How come event comics never have accurate taglines? This one needs to be, "the one where everyone dies!"
Monday, May 16, 2011
Ultimatum #1-2
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153 comments:
I’m currently reading through Ultimate Spider-Man & Ultimate X-Men, but have finished Ultimate Fantastic Four. Reading this summary & review should thankfully allow me to ignore picking up the comic itself to read, though I probably will have to read through Ultimatum tie ins for each series sadly if I want to put all of them to rest.
Time to sum up my reactions and things to note:
+ Having read Ultimate Fantastic Four all the way through, at no point did Ultimate Dr. Doom return from the Marvel Zombie Universe after he was sent there. Why the hell is he back in this world?
+ My reaction to Blob and Wasp? *Insert most disgusting picture of person puking you can find*
+ Jeph Loeb actually has a history of screwing with Thor’s hammer if I recall correctly a certain issue of Hulk involving Red Hulk.
+ Also, don’t forget to include a final body count total from the remaining 3 series that are happening alongside Ultimatum as well. Here’s a quick one: Daredevil from Ultimate Spider-Man (possibly the only good death in all of this story, but that isn’t saying much)
+ Oh boy, this was a good start, but I am pumped to see the rest of the series’ review now.
+ I concur, you should called this month Ultimate Month, but put quotations around Ultimate.
+ Great moment after the credits. Won’t say what happened, but damn. I’m getting even more scared with every new step in this story arc.
Ultimatum. Ouch. Why am I looking longingly at my grandfathers pocket knife? I don't even like Marvel Comics.
Oh, that's why.
Who thought that was a good idea. Killing infamous characters even non-fans like my self easily recognise is one of the most pointless plot contrivances imaginable. Especially in comic books that have the familiar twist of resurrecting people at the drop of a hat (or ret-conning them into clones, ect, ect). Then I read the magnetic powers changing the poles of the planet. Holy heck, from a quasi-science background that I have this hurts.
But all in all I've read worse stories, and worse science elsewhere. Right up until the cannibalism, it was pointless, useless and other than to add to the "Kill Kount" with a 'Hey Countdown; we've got more dead than you in the first two issues!' boast every death was utterly wasted. It might not be main continuity but this level of contempt for your work has to be deliberate.
Waiting for next week, with a bag of Wasp kibbles and bits.
Thomas
PS Please watch a film called The Core. Its responsible for a science cock up even bigger than the one here. I'm not kidding, it might give you some ammo here. Not that you'd need it
Wow. That ending gave me all kinds of chills. An epic return for the ninja style dancer!
I am also glad to see the return of our beloved continuity alarm. I missed that joke.
Why didn't Nightcrawler BAMF! away from the wave? Did he drown instantly or can ultimate Nightcrawler not teleport?
To quote one of my brother's comments in regards to this review:
"Always hurts worse when it's characters you like ¬_¬"
to which I said:
"hurts even more when it happens to a character you like at a point that was published before you started to like them"
In this case, for me, it was Wasp. My first introduction to Wasp was from the Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes cartoon and in that she's my favourite character. So then I go look up some info about her and find out that she's dead in both Ultimate and regular Marvel continuity. Ah, guess I'll have to go for some old stuff if I want to get some Wasp.
Thank you for killing off a vast majority of one of my favorite teams Marvel Comics, it shows that you have care for your characters more than DC, (bite me you hacks). Also, thanks for killing off one of the founding members of the original team. Also, thank you for killing, in total, 90% of the Ultimate Marvel Universe. (my personal estimate)
Why Jeph Loeb? You made Hush, one of my favorite Batman stories. You WROTE THE LONG HALLOWEEN! I might expect this from a lunatic like Mark Millar, but not you.
Eagerly awaiting the rest of the destruction of this piece of shit. Now Im going to blow chunks after seeing Wasp being eaten alive by the Blob. What is the point of these deaths? I know people have criticized Infinite Crisis, but at least in that Connor's death (even though it was Superbitch-pussy that killed him) had meaning. His death created New Earth and the 52 Earth Multiverse. It had character impact that was shown in 52. He went out like a hero. In this, it's like Jeph Loeb and the rest of the creative team put all the character's names in a top hat, drew a specific number of them out and plotted out pointless and gruesome deaths just to make the cast smaller (which I am sure was the case). In short, THIS COMIC FUCKING SUCKS. (also to Jeph Loeb, read a freaking on actual physics before you write crap).
Also, to everyone who might have been shocked by Magneto being responsible for this, I have prepared this response: (ahem, inhales) A-DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (Progressively gets angrier until bellowing).
First off,have to say, thank goodness the ninja's not dead yet. More than we can say for Johnny Storm, Charles Xavier - sorry, got off topic. Anyways, yeah, it seems Loeb's been having something of a breakdown ever since his son died. That's very sad, to be certain, but that doesn't excuse the many and pointless deaths in this comic. Marvel, how did this even get past the editor's desk? You thought the Thor scene would make up for the Blob? Sorry, it DOESN'T. Not by a long shot.
Holy mother of god I just re-watched your Ultimates 3 review literally yesterday when I was introducing my brother to this show.
Immediately afterwards I said "Gee, I wonder if he's still planning on getting around to that Ultimatum review..."
And today I find this. Linkara you are awesome. :D
This review was very entertaining, and god damn, I was disappointed by the two deaths in the last few pages. It boggles my mind that after all these years, people still haven't learned that shock value doesn't necessarily make for good writing, and usually doesn't.
Also, wow, that computer voice and laugh at the end sounded very much like SHODAN from the System Shock games. :-D
Also follow up, (on the two page spread that you have to turn. Blackest Night used that method with the reveal of Nekron, but that was done for dramatic effect to reveal the Lord of the Dead and the perpetrator of the resurrections of the dead of the DC universe, as well as to show his proportions in contrast to others and give him a perfect dramatic reveal to finally him out of comic books obscurity since his first appearance in the 80's in Tales of the Green Lantern Corp. The key difference however? BLACKEST NIGHT DIDN'T SUCK!!! (and yes, it also had tie-ins but at least the main plot tie-ins were in the Green Lantern storyline that fans of the comic were sure to pick up. At least that's how I see it, could be wrong.)
uhm, iron man pulling captain america out of the water was actually in the first issue, for some reason you skipped over it
also nothing too majorthat happens to the ultimates happens in another comic, ultimatum is mostly from the point of view of the ultimates members
"(and yes, it also had tie-ins but at least the main plot tie-ins were in the Green Lantern storyline that fans of the comic were sure to pick up. At least that's how I see it, could be wrong.)"
Blackest Night was actually the first event where I bought most of the tie-ins and I didn't regret it - they did the simple job of running with the premise introduced and creating enjoyable stories out of it.
"uhm, iron man pulling captain america out of the water was actually in the first issue, for some reason you skipped over it"
No, I didn't - the scene where they're together and talking and I make the joke, "Oh, my God, that's my liquor distributor down there!" but at no point during that sequence does Cap fall unconscious again, and as I pointed out - it's really weird for him to go from perfectly lucid to suddenly dying and dead. I don't know, maybe that actually happens with people drowning, but still...
Mjolnir in the Ultimate Universe can be lifted by anyone. It's not enchanted like the 616 hammer. It is later wielded by Valkyrie, Loki, and the Defenders. None of that "He Who is Worthy..." garbage. If you have hands you can lift it.
Magneto hitting the earth like a bell with Thor's Hammer makes more sense with him causing all sorts of ecological devastation than "he's Magneto LOL!"
"Mjolnir in the Ultimate Universe can be lifted by anyone. It's not enchanted like the 616 hammer. It is later wielded by Valkyrie, Loki, and the Defenders. None of that "He Who is Worthy..." garbage. If you have hands you can lift it."
Fair enough, I shall comment on it next episode.
