaves and the last arc or so really fell apart in writing and art. Ultimates 1 and 2 are great. Your familiarity with Mark Millar and your attitude towards his more recent output may color your reading. Or at least that's a part of my interpretation of watching opinions and readings of Ultimates kinda change over the years. Ultimate Galactus is ok. Could have ended better. Ultimate Team-Up is kinda goofy. Some work better than others and Iron Man looks like Hannibal Lecter, just something about how his eyes (and teeth?) are drawn.
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Feb 29, 2012 07:11
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Anyone who's didn't read Ultimate Hulk vs Wolverine just needs to give up on any pretense of having a soul and admit they don't like good things.
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Feb 29, 2012 07:53
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Casao posted:Anyone who's didn't read Ultimate Hulk vs Wolverine just needs to give up on any pretense of having a soul and admit they don't like good things.  
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Feb 29, 2012 09:38
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"I don't believe in spirit animals 'cause I ain't a fruitcake" made me laugh for some reason, especially because I heard it in Hugh Jackman's voice.
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Feb 29, 2012 12:28
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Anyone read the new Ultimate X men yet? Is it worth buying? Is there a panel that makes me wish I was reading a copy of Viz on the train rather than a copy of X-men like last month?
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Feb 29, 2012 14:38
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Zachack posted:UXM is decent (just decent) up through the end of Brian K. Vaughn's arc, which is around issue 50 or so. I guess I'm going to be that guy who has radically different opinions! UXM is decent at best. I think I made it through three TPB's of the stuff before I asked why I was wasting my time with it. I would say UFF starts of solid and gets great. The Land issues are probably the best art he's done in recent memory, if only because he has to actually draw zombie bits and the characters don't look like they're just traced. I enjoyed the story, and the Psychoman story that takes place an arc or two later is one of my favorite FF tales. It does fall apart at the end, but only the very end, after Carey's left the book. If you liked early UFF, you really should keep going up until it starts to tie in with Ultimatum. And Ultimate Galactus is just another UFF arc, for the most part. If you liked Ellis's UFF (the Doom arc), you should probably enjoy it (you should probably read this before around issue 30 or so of UFF, if you're going to. nothing big on the plot, but they reference it occasionally) Ultimates was great at the time, but going back to read it frequently leaves me disappointed. The characters just seem fundamentally wrong throughout chunks of the book. This is likely due to Millar, and you should judge them yourself, but I don't know that I'll ever want to read them again.
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Feb 29, 2012 15:41
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bairfanx posted:I guess I'm going to be that guy who has radically different opinions! UXM is decent at best. I think I made it through three TPB's of the stuff before I asked why I was wasting my time with it. Carey's run is awesome since its Carey but then one of Leob's lackeys from Heroes gets the book and it all goe sto hell.
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Feb 29, 2012 15:44
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SpaceMost posted:Are there any Ultimate must-reads? Complete Ultimate Spidey. Start to finish. It's awesome. It gets a bit slow after Ultimatum, and that just leads into the Death of Spider-Man arc, which was pretty good, and then the new Spidey, which has so far been awesome. Ultimates 1+2 are must-reads. If you are expecting the Avengers, change your expectations. It's less of a feel-good story of teamwork and cooperation in the face of adversity, and more putting a bunch of alpha males (and some alpha females) in a room together and watching what happens. Skip 3 and Ultimatum. Early UXM is pretty good. A lot of people think it takes a hit in the middle and never really recovers, and there's some truth to that. I still found it enjoyable, but I do not think it's a must-read past some of the early trades. Ultimate FF is amazing at the start, but I got bored with it around the halfway point, and it sort of ended with a fizzle. I enjoyed Ultimate Origins, but be aware it's almost purely a backstory book. They explain the origin of mutants, though, which is interesting and unique from 616. Ultimate Thor miniseries is AWESOME, as is Ultimate Captain America. Those two were the testing grounds, I think, for the new writers on the Ultimate books.
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Feb 29, 2012 16:12
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Ultimates #7's out and it's loving awesome. It's certainly starting to head in a good direction. Also Ultimate X-Men #8 (didn't 7 just came out?) too which managed to do a good job at keeping me interested. I'm really curious to see how X-Men will tie to Ultimates and how Xavier/Eric tie to that.
