I’m thinking of buying it for myself. This re-imagining of the Avengers sounds really cool from the reviews. See, I had the choice betwen The Ultimates and new boxing gloves for Christmas, and I picked the boxing gloves. Was it the right choice?
The biggest problem for me is that the compilations are too short. I believe the first volume is about $20 Canadian, which means that for two volumes of The Ultimates, I could buy a novel that would last far longer than just 30 minutes or so. What is the comic book like, specifically art and storytelling? Is it really worth it, especially for someone who hasn’t bought comics in years?
Also, what about the other Ultimate titles? What is the quality of their art and storytelling? Good, bad, so-so?
As far as the ULTIMATE titles go, the ULTIMATES isn’t the worst.
That said, it’s not very good. The re-imagining isn’t as radical as one might think, the characters don’t have anything to do (which was kind of the point of the series: the gov’t makes superheroes to fight supervillians who may or may not exist, but the heroes have nothing to do because there aren’t really any supervillians to fight. Nice metaphor and all) and the story is too self-reflexive to be much fun.
The art, however, is awesome.
As for the other Ultimate Titles: you have a compilation, ugh. Bendis (which, if you like, is good, if not, no), X-Men (Bendis and MIllar), none of which are very good in my opinion.
Whereas I love Bendis’ Ultimate Spider-Man (though not so much hi work on Ult X-Men so far) and Millar’s Ult X-Men. I also really like Ultimates and think the first story arc definitely works better as a TPB. Maybe that’s because it took about a year for the actual issues to finally all hit the stands.
Whatever you do though, do NOT buy Ultimate Adventures. In fact if you even see a copy of it, pry your eyes out of their sockets, stomp them, soak them in lighter fluid and burn them to ashes, as they will no longer want to look at anything else for fear it may be as bad as that book.
I totally agree with Max Carnage’s assessment of Ultimate Adventures.
I reccomend picking up the first Ultimate trade if you want to give it a shot. The series isn’t even that long, so you’re getting a big chunk of it right there.
I’d also like to warn you that even if you love Ultimates, run and hide from Ultimate War.
Really? They all sounded so great. And I thought an Avengers vs. X-Men series would almost be impossible to screw up. So I take it my decade-long hiatus from comic books was well-timed?
I was really looking forward to Ultimate War as well, but they just really dropped the ball on that one. Most of the action happened out of frame, and there wasn’t the big huge bash I was hoping for. Sure, you got to see Colossus smack the shit out of Iron Man, but that was about it. And Wolverine being taken down by a couple of shots from an assault riffle? After everything else he did in that run? Just really piss poor. I think the worst bit about it was it never concluded in its own run! The final three parts of the story were all in Ultimate X-Men, and The Ultimates pretty much skipped over it entirely.
One thing I did kinda like, though Cpt. America recognizing Wolverine and knowing his real name. That was kinda cool. If the two ever meet again, perhaps they can wrap up a bit of Logan’s past in this universe and make it not suck so much like the “real” world’s origin they developed (I can’t believe they ripped off the Secret Garden)
And I’ve only glanced at a couple of the Ultimate Adventures, but I was highly unimpressed. It looks like a really bad Batman rip-off.
Anyone read Ultimates/Spiderman: the Six? I glanced threw the first issue, and again, I really like the way the Ultimates function (or more precisely, fail to function) as a team.
Ctp: “Thor, stop him.”
Thor: “No.”
I really like the way they’ve developed the characters, and I gotta say, I love the Cap uniform! I can’t wait to see more of the Hulk in the series, and really wish they’d start shooting the issues out a bit faster, damnit!
Ah yes, Ulitmate Six. One of my top three must read books (the other two being Supreme Power and JLA/Avengers…neither of which are Ultimate so nevermind.)
Nick Fury: “Team…this is Spider-Man.”
Iron Man: “Did you…go back in time to find him?”
I only have one ish of Ultimates so far, and it was pretty good, though I knew partially what was happening from spoilers. After another month or two they are going to finish up the arc and start a whole new storyline for another 12 issues, which I think is not only a cool idea, but gives a great place for new readers to jump in.
Oh, and Max, the JLA/Avenger thing has been all right, but a little confusing both story-wise and just in reading. Have you liked it?
More than starting another story arc, they are rebootin the series after only 13 issues and starting over at #1 :rolleyes: Still if that means they are going to be on time for once, I’m for it.
JLA/Avengers I’ve really loved, but #3 was a bit more confusing than the other issues since I don’t know DC history that well. Can’t wait til Feb to see the end.
Ultimate Fantastic Four launches this month too. The previews I’ve seen look good, but how in the hell are they going to retcon it so that it fits with what we’ve seen already? I’ll just ignore the Ultimate Team-Up issue of FF since they broke the 4th wall in it a lot. But so far I’ve seen a Reed Richards Building at ESU I think and comments about the work that Stark and Richards have done. Also Human Torch has been mentioned in USM. Bendis has said he will even be able to include the Team Up issue in continuity. I’ll believe it when I see it. And I will see it, cause I’m looking forward to it.
Oh, yeah! Thanks for reminding me. Ultimate FF is in my “reserve” box at my comic shop … waiting for me to come get it. I like the FF, and I picked up the short run Jim Lee did on it a few years back. From the preview they had in Wizard, I can’t wait. Changing the backstory a little can’t hurt at all, as far as I’m concerned.
Darn. I purposefully skipped that one since I was so dissapointed by Ultimate War and I recently dropped Ultimate Spider-Man as well, now I kinda wish I’d gotten it.
I really, really love JLA/Avengers. Now that Formerly Known as the Justice League is over, it’s probably my favorite thing going right now.
I didn’t think Ultimate War was that bad. It wasn’t great on action, but it did have a couple of good moments, like when Wolvie took out the helicopters. The Ultimates has been reasonably fun too. Not groundbreaking work, but generally enjoyable.