# Marvel's The Ultimates **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 14, 2002, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marvels-the-ultimates/132250 "2002-10-14T16:34:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![New\_Improved\_Scott](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f17d59/32.png) [@New\_Improved\_Scott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/New_Improved_Scott)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2002, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marvels-the-ultimates/132250/1 "2002-10-14T16:34:12Z")
Has anyone else been reading this book? I’m not usually an Avengers fan, but Mark Millar (The Authority, Ultimate X-Men) has really made this book a treat. It’s very smooth and real dialogue, and I enjoy the art of the book as well. The only critique I’ve heard of the book so far is that it is a little slow moving. IMHO, that doesn’t matter because it takes some time to get characters flushed out before you can toss them into combat. You can check it out for free online at [www.marvel.com](http://www.marvel.com) and click on the dot.comics link. ---
**Author:** ![Hugh\_Jass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/4da419/32.png) [@Hugh\_Jass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hugh_Jass)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2002, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marvels-the-ultimates/132250/2 "2002-10-14T16:41:55Z")
I’m reading the entire Ultimates line: Spiderman, X-men. I was an Avengers fan when I was a kid, and I have to say I really like this new book. The issue that focused on Hank Pym and his wife (how could I forget her name?) was intense. Neat interpretation of the Hulk and Captain America too. ---
**Author:** ![New\_Improved\_Scott](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f17d59/32.png) [@New\_Improved\_Scott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/New_Improved_Scott)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2002, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marvels-the-ultimates/132250/3 "2002-10-14T16:44:05Z")
Jan. (Janet Van Dyne, the Wasp) ---
**Author:** ![Fenris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fenris/32/498_2.png) [@Fenris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fenris)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2002, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marvels-the-ultimates/132250/4 "2002-10-14T17:10:46Z")
I’m not enjoying it at all, but it’s so damned well done that I keep picking it up to see how Millar will butcher the characters next. I’m sending a mixed message here, so let me rephrase: I appreciate Millar’s craft and he’s telling the story well but it’s not a story that I’m enjoying. Fenris ---
**Author:** ![New\_Improved\_Scott](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f17d59/32.png) [@New\_Improved\_Scott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/New_Improved_Scott)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2002, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marvels-the-ultimates/132250/5 "2002-10-14T20:23:15Z")
That’s probably why I like it. I never really liked the Avengers characters, Cap, Thor, IM, but his butchering/retooling of them has just struck the right chord with me. The Spin on Thor and Hank and Jan are cool, and the characterisation of Cap just seems more “true” to what I’d think his character would do. ---
**Author:** ![ResIpsaLoquitor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b3f665/32.png) [@ResIpsaLoquitor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ResIpsaLoquitor)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2002, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marvels-the-ultimates/132250/6 "2002-10-14T21:57:23Z")
Cap and Iron Man are generally fine in the series (although Cap is a little too sanctimonious). The rest of 'em? Bad parodies of themselves. And where in the hell is issue #7? ---
**Author:** ![Fenris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fenris/32/498_2.png) [@Fenris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fenris)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2002, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marvels-the-ultimates/132250/7 "2002-10-14T23:31:04Z")
I agree with **Res** : I really, REALLY don’t like his take on Hank/Jan. Thor is odd, but not horrible ('though if you want to talk sanctimonious…) and after a reread, the Freddie Prinz Jr. thing was just dumb. Fenris ---
**Author:** ![New\_Improved\_Scott](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f17d59/32.png) [@New\_Improved\_Scott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/New_Improved_Scott)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2002, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marvels-the-ultimates/132250/8 "2002-10-15T17:26:09Z")
As far as Freddie Prinze jr. goes, I think using real celebrities instead of creating them works better. (Lila Cheney, Sugar Kane). They’ve used real politicians in comics before, why not real Hollywood actors? ---
**Author:** ![JDeMobray](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/85e7bf/32.png) [@JDeMobray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JDeMobray)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2002, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marvels-the-ultimates/132250/9 "2002-10-15T17:50:21Z")
Using real celebrities (or real presidents _Hi, JLI_) tends to date things; which is always bad in the mostly unchanging world of comics. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Angel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d26b3c/32.png) [@Johnny\_Angel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Angel)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2002, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marvels-the-ultimates/132250/10 "2002-10-15T19:04:40Z")
I like the ULtimates. One of the advantages to starting old storylines over is that for one thing they can update them and stave off the time dilation. Furthermore, they create an opening for new fans to jump in without a huge foggy history to worry about. They consolidate some story lines, and emphasize others in a different order than they actually played out, which may bug some old school fans, but it’s better done and with more depth than you tend to see in movie or T.V. adaptations. I do think the decision to make Sgt. Fury black (clearly modeled after Samuel L. Jackson) tends to smack of desperate revisionism. Well, if they want to bring in more minorities as per our modern sensibilities, how else would they do it, since there are relatively few in Marvel history? But Sgt. Fury was part of the super soldier program in WWII, and somehow I just don’t see the program being that liberal in the 40’s. ---
**Author:** ![elf6c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c57346/32.png) [@elf6c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elf6c)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2002, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marvels-the-ultimates/132250/11 "2002-10-15T19:23:23Z")
I have been digging the Ultimates series as well as the various Ultimate \_\_\_\_, takes especially the Ultimate Spiderman series. Actually I didn’t mind Fury being an African American, but did find him to be to Samuel L. Jackson-ish as well. I really liked the Hank and Jan meltdown. I only follow them on the marvel dot comics website though. ---
**Author:** ![elf6c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c57346/32.png) [@elf6c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elf6c)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2002, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marvels-the-ultimates/132250/12 "2002-10-15T19:38:04Z")
I have been digging the Ultimates series as well as the various Ultimate \_\_\_\_, takes especially the Ultimate Spiderman series. Actually I didn’t mind Fury being an African American, but did find him to be to Samuel L. Jackson-ish as well. I really liked the Hank and Jan meltdown. I only follow them on the marvel dot comics website though. ---
**Author:** ![El\_Elvis\_Rojo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@El\_Elvis\_Rojo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Elvis_Rojo)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2002, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marvels-the-ultimates/132250/13 "2002-10-15T23:28:22Z")
I like the series. I’ve never been a big fan of the Avengers, but I find this book rather interesting. Part of what I like is that it’s a Superhero book with no Supervillains. That’s just a cool idea in my mind. sure, all that will change in time, but it really helps set up good characterization and lets them go and flush out the world a bit for everyone without getting too hokey. It’s something fresh and inventive, and of course, the artwork is amazing. I don’t know too much about many of the characters (the Wasp and Giant/Ant-Man), but I do like the take they put on the Hulk. Banner is just such a loser, and all the other team members are just shits to him, the whole set up with him, essentially trying to sacrifice himself by becoming the Hulk was an interesting twist. All of the characters are unstable, and I’m really looking forward to seeing what happens when they do have to start fighting “as a team.” I only collect about three books now, and this is one of them, so it gets a thumbs up from me. We’ll see what happens when the artwork goes to shit, though.