The event comic concludes with nothing having been achieved!
Monday, May 30, 2011
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
skip to main |
skip to sidebar
Twitter
Upcoming Episodes
- 4/7: SCI-Spy #5
- 4/14: Red Hood and the Outlaws #1
- 4/21: Athena #2
- 4/28: Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey #1
- 5/5: Zolastraya and the Bard #1
- 5/12: Superman: For the Animals #1
- 5/19: Chuck Norris: Karate Kommandos #2
- 5/26: Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers: The Movie #1
About Me
Links
Blog Archive
Labels
- AP Comics (2)
- Ape Entertainment (1)
- AQLA (6)
- Arcana (1)
- Archie (4)
- AT4W (431)
- Avatar Press (1)
- Batman (28)
- Blackthorne Publishing (2)
- Blood Eagle (1)
- bloopers (3)
- Bluewater Productions (2)
- Bongo Comics (2)
- Boom (1)
- Brainstorm Comics (1)
- Brick Computer Science Institute (1)
- Card Games (14)
- Catfish Comics (1)
- CI5P (11)
- Clamp (1)
- commentary (19)
- contest (2)
- Continuity Comics (1)
- Conventions (41)
- Crossover (45)
- Dark Horse (12)
- DC (111)
- Dell (1)
- Draculina Publishing (1)
- Dreamwave (1)
- DVD (2)
- Dynamite (2)
- Edfund (1)
- Eternity Comics (1)
- Fantagraphics (1)
- Gold Key (3)
- Good News Everyone (2)
- Hamilton (2)
- Harvey Comics (2)
- HOPR (17)
- ID (1)
- IDW (20)
- Image (27)
- INKS Comics (1)
- Interview (34)
- Invincible Press (1)
- Kickassia (8)
- Lightbringer (1)
- Longbox of the Damned (64)
- LPEF (9)
- LPPO (9)
- Magnum (1)
- Malibu (2)
- Marvel (104)
- Maximum Press (3)
- Miller Time (11)
- MN Productions (1)
- Moment of Awesome (6)
- Monsterverse (1)
- Now (3)
- Panels (2)
- Parody Press (1)
- Platinum (1)
- podcast (39)
- Pointless Optimism (1)
- power morphicon (5)
- PSA Hell (13)
- Renegade Press (1)
- Review (1)
- Revolution of the Mask (8)
- Revolutionary Comics (2)
- rifftrax (12)
- Scholastic (1)
- Shameless Self-Promotion (3)
- Solson Publications (3)
- Special (1)
- Spider-Man (30)
- Stan Lee Media (1)
- Star Comics (5)
- Star Trek (16)
- Suburban Knights (10)
- Superhero Comics Motif (1)
- Superman (23)
- TAIS (12)
- Tandy Computers (5)
- Teen Titans (9)
- Titans (9)
- To Boldly Flee (12)
- Top 15 (3)
- Topps (3)
- Trailer (4)
- Twilight Twins Productions (1)
- Ultimate Creations (1)
- Ultimate Warrior (5)
- Unleashed (1)
- Valiant (4)
- Vertigo (6)
- Victory Comics (1)
- Viz Comics (1)
- vlog (32)
- webcomic (1)
- Whitman Publishing (1)
- Wildstorm (4)
- Wonder Woman (4)
- X-Men (1)
142 comments:
I have often commented on this show that I enjoy the UK comics 2000AD and Eagle. There is a very good reason for this, they are not stupid.
In spite of the 30 plus years of continuity 2000AD is still following the same Judge Dredd, who we have seen grow older and change over the years. At the same time it is fairly easy to jump in and get started with the continuity. Marvel, with ultimates, and to a lesser degree DC with the examples mentioned, basically have thrown their hands in the air and surrendered to:- "make it easier for casual readers to our soap operas disguised as serial comics".
The idea that the ultimate universe reboots itself is, in a phrase, self-destructive. Countdown might have been a disaster but it was a valiant experiment. That Marvel failed to learn from those mistakes and produced this vile attempt at a reset button only tells me that my dislike of Marvel is well earned.
Killing characters for the sake of a cheap pathos is the worst from of writing (ninja style dancer?) and that's exactly what is wrong with Ultimatum. to make things worse divorcing this from the main continuity means this isn't even valiant attempt, whatever grudging credit I could give Countdown for trying to be epic falls flat here. They aren't the people we are supposed to care about, only pale shadows for the casual reader.
Take the impact of anyone death, Charles Xavier for example, against the cruel and wanton death of Lian Harper. Say what you want about that at least that made a significant impact. Ultimates, due to its very premise, just fails at every level.
The less said about its lack of research (science wise and others) the better.
Interested to see where where the over all plot line is going, and what happened to NSD. a tribute to the fact you've done a better job than Loeb in three weeks than he did with nine god-damn months!
Thomas
I actually love this comic in a weird way. Maybe it's because even after all this time I still can't believe it was even made.
You have a really silly ringtone.
About the name, ultimatum translates into "the last one" according to wikipedia. Although I understand what the word technically entails, it could work based on the theory that this was "the last story" in the universe. Just a possibility, although still not anywhere near a good justification
I chuckled quite a bit at the ringtone.
Then I realized that this pretty much sealed Ninja Style Dancer's fate. Rest in Peace, Dancer.
Sooo... what's the status on the Warrior review with Spoony? Is that scheduled for next week now?
There was another big continuity error in this issue.
Ultimate Doom isn't made of flesh. He is totally made of metal -_-
I have a good feeling that the silhouetted woman would be the Scarlet Witch, because that would push the comic to unbelievable lengths of stupid which I think Jeff Loeb is trying to do.
And did she and Quick Silver plan on being killed for a evil robots plan to take over the world, just to force Magneto to try and take over the world, which was a plot by Dr. Doom to take over the world, just so they can most likely take over the world. (Bison: Of Course)
Was this thing written and edited by Tommy Wiseau, cause this plan is both stupid and repetitive.
So there we have it - a complete and utter waste of time. What's that, you say? Doesn't that make Ultimatum worthy of a "completely pointless" tagline?
YES. YES IT DOES.
Good Lord, what unequivocal drivel and stupidity. This comic is just insulting. About the only thing it lacked was horrendous artwork a-la-Doom's IV. And even then, the artwork wasn't ever above passable.
On the plus side, you've certainly taken the show storyline in a very interesting direction! I'm intrigued by the mystery! Can't wait to see where it goes!
Poor Ninja Style Dancer. He will be missed.