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Feb 29, 2012 17:05
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Funny how Ultimate Hulk is somehow far more frightening than uberpowerful Worldbreaker 616 Hulk. When he jumped down off that satellite, I was like, "poo poo's on." Hickman, Ribic, and White are writing/drawing/colouring the gently caress out of this book.
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Feb 29, 2012 23:47
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Wachter posted:Funny how Ultimate Hulk is somehow far more frightening than uberpowerful Worldbreaker 616 Hulk. When he jumped down off that satellite, I was like, "poo poo's on." Hickman, Ribic, and White are writing/drawing/colouring the gently caress out of this book. It's because we haven't really seen what Hulk can do in the Ultimate universe. Worldbreaker just goes around, punches things and moves on. Maybe there's more to it than that but it seems a lot like Hulk in 616 has been overexposed - there's no mystery there anymore. The only time we've seen him get close to opening up it took the entire Ultimates team to take him down and then he blew up a fleet of alien space ships. He is their walking warcrime, they tactical nuke on two legs.
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Mar 1, 2012 00:01
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Well also, a fair amount of writers seem really angry at the idea that 616 Hulk is anything less than a totally 100% moral hero who's never caused any innocent's death even by accident, and come up with these really stupid super-science explanations of why that's even remotely possible, so it's pretty difficult to be frightened of the Hulk when you know that even if he punches down a building, Banner's super-math or some bullshit will make sure it collapses in a way as to not injure anyone. He might as well be made of Nerf padding. Meanwhile, Ultimate Hulk has eaten people.
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Mar 1, 2012 00:23
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SpaceMost posted:I just finished reading the first three post-Ultimatum Spidey TPBs and I loved them. Really enjoyed the art and the writing was really fun -- can't wait for the release of the softcover Death of Spider-Man, though I may have to spring for the hard cover of the aftermath because I am impatient. Since everyone else is giving their thoughts on the Ultimate books... Let me preface by saying that I'm a huge fan of the Ultimate universe. I've read every single issue under the imprint. I owned all of the singles before I gave them to a friend. I own all of the TPB published so far. I've read through the entire universe a few times at this point. So my opinion is going to be biased. I'll give you my thoughts on pretty much everything released here. Not in great detail though. Ultimate Spider-Man - Fantastic series. Probably one of my favorites ever. There's a lot that has been said about this one, so I'll just stop there. But read all of it. Ultimate X-Men - If I could sum up this series in one sentence? Great ideas with mostly poor execution. I think this title was the one the frustrated me most. Because when it was good, it was really good. The problem is that it was full of great ideas that just either didn't follow through, were ignored or undone by changing writers, or were just executed terribly. For example the Cable storyline, and who he was, was a genius idea. But it couldn't have been written more disappointingly. Still worth reading though, because it's easy to see that it could have been great. Ultimate Fantastic Four - I loved this whole series. The only unfortunate thing is that Greg Land almost ruined it. The issues featuring him as artist are hard to read. The stories are great, but I can't stand his art. I really liked the dynamic of the team in this book. And I think Mike Carey's cosmic stuff was pretty drat great. The Ultimates - Not as high on the first two volumes as most people, but I think they're really solid. I don't see them as some of the best books from the imprint though. The third volume is indeed a total turd in every way. Ultimate Six - Great stuff. Very much worth reading. Pretty much an essential part of the Spidey run even if it was technically a separate title. Ultimate War - Too short to be really good. What was there was fun though. Needed to be fleshed out a bit more. Ultimate Wolverine vs Hulk - Just a really fun book. But those of us following along during the years it took to get released probably have a bit more contempt for it because of the massive delays. Ultimate X4 - Another fun little story, but could have used another issue or two. Ultimate Team-Up - Fun idea. A few good individual issues. Problem is some of it is not in continuity at all. Published at a time when they were just kinda throwing things out there and not planning to build a real universe. Ultimate Daredevil and Elektra - Two separate minis. Focus mostly on Elektra. Decent read, nothing groundbreaking though. Worth a read if you're a fan of either character. They show up sparingly in mostly the USM books later. Ultimate Adventures - Not great. Pretty much a ripoff of Batman and Robin. Not quite as bad as people think, but pretty forgettable. Ultimate Iron Man - Two separate minis. Probably my least favorite stuff released under the Ultimate imprint. Just could not get into it. Reinventing a character isn't a bad