"No, I didn't - the scene where they're together and talking and I make the joke, "Oh, my God, that's my liquor distributor down there!" but at no point during that sequence does Cap fall unconscious again, and as I pointed out - it's really weird for him to go from perfectly lucid to suddenly dying and dead. I don't know, maybe that actually happens with people drowning, but still... "
sorry, i was doing internet searching for stuff and some reason forgot that you went over that, damn my short term memory loss, but you are right, drowning effects don't work like how they did on captain america, plus it's captain america, the guy who has the super soldier serum flowing through his blood (in ultimate avengers 3, they say that the serum can help against any kind of disease and internal failures, even to ones that aren't treatable to regular people, like vampirism, no i'm not kidding the SSS helps fight off the "vampire disease") so cap has absolutely no reason to be affected so badly as death from slight drowning
Hey, Link, why do you avoid talking about the cover on a "Trade"? Is there a difference between "trade" and "regular" comics?
BTW, why DID they have the need to actually draw the Blob eating the Wasp?
Freaky stinger...
Anyway, off topic: I have yet to watch Kickassia, so I have to ask: Are the clips at 2:56 and 3:05 (during your theme song) from Kickassia?
Anyway, off topic again: Have you seen the new Thor movie yet? If you have, what did you think of it? If you haven't, do you plan on seeing it?
Anyway (going for Rule of Three there), ON topic: Which is worse, Countdown, or Ultimatum?
also, why didnt you mention the stupidity of hank pym growing to his biggest height thus destroying the stark mansion and putting everyone in danger of drowning or getting washed away, so basically, if looked upon at the right standpoints, the reason the blob was even able to eat wasp was because of hank pym
and once again i do apologize for calling you out on something you actually pointed out, blame my short term memory loss
"Hey, Link, why do you avoid talking about the cover on a "Trade"? Is there a difference between "trade" and "regular" comics?"
A trade paperback is a collection of several individual issues of comics - therefore the covers for the individual issues have no bearing on whether or not someone will pick it up.
Now, of course a trade has its own cover, but it's either an original piece done just for it being a collection or just a reprint of one of the issue covers.
Covers play a huge part in comics because of price and getting attention to it on a rack of other comics - not so much when in a book store or in a comic shop where trades are placed how one would normally place books on a shelf. As such, the cover might be nifty, but it's not worth talking about compared to single issues.
Um, wait a minute. You express surprise at the Continuity Alarm going off, but... it went off in the Spider-Man/Fantastic Four Brain Drain review! ...That's probably something that should of set it off, too.
Also, no mention of Peter talking about "The Dark Knight"? Considering you showed that panel twice, I'm a little surprised.
"Um, wait a minute. You express surprise at the Continuity Alarm going off, but... it went off in the Spider-Man/Fantastic Four Brain Drain review! ...That's probably something that should of set it off, too."
DAMN! Thought I hadn't used it in a while. XD
Also, the continuity alarm does not go off for continuity errors, but rather for me giving long exposition about continuity that no one cares about.
"Freaky stinger...
Anyway, off topic: I have yet to watch Kickassia, so I have to ask: Are the clips at 2:56 and 3:05 (during your theme song) from Kickassia?
Anyway, off topic again: Have you seen the new Thor movie yet? If you have, what did you think of it? If you haven't, do you plan on seeing it?
Anyway (going for Rule of Three there), ON topic: Which is worse, Countdown, or Ultimatum?"
-Yep, they are from Kickassia.
-Yep, I liked it.
-Countdown remains worse in my mind, and I'll get to why at the end of the 3-parter (unless I forget, in which case I'll just say it's the difference between 51 issues over an entire year that suck as opposed to a 5-issue event comics that's over in less than half a year).
Thank you for this, Linkara. I've been looking forward to it ever since Ultimates 3 showed up.
I actually LOVED the Ultimate universe (fair enough that you didn't, personal taste is just that) and was furious when Marvel killed virtually everyone off, especially since so many of them got cheap deaths.
This may seem obvious, but...
Maybe Magneto used the ability of Thor's hammer to control weather to do all this stuff?
That was my assumption when I heard he had it…
I'm shocked... That last death, made me yell at my computer. The rest are pointless Death's. But Magneto killing Prof X... JUST PLAIN WRONG AND SHOULD NEVER HAPPEN!!! I mena the Magneto might not like his former friend, but I don't even see him wanting to rage kill him from being compared to hitler. Hell I don't think a man like Magneto would even care he was compared to Hitler all that much, he'll just turn it around in such a way to show how he's not like that and better then that.
I used to glance at "Ultimate Spider-Man" and I remember looking at a page from "Ultimatum" where Jamesson sees Spider-Man swimming underwater, trying to bring a civilian to the surface. That image has always stuck in my mind and I told myself, "Maybe one day, I'll read all of this Ultimatum".
I'm so glad I didn't now. I'll admit, the first issue did a good job in setting up everything but all the needless deaths are just too much. That and the image of the Blob munching on Wasp is probably going to haunt my nightmares.
Instead of "Ultimate Month", it should be, "Ultimate (In Name Only) Month".
From an online dictionary:
Ultimate
ul·ti·mate
–adjective
1.
last; furthest or farthest; ending a process or series
2.
maximum; decisive; conclusive
3.
highest; not subsidiary
So Ultimate FAIL is plausible, even if it breaks a rule of grammar (I'm guessing it does)
Wonder what's up with the Ninja Style Dancer? He was missing in the other video, and now we saw this.
If Magneto wanted to create an earthquake like that, why didn't he get Avalanche? He's a fellow mutant and might of done it.
Up till the part with Wasp I was hoping Ultimatum would be a case of "so bad it's good" but that chance died quicker than Dazzler after I saw that. Then again I like Countdown and JLA: Act of God, so maybe I'll end up liking it. I have weird taste in comics lol.
....(facepalm)
Well, clearly, Ultimate Marvel water has a (much) higher iron content; how else could Magneto control the tides?
Excellent review as always. I must apologize for my ignorance, but is this a different Squadron Supreme than the one from the...mid 80's? Last seen (by me, anyway) in the pages of Quasar?
"In this case, for me, it was Wasp. My first introduction to Wasp was from the Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes cartoon and in that she's my favourite character. So then I go look up some info about her and find out that she's dead in both Ultimate and regular Marvel continuity. Ah, guess I'll have to go for some old stuff if I want to get some Wasp. "
You and I are kindred spirits buddy. The death of Wasp was where I lost my patience with Brian Michael Bendis and I refuse to turn back until someone at Marvel brings her back to life. I've always found Janet to be ten times more interesting a character than her husband Hank and was one of my favorite female comic book characters and it pissed me off that Bendis (I'm trying to avoid too much profanity here for Linkara's sake since I'm much more vulgar in regards to talking about how much Bendis is a hack) killed her off in such a mean-spirited way.
And then this happened to her Ultimate universe counterpart that only rubbed so much DAMN liquor and salty water into the wounds. Not only was this twice as mean-spirited as her death in Secret Invasion but it was disgusting and selfish shock gore. If I wanted cannibalism like that in comic-book form, I'd read one of the hundreds of zombie related comics that exist not a superhero book. (Not counting Marvel Zombies) It was THIS that pretty much got me to quit comics for good until I discovered a quirky little independent manga-styled comic called Gold Digger that I changed my mind.....and Deadpool. I also got back into comics because of Deadpool.
Someone already explained the stuff about Mjolinir. Reed and Sue are about 19 in this continuity and Reed was worryingly obsessive in the Ultimate universe (and gets worse post-Ultimatum). I share your pet peeve about pointless sideways pages but they would probably have just used the extra page to kill more people.
Couple of things: Ultimate Nick Fury isn't evil as such but he's even more morally ambiguous and ruthless than mainstream Fury. Hulk was moved out of his prison in the Triskelion basement so he could be executed (by nuking him while he was unconscious). Thanks to the intervention of Hank Pym, Banner woke up, switched to the Hulk and escaped being executed. That was back in Ultimates 2 and he's been wandering the world since then.
Ultimate Thor is still all kinds of awesome though. Great review.
Something I never understood: Magneto is a survivor of the Shoah (he still has, even in Ultimates continuity, his tattoo from the concentration camps). His entire war against humanity is born from the fear that one day, humans will commit the same genocide against mutants.
Why then, does the master of magnetism seem so ready to commit genocide against his fellow mutants himself?