-Some Guy
Wow, what a way to end a rather promising up and coming franchise. I'm so glad they decided that the X-Men weren't worth keeping alive, particularly its better known characters. *rolls eyes*
The new "Ultimate Comics" have been hit or miss for the most part, yet Spiderman has managed to stay pretty decent all things considered.
I'm curious to see what your next storyline is becoming, Linkara, because the ninja is looking like his days might be numbered.
You seem to have called Mystique "mistake" at one point. I dunno, maybe it's the way you said it, but it just sounds like it. How appropriate, because this entire series was a mistake. Why did they cause all these unneeded and illogical deaths? Marvel's stupid actions can astound me at times
Oh... my... god... not Ninja Style Dancer... who could be next? 90's Kid? Harvey? Pollo? ... ...Wow, I actually care about your characters, compared to how, in Ultimatum, by the time Cyclops died, no one really cared any more.
Wow, Linkara. Your plots are LEAGUES above ANY of the comics you review, and, personally, I think you could make a killing on TV or in movies. Heck, if you made enough money there, you could become the CEO of Marvel AND DC, just like in the Nostalgia Critic's most recent Christmas special, and correct ALL the mistakes they've made over the past 5-10 years or so. I'm 100% serious.
Even watching the review left a bad taste in my mouth. Nothing to do with your review however, more to do with the subject matter.
This reminds me of how they ended Marvels New Mangaverse, a giant flood and most of the heroes being killed off in excess. Except to the best of my knowledge that actually took and was apparently a homage to kill em all series like Space Runaway Ideon or Evangelion.
Also on the continuity issue, for imprints like the Ultimate Marvel Universe, which were launched to avoid alienating new readers with continuity tangles, wouldn't it be easier to just discontinue the line? Instead of killing everyone off just having most of the plot lines resolved and just ending publication on the books.
OH MY GOD! THEY KILLED NINJA-STYLE DANCER!
YOU BASTARD!!!
The only experience I personally have with The Ultimate universe is the collection of the first Spider-man issues, a few stand-alone spidey comics and the Ultimate Spider-Man game. But it's these that have made me appreciate the Ultimate universe and what it stood for. I found that Ultimate Spider-Man was a breath of fresh air from all the serious Spider-Man stories we've dealt over the years.
What I'm trying to say is that this is just a big ol' slap to the balls. Ultimatum is a piece of garbage that should never have been created. 24 kills of main characters all the frikkin time, but they at least have the stones to give those deaths a meaning or make them impactful. Just look at the deaths of Edgar (that one techy) and Chappelle.
I actually want to apologize for fans of your show everywhere for making you read that.
Actually Linkara, considering how much I think Bendis is a complete and selfish hack who also has a problem with killing off characters pointlessly, I'd say dedicating a book about killing his work on the Ultimate Universe is a very fitting dedication for him.
You know, I was gonna comment that this is better than 'Countdown' by virtue of being shorter too. Then again, it's REALLY hard for me to get past the sheer number of science fails and character derailment (I know, Countdown suffered that too, and there might've been more, since it had to be skimmed, but seeing it in-depth here just pains me). Hopefully, next week, whatever you review, will be less painful than this was. Even more annoying (at least to me), was, well, what you said. What WAS the point of all this? The heroes come out looking unheroic, the bad guys accomplish nothing... I can only imagine how much worse it gets reading it without the helpful snark.
....and why did I have to be right about Ninja-Style Dancer?
It's such a shame this comic sucked. A giant, destroying flood nearly wipped out most of the east coast, causing destructions on levels no one has seen before, and the human race dwindling from the mass climate change. The problem is that it's such a huge plate for it to fill, and there isn't enough talent behind it.
I doubt that, unless you had an extremely talented team and were very lucky, you could make this plot work, realistically. It's just a mess of heroes dieing for no reason other than to give fake pathos. It's one thing to show a hero, say, saving a little girl, who says she's lost her mommy, leading readers to thoughts that her family might be gone. It's another to kill heroes that are supposidly indestructable, and on such a grand scale. It makes the whole thing seem... silly.
Heroes, in my opinion, should never die in comics, because death in comics has become cheap. All of a sudden, a replacement comes in, or worse, a person comes back alive.
Static characters are boring, I completely agree that characters need to change to survive. A Recent comic series that I picked up, Uncanny X-men Numbers 530-534, went through a nice one for Emma Frost. Which, while I thought a hell of a lot in those issues was stupid and tagged on(Though not near enough to qualify for this show, IMO), showed that character development had changed her since She joined the X-men.
That Origin of Mutants thing kinda sounds like the Premise behind the series Mutant X, which was supposedly related to Marvel in some form. Coincidence?
There is one reason that this is worse than Countdown for me. It's the fact that, unlike the DC universe from Countdown, the Ultimate Universe never recovered, and possibly ever could.
Seeing as most of the characters are dead, since there is the rule of they are permanent they,and most likely will not come back. What makes it worse is that most of the deaths were throw-aways.
If you want to reboot a universe, that's fine, kill some people, ok with in constraint, but they killed off too many characters. And if you want to bring in new characters, wouldn't it be nice to have characters that are quite well known, I.E Nightcrawler, Cyclops, and Psylocke.
You seem to have made an error at one point. I think you called Mystique "mistake". Maybe it's just your accent, but that's what it sounded like to me. How appropriate, because Ultimatum was a mistake. Who thought this series was a good idea? Excessive violence, unneeded death, bad dialogue, characters acting like completely different people, bogus logic, stupid science, etc. This series needs to be erased from existence! The depths of people's stupidity astounds me at times
NINJA STYLE DANCER NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
and that is how you have a proper character death.
Sooo...What happened to that non-magnetic alloy the robots in Ultimates 3 were made of? I mean, when you're all taking on a friggin' master of magnetism, I'd think technology like that could be pretty handy, to say the least.
Also, in retrospect, I call bullcrap on Wolverine's death in addition to Spider-Man. If that whole "one cell" thing is true (though granted, that also sounds like complete bullcrap), that hand is an obvious sign he's coming back.
Also, to drive home how annoying these constant "crisis" comics are, even Sonic the Hedgehog is doing it. And as far as I can can tell, they even threw in their first off-panel death! Oh, yippee. >_<
There is still hope for the Ultimate Universe. There is a soft relaunch coming which looks pretty good, new talent and "new" number one comics.
You can read more about it here:
http://www.denofgeek.com/comics/902340/marvels_ultimate_comics_universe_reborn_so_what_now_for_the_ultimate_universe.html
Linkara I have a question for you why do you think heroes should not kill I am just curious since this is the second time you brought that up
So essentially, if someone asks me to summarize "Ultimatum" I can just say that most everyone dies and nothing was accomplished and just call it a day? Somedays I'm glad that Jack Kirby isn't alive to see this drek.