thing, but I think they went too far with this. No longer in continuity. The way it was thrown out was pretty great too. Ultimate Gah-Lak-Tus - I loved this. But I'm a sucker for cosmic stuff anyway. I know some people liked some parts, but I thought the whole thing was pretty solid. Kinda pissed we didn't see more of Mahr Vehl after it though. He was a great character. Ultimate Human - Really liked this. Probably my favorite Iron Man related stuff outside of Ultimates. Ultimate Origins - Another missed opportunity. A book with a fantastic idea that is plagued by mistakes. Most notably Bendis completely forgetting his own continuity in relation to the death of Peter Parker's parents (even though he claims it was the artist's error). Ultimate Power - No. Just no. It's kind of rather important for the events that happen. But man is it bad. Ultimatum - Mostly crap. But unfortunately it changes so much about the universe it's kind of necessary to read to get a complete idea. The follow up Ultimatum Requiem stories for the X-Men, FF, and especially Spider-Man are really great though. Definitely must read stuff there. Ultimate Thor - Hell of a little series. Hickman manages to somewhat reconcile all the inconsistencies about Thor's character in the Ultimate universe and at the same time write a fun and engaging story. Hickman is pretty drat great. Ultimate Captain America - Not a fan of this one. But I'm not a fan of Ultimate Cap in general. And he's one of my favorite guys in 616. Just couldn't get into this story at all. Ultimate Armor Wars - I actually loved this title. Fun story with a great ending. Picks up pretty much immediately after Ultimatum but has very little to do with it. Ultimate X - Only 5 issues, but easily the best thing Loeb wrote for the imprint. Not terrible at all really. Introduced a couple new characters and followed up with some we were already familiar with. There's definitely a Loeb stigma, and for good reason, that comes along with anything he writes. But I'd say this one is worth picking up. Ultimate Doomsday - This is important because it ties directly into what's going on in The Ultimates today. I think it could have been handled better. Especially the main twist. But all in all it's a decent read. The New Ultimate/Ultimate Avengers/Ultimates vs Avengers - Not a big fan of these books. But there's some important poo poo that goes down in them. The first one with the Red Skull was good. The others are pretty mediocre. I think Millar probably just either lost interest or something. Just wasn't very fun. The Loeb stuff wasn't terrible, but it wasn't what I'd call good either. Ultimate Fallout - Great stuff. Must read. And that covers most everything I think. I'm sure I went overboard with it, but again like I said I'm a pretty huge fan of this universe.
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Mar 1, 2012 00:45
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Deadpool posted:
I agree with 100% of this. Right on.
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Mar 1, 2012 00:51
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Deadpool posted:. Oh, you are so wrong on this. This is almost on par with Ultimatum simply because of Jimmy Howlet magically manifesting adamantium over his bone claws. Ugh.
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Mar 1, 2012 01:06
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Soonmot posted:Oh, you are so wrong on this. This is almost on par with Ultimatum simply because of Jimmy Howlet magically manifesting adamantium over his bone claws. Ugh. Yeah, the claw thing was stupid, but Jimmy is a decent character so far. And I liked what Loeb did with the other characters and introducing Hulk into the story. I'd never say it was a must read title but it's at least a title that's probably worth the time to look at. And easily the best thing Loeb ever wrote for the imprint, not that this says much at all frankly.
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Mar 1, 2012 01:24
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I'm buying the OSHCs of Ultimate Spidey and am wondering when I should read Ultimate Six. edit; What else should I grab if I want to read the entire and essential Ultimate Spidey story? Happy Hippo fucked around with this message at 01:28 on Mar 1, 2012 |
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Mar 1, 2012 01:25
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/\/\/\all of USM, Ultimate 6 and Requiem. You can skip Ultimatum as Requiem recaps all the important parts of it as far as Spidey is concerned.Deadpool posted:Yeah, the claw thing was stupid, but Jimmy is a decent character so far. And I liked what Loeb did with the other characters and introducing Hulk into the story. I'd never say it was a must read title but it's at least a title that's probably worth the time to look at. And easily the best thing Loeb ever wrote for the imprint, not that this says much at all frankly. He is literally teen Wolverine. The only difference between him and Ultimate Wolverine is his hair color. It's not even like X23 over in 616 who's a separate character than Wolverine. Jimmy brings nothing to the table that Wolverine didn't and highlights how poorly thought out the mass deaths of Ultimatum was. The bird guy is a non-character, Jean Grey is ridiculous and then we got son of Blob and Liz Allen. Liz is the only interesting one and she was created by Bendis over in USM.
