Ultimate Marvel

Yah, USM was good this week. No clues about the hooded character yet! Well, other than that they're young, but no idea on gender. I'm still thinking maybe Kitty somehow!

Nymn wrote:Yah, USM was good this week. No clues about the hooded character yet! Well, other than that they're young, but no idea on gender. I'm still thinking maybe Kitty somehow!

That would be an interesting development, if it were Kitty.

It would explain the not being able to be shot part, that's for sure.

Nymn wrote:It would explain the not being able to be shot part, that's for sure.

True.

Ultimate Comics Spider-Man #4

I'm loving this book. Bendis is truly the master of real life dialogue. His handle on Peter's teenage drama filled life is awesome. The love triangle with Pete, MJ, and Gwen gets more and more interesting each issue. And then throw Johnny in the mix...I have a feeling he might get involved in this triangle somehow, maybe straining his and Pete's friendship. Plus, the reimagination of Mysterio has been great, that scene with the Hulk illusion was badass. Oh and I'm really enjoying the art. It perfectly suits the book, and its so crisp and clean. The facial expressions, the movement, the fight scenes are all on point.

I have never read a Marvel: Ultimate book and was wondering if I could get some suggestions. I have heard good things of the Spider-Man and Fantastic Four books, but not much positivity about the rest of the books. Are they any good? Also is the Ultimate Galactus storyline any good?

Ultimate Spider-Man is the best one, IMO! Pick up the first few trades, they have some fun stories. UFF was kinda hit and miss, some stories were good, others were just blah.
I read the Galactus story, but I barely remember it, so...I'd say it wasn't very memorable! UXM was a good comic until around when Kirkman got on it, then it just meandered. Plus, he pretty much retconned away everything at the end of his run! So you could just skip his stuff and miss nothing.

Nymn wrote:Ultimate Spider-Man is the best one, IMO! Pick up the first few trades, they have some fun stories. UFF was kinda hit and miss, some stories were good, others were just blah.
I read the Galactus story, but I barely remember it, so...I'd say it wasn't very memorable! UXM was a good comic until around when Kirkman got on it, then it just meandered. Plus, he pretty much retconned away everything at the end of his run! So you could just skip his stuff and miss nothing.

So basically, just pick up the spider-man book and some of the F.F. ones?

Uhmmm...I'd say at least the first three USM trades and first two UFF ones. You can make your decision from there! UXM is pretty neat, too, check out the first trade and see what you think.

UCSM #4 was pretty good.

Bigtymin504 wrote:Ultimate Comics Spider-Man #4

I'm loving this book. Bendis is truly the master of real life dialogue. His handle on Peter's teenage drama filled life is awesome. The love triangle with Pete, MJ, and Gwen gets more and more interesting each issue. And then throw Johnny in the mix...I have a feeling he might get involved in this triangle somehow, maybe straining his and Pete's friendship. Plus, the reimagination of Mysterio has been great, that scene with the Hulk illusion was badass. Oh and I'm really enjoying the art. It perfectly suits the book, and its so crisp and clean. The facial expressions, the movement, the fight scenes are all on point.

No, Bigtymin504 isn't my little brother, but he could be. This book hasn't been as great as it was in issue #1, but nevertheless has yet to suffer in quality. The "imagined" fight between Spidey & Hulk was really fun. I like how the Ultimate Hulk is the Gray one. The Ultimate Hood thing helps make things very interesting and I have no complaints over the legoland Manga art. I like that's it's way different than the 616 one. We don't need 2 of the same book and I thank Bendis and La Fuente for creating a whole new world. Not my favorite book, but I can see this one becoming so.

3.5/5 Bags&Boards - Worth Buying

andy546 wrote:I have never read a Marvel: Ultimate book and was wondering if I could get some suggestions. I have heard good things of the Spider-Man and Fantastic Four books, but not much positivity about the rest of the books. Are they any good? Also is the Ultimate Galactus storyline any good?

Ultimate Spider-Man is definitely the best Ultimate book. Start at the beginning and get the first trade. If you like it I actually recommend the entire run of the book. It's all great. Some arcs are better than others, but even the weaker ones are entertaining.