While you are right about the repulsor rays and Cyclops's blasts, they can still cut, and pulverize. Even though they are purely concussive, if you get hit hard enough, it will tear through you. And, since wolverine's bones are significantly more dense than the rest of him due to the adamantium (RAGE!), the force from the beams would probably blast the meat off his bones.
Still right about everything else, great review, funny as always and *clears throat* NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO NINJA STYLE DANCER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Looks like your gonna have to admit it...
Vyce was Right!
I thought Hawkeye died in Ultimatum?
what we got out of Ultimatum
-Ultimate X-men and FF ended.
-Ultimate Spiderman has lost significant quality since the changeover to Ultimate Comics.
-The replacement X-men title is fair but silly (I point to Wolverine’s son with a Colossus skeleton for a power).
-All of the current titles focusing on the Ultimates are now redundant and focus on overly convoluted characters and plot that kills the original reason for having this universe in the first place.
-The latest Ultimate Trilogy, Ultimate Enemy (which is trying to compare itself to the Ultimate Gah Lak Tus storyline), is one of the worst put together pieces of crap that we have to put up with.
-It killed way too many characters to try and reboot something that probably should have just been ended.
I’m a big fan of the Ultimate Universe and I always will be, but it was dying way before Ultimatum arrived. If you want to read the Ultimate Universe here is what I suggest: Ultimate Spiderman vol. 1-18, Ultimate X-Men vol. 1-6, Ultimate Fantastic Four vol. 1-6, and Ultimates 1 & 2. There are a few other titles I could mention, but the best stuff is right there. After reading that try to think that that is where it should have ended because everything after that slowly became crap. Ultimatum just but the nail in the coffin the Ultimate Universe had died long ago. I just hope Marvel stops trying to write bad stories that they couldn’t tell in the regular universe in the Ultimate Universe for fun and just let it die with whatever dignity it has left.
Not sure if you mentioned this, but this is the first time they tried to kill of Ultimate Spiderman, and doing so again in the Death of Spiderman arc that is going on right now with yet another reboot of the Ultimate Universe.
"Linkara I have a question for you why do you think heroes should not kill I am just curious since this is the second time you brought that up"
For a number of reasons. Legally it's questionable, for one thing. Morally I'm not really in favor of killing anyone whatsoever, though I'm not some moron who thinks that someone is evil or morally reprehensible if they HAVE killed. For heroes, though, they're supposed to represent something greater and more idealistic than the real world and as such showing them as taking life comes across as wrong.
Wolverine is dead (apparently magnetism can kill every cell in your body). In Ultimate Requiem they confirm that Wolverine is dead because SHEILD retrieves his hand and Kitty Pryde steals it from them. Jean examines it and finds all the cells dead. Ultimate Wolverine's power is explained in Ultimate Wolverine vs Hulk. He doesn't have a healing factor; instead he has a surviving factor (In the comic this is pointed out when Wolverine regains consciousness as a severed head). So long as one cell is still alive it will reconstruct him. The only thing that really bothers me is why did Cyclops’s blast suddenly become lethal or Iron Man’s Repulsor ray for that matter.
"But I think Fire is too good for it. This comic's trash and it deserves to go in the trash".
So why not throw it in the trash... WHILE ON FIRE!
"Not sure if you mentioned this, but this is the first time they tried to kill of Ultimate Spiderman, and doing so again in the Death of Spiderman arc that is going on right now with yet another reboot of the Ultimate Universe."
...I mentioned it in the first Ultimatum video. XD
"For heroes, though, they're supposed to represent something greater and more idealistic than the real world and as such showing them as taking life comes across as wrong."
If the Hero doesn't kill a particularly horrible villain and they just continue to do horrible things, including kill people, then wouldn't the deaths be on the heroes head as well becuase they didn't stop the villain when they had the chance?
As much as this comic sucked, I hate loose ends in any story I her about.
I gotta know Linkara, do you know who the silhouetted woman at the end was?
Speaking of your thoughts on heroes killing, I remember reading something about the Green Lantern Corps. being allowed to kill becuase they are "Space Police"And how it said Police here on Earth are trained to shoot to kill. What were your thoughts on that?
What you said at the beginning really needed to be said, and I thank you for that, although I'm surprised you didn't mention (the name escapes me, but you mentioned it in your Christmas list) Marvel Adventures, which is really sort of "Ultimate for Kids."
Going back to something else you said regarding the Ultimate universe (Ultimates 1): Marvel marketed the Ultimate comics to non-readers in a number of ways, including miniature versions of the comics as pack-ins with DVDs (namely the new animated Fantastic Four), and most importantly, nearly all of the Ultimate titles' releases have coincided with a film's release, especially Spider-Man, X-Men, and even Daredevil (though that was arguably the briefest of the titles). You're absolutely right, though, that by presenting the Ultimate universe to "New Readers" they're really just prolonging the inevitable as the investment readers have in the series becomes deeper and deeper the longer the series goes on. It doesn't really solve anything, and more often than not is simply an excuse for writers to play it safe with situations like, as you've definitely talked about before yet probably not often enough, marriage and children.
Oh, and about Wolverine: this is one of those things that really irks me about comics, but Wolverine's a prime example: It seems like Wolverine's healing powers get more and more out of proportion as time goes on. He went from fighting off and creating a vaccine for a virus to being able to heal shotgun wounds through his chest in literally seconds (the game based on the film), to now effectively being reduced to bones and able to come back from it. Dear Lord, why do I feel like this was some vain attempt to answer those hypothetical nerd quarrels about who'd survive what and so on?
Ugh.
Anyway, this may well be my favorite review from you (the entire Ultimatum series, not just this video), but is it sad that I actually want to go out and get Ultimatum on the power of this review?
"If the Hero doesn't kill a particularly horrible villain and they just continue to do horrible things, including kill people, then wouldn't the deaths be on the heroes head as well becuase they didn't stop the villain when they had the chance?"
Maybe, but that assumes there aren't alternatives to killing, which we're shown time and again in many comics that there ARE. Maybe not in the Ultimate Universe, but in the mainstream Marvel universe there are power-dampening collars (same for DC) and for Batman's rogues gallery it should be noted that the Joker would have been executed a looong time ago for his crimes and furthermore for someone like him or others they'd sure as hell build better prisons to hold them rather than an aged mental asylum.
It's rather difficult to really determine where one should start with comics but it is just up to whatever you find interesting. Also, all characters have infinite potential that they have the chance to live up to if an author or creator gives them the potential to do as such. The problem is that instead of letting that happen, others who also control the universe screw with it making it much harder and making it all just a big waste of time. It's probably one reason I prefer manga even though I understand the power of comics: comics allow for the legacy of characters, while manga can tell an illustrated novel from start to finish.