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Mar 1, 2012 01:38
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Happy Hippo posted:I'm buying the OSHCs of Ultimate Spidey and am wondering when I should read Ultimate Six. I did a huge read order for the entire Ultimate universe in chronological (not release) order a while back. And it works better after issue 46 of USM. The arc takes place between issues 46 and 47. In the trades it's Volume 9 which is kind of out of order. To make it work they leave issue 46 out of Volume 7 and just include it with Volume 9. I honestly don't know where that works out on the OSHCs because I don't own those. For the entire Spidey story you need to get stuff that collects: Ultimate Spider-Man 1-133, and ½ Ultimate Six 1-7 Ultimate Spider-Man Annuals 1-3 Ultimate Requiem Spider-Man 1-2 Ultimate Comics Spider-Man 1-15 and then renumbered 150-160 Ultimate Fallout 1-6 Optional stuff that he appears in: Ultimate Team-Up Ultimate Power Ultimate Origins Ultimatum Ultimate Doomsday X-O fucked around with this message at 01:53 on Mar 1, 2012 |
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Mar 1, 2012 01:47
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Deadpool posted:Ultimate Team-Up - Problem is some of it is not in continuity at all. Some stuff is, some of it isn't. The FF issue isn't. The Iron Man one no longer is, since the Ultimate Iron Man series (which itself is no longer canon) and Gregory Stark. The rest, though, is ok. I think.
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Mar 1, 2012 01:58
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SpeedofLife posted:Some stuff is, some of it isn't. The FF issue isn't. The Iron Man one no longer is, since the Ultimate Iron Man series (which itself is no longer canon) and Gregory Stark. The rest, though, is ok. I think. I think Fury is white in one of the issues. (And over in his early appearances in UXM, he's more like James Bond, super agent of SHIELD, than Director of Shield
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Mar 1, 2012 02:11
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Happy Hippo posted:I'm buying the OSHCs of Ultimate Spidey and am wondering when I should read Ultimate Six. Ultimate 6 was in volume 5 OSHC
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Mar 1, 2012 02:11
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SpeedofLife posted:Some stuff is, some of it isn't. The FF issue isn't. The Iron Man one no longer is, since the Ultimate Iron Man series (which itself is no longer canon) and Gregory Stark. The rest, though, is ok. I think. The Iron Man parts where him and Spidey team up ARE in continuity, but the origin they gave Iron Man isn't, but from what I remember it's been said that that's the origin that the company officially gives out to the press and stuff. So there are two origin stories for Ultimate Iron Man that are in universe works of fiction, one licensed and one unlicensed 
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Mar 1, 2012 02:49
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In (I think) USM Death of Spider-Man: Prelude there's an issue about a kid who gets superpowers from something called the Watcher, and the issue is about Spider-Man & Friends getting him acquainted with his new abilities. Does that kid ever show up again? At the end of the issue he zips off into the horizon.
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Mar 1, 2012 03:14
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SpaceMost posted:In (I think) USM Death of Spider-Man: Prelude there's an issue about a kid who gets superpowers from something called the Watcher, and the issue is about Spider-Man & Friends getting him acquainted with his new abilities. That's Rick Jones, and yeah he showed up in the Ultimate Doom stuff, I think.
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Mar 1, 2012 03:22
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Deadpool posted:I did a huge read order for the entire Ultimate universe in chronological (not release) order a while back. And it works better after issue 46 of USM. The arc takes place between issues 46 and 47. In the trades it's Volume 9 which is kind of out of order. To make it work they leave issue 46 out of Volume 7 and just include it with Volume 9. I honestly don't know where that works out on the OSHCs because I don't own those. Thank you, Deadpool and everyone else that responded!