I guess the Ultimates universe drives everybody nuts.
I think I know where the whole "magnetic field reversal causing great destruction" came from.
There's something called the 'pole shift hypothesis' were the Earth would literary change its axial tilt in a matter of days (or hours, as some say). Here's a short YouTube video about it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Lhs7VR52Bg
As you can see by the video, it is a favorite among the 2012 Doomsday people. However, most scientists think it's bullshit and I happen to agree. There is no evidence that the Earth's axial tilt has chanced rapidly. The closest thing to that is 'true polar wander', where the axial tilt does change significantly, but happens over millions of years (I believe you mentioned this in your review).
Why I'm bringing this up is because I've seen many people confuse geomagnetic reversal for polar shift. It's possible Loeb was one of these people and didn't do proper research for the comic. (And even if it was polar shift in the comic, I doubt Magneto could actually do it.)
Okay with this comic seemed pretty bad, but when Magneto snapped Professor X's neck, that was INEXCUSABLE. Seriously what were they thinking? And yes I know I'll probrably get chased out of town with pitchforks and torches for this, but I actually ship Xavier/Magneto (weird I know) so seeing that happen was again, what were those words? Oh yeah INEXCUSABLE and UNNECESSARY!
"Excellent review as always. I must apologize for my ignorance, but is this a different Squadron Supreme than the one from the...mid 80's? Last seen (by me, anyway) in the pages of Quasar?"
Yep, there have been a few Squadron Supremes since then... some people like them, but from what I've read of some of the more recent ones I'm not interested.
Did the kill count jump twice in a couple spots? And yay for Ninja Style Dancer!
That said, I've heard good things about Ultimate Spider-Man (probably the only thing I seldom hear negative reviews for Bendis on) but the rest of the Ultimate Universe never impressed me. Still, I knew from the start this would be bad, but when I heard about Blob eating Wasp (why did that have to happen) there are no words for that level of stupid.
Should add that this was the first time I heard about Ultimate Xavier being killed off. Maybe he can just jump into another body, like in the third movie. Why stop the stupidity here? :P
I am sorry to say this but the best episodes are the ones where you are suffering tremendously, Linkara.
Thank you for providing valued entertainment with your agony, sir.
as opposed to a 5-issue event comics that's over in less than half a year
Well, that would be the theory, but this is Jeph Loeb and David Finch we're talking about here, so it actually took nine months for all five issues to come out.
Still slightly better than Ultimates 3, which took ten months for five issues - despite getting issues one, two and three out in consecutive months!
Hey man, knowing Norse Mythology makes you in no way a nerd. I have heard reports of boys becoming men just from reading up on Thor and his son Magni.
Have you ever heard of a comic series called The Darkness? I've played the video game adaptation, and aside from the story ignoring the titular character for a little bit, I found it to have one of the strongest stories in games today. Not sure on the comic book side, though.
...and yet all I can think is that the Captain America thing sounds like it's the perfect 'consolation prize' for a main character's death. "Oh, I'm sorry you died such an ignoble death as drowning in a pointless tidal wave. But, as compensation, you get to fight alongside Thor in the afterlife against the legions of the dead!"
Seriously. THAT is how you take the sting of character death away.
Dang it. this is the second week in a row where the video stopped half way through
"Should add that this was the first time I heard about Ultimate Xavier being killed off. Maybe he can just jump into another body, like in the third movie. Why stop the stupidity here?"
Meh, some character in this universe already did that (during Mark Millar's run on Ultimate X-Men I believe). But you know, with all of this killing, I would mind that at this point.
Personally I've never had a problem with Dominatrix Barbie.
Great review why do I fear that kill count is going to explode by the end.
Actually there's a huge problem if Thor went to Valhalla and had to make a deal with Hela.
Hela does not have anything to do with Valhalla, Valhalla is a giant mead hall (though in Marvel it's been shown to be a barrain plain when Thunderstrike died) Valhalla is actually one of two destinations for warriors who are killed in combat, where they prepare for Ragnarok.
Hela rules Niffelheim the place where norsemen who do not die in GLORIOUS COMBAT go.
So, if the comic says Thor is going to Valhalla and there he meets Hela this is a huge failure unless the Ultimate comics totally re-arrange the working of both the mythology and the 616 Thor characters.
Where's Carol's belly button?
Great review Linkara! I too hate the Ultimate Universe(Except for Ultimate Spider-Man) and how Marvel allowed this event to happen goes to show they don't care for it either. Well the only good thing out of Ultimatum was the Ultimate Spider-Man tie-in, not one of the best arcs but more enjoyable than this crap.
Dear lord...
Magnetism doesn't play a huge role in earth science. Honestly, the moment it showed Dr. Doom's country frozen is when I started to call BS.
Getting into weather, and problems in handling the weather in comics, is that one of the key players in the Earth's weather is something called the Coriolis Force. It's the force caused by something occurring on a rotating object, ie the Earth. This causes rotation in the sky, and is partly responsible for Hurricane formation, and why no hurricanes can form along or very close to the equator.
Aside from that, the other equations that govern the air flows are the mass continuity equation, the first law of thermodynamics, the hydrostatic equation, the vorticity equation, and more. Main thing to say, however, is that NONE OF THEM HAVE ANYTHING TO DO WITH MAGNETISM.
The weather does not respond to magnetism or electricity. Lightning is not caused by magnetism, it's a byproduct of charge distribution in clouds that's disrupted by strong updrafts. Needless to say, it has nothing to do with magnets.
In short: Dr. Doom's country was struck by a random blizzard because Magneto can't control the flipping weather. >.<
Cannibalistic Blob Eating the Wasp; Don't you just love it when you can pinpoint the exact moment that the comic begins to suck?
Okay, am I the only one who is really, REALLY tired of terrible writers getting their hands on Tony Stark? THERE'S MORE TO HIS CHARACTER THAN ALCOHOLISM, DAMMIT.
I feel speechless after the first 2 issues. Marvel got balls!!! Right now, I'm looking forward to Ultimate Requiem. I hope he will review the aftermath comic.
You know,while I myself don't read comic books I am a huge fan of the characters.While Sometimes I do disagree with your opinions on some things I agree fully with you on pointless deaths and my god is this going a bit far.I mean ultimates 3 took out scarlet witch Which I'm not a fan of the move but beast and nightcrawler are my two favorite x-men especially nightcrawler so this was just a stupid move on their part.yes it is an alternate universe and storylines can split from the original but i still don't want to see A character I like die off panel of all things.
Okay, first off, ah! Dangit Lewis, stop creeping me out with your ending stingers!
Secondly, I think it'd be easy to have called this "Ultimate Fail" month; you wouldn't bey lying with that sort of title.
Magneto at the end of that comic should have been done in the Super-boy Prime voice, since everything was better when his kids were alive!
Wow, Ninja Style Dancer is back...
Er...yeah, instead of doing anything with character development, we get all sorts of bullcrap about killing people, cannibalism (great usage of "Timothy" there BTW) and...um, Mr. "I Can Do Anything" Magneto. (sorry, but that scene will never leave me from the Depatie-Freling depiction) But hey, incredible review and great usage of a whole lot of insanity, particularly going from the fighting skeletons to "something completely different".
Oh...and Dazzler's death must mean one thing...Ultimate Nightcat has a chance! (gets shot)
You know, until they got to the part where the Blob eats the Wasp, I thought, "well, this doesn't seem that bad." Yeah. That was horrible. This is quite possibly the most disgusting thing I've ever seen in a comic.
:-(
The scene with Thor and Cap. American fighting the undead minions was absolutely AWESOME! Next time this is shown, do us a favor and add some viking metal as soundtrack. Turisas or Ensiferum should do the trick :D
Yes! Yes! Totally agree with you Linkara, randomly killing off long running characters in rapid succession doesn't work.
It desensitizes fans, and turns them off to the subject matter at hand. It is incredibly wasteful of story potential, and is completely disrespectful of long running characters.
It might be more realistic to have people die for no reason, or with little fanfare. But it's disingenuous to the way fiction works to basically "Pretend" that anybody can get it at any time.