As for Ultimatum...yeah, let's just screw around with stuff just because. Smooth move, Marvel.
(though I do sort of fear for what will happen now to Ninja Style Dancer...now he's a possible loss that could be a problem if he doesn't return)
@ SlyDante
I was going to mention the Sonic comic reboot, myself; I can understand wanting to pare down continuity if it's become too jacked up to understand or work correctly (especially with a series notorious for being editorially mandated), but I never understood the idea of killing off every character and/or literally rebooting the universe. Attempts like this and the "Universe-rewriting Death Egg" that the Sonic comic used make no sense to me and seems to render things entirely pointless.
Considering the incredible danger posed by some mutants and other entities in comics (Marvel and DC most prominently) the U.S government is fully justified in trying to control the issue. In fact a site Law and the Multiverse* has looked at this several times. The problem is that so far no one has done it competently, probably because it offends too many fans and writers tied to the 'vigilante' idea.
In this case however there is no way this law could pass the test in courts.
On another note I will agree that the 'scientist in a lab' thing is indeed a bit dumb. It does take away from the minority matter and if they're really supposed to be a global minority how the heck would said scientist create so many? And why would Magneto suddenly be shocked to sanity by this revelation?
Lastly, thanks for killing off Dr.Doom (one the F4's strongest enemies) in one hit from the Thing! This is supposed to be the competent totalitarian mastermind isn't it?
"Maybe, but that assumes there aren't alternatives to killing, which we're shown time and again in many comics that there ARE."
The problem is that sometimes there are no alternatives. Sometimes a villain is beyond redemption, beyond containment and beyond just defeating. Sometimes you have no choice but to bring them down for good.
Heck, Even Batman himself decided that Darkseid had to die in Final Crisis.
THAT'S the origin of mutants in the Ultimate Universe? I like the mainstream universe explanation more. The Celestials did it. I love the idea that the mutants were a alien science project gone wrong instead of being born different. Adds more to the characters depth if they find out they're not what they always though and Charles and Magneto find out that the bigots they hate so much are right and that they're just preaching lies. Not sure if they ever found out, but it'll be something if they ever did.
I don't think this is as bad as Amazons Attack, Countdown, or Cry For Justice. Still though, it was horrible.
Does every single character from the Ultimate universe kill no matter who they are supposed to be?
Seeing characters keeping going and developing over time is understandable and can prove to be interesting, but you'd really like to see them have no end?
A great many novels, series and films worked well because they book ended the events and characters. Planning specific arcs and exactly how they would develop.
No offence intended but it just seems like shorter, better planned, existences make for better stories than ones which last decades like with superhero comics.
I have to say, normally, I don't mind character deaths, even those who are just quickly and unceremoniously, those are quite often the ones that upon reflection end up having the most emotional impact.
The problem with this mini-series is that going by how the characters die and how it is presented to us, it is clearly meant to have SOME impact, even if it is just to chock us. the problem here is that it doesn't chock at all. mainly because of how many times it is done.
"Heck, Even Batman himself decided that Darkseid had to die in Final Crisis."
Yeeeaaah, but the problem is that many people, like myself, consider that moment to be grossly out-of-character and unbelievable.
Is it so hard to believe that even Batman can be pushed to the breaking point? I mean remember, this is Darkseid we're talking about here.
What I mean is, there's a point in time when a Character can't stay in-character anymore. They have to evolve, change or make a choice that even if he regrets later, its a moment that he acknowledged he made. What we are today, isn't necessarily what we will be tomorrow.
perhaps sonic will die stoping the anti zonecop's antimatter canon.
Man, all that for essentially nothing. It sounds like Ultimatum was really only "Ultimate" in name and waste of paper and ink.
And if The Whatzit (forgive me for forgetting its real name ATM) could actually get into your house to come after Ninja Style Dancer, things are really starting to get serious. Can't wait to see where this goes.
As far as the revelation of the origin of mutants in the Ultimate comic is concerned, I can see where you're coming from. Though I will admit it does kind of factor into how a lot of characters with superhuman abilities in that continuity can trace their origins to Captain America and attempts at recreating the super-soldier formula.
On the other hand, I do prefer the cracked-out explanation of the Marvel universe in which mutants, and the potential for super-powers in humanity in general, was the result of the Celestials experimenting with proto-humans and all that. In a way, it kind of gives you both cases; it's the indirect and labyrinthe result of a race of extraterrastrial space-gods experiments, of which their creations later come to be burdened with by an accident of birth.
"Is it so hard to believe that even Batman can be pushed to the breaking point?"
Certainly, but it sure as hell wasn't Final Crisis. The build-up wasn't appropriate for it. You know where it WAS handled well? Hush - I totally could believe that Batman would kill the Joker in that middle issue if Gordon hadn't stopped him. It was well-written and well-presented.
"And if The Whatzit (forgive me for forgetting its real name ATM) could actually get into your house to come after Ninja Style Dancer, things are really starting to get serious. Can't wait to see where this goes."
Oh, it's worse than that. Remember - the Entity has been around since at least the Star Trek Voyager: Elite Force review.
Wow, this comic is the most amazing thing I've ever seen! It's an epic story exploring the depth of each character's psyche while presenting a world spanning crisis that challenges all our perceptions and leaves us contemplating the big questions.
No, wait...What's the opposite of that? Ah yes, garbage. It's actually pretty amazing that, no matter how you look at this story, it's impossible to appreciate it. Does it tell a coherent and well written story? No. Does it tie together loose plot points in an intelligent manner? No. Does it do justice to any of the characters, providing a logical conclusion to any of their stories? Hell no. Does it get people to want to read comics set in the Ultimates Universe? Well, it makes me want to stay as far away from an Ultimates comic as possible.
The crazy thing is, this shouldn't have been as bad as it was. Even if you roll with the dubious idea that the Ultimates universe needed to 'clean house', you could have made this into something truly dramatic and special. If I had been tasked with writing a story where a group of characters had to be killed off, I would have had them all die together as part of a heroic climax, similar to how Spock's death was handled in Star Trek 2. I would have made their coming deaths the focus of the story, spent at least some time on each of them as they come to terms with their future sacrifice, reflect on who they are, and generally pay tribute to their time in the Ultimates Universe. It may not have been perfectly satisfying, but I believe if the writers show they care about the story and the characters the readers will care as well.