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Mar 1, 2012 04:19
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Wachter posted:Funny how Ultimate Hulk is somehow far more frightening than uberpowerful Worldbreaker 616 Hulk. When he jumped down off that satellite, I was like, "poo poo's on." Hickman, Ribic, and White are writing/drawing/colouring the gently caress out of this book. The only problem I see with it is that I don't think it's a real threat at all. I mean, Reed and the City manage to rid Thor of his godhood. I don't think sucking some gamma radiation out of a guy is going to be difficult at all. I think it'll be a fun fight scene for the 4 or so pages it gets in the next book, but I don't get a real sense of "Oh snap, the fight is on!" VVV: Ah, checking Wikipedia, you're right. Ultimate Hulk is Banner's failed Super-Soldier Serum mixed with Cap's blood. My mistake. Regardless, my point stands. I think if Reed can bring down Asgard and literally sever Thor's connection to Yggdrasil, than taking Banner's Hulk/Cap cocktail out will be an easy fix. TwoPair fucked around with this message at 05:23 on Mar 1, 2012 |
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Mar 1, 2012 05:02
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Someone else can correct me if I'm wrong but I'm pretty sure Ultimate Hulk isn't powered by gamma radiation at all. Instead the process is biological as Banner was trying to recreate the Super Soldier Serum.
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Mar 1, 2012 05:14
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TwoPair posted:The only problem I see with it is that I don't think it's a real threat at all. I mean, Reed and the City manage to rid Thor of his godhood. I don't think sucking some gamma radiation out of a guy is going to be difficult at all. I think it'll be a fun fight scene for the 4 or so pages it gets in the next book, but I don't get a real sense of "Oh snap, the fight is on!" I'm hoping Ultimate Human's portrayal of Hulk as this super adaptive being plays into it.
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Mar 1, 2012 05:50
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muscles like this? posted:Someone else can correct me if I'm wrong but I'm pretty sure Ultimate Hulk isn't powered by gamma radiation at all. Instead the process is biological as Banner was trying to recreate the Super Soldier Serum. Tell that to Loeb and Millar.
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Mar 1, 2012 06:07
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SpeedofLife posted:Tell that to Loeb and Millar. What are you talking about? Millar was the one who developed Ultimate Hulk's origin in The Ultimates as well as that of his mentor in Ultimate Comics: Avengers, neither of which had anything to do with gamma radiation. Both were trying to recreate the super solider serum.
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Mar 1, 2012 06:18
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Kaleidoscope posted:What are you talking about? Millar was the one who developed Ultimate Hulk's origin in The Ultimates as well as that of his mentor in Ultimate Comics: Avengers, neither of which had anything to do with gamma radiation. Both were trying to recreate the super solider serum. No Bendis did in Ultimate Team-up
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Mar 1, 2012 06:38
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bobkatt013 posted:No Bendis did in Ultimate Team-up Bendis created Ultimate Green Hulk. This was purely through Banner's attempt at creating a super-soldier serum. Ultimate Grey Hulk was the result of mixing that serum with Steve Rogers blood sample and has been the Ultimate Hulk since Millar's The Ultimates. Also Tyrone, Banner's hulked out mentor, was entirely Millar's creation. Again, no gamma radiation mentioned anywhere.
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Mar 1, 2012 06:53
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I suppose Reed's tech may have a hard time with something as brutally random as the Hulk is made out to be, super-adaptiveness included.
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Mar 1, 2012 07:46
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Enjoying that She Hulk hasn't been entirely forgotten about but I kind of wish they'd start to wrap up some of the storyline stuff, especially with Ultimate X Men: There's the NIMROD robot plotline, the kids going to Tian, the Magneto-Xavier are back thing, the Quicksilver thing and now SHIELD turncoats. There are too many threads that need to be wrapped up. Still I'm intrigued by the direction that's being pushed in with UXM and Fury but my mind wasn't exactly blown when they did the huge, exposition dialogue of "We must continue our deception!" in the ultimates. It is a bit 'HEY GUYS WE'RE BUILDING A JUPITER BRAIN ON EARTH' 
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Mar 1, 2012 11:45
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Kaleidoscope posted:Again, no gamma radiation mentioned anywhere.  
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Mar 1, 2012 16:47
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That Hulk was a clone who probably didn't actually know anything, and Banner could still be a gamma radiation expert without being infected with it himself.
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Mar 1, 2012 20:12
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Christ, Steve Dillon isn't suited to drawing cape books.
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Mar 1, 2012 20:15
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