That's not how fiction works, characters die at the fiat of the writer. And random deaths for no reason other than shock is just plain lazy storytelling.
Office Max to the rescue!!!!
I. I. I don't feel good. At all.
My gods above and in the name of all that is sane and righteous, I've seen the bits of Cannibal Holocaust. I've sat through Elfin Lied. I learned the dark secrets of Megaman X and beyond.
But The Blob eating The Wasp.
Marvel, the only fucking thing that's saving your ass is Marvel VS Capcom 3. Nearly all of the death, chaos and violence and the results of shock I've experienced from other mediums and stories I've sat through and uncovered through subtle analysis does NOT compare to this. At least their violence meant to convey a moralistic and dark, but necessary lesson that I can identify with.
And I've sat through analyzing bad movies and mediums with death and chaos, and even their reasons for such things had a fucking point I could shrug off.
This? Oh, this is realistic?
I'm admitting I'm not a comic fan, and I I haven't touched any sort of comic in my closet for ages now.
But with what I've been hearing with current conditions of the comic industry, I hope publishers fall to rock bottom for making such nausea inducing, sexist, purely exploitative, ethnocentric, uninteresting, undeveloped, poorly made shit such as the stuff I've watched on the show. Shit like Athena, All Star Batman and Ultimates, and even that insulting, shitheap stereotype following mockery of manga Marvel Mangaverse, something I'm glad I haven't paid for.
Now I truly know how you feel about the Red Arrow's daughter, Linkara.
I'm going to listen to the theme of Trish from Marvel Vs Capcom 3 and mourn for the pain of seeing inhumanities committed in the name of pleasure and greedy pleasure.
@Ozaline
Actually dude, my understanding is that Hela (her name in the original Norse Mythology being "Hel") rules over Hel. Hel is much like Houston in the sense that they're both a person and a name. But unlike Houston, Hel isn't so bad once you get used to it.
Hel is the daughter of Loki, the trickster, and later god of fire. She resides over her Realm which is in Niflheim, but the lady of the dead doesn't have any pull other than her hometown.
FYI: I believe the Xavier School for the Gifted is located in upstate New York. So no... it wouldn't have been endangered by a flood in Manhattan. If you care.
actually that Two Page Spread...it's only one in the issue. That's something the trade seems to have altered...donno why (I have Ultimatium #1 right in front of me to, trust me on this :D )
People do sometimes collapse after near-drowning. But only in fresh water.
Water is hypotonic (less concentrated with dissolved material) than blood. In the lungs, this means that osmosis causes the water to pass through the membranes into the blood. The person, if pulled out of the water fast enough, will seem fine ... briefly. Then two things happen.
One, the surfactant that protects the lungs from collapsing has been washed off ... so the lungs collapse, and/or ...
Two, all that water in the blood disrupts red blood cells, releasing potassium which stops the heart.
In either case, the person suddenly collapses. One reference: http://www.patient.co.uk/doctor/Drowning-and-near-drowning.htm
Notice my reference at the top? This doesn't happen in salt water drownings. Ocean water is HYPERtonic, more concentrated than blood. When salt water is inhaled, it draws water out of the blood and into the lungs. The person is having immense trouble breathing right away and without treatment will in all likelihood die if much salt water was introduced. Notice that Cap drowned in the water of the Atlantic Ocean? Loeb needs to come to someone like me for science help.
Linkara, I'm not as familiar with comics as I should be, but you are, and I have to ask: are there any positive fat characters in comics? Ones who aren't meant to be the objects of ridicule and disgust for the reader?
I ask because, to my horror, I just saw one of the ONLY super-powered fat characters I know of EXHUMING THE INTESTINES OF ANOTHER HUMAN BEING, and I can't help but wonder to my fat self if they're not trying hard to imply something unnecessarily cruel and vindictive about people of a similar size...
Er, anyway, thanks! Your show makes my monday nights.
Just to give you a heads up there Linkara, the reason Nick Fury is "needed" is a plot point introduced in the "other" (and infinitely better) lead up to Ultimatum, Ultimate Origin, which goes into the grand conspiracy that underlies the Ultimate universe (and is usually brought up only in the better moments of the imprint as a whole). This comes up in issue 5 I believe.
That said, can't wait to hear your reaction to the beginning of issue 3. I expect it's somewhat like mine was, but I'll hold off saying what that was.
The Comic: Some alright artwork and a few good character moments marred by some really pointless deaths, including but not limited to cannibalism. Oh, and bad science to boot... Yeah this one is going to suck...
The Arc: Good to see that Ninja Style Dancer is back and that he got away before the Entity got him.
Fiery Little One
Superb review, Linkara. The fact that you point out the good moments just underscores what a waste of potential most of the book is.
I have to say that the attitude that heroes can't die unless it's in an unusual and impressive fashion is really just a symptom of a problem in American comics. It's utterly pointless when we see a hero die because they simply get brought back anywhere from a week to a year later and it's just a way for a particular writer to leave a mark.
I won't pretend Japanese manga is inherently superior* to American comics but in a manga series a character can die without the guarantee that they'll be brought back. We actually do care about the characters because they're mortal.
And on that note Linkara, can you provide a good hypothetical example of an acceptable death? Would Storm charging at Dr. Doom only to be shot down by a tank be acceptable?
*Particularly when popular writers suddenly start turning beloved series into moronic trash just to pad it out.
I'm guessing they where going for a "In real life if Magneto used Thor's hammer to shift the magnetic poles, a bunch of your favorite characters wouldn't survive climactic disasters" kinda logic. I don't sees point in the Blob thing. Did Magneto send him there to attack while he flooded the city? Is he just...wandering around during a natural(ish) disaster looking for people to eat? Did he kill her or did she drown and he ate her because the Blob has nothing better to do during a flood than to eat the Wasp? In what context can the Wasp not escape either the Blob or a Flood?
Also, I though Ultimates had a "dead is dead" rule. But didn't Beast die earlier? Sentinels blasted him or something?
@M.Seeger, the most famous example of a positive fat character is Bouncing Boy of the Legion of Super-Heroes, who started out as a joke character present only to be ridiculed but worked his way up to running the Legion Academy and being a respected elder super-hero of his time (the 30'th Century). This is all pre-Crisis Legion continuity, so I have no idea what they've done to/with him lately.
I hope you note by the end of Ultimatum that pretty much one character (and ONLY one character) escaped mostly OK from Ultimatum, and that's Spider-Man. So of course it's fitting that Marvel is having a whole event comic now dedicated to finishing the job. Bleh. It's a shame that this comic and Ultimates 3 gives the Ultimate Universe such a bad name, because I really enjoy Ultimate Spider-Man and its excellent writing
By the way, Johnny Storm isn't dead. He returns in Ultimate Comics Spider-man, the series that follows Ultimate Spider-Man.
Well thank you Linkara, you've officially saved me the trouble of actually reading the mini-series, for better or, as likely as it now seems, for worse.
First of all, I think the "Ultimate" universe is a novel concept with some truly interesting and great ideas/stories to go along with it: i.e. this universe's version of Cable is a de-powered Wolverine who's gone and started his own team in the future to save the past.
Second, WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED TO JEPH LOEB!?!?! I used to truly enjoy his work. This was the guy who wrote some of the more entertaining and influential stories in DC and now that he's at Marvel, its like he's suffering from "Frank Miller Syndrome" or something: writing bizarre, mindless, and at times, wildly inappropriate*, stories.
I laughed pretty hard at the end there, with you just going into a blind rage towards Magneto, calling him an "A-hole" and rightly so, he's effectively become some "Emo" college kid with anger issues. Although I'll give credit to Magneto killing Prof. X. Granted it seemed more or less pointless, but it makes some sense considering the Prof. always acted as his conscious to some degree, regardless of the universe.
Looking forward to the next episode.
*Ultimates 3 was WILDLY INAPPROPRIATE....not that you didn't already know that.
Actually the your earthquake machine idea is much more plausible than you might think.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/11/science/earth/11basel.html
And here we were all afraid that Disney would pussify Marvel. I say Disney isn't working fast enough. -_-
@M.Seeger: I would've said Etta Candy, but she wasn't really a superhero, and they made her skinny in recent years. : \
Great review, Linkara. God, that image of Blob eating the Wasp is gonna haunt my nightmares O_O
@The Fedora'd Samurai
Okay you're right I made a mistake there Hel is not the entirety of Niflheim there is infact another part of it...
I am aware of this and the fact that Hela is also called Hel, I'm bit of a student of Norse mythology and working on my own Norse(and Greek) myth based comic... as well as it is my cultural backstory.
But you are correct.
This doesn't change the fact that Hela has nothing to do with Valhalla.
There are three places you can go when you die in Norse mythology...
Fólkvangr, which is ruled by Freya, or Valhalla which is ruled by Odin... both of these places you only enter through death in combat.
Hel is the destination for those who die outside of combat (admit it Niflheim is just a cool word).
So if the comic states that Thor is going to Valhalla then Hela should not have any say in what goes on there.
And before I bow out I will say yes there is a fourth destination for the souls of the dead Gimlé, but that also gets complicated with it's connection to Raganarok.
Bottom line though Hela and Valhalla do not mix.
While I have never read any Thor comics there is now nothing I want to see more than him and various dead characters fighting through different realms of the dead. Possibly titled Thor and Insert Character Vs. Insert Afterlife.
I think the review started a bit slow, likely because the comic wasn't that bad at first, but picked up as it went on.
Also, I've never been fond of Complete Monster Magneto. I think he works best as a character who's sympathetic motivations, but violent and extremist actions make you pity him even as you want to see him defeated.
Ultimatum is one of those weird things where, when it is described by someone, can sound completely awesome. Then you look up an accurate description or even dare to look at a scan page and you realise how very, very bad it actually is.
The only title I really read was Spider-man, because I was starting to give up on Spider-man and hoped it would renew my interest. It did not.
O.O to the stinger... that is all.
I may have to stop following AT4W. :( It usually takes longer to get the video running smoothly than to watch the review.
"I may have to stop following AT4W. :( It usually takes longer to get the video running smoothly than to watch the review."
Well, you could always just go to Blip and download the video itself.
I have to agree that the effects presented to what magneto was doing was just stupid.
but i have to disagree with who ever gave you the opinion that it would not be a big deal.
if magneto where to stop the iron molten core of the earth from producing the electron magnetic shield that protect the earth from Solar winds and sun flares then all life on earth would die.
Hell if magneto could control the earth's molten iron core i could believe he could cause earthquakes but the crazy affects we are given are just silly.
i will say too for a metal hammer thor's hammer look a lot like stone.
other then that great fun cannot wait to see more.
Look up Pulmonary Edema (probably not the more accurate depiction, but secondary drowning does exist).
One final note re: the shifting of the magnetic poles...
The weaking of the Earth's magnetic field during a pole reversal /could/ be the cause of widespread death and destruction...IF we happened to be hit by a gamma ray pulse while the Earth's magnetic field was weak. However, that would have to mean that some distant star several lightyears away would have had to have emitted a pulse of gamma ray energy directly toward the spot where Earth would be several years (or even millennia) later. It's not an impossible scenario, but extremely unlikely.
Even then, gamma ray pulses wouldn't cause weather disturbances. They'd irradiate the planet, killing pretty much everything organic nigh-instanteously. I'm uncertain as to the magnetic properties of a GRP, but even if Magneto could have detected and redirected one to hit Earth, odds are someone would have noticed it long before and OUR HEROES could have come up with underground shelters at least for themselves to survive the collision.
And now my head hurts from this science overload.
Linkara, I must ask: Why...why do you think adding really stupid self-indulgent storylines to your review is a good thing?
I almost want to beg you to not do this review as I have a feeling this is going to cause me some really screwed up nightmares.
odd question for you have you ever considered doing a cross over with spoony for the comic he was in. Knights of the dinner table would make for an awesome april fools video.
Also should I keep my hopes up we will see zeo linkara in the NC 3 year special?
"Linkara, I must ask: Why...why do you think adding really stupid self-indulgent storylines to your review is a good thing?"
Because they add something extra to the review without interfering with the review itself, since they're easily skippable if they happen to be at the beginning... which is rare, plus they're reflective of comic book storylines in themselves and since, well, the show is all about comic books, it becomes a nice little tribute. And since they're more likely at the end, anyone who does not enjoy them can freely close the video when they begin, since they're also under no obligation to watch them.
And because, well, they're fun.
Sorry, me again, thought kind of just occurred to me. Now, I have little to no understanding of scientific theory as well and while I'm not certainly trying to defend such a flimsy excuse of Magneto causing such destruction, but I have to ask, with his abilities could it be possible to STOP activity of the Earth's magnetic poles? True, it wouldn't explain entirely everything that was occurring, but at the very least it would sound somewhat more feasible... sort of?
@Carl - Good news! Bouncing Boy is in charge of the Legion Academy, and he's pretty much the most liked teacher there because he's not a hard-ass.
@ M. Seeger - I'd say Wonder Woman's Golden Age pal Etta Candy qualifies; she had this hilarious lust for life & always seemed to be enjoying herself, never caring too much that she was a bit pudgy. She isn't really a superhero unless you count unbridled enthusiasm for everything as a power. Of course, modern interpretations of Etta are either (a) Afterschool Special stories about eating disorders or (b) have her being slightly thicker & shorter than Wondy but otherwise pretty slim. Comics are second only to diet junkies for being totally hateful to people larger than a size 6 (womens), but since they still have trouble relating to women & non-whites, that's not a surprise.
@Jacques Massard
The Solar winds are the least of the problems that would be caused by stopping the Earth's core (which isn't liquid). Especially since the upper atmosphere would ionize and serve the same purpose. The real problem is that the cores momentum would be transferred to the Earth's crust, likely fragmenting it.
Despite the tectonic plate explanation, couldn't Magneto still cause all that destruction?
Now hear me out:
Couldn't Magneto manipulate the metals that are embedded in the Earth's crust and thus move them causing this world wide fiasco?
I don't know if that's possible or if Ultimate Magneto has that kind of power, but there's my two cents (I really liked the review by the way).
Oh Geez I Only Read The Wikipedia Article On Ultimatum And I THought It Was Bad. But The Real Thing Is Just... Geez
"And because, well, they're fun."
cheers
This comics pains me
It pains me because the Ultimate universe was the only comic incarnation of the characters I ever gave a damn about.
It wasn't as ridiculously convoluted as the mainstream comics, the plots were allot more streamlined, the origin stories made allot more sense (a single scientific project, instead of hundreds of freak accidents), and the characters weren't complete morons (they trusted their families and friends with their secret identities)
The pre-Ultimatum Ultimate universe was awesome, and it's no surprise that the current cartoons and movies go with that continuity instead of the unnecessarily complicated, convoluted mess that's mainstream Marvel (alto they still take some of the more iconic elements from the Silver Age).
The first two Ultimates and Ultimate Spiderman were probably the bast, and even some of the post-Ultimatum Spiderman stories were rather enjoyable.
Too bad Marvel is getting rid of the only good thing they had going.
Oh well, I's just stick to the cartoons and movies then (at least the good ones)
"And because, well, they're fun"
Fun? How dare you think that a job should be fun and enjoyable sir. It should be dull, boring and repetitiive. How dare yougive us enjoyable things and fun.
Now that sarcasim is over, I wish you luck on this...you'll need it. If you thought countdown got bad with events happening outside the main book, wait till you get a load of this
Blob eating the Wasp... Goddamn it Marvel, did you look at Countdown and say "We could totally 1-up DC with more gruesome and meaningless shock deaths!" cause the first two issues of Ultimatum showed that Marvel was really willing to throw characters away like garbage.
The Ninja Style Dancer returns! Did he escape from the Entity or is he being possessed by it?
"Linkara, I must ask: Why...why do you think adding really stupid self-indulgent storylines to your review is a good thing?"
Hey asshole, in case you haven't noticed, most viewers like the storylines. If you don't like them, say "I don't like your storylines" so he can have the feedback. Don't call them stupid and self-indulgent unless you have an argument to back your complaint up. It's only self-indulgent if the viewers don't want them.
I take offence to the cannibalism
Some of my characters eat people
kinda helps to underline the orange and blue morality of demons
"Okay, am I the only one who is really, REALLY tired of terrible writers getting their hands on Tony Stark? THERE'S MORE TO HIS CHARACTER THAN ALCOHOLISM, DAMMIT."
I'm guessing they're stuck in the "Demon in a Bottle" days.
To answer a question you've asked, yes it is possible for somebody to go from lucid and conscious to blacked out and dieing. How? They were already dieing, they just didn't notice it. The human brain when flooded with adrenaline can and in fact does in real life produce these sorts of events where people don't even realize they are injured, or to what extent, and seem to be fine overall until the adrenaline cuts out and it all hits them at once. So actually, yeah, justified.
Also, Magneto didn't just shift Earths two magnetic poles, my theory is that he created several more, which would cause shifts in the weather patterns as well as technological problems, affecting peoples health (yeah our health can be impacted by increased electromagnetic activity), and increased magnetic fields also induce paranoia. So yeah, it can mess shit up on a planetary scale.
As for tectonic stress, should I need to point out that magnetic metals are found in the earth, and that if you move large amounts of them simultaneously without removing the surrounding rocks you can move the plates, resulting in earthquakes, tidal waves, and other natural disasters.
You know what the saddest part is. Dazzler should NOT be dead. They wanted the Ultimate line to be different, and Dazzler actually was nothing like 616 Dazzler. She also was right next to Nightcrawler and Angel (her boyfriend who we know did survive the initial wave), two people who could easily take her to safety. And she was just coming off of a huge "I just met my future self, I'm going to be the leader of the X Men in 10 years, and I'm finally becoming responsible and getting even bigger powers" arc. She was actually growing. You know how rare it is for a C lister to actually start moving up the ranks?
@Ozaline
Yeah, Valhalla is always the place people usually think of first when it comes to Norse Mythology and death because it's most similar to heaven. It's commonly mistaken that Valhalla is the only plane other than Hel in Norse Mythology.
It kinda pisses me off when people have a screwed up perception of the whole thing, mainly because I was read some of the stories as a child and that I'm a huge Metalhead. Sucks that none of us are going to Valhalla though. infinite beer and love making with the valkyries till ragnarok. Bloody hell, that's awesome.
Please don't stop the storylines because of one doubter. I think your current mix is about right.
Don't know if this has already been mentioned (long list of comments, and I'm late to the game).
But part of the reason for this series being so godawful is the death of Jeph Loeb's son. He took the loss rather hard, and understandably so.
This tragedy has had the further side effect of infecting his work with a lot of pointless deaths and similar tragedies. I get that artists pour their pain into their work, and I'm terribly saddened for Mr. Loeb's loss. But I have to say, given the state of the man's work in recent years, he might be better off retiring from comics.
"He looks outside to find his entire kingdom has become the other world from Silent Hill: Shattered Memories."
So, really, really stupid?
(And it's ShatzMemz for those in the know.)
"Hey asshole, in case you haven't noticed, most viewers like the storylines. If you don't like them, say "I don't like your storylines" so he can have the feedback. Don't call them stupid and self-indulgent unless you have an argument to back your complaint up. It's only self-indulgent if the viewers don't want them."
Hey, now, there's no need to be insulting in return - they have expressed that they don't like the storylines and seem to have left it at that for the moment (as of this typing, anyway).
Sorry but I can't help but be focused on how they killed Wasp. Seriously what the hell?
Cannibalism is just a lot to take in, especially when it's non-zombie related cannibalism which I could understand as being because a zombie is just a monster who has no other thoughts than what/who they will eat next and therefore you'd expect something like that from them. I'll admit I never read any of the ultimate series at all but somehow I doubt Blob could be counted as a brain-dead monster who's only thought is to feed on flesh.
That was an entirely pointless death, pretty much like every other death I've seen in this comic, and it was also the most disturbing death I've ever seen.
I think I have to go lie down for a bit now.
I thought I would start off by saying great review, I do so enjoy all the hard work you put into these reviews. While I hate to defend crap and not completely sure if this is scientifically possible, Magneto might have been able to make the massive wave. By using his ability to control magnetic fields and taking advantage of water's diamagnetic properties. It has never been shown that he could anywhere that I have read, but that might be because the writers don’t know about it or it would make him too lethal.
I stumbled across the "Blob Eats Wasp" panel accidentally some time ago, and so when that part of the video came up I had to minimize the picture so I would never have to see that abomination again. That panel was so awful. I mean, really? Couldn't Wasp have just drowned like everyone else in this crap? Shudder.
And couldn't Nightcrawler have just teleported away? Or was he just caught so by surprise he couldn't do anything?
I think Loeb lost it when his son died. Thinking that this is probably grief related somehow makes me feel bad for him as opposed to furious with him for killing so many great characters.
You're gonna have to stop running from it and face it eventually, Linkara. If you can stomach crap like this, you can review One More Day... man up. We'll be right there with you...
Allow me to play Devil's advocate, Lewis. You say in your review that killing characters to provide an atmosphere where "any character can die" is counterproductive to good story telling. However, isn't that somewhat equivalent to what you did in killing Pyramid Head in the Vyce arc? I get the storytelling purpose; you were attempting to showcase Vyce's power, and it wasn't a meaningless death. However, nor was it an ass kicking one. Just something to think on. Not trying to bash you; just bringing up a point.
"Allow me to play Devil's advocate, Lewis. You say in your review that killing characters to provide an atmosphere where "any character can die" is counterproductive to good story telling. However, isn't that somewhat equivalent to what you did in killing Pyramid Head in the Vyce arc? I get the storytelling purpose; you were attempting to showcase Vyce's power, and it wasn't a meaningless death. However, nor was it an ass kicking one. Just something to think on. Not trying to bash you; just bringing up a point."
Fair enough, but I have a hard time calling Pyramid Head a "character" on the show - and trust me, that's not the last we'll see of him.
Long time watcher of your show, my first comment. I was with my mom doing the shopping when I came acrosss Ultimatum issue 2, I had already heard about it, and was kinda interested in it, though I had missed the first issue, no big deal, first issue is ussually non-essential, I open the comic and what do I see. THE BLOB EATING THE WASP, I took a good look at it and said, "God, I'm done with this Ultimate Marvel thing, Ultimates 3 was such a letdown, but I never expected that!!". I wasn't shocked, I was angry and filled with bloodlust for Jeph Loeb. That was after I stopped reading regular Marvel because of you know what (it involves a HACK), World War Hulk (Red Hulk is retarded) and to put the final nail on the coffin, the Wasp dies in Secret Invasion but by that point I quitted comics. Though I came back when Siege happened, it fixed everything (except you know what...) in just 4 issues, it even killed the Sentry (because really, **** that guy). But Ultimatum killed the Ultimate universe along with my favorite characters (Psylocke) and those who were meant to have a greater destiny (Dazzler). I told my little brother about that and he said Marvel had lost it. I'm glad I didn't tell him how the Wasp died, he would have felt depressed.
I would be able to accept this whole thing as a case of "reality ensues" , where the characters loose their plot-armour and are as likely to die as any bystander
What however makes me facepalm is the deaths of characters that could very well survive this without any plot-armour
Nightcrawler of all people?
The one person who could have gotten away from the wave easily?
Yeah, kinda takes the suspension of disbelief away
I saw the review and like with your other reviews I saw, enjoyed it a lot. I have to say, though, it's really strange how, by now, no one has picked up on the fact that killing characters off-screen and multiple "meanwhile" cuts don't work.
Also, I wasn't expecting that bit with the Blob. My brother and I freaked out when we saw it.
This may seem obvious, but...
Maybe Magneto used the ability of Thor's hammer to control weather to do all this stuff?
If it was the Myjolnir from the regular Marvel Universe that would work, problem is, Ultimate Thor's weapons are just normal uru metal weapons. By that I mean they only work as power amplifiers,the hammer Magneto currently has would only at best increase his magnetic powers.
Oh and about Hela's headgear in this comic, its par with some of her helmets, and headdresses in the normal Marvel Universe, any Asgardian wearing a hat usually wears a silly one, heck Odin has a silly hat for every day the week. For the rest of her clothes, lets just leave it at, like the regular Hela, this one really wants Thor, the Ultimate one just doesn't bother to be subtle about it.
"That was after I stopped reading regular Marvel because of you know what (it involves a HACK)"
Please tell me you mean Civil War, because that was the exact moment I completely stopped giving a shit about Marvel. To realize that this pitiful excuse for a company was once, in the distant past, vastly superior to almost all of DC is nauseating.
The age old Debate of everybody can die versus everybody lives... For once everybody lives!
Coming from a Gundam fan everybody can die is a tone I'm use too, even "pointless" deaths. However it's all in the execution and setting.
Dazzler being killed would make sense... if she wasn't next to Angel and Nightcrawler but apparently the wave hit with a enough force to instantly kill Nightcrawler but not Angel.
Wasp's death... I've heard rumors that JQ himself pushed for Wasp's death on the bases of Wasp holds Ant Man back due to thier marriage.
Deals with the Devils and Cannibals, JQ has a great fear of commitment apparently.
Frankly you'll need some Avengers:Earth's Mightest Heroes to get this out of your system.
It's like the new JL/JLU... Sorry Young Justice just isn't doing it for me.
I thought that your quick summary of the past Ultimate issues was funny because it really showed how absurd the plot was.
But, of course, nothing that happened in those issues can compare to this. Really, Marvel? You casually mention the drowning deaths of main characters off-screen, but you have to actually show us the utterly disgusting and revolting scene of cannibalism? Simply hearing about it would have been gruesome enough. What was the point of showing such a repulsive scene? Why did you give Wasp such a horrible death? Why did you turn the Blob into a cannibal?
Why did you make Magneto kill Professor Xavier? Why did you kill off Nightcrawler, even though his power should have helped him escape? Why did you needlessly kill off so many characters? Why did you turn the Fantastic Four into teenagers? Why is Magneto the main villain now, since in the last issue, Dr. Doom was supposedly the guy pulling the strings behind the scenes?
Do you really hate these characters so much or are you just cynically destroying them for shock value? Either way, it's terrible.
"Please tell me you mean Civil War, because that was the exact moment I completely stopped giving a shit about Marvel. To realize that this pitiful excuse for a company was once, in the distant past, vastly superior to almost all of DC is nauseating."
Actually, he's probably referring to One More Day.
Why did you needlessly kill off so many characters?
Realistically... A sudden out of nowhere Tidal wave should kill somebody. The problem is they killed characters that should have escaped it. Really Magneto killing Xavier isn't so senseless, It drives home the fact Magneto has gone bye bye in the sanity department.
Wasp and Dazzler: JQ hates couples.
Why did you turn the Fantastic Four into teenagers?
That's more the Ultimate universe as a whole's choice. Everybody is younger in the Ultimate universe. Also alot of the Mystical and Supernatural is explained away.
Thor's hammer doesn't control weather, Galactus is a swarm of giant robots*When I gave up on the ultimate universe* and Somehow Dr Doom always has a DoomBot
Hey, Linkara...
I don't know if you are reading the comments on TGWTG, so I will write it here... I was reading TDKSA few months ago and I couldn't FORCE MYSELF to actually FINISHTHE DAMN THING because it was so bad.
Right now, I randomly stumbled on your videos while searching for something about Amazons Attack... and then I saw your TDKSA review. And I see that the TDKSA ending is even MORE terrible and confusing than the rest, so I have not really lost anything by not reading the whole thing.
For that, I am infinitely gratious. Your videos are great, keep doing them!
(Checked the comments before typing this, but didn't see any mention of this. Sorry if I missed it and this is a repeat)
I thought the Cap being okay then dying after near drowning was odd too when I first watched this review. When watching it a second time I remembered the phenomenon of secondary drowning.
It's hard to diagnose, but it's why people who nearly drown have to be monitored after the event. They can appear to be fine at first, but if water actually entered their lungs then it can cause blood-oxygen levels to drop. In such cases a person can potentially die within 48hours after the event if they didn't receive treatment.
Not sure if that's what happened or if it's just bad writing =\
The funny thing is there isn't really any shock value after the first couple characters die, so even if that was the goal, it's a failure.
Actually showing a few superheroes die when someone hits New York with a giant disaster is one of those things that could have been well-done. Emphasis on 'could have been'. Just learning they died off-panel isn't the way to do it.
Even Wasp, where we see way too much, is lacking a scene where Blob finds her and they possibly fight. In fact, forget why is Blob a cannibal, why is he stupidly hanging around Avengers headquarters by himself?
Was he here before the tidal wave? If so how did he survive and not get washed somewhere random? If not, how did he arrive so fast?
Further, if he was going to attack a team of superheroes, you'd think back-up would have been a good idea.
Honestly, it's like the writers thought: The Blob is big and ugly and strong so we'll write him like some kind of nonsentient troll. And we don't have to worry about if his appearance makes sense, either!
I have a ton of other problems with Ultimatum but you or other commenters seem to have it mostly in hand.
Now I wish Thor and Captain America versus the hordes of the Viking dead wasn't tainted by being part of the rest of this.
"Excellent review as always. I must apologize for my ignorance, but is this a different Squadron Supreme than the one from the...mid 80's? Last seen (by me, anyway) in the pages of Quasar?"
The Squadron Supreme you remember from the pages of Quasar later fought the Avengers when they were penned by Busiek, then teamed up with the Avengers in an annual and found a way back to their own universe at the end of that story. They arrived there in "Squadron Supreme: New World Order", and were later seen again when the Exiles paid their universe a visit.
The Squadron Supreme in Ultimate Power is an alternate universe Squadron introduced in the Marvel MAX title "Supreme Power", basically an "Ultimate" version of the Squadron. The comic starts out good but... well, then Ultimate Power happens, where they fight the Ultimates. And to make things even more crazy, the original Squadron Supreme also shows up in the story but... is drawn in their old 1970s costumes?
"Please tell me you mean Civil War, because that was the exact moment I completely stopped giving a shit about Marvel. To realize that this pitiful excuse for a company was once, in the distant past, vastly superior to almost all of DC is nauseating."
Actually, Civil War was probably the last Marel storyline I actually liked
It was Secret Invasion (and One More Day) when I lost all interest in Marvel, and never bought a single issue ever again.
Also to thos who whine about Red Hulk and the Sentry, I just say:
There's no such thing as a bad character, just bad writers
"Well, you could always just go to Blip and download the video itself."
Mm, ended up doing this. Doesn't take quite as long. Most times, at least.
I've needed a shower after reading the few Ultimate comics I've read. Nothing I've seen (except Ultimate X #1) makes me think that's changed. They're just too sleazy for me.
I've also always found Jeff Loeb to be overrated. Nothing I've read by him deserves the 'best thing since sliced bread' treatment he gets - and that includes Long Halloween. I don't think he's bad, just not that great.
@shikome kido mi:
"Was (The Blob) here before the tidal wave? If so how did he survive and not get washed somewhere random?"
In 616, being immovable is kind of his power...
Just wanted to ask, are you going to talk about the fact that Jeph Loeb's son, Sam Loeb, passed away a few years prior, possibly giving inspiration for this?
"Just wanted to ask, are you going to talk about the fact that Jeph Loeb's son, Sam Loeb, passed away a few years prior, possibly giving inspiration for this?"
No, it just seems like it'd be in poor taste.
you want to know whats funny: what reed is doing to namor is actually in charictor. it happens when his wife dies or is dying
evidence:
http://www.4thletter.net/2006/09/the-top-100-what-if-countdown-part-11/
http://www.4thletter.net/2006/10/the-top-100-what-if-countdown-part-15/
http://www.4thletter.net/2006/11/the-top-100-what-if-countdown-part-19/
I collected Miller's X-Men and Ultimate run and admit I quite liked the continuity free universe. I had left the Marvel U sometime ago only coming back when Exiles and Runaways started and decided to give the Ult U a try.
But this is not only a travesty to the universe that Bendis and Miller created, but to super hero comics in general. Thank you for reading this so I don't have to.
hey man im not trying to sound like a jerk but can you do something about the way you speak either modify your tone or do something in post production its really annoying cheers
Excellent review, Linkara.
We all love your for enduring this pain.
Magneto is so bad ass. I remember this one time, he used his magnetic powers to rip Wolverine in half to pull out the metal skeleton.
I remember this one other time, Magneto dropped a meteor on somebody's head!
Then there was the time he bust out of prison by using the iron in a prison guard's blood!
Then Magneto walks into the X-mansion, says he's god and snaps Xavier's neck!
Just...damn Magneto!
I didn't scroll through all of your comments, so if this has been stated already, I'm sorry.
Tesla did create an earthquake machine and successfully tested it in NYC. Its effects were negligable, but were felt throughout his neghborhood, prompting the police to question him (after all, wo else could be responsable for an earthquake on a solid granite rock nowhere near a fault line). Super scientists could have made one with better effects.
Just bringing it up.
Seriously, I don't get the Ultimate universe. If it were me, I'd use the freedom from continuity to recreate some of the truly awesome parts of the original universe, without the restrictions of the modern continuity. For example: Magneto as Headmaster for the Xavier Universe, back in the 80s; awesome. Peter Parker's difficulty maintaining a relationship due to the requirements of his super-heroism; slightly less awesome, but still compelling and emotionally engaging. But no... They just screw with everything, by making it free reign to kill off characters with impunity (after all, it's not the 616 universe, so they're not killing off the 'real' them) and insert a love triangle into the Spider-man storyline, because then they can have romantic intrigue, without having to do the hard work of actually creating tension within the relationship, instead of outside it.
Hey Linkara. Not sure if you're reading this (actually, I am, becaus you have to look accept them coments as they are posted, but you know what I mean), but I kinda wanted to check something.
Anyway, you said that the best way for these characters to go down is in a blaze of glory, but is that really the only way? I just ask because how a certian long time character died in the comic you are always happy to promote, 52. *warning, spoilers* Yeah, I'm of course refering to The Question dying of cancer. I know it's not the same level as the Wasp being eaten by the Blob or Nightcrawler and Dazzler drowning in a tidal wave, but it's not really a final battle to the end either.
Anyway, what I'm getting at is, what is your stance on deaths like that?
"Anyway, you said that the best way for these characters to go down is in a blaze of glory, but is that really the only way? I just ask because how a certian long time character died in the comic you are always happy to promote, 52. *warning, spoilers* Yeah, I'm of course refering to The Question dying of cancer. I know it's not the same level as the Wasp being eaten by the Blob or Nightcrawler and Dazzler drowning in a tidal wave, but it's not really a final battle to the end either.
Anyway, what I'm getting at is, what is your stance on deaths like that?"
I'm not really a fan. I'm also not happy about his death in that and subsequently Renee becoming the Question - the Question WAS Vic Sage - the identity is tied up with him directly and no other (then again, I'm the guy who prefers it when he was an objectivist hero under Steve Ditko's hand and not him being zen and all, so take my opinion with a grain of salt).
Spoiler alert: Ultimate Nightcrawler was revealed to have survived the Ultimatum Wave and will be appearing in the upcoming Ultimate Comics: X-Men series!
J.A.P.
Thank you SO much. I now have the song "Timothy" stuck in my head.
Food for a music geek such as myself you are...
Well, the magnetic field in the earth is created by the liquefied iron in its core. If somehow Magneto could increase the rotation of earth's core, he could create earthquakes which could result in that tidal waves.
However, it couldn't happen in that moronic way showed in the comic. And besides, I don't have the slightest idea how he froze Latveria
Hey Link, will you still review ultimate power?
Could someone please upload this to youtube and all the other ultimatum vids? I can't watch them on my nexus or my phone and have no pc. I tried going to the blip.tv site to watch it there and it doesnt work there either, however your ultimates 3 videos work perfectly fine.
"Could someone please upload this to youtube and all the other ultimatum vids? I can't watch them on my nexus or my phone and have no pc. I tried going to the blip.tv site to watch it there and it doesnt work there either, however your ultimates 3 videos work perfectly fine."
Yeeeeaaaah no.
I don't want my videos on youtube EVER. Anyone who IS uploading them there is doing so against my wishes, since it cuts into my revenue, which is how I pay for food and shelter.
If there's a problem with a video, simply say so and I will reupload it to try to fix any problems, but please do not request that my content be posted to youtube.
Well, regarding the Carol Danvers thing, subtlety is sexy, as JesuOtaku said in one of her videos. It's why you don't see strippers who just gyrate white naked. Instead, they do strip teases. Also, in an episode of Game of Thrones, the owner of a brothel criticises a prostitute for her un-modest orgasm, and it's not hard to see (hear?) why. Crude isn't sexy, at least not to me, and I'm assuming many others based on the examples I gave, which are examples of things that are only meant to be sexy.
Just thought I'd comment on that little part, since it's been bugging me for a while.
OH, and adding to my previous statement, fetishes. A leather fetish isn't exactly rare.
13:10 - Well, the guy's shaken up and scared for his life. I'd say he's perfectly justified in wanting the guy saving him to focus on the task at hand in that situation.
17:16 - I'm surprised you didn't know that. Here in Australia, that's taught in the 9th or 10th grade or something. Hell, I remember it and I failed Geography to an incredible degree (I got around the 30%). But different curriculum yadda yadda... and appparently, something I just learned, but there's a stereotype of Americans being bad at Geography apparently... Imma just saiyan :)
Oh, and relating to what I said, I'm also a massive dumbass when it comes to science. Didn't even take a single science subject for 11th and 12th grade. Except I would've at least done the research instead of pulling science out of my ass.
Sorry for spamming the comments, but I'm really inconsistent with this for some reason. I wanted to comment on certain things you said, but forgot in what parts of the review you said it, and my mind's been all over the place.
5:24 - I love the "The Dark Knight" reference. If only those who bought this comic used that money to go see "The Dark Knight" instead.
7:40 - The "atmosphere of concern" can be done well. If done early on and with an important character, it can work. A great example is with "Game of Thrones" (I know I keep referencing it, but... shut up), which has each of its character having a big fanbase, even though the atmosphere of "anyone can die" is established early on. It certainly does create tension. If this is done, I think it should:
1. Be done in regards to the character. The death should make sense for the character. E.g In "Game of Thrones", Ned Stark dies due to him giving mercy to his primary antagonist, and his death makes sense, in that he was a man trying to be noble in a grand political story where nobility and naivety are punished.
2. Give the character a decent send off. It doesn't even have to be grand and epic. It just has to close their story in a decently satisfying way. Not just "HEADSHOT OMGZ!11!!11"
3. Not be done just for shock!
I mean, you can be attached to characters, but don't expect them to be around forever. Characters are supposed to be people, and people can die, yet you still grow attached to them, even though you know they will die, and their deaths aren't always as telegraphed as with comics. I read comics, but I will openly admit that, in normal stories (non-event comics), I don't feel concern for characters (specifically the main characters) a lot of the time. It's just that, with comics, people GO IN already knowing how infamous death is in comic books.
I don't think it's fair to write off the idea completely and call it idiotic, since there are numerous cases where it works.
All of that said, this comic does it wrong, because it just goes completely overboard in doing it, and doing it wrong at that. Killing characters increases tension, but using red shirts is an old trick that most people see coming. This comic treats these well established characters LIKE red shirts, and that's just wrong. The only atmosphere it sets is one of death, and really, nothing more.
I dunno, maybe you were just commenting on how it's done here and how it's done badly, since I think I remember you commenting that Aunt May's original death was done well, but it felt like you were insulting the idea of creating the "anyone can die" atmosphere, and I just felt I had to comment on that. Ultimatum did it completely wrong (Thor aside), so I'm not defending IT, just the idea of death creating tension.
Anyway, yeah, just my two cents.
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