Instead what we got was an ugly, convoluted collection of events, tied together by dialogue that is both pretentious and banal. From the cannibalism to the assassinations to the dated pop culture references to the moronic science to the insufferable monologues, everything in this story seems designed to make the reader NOT care. In fact, I'm not convinced that this is all due to incompetence; I honestly think that this book was designed to be awful to avoid protests from the readers. After all, what better way to end a line than to make sure readers don't want to read more?
...Oh, that's right. MAKING SURE THEY WANT TO KEEP READING!
Okay, rant over. In short, I completely agree with you Linkara.
Also, what's up with the Ninja?
Ok, then I'll admit that was a problem of writing. But you believe that Batman could really kill the Joker in that issue of Hush. Would you not like Batman anymore if he actually went through with it? Would you say the character is ruined forever?
If you don't mind me slightly quoting "The Dark Knight" Batman is able to make the choice that no one else can.
Or if I can make another example, I'd like to reference Star Trek DS9, "In The Pale Moonlight". Sisko had to betray his Starfleet principles and what he believed, but honestly truly believed that the stain on his conscience was worth having fewer lives lost in the war against the Dominion.
I'm not saying all the villains in Comic books deserve to be killed, I'm just mean the ones that go beyond all reasonable levels of tolerance.
"Certainly, but it sure as hell wasn't Final Crisis. The build-up wasn't appropriate for it. You know where it WAS handled well? Hush - I totally could believe that Batman would kill the Joker in that middle issue if Gordon hadn't stopped him. It was well-written and well-presented."
That's exactly it. The whole "not killing" thing can basically be summed up as this:
1) Editors don't want interesting villains to be killed, and they don't want heroes killing all the time.
2) Therefore, writers have to get the heroes to come up with ways to subdue villains without killing them.
3) Once the heroes find ways to subdue villains without killing them, they are morally obligated to use those ways, rather than kill villains.
This is perfectly justified in breaking down IF the situation truly shows that there is nothing short of death that will stop a villain (ex: Superman totally, 100% had to kill Doomsday, no way around it.) It also makes it perfectly fine for ordinary humans like cops to kill, because they don't have superpowers or fancy gadgets or skills that give them the luxury of taking down villains non-lethally.
You can also have a hero kill someone if they're acting on pure rage rather than making a moral judgement, but heroes are usually able to stop themselves. It takes a situation like Hush to make it seem in-character.
This is also why killing villains is okay in other genres and contexts (also, why it's okay for Captain America to kill Nazis in World War II) where the heroes don't have ways to subdue villains without killing them.
Lewis? For Pete's sake, man. Buy some plates. Or at least some glasses. That almost completely empty cupboard is just maddening. It's like empty space on a bookshelf- it cries out to have stuff placed there.
"Certainly, but it sure as hell wasn't Final Crisis. The build-up wasn't appropriate for it. You know where it WAS handled well? Hush - I totally could believe that Batman would kill the Joker in that middle issue if Gordon hadn't stopped him. It was well-written and well-presented."
And to prove that Crowning Moments of Awesome are subjective, I would like to point out that the Moment of Awesome page for DC Comics on TvTropes mentions that one moment from Final Crisis where Batman kills Darkseid. And here I thought that those tended to be nearly universally agreed, despite it being, y'know, subjective.
On an unrelated note, have you noticed that the "word verification" thing on this website tends to just be random letters put together? Instead of, y'know, actual words?
On another unrelated note, I've noticed that the user "Mountain King" almost always makes the first comment on your videos, and unlike billions of others on this thing we call the Internet, he does not feel the need to flaunt it by shouting "FIRST!" like a moron. That, my friend, is true maturity.
The question, Anonymous, is that it comes down to presentation - as long as we see the wheels turning and a logical chain of events leading down the road they've taken, it's fine.
Now, Batman's a different case from Ben Sisko, though. While the story itself would have been good, I wouldn't have liked Batman afterwards if he had gone through with it - not-killing is so much a part of who the character is supposed to be that having him deliberately murder someone is... problematic, to say the least. He wouldn't be the kind of person I'd want to read about anymore. Sure, the story would have been good and I wouldn't have faulted it there, but like with One More Day, I would have stopped reading.
As for Ben Sisko, he's a soldier who kills and ultimately had to sacrifice his principles for a much greater good, and for as many people as the Joker has killed, it still pales in comparison to the potential 800 billion lives that were in danger of the Dominion and we saw the chain of events that lead up to his compromise.
But that's who Benjamin Sisko is, not Batman.
"Lewis? For Pete's sake, man. Buy some plates. Or at least some glasses. That almost completely empty cupboard is just maddening. It's like empty space on a bookshelf- it cries out to have stuff placed there. "
They're in the other cabinets. XD That one is specifically the medicine cabinet, where we keep the ibuprofen, allergy meds, nyquil, and apparently hyposprays and dermal regenerators.
But another thing you have to consider, is that most of these moral codes and decisions not to kill wasn't part of the characters when they were first created. Both Superman and Batman killed way back in the Golden Ages, so what happened?
1954 - Seduction of the Innocent by Fredric Wertham was written.
The outlash against comics at that age eventually created the Comic Code Authority, which made the writers have to change the characters to fit with the new rules. That's why Manga can be so outwardly gory at times, because they never had that limitation over their writing. (In my opinion, I'm not against gore, but a lot Manga seriously go much too far)
The point I'm mean is that the the writers had to make the characters fit with the new rules or else they wouldn't be allowed to be published. And eventually, readers just accepted that's what the characters have always been.
Since you didn't read Ultimate Origin like myself I'm not surprised you didn't comment on this, but I think it's really important to know this in order to understand how stupid it all is.
Magneto already knows about the true origin of Mutants before Nick Fury even tells him. Thats right, he learned it in Origin it turns out along with other people. So the revelation he learns here... shouldn't be a surprise at all!
"with nothing have been"? don't you mean with Nothing having been or just nothing achieved?
A minor point but I'm nitpicking.com: "Loeb" is pronounced like "lobe", at least by everyone I've ever met or heard of who had that name.
I think killing makes perfect sense for some heroes without diminishing them. Captain America was trained for and fought in World War Two (as did my father). If he had a shot at, say, Osama bin Laden he would take it without hesitation--and you know that in 616, Steve Rogers was on the team that hit Abbottabad. And if he did not do that I'd think less of him.
I suspect it's easier for the Entity to hang around Lewis' house because Pollo is spending all his time on the ship in Earth orbit. (Since I'm nitpicking pronunciation, in Spanish pollo rhymes with "yo-yo". That "aw" phoneme you say doesn't exist in Spanish.I jump every time you say it. I'm not suggesting you change it now, mind you, but it makes at least one Spanish-speaker twitch.
linkara what is that creepy music that plays for the enity sceans?