For Ultimate FF I say get the first three trades (which is the first 18 issues IIRC). That's when the book was at it's best. It dropped off in quality after that. I haven't read the entire run of the book yet, but towards the end it was majorly sucking.

I agree with Nymn, Ultimate X-Men was good up until Kirkman's run. His stuff just wasn't that good. Then the last issues, written by Aron Coletie were horrendous. They were so far beyond bad that I can't even begin to describe them. The best Ultimate X-Men stuff IMO, was the Millar stuff and the Bendis stuff. Vaughan's stuff wasn't bad either.

I haven't read Ultimate Galactus.

Ultimates 1 and 2 are FANTASTIC. They are just amazing. I can't recommend them highly enough. However, I'd steer clear of Ultimates 3. It was awful. As was Ultimatum.

LOOSECANNON wrote:Ultimate Comics Armor Wars #2

Garth Ennis may disappoint on Astonishing but his Thunderbolt-led voice comes through here. Justine Hammer may have been the weak link in the debut, but her character improves greatly as Tony's sidekick. While Fraction is going down as an all-time Iron Man fav, I can't help but love Warren Ellis' take--especially with the obnoxious boozing--on the man inside the machine. This book did a great job using something stupid (Ultimatum) and turning into a fine story. The espionage flare of the plot, the mysterious take on other metallic combatants, and the chemistry between Tony and his cohorts makes this one to squeeze. It's a surprise this year, for sure, and will no doubtly play 3rd wheel behind Avengers & Spidey in the Ultimate U, but don't sleep on this title because this mini looks to be another wonderful edition to Ellis' resume.

3.5/5 Bags&Boards - Worth Buying

I'm a bit late on reading this as it didn't arrive at the comic shop the week it was due. Anyway I pretty much enjoyed it also and some of my reservations about the way Ellis (not Garth Ennis!) was writing Stark were allayed with this issue. I think he just writes Stark with a good sense of humour - he's always ready with a quip.

The highlight for me was Tony's "repulsor gun". Holy crap! Not did it just completely obliterate the bad guy but a number of objects for some distance behind the building they were in! And it looks like Ellis has things all set up for a nice fight next issue.

This has been fun.

Advanced solicits for Feb-

http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=23720

Ultimate Comics Avengers #4

This is the type of book you could easily read in 5 minutes. I was actually surprised it took me a little longer despite this issue becoming one long action sequence (or maybe it's because the TV was on?).

There are going to be a lot of detractors of this book. Why? For one, Mark Millar's writing it. People either love his stuff (me, big action flick fans) or hate it (those looking for character development, 616 characterization and intellectual reasoning, the often $3.99 price tag). Also, some fans are going to say this title is still stuck in an early Bush-led, post-9/11 era. Captain America, as a post-Obama election hero, acting like a runaway rogue here makes no sense. Nerd Hulk fighting with his tie and shoes on makes no sense. Black Widow looking like a sexy female Snake Eyes makes no sense. War Machine looking like a Transf...

You get the point.

People. This is the Ultimate Avengers. This is Mark Millar's universe. There's no proper way of explaining anything that goes on in this book except that it's 5-10 minutes of pure eye-titilating adrenaline rush. Carlos Pacheco might have panels that go sideways, diagonal, upside down. Hell, there might be less than 20 panels in the whole book. You're probably paying a quarter a panel. Who knows.

Did you enjoy it? Was it fun? Do you like where this book is going? Are you interested in seeing what's next? Those, people, are merely the questions that matter to Millar. And going by the hot sales of this title, those are the questions that matter to Marvel too.

3/5 Red Skulls - Excellent art, fun action, not terribly memorable

Another excellent issue in Ultimate Avengers # 4. Millar and Pacheco have rescued the Ultimates (though I guess they're not called that anymore) from the ruin caused by Loeb and Joe Mad.

Debaser77 wrote:Another excellent issue in Ultimate Avengers # 4. Millar and Pacheco have rescued the Ultimates (though I guess they're not called that anymore) from the ruin caused by Loeb and Joe Mad.

QFT.

Ultimate Comics Spider-Man #5

More of the same from Bendis, the consistently entertaining drama of Peter Parker's life. The dialogue is spot on and hilarious as usual. I love this idea of turning Aunt May's house into a homeless shelter for super-teens lol. First Gwen Stacy, now Johnny Storm and Bobby Drake! I wouldn't be surprised if Kitty moves in at some point.

Man, if Kitty moves in, things will really get awkward! What's the deal with Jessica, though? It doesn't seem like Peter interacts with her much. You'd think he'd be chummier with his clone than he has been.

Batman25JM wrote:

Debaser77 wrote:Another excellent issue in Ultimate Avengers # 4. Millar and Pacheco have rescued the Ultimates (though I guess they're not called that anymore) from the ruin caused by Loeb and Joe Mad.

QFT.

Double QFT!

I thought #4 was another fun read. The Cap chase through Paris was great. The amount of destruction caused to catch one man is insane and in reality Fury probably shouldn't get away with it but who cares!

My only gripe - Nerd Hulk. I hate clones and for them to have grown this character so apparently easily is mildly annoying.

Pacheco's art wasn't quite up to the previous three issues but I think that may be due to a different inker.

Ultimate Comics Spider-Man #5

I really enjoyed this issue. I have fully accepted the art, and now really enjoy it.

I love that Bendis had made Mysterio into a bad ass.

Bigtymin504 wrote:Ultimate Comics Spider-Man #5

More of the same from Bendis, the consistently entertaining drama of Peter Parker's life. The dialogue is spot on and hilarious as usual. I love this idea of turning Aunt May's house into a homeless shelter for super-teens lol. First Gwen Stacy, now Johnny Storm and Bobby Drake! I wouldn't be surprised if Kitty moves in at some point.

Yeah, I love Aunt May taking in all the kids. It's going to be interesting, that's for sure. It'll also be nice for Peter to have super hero allies easily accessible. I hope that Kitty is around a lot as well.

Nymn wrote:Man, if Kitty moves in, things will really get awkward! What's the deal with Jessica, though? It doesn't seem like Peter interacts with her much. You'd think he'd be chummier with his clone than he has been.

I want to see more of Jessica. The whole idea of a female clone of a male is very interesting to me. I'd be interesting if she moved in the the Parker home.

Ultimate Comics Spider-Man #5

Much has been said about the manga-inspired art of David Lafuente, the ongoing orphanage in the home of Aunt May, and the newly-found creepiness of Bendis' new Mysterio. All of these factors improve in bunches, making #5 Ultimate Comics Spidey's best issue since it's inception.

My favorite moments: Kitty's mom's Screamish discovery of a fellow mutant, Peter putting in "trust" in his new boss, and the ultimate showdown between Spidey and Mysterio. The storytelling from Lafuente was especially excellent in this scenario. The panels move swiftly and are full of life as each punch, kick and magical zap is thrown. It's always great to see built-up battles live up to the hype.

I'll admit it, I'm liking this book a lot more than I'd originally wanted. I didn't feel like adding three more $3.99 books to my list with the trio of new Ultimate Comics books; but they've all been good-to-excellent. Despite this factor, I can't help but feel like there's something missing in this book. I can't quite point my finger on it, but it's probably just because I want ten more pages...and that's just me being a whiner. Good job Bendis, this is definitely your baby and it shows.

4/5 Drake Snowballs - Excellent

LOOSECANNON wrote:I can't quite point my finger on it, but it's probably just because I want ten more pages...and that's just me being a whiner.

Yes! I always feel the same way about this title. That's a sign that a writer is doing his job, I guess.

Ultimate Comics Spider-Man #6

I really enjoyed this. I love that Iceman, Human Torch, and Kitty are all regular supporting characters. It's awesome. I hope they stay for a long time.

Batman25JM wrote:Ultimate Comics Spider-Man #6

I really enjoyed this. I love that Iceman, Human Torch, and Kitty are all regular supporting characters. It's awesome. I hope they stay for a long time.

Agreed.