Ok, 1st I'll just talk about the song you chose to sum up this episode missuses the theme word of "Ironic" and inturn the comic it's self! It's more a "Misfortion" then something Ironic!
On the comic this comic is why I'm kinda wanting to give up on the Ultimate series! I like the Darker Gritter realworld stuff of it! Because the Mark Miller stuff I liked in the Ultimates and then he left and Loed did this and I'm sure if Miller stayed the series would've been better!Ultimatum would've still happened but could've been handled alot better I'm sure!
Linkara do you think in the future you'd do like the 1st Ultimates series as a theme episode for the Avengers movie which takes alot of elements from the Ultimate universe!? Or one of the old Green LAntern comics from the 60s before it's movie!? Or the X-Men: First Class mini-series before or after the movie!?
Hello, different anonymous. Not sure if you have seen the animated dvd movie Batman Under The Red Hood or not but it also gave a good reason for why Batman wouldn't kill anyone. I'm not sure if it its a stand alone title or not so how accurate it would be to his personality is hard for me to say right now.
"I suspect it's easier for the Entity to hang around Lewis' house because Pollo is spending all his time on the ship in Earth orbit. (Since I'm nitpicking pronunciation, in Spanish pollo rhymes with "yo-yo". That "aw" phoneme you say doesn't exist in Spanish.I jump every time you say it. I'm not suggesting you change it now, mind you, but it makes at least one Spanish-speaker twitch."
I've been pronouncing it Poy-oh since that was how I was taught to pronounce it. ^^;
so your friend is bleeding to death and you stop to answer the phone? can't you just check messages later? that's cold dude, that's cold.
just kidding great story so far, and creepy message.
The Comic: That's it? No reveal of who he's working for? Although I have a funny feeling I know who it is anyway, a little confirmation from the comic would have been nice.
Your Arc: Oh crap...
Fiery Little One
The thing about killing villians, and in particular the joker. Is that, sometimes even that wont work...They did excute him before, in the 1940's long ago and it didnt take. He was ressurected a few months later by some fanboys of his.
Now about the subject of killing for superheroes, I am in the catagory that yes there can be times where the hero is pushed to the brink. However, and call me crazy, I always watching the hero take the villian down without having to kill them. Kind of show how much more resouceful you are that you can take this guy down without killing. After all, my favorite scene in Dark knight returns is watching Batman take down a thug without killing him. I would also like to bring out a point about heroes killing...redemption. or rather the families those people will have lost. The mooks who actually have families who care about them. As for main villians, let me point to the thunderbolts. You know they were ex villians who got redeemed as well as Hawkeye. As Linkara said, heroes are supposed to be the best of us, and that includes the ability to see the good in us even the ones who are evil. Yes there are those who should be killed (i.e the joker or MAgneto in this case.) but that was too quick. Also, whats to stop someone else performing a copycat kill and honor the joker if he were to die. Worst yet, he tries one up him. At least with the Joker you have some sense of what he is. In mags case, what did killing him solve? Nothing.
As I said before, I agree with Linkara's point of there being a breaking point, and I also agree with what someone said about these heroes being such that they have ways of taking people out without killing. Police and action heroes dont have that, they do have to kill. However, even in police proceedure they try NOT (empathsis on the not) to kill.
I am of the belief that when a hero kills indiscrimatly, they cross a line. or in the words of the Doctor" you kill him, you have to deal with me."
To sum up, killing with heroes is ok only under extreme circumstances; however, I respect a hero who can take down a whole room of thugs without killing than a bloodbath.
PS. I hate this comic
NEWSRADIO CLIPS! <3
Also, I hope Ninja Style Dancer is okay 0.0 Leave it to 90's Kid to call at the worst possible time.
Tons of old-school, beloved characters die and/or act out-of-character in a massive, poorly-crafted apocalypse scenario that was penned for the sake of making continuity simpler to cater to newcomers (who allegedly are scared off by anything unfamiliar)? Now you fans of Ultimate Marvel know how fans of Magic the Gathering's storyline feel from the Time Spiral Cycle.
There is some logic to why Magneto could use Ironmans beams and do some other things during this fight. As we all know every electronic device, whether digital or not, depends on the movement of electrons. In simple devices you can just install a switch to manually turn your circuit or parts of it on and off. In more complicated systems, like computers, there would have to be too many switches, and switching everything on and off manually would take a lot of time. That is one of the reasons why we have processors and software that calculates what has to be on and what has to be off. I don’t read comics so I don’t know if Magneto can move single electrons, but if he can, he can use any digitally controlled device just by moving electrons and don’t worry about the software. That being said, he would also have to know all the circuitry of the system and what voltage, power, and current ratings all of the components.
He could also fry Wolverine quite easily. Movement of electrons generates heat, that’s how electric water heaters work. I have one problem with that though, if he would just heat up Wolverines skeleton his body wouldn't explode, it would just start behaving like a shish kebab left on the BBQ for too long. Possibly he could turn his entire body into a heater and then it would somewhat make sense why Wolverine died so fast. But then it means that Magneto can move electrons in objects with higher resistance, not just conductors. Why didn't he just use that to kill everyone there? It’s not even like he had to explode everyone there (then someone could say that he didn’t have enough energy to do that), most people will die if their body temperature goes up to 45 degrees Celsius. And it’s not even like he had to heat the entire body, just heating up the brain would be enough.
I wasn’t really surprised that Magneto died even though he could just kill everyone so easily. Idiot authors can’t create a smart character.
Wow. You know, you could maybe salvage something like this if all the remaining heroes fought Magneto on a floating island he personally lifted(which is ridiculous, I know, but he shifted the whole earth's whatsit. Fights on floating islands are at least visually interesting.). Instead, the climax turns out was essentially "Wolverine vs Magneto". It's not even a cool "how in the hell is Wolverine supposed to do anything to a guy who could bend his bones into a pretzel". He wins by stabbing a guy who has no business letting him get close to him. It's not epic, it's not unique, it's not clever, and it doesn't even make sense by comic superhero standards that it went down like this. At least Wolverine's cheerleaders where there, huh? It says something sad that you have Ironman, Storm, Hawkeye, Cyclops, Jean Grey, and Wolverine and it de-evolves into a Loganfest.
But at least Doom always has a secret cache of epic, right? Wrong. He's killed like a punk. I gues at this point I'm used to every character in Ultimate being Grimdark, but what version of DR Doom is this that would let The Thing crush his skull?
Like...maybe I'm wrong and there was a battle in there you didn't show, but...come on. It's like having Chewbacca kill Darth Vader by dropping him off a 4 story building. Regardless of the fact this are fictional characters, it feels like there should be at least a pattern of behavior, right? Hell, being prepared to fight the Thing is probably a high priority for a guy who fights The Thing a lot. Maybe Ultimate Doom is not a genius like regular continuity Doom.
Finally...reboot? Just ten years? I mean...If you change the status quo of a line that was meant to be a less tangled variant of the regular continuity, then GUESS WHAT? It becomes an ELSEWORLD.I guess "What If" is more apropriate, but didn't sound as good in that sentence. So instead of Ultimatum, they should have called it "What if Magneto caused a Roland Emmerich disaster movie because Dr Doom thought it would help his plans somehow and also other gruesome yet childish and meaningless things happen?
Long. I know. Sorry.
Wait, wait, wait.
If mutants were created in a lab, why are they born all over the world over a period of decades, instead of being somewhat centrally located?
I mean, it raises questions like was Ultimate Nick Fury even alive before Magneto was born? Because if he was involved in the project he would have to have been.
That's on top of all the other crazy and stupid stuff, of course. But I figure you covered most of it and you did say to save this discussion for the comments (and forum which I didn't even realize you had).
Wait, did they kill Magneto without having him put earth axis back in place? Sure, the science makes no sense what so ever, but it seems like they just left the axis misplaced.
"Wait, did they kill Magneto without having him put earth axis back in place? Sure, the science makes no sense what so ever, but it seems like they just left the axis misplaced."
Nah, after Reed tells him what he did, he apparently corrects it.
I have a solution for people who want to read comics but want to read from the start.
http://marvel.wikia.com/Contents
http://dc.wikia.com/wiki/Comics_Contents
These two websites have every comic released by dc and marvel listed. There options to go threw each individual month aswell. And if you dont want to read from the beggining there is a detailed character summary for almost every character aswell. And as for getting the comics themselfs well if your not opposed to downloading scans of them. www.H33t.com has a very large database of scans in torrent form. Just type in the comic series name in the comics Category. But reading every comic from both companies is quite the daunting task but i calculated that if you read 5 comics every day for at least the next 12-15 years you will be fully caught up until 2024 if you dont bother with the non super hero related comics that Marvel and DC put out. Now this is a long time but there is 70 years of DC and 70 years of marvel, 50 if you start when the fantastic four came out. with marvel I advise starting with the Fantasic Four and reading the origin comics of the heros before 1962. I hope this information is useful to sombody.
i have a question or two about ninja-style dancers head injury at the start of the stinger. did it come from him hitting his head on the wall /last/ week? or did it come from the entity directly /this/ week?
It could be worse... NSD could've been erased from time :)
Well, at least Loeb somewhat redeemed himself after this shit-storm by writing Ultimate X
It stars the Ultimate version of Dakken, trying too live-up to the reputation of the father he never knew.
It's actually pretty good, alto the gaps between issues are terrible
As of now, only 4 issues came out in 16 months.
But I'd rather have quality over quantity
Wow... I'm afread to what'll happen to Ninja next time we see him, becasue they're not dead, they're just living inside it's head. For a peice of the World is missing... Dam does this story be creepy. And I'm loving it all the same. Think the only way this could become more awesome is if Slender Man and BEN were to pop up and fight The Enity in an epic three way fight.
I actually think the twist, that every Mutant was created by a mad scientist, makes sense. From the beginning of the Ultimate Universe there was one thing that always came up. Apart from the Mutants (at least back then) and Thor (who we didn't know a lot about for at least 2 years) pretty much EVERY Superhuman being in the Ultimate Universe was a result of searching for the new Super Soldier.
Spider-Man, the Green Goblin, most of the Six, the Hulk, the Red Skull and probably a few more were all tied to the Creation of the old or a new Captain America.
Also, I haven't read Final Crisis, but I agree with what you said about 'Hush'.
Speaking of Hush, it is one of my favourite stories of all time and I think it's fascinating, how one the works of one author can be as fantastic as Hush and asa stupid as Ultimatum.
Then again....Frank Miller...
"Also on the continuity issue, for imprints like the Ultimate Marvel Universe, which were launched to avoid alienating new readers with continuity tangles, wouldn't it be easier to just discontinue the line? Instead of killing everyone off just having most of the plot lines resolved and just ending publication on the books."
This!
@Falcovsleon20
"Actually Linkara, considering how much I think Bendis is a complete and selfish hack who also has a problem with killing off characters pointlessly, I'd say dedicating a book about killing his work on the Ultimate Universe is a very fitting dedication for him."
Take it back you douchebag!
I know this is for the sake of the story but it just irks the logic centers of my brain that someone would answer their phone when in the middle of helping someone in medical need.
And just to throw my two cents in, I have this lingering feeling about 90's kid based on that stinger where he said "What you see is what you get..... OR IS IT?" or was he simply referring to the plot, not himself? .....deep.
But seriously, I'm excited to see what happens. Review was okay. Nothing particularly outstanding this time. Pardon my rambling.
~June
Great review, as usual, although I'm kinda surprised you didn't get all ranty at the end there.
One more continuity error that I think someone mentioned above: Ultimate Doom is not a guy in a suit or armour, he's more like Collossus, his entire body is metal.
I think it's that last death (Cyclops) that annoys me most. Cyke rebuilding the X-Men without Xavier could have been a really interesting story and - BANG! - it's gone.
The storyline bit with The Entity is actually the first of your storylines that I've been interested in. No offence to you but the previous ones just haven't been to my personal taste. Maybe it's the mystery but I'm getting into this one.
So you described as violent, mean spirited, wretched & non-sensical ..." Morrison's new x-men run! Oh just Ultimatum...okay...)
Yeah Marvel shot themselves inthe foot with this one , even though I despise the ultimate universe (the 3 characters I kinda liked were Gambit since his his first appearance was touching, Emma Frost who reminded me of Lobdell Emma Frost aka the best version [Morrison Emma is not as awesome as Gen X Emma. The former is just Paris hilton-lite bitchy jean rival (how...Cliche) while the latter is a calculating , Subtle cold,independent & sometimes frightening ( the way she got rid of her sister or the detective was just scary…) & charismatic antiheroin] & Apocalypse who while missing the strategist side & being gone quickly is HOW YOU WRITE EN SABAH NUR IN PHYSICAL CONFRONTATIONS!A PURE BADASS!!
Anyway you know what would save this story...er I mean...comic...well drivel?
If the last page was cletus kasady, Victor Creed & Dread Dormammu were seen typewriting this Story! it would explain a lot! don't you think?
@Falcovsleon20
UNDERSTATEMENT OF THE DECADE! Bendis is a hack whose work on the avengers makes you either sleep or slam your head against walls! The guy has ruined Scarlet witch..No make that RAPED her, just because he didn't like her & when Carnage was killed in such a shitty way... well he obtained my undying enemity for it! SO FUCK HIM! FUCK HOUSE OF M & DECIMATION!
@ Carrie Kelly
1) Editors don't want interesting villains to be killed, and they don't want heroes killing all the time.
Oh, you have no idea how they can fuck up excellent opportunities with their villains for complete shit for example:
-they got rid of Sabretooth in such a stupid way that I'm baffled a retcon hasn't been written yet (like it or not, when well written Victor Creed is just deliciously evil! & there's no one that made wolverine viable & interesting but him & the other rogues (they're even more fascinating than Logan nowadays) & an encounter with x-23 would be golden!)
- Darkseid was killed by a karaoke song...I fuckin kid you not! Linkara , my friend, you really need to review this shitfest!If Morrison is good at having crazy ideas,he's horrible when it comes to execution,he falls flat on his ass!& he doesn't know how to write Darkseid or any epic villain ( for a guy who hates shades of grey , he really blows when it comes to writing good & decent people)
On the subject of coutdown , it happened because Didiot hated & disrespects the new gods, & I'm not exagerating.If Didio was so dead-set on killing off Kirby's greatest creations, then he should have at least allowed someone with *respect* for the mythos to do the job. A team of Mark Evanier, John Byrne and especially Walt Simonson would have been able to do the job and made The King proud, and give the fans something they could have actually said was *the* "Last Battle" Kirby promised would one day happen.
It's sad when the cartoon does it better than the "source" material
Anyway Mr Lovehaug, may I suggest a top 15 most mistreated villains, about villains of such magnitude like Apocalypse, Stryfe, Dormammu, Darkseid, Neron, Anti-monitor, Mr Sinister,Selene,Doomsday or shuma gorath that are constantly getting misused & jobbed to make the lesser beings look good. I frankly call it Hackery of the highest level!
well think about & tell me what you think! Cheers!
Actual irony:
Ninja-style dancer being killed off in a comic review complaining about characters being killed off.
Why that's irony and not hypocritical:
It served a point and established the main antagonist (i.e. The Entity) as a threat.
So um. Yes. :P
"i have a question or two about ninja-style dancers head injury at the start of the stinger. did it come from him hitting his head on the wall /last/ week? or did it come from the entity directly /this/ week?"
Well, since he encountered the Entity twice and seemed to know what to do, I wanted to give the idea that he's been narrowly escaping it multiple times now, and since last week's he actually got knocked back, that he hasn't exactly escaped the most recent encounter unscathed.
Although I do agree that Ultimatum was really, REALLY bad, I think that it's a different kind bad to Countdown.
Countdown, I feel, is more like the Room. It's an onion of ineptitude that becomes increasingly hilarious in an unintentional way with each new weekly layer.
Ultimatium is more like Transformers 2. It feels more like someone cynically trying to get a pay cheque without bothering to read up on the characters before writing them, using cheap deaths and destruction instead of actual drama, and generally feeling like the creator has no passion for the source material, so it becomes off as being meanspirited and cruel instead of awe inspiring or whatever emotional it was they were going for.
And the idea behind Ultimate Origins was that it was more an exploration of the theme of the superhuman arms race theme that had been part of the universe since the beginning of Ultimate Spider-Man.
This meant that most of the non-supernatural superpeople in the Ultimate Universe could trace their origins either back to attempts to recreate the Captain America supersoldier serum, OR extraterrestrial interference.
The only natural-born mutant in the Ultimate Universe was James Howlett, aka Logan/Wolverine, who was experimented on by what would later become Weapon X in order to find out why he healed faster then regular people.
In doing this they both made his healing factor stronger and found the genes that cause mutations like Logan's, and due to either the staff at Weapon X having safety protocols that would make Aperature Science look well thought out OR the head scientist (implictly the same ex-Nazi scientist that empowered Steve Rogers and Nick Fury, yes Fury has the same powers as Captain America in the Ultimate Universe) just went crazy and tried to create the Master Race, the agent that carried the mutation genes first got into the Weapon X members of staff, their children, and then spread to the rest of the world from there.
So people in the Ultimate Universe ARE born with their mutations... but they're still the result of a bunch of mad scientists working in the Canadian Arctic.
Oh, and speaking of Canada, Magneto isn't a Holocaust survivor in this universe. He's Canadian, and the reason he has his powers is because his parents worked for Weapon X and were thus infected with the genes somehow.
And although I do have to agree that Batman killing Darkseid, even as a "Once in a lifetime exception" could be seen as being out of character. Batman was under massive amounts of stress up to that point, both from the events of Batman RIP, which took place only DAYS before Final Crisis, and to being kidnapped and tortured by Apokaliptian scientists who were attempting to clone his body and mind into an army of Batmen to work for Darkseid.
Though it was another case of you having to read other titles in order to get the full idea of what's going on, which I do understand can be a drag and an expensive one at that, how Batman had become so emotionally, physically and mentally ravaged to even think about shooting someone is kinda explained.
Anyways, long ramble over. Peace out.:)
Can anyone take a guess at what that brief image visible in the Entity's static resembles? I've checked it every time I've seen it, and still can't quite puzzle it out.
This storyline is frickin' awesome. Really, there's far more tension and mystery and thoughtful buildup with the arc words and slow accumulation of new revelations and twists on old scenes and characters over the course of months than pretty much any professional high-budget TV show I've ever seen.
Your comic book storyline parody/homage is really effective. Your development of the context makes the arc words as chilling as "why red skies?"
Cyclops' actions towards Magneto remind me of a novel I wrote when I was 13. The characters would say one thing but then do something totally different.
My excuse was that I was 13 and writing something for the first time that wasn't a school assignment.
I'm still waiting to hear the excuse for Ultimatum.
That dedication at the end is just...that made me feel so weird.
wait wait wait... he kills him by ripping his skeleton out. y'know there was an entire storyline in the regular comics where this happens, and it's revealed that the adamatium slows down the regeneration. maybe it's different in this universe, but shouldn't they al least do research
"If the Hero doesn't kill a particularly horrible villain and they just continue to do horrible things, including kill people, then wouldn't the deaths be on the heroes head as well becuase they didn't stop the villain when they had the chance?"
Man, I hate this argument every time I see it and an SO sick and tired of it. If the hero doesn't kill a particularly vicious villain, then doesn't than mean the her is responsible for any and all atrocities the villain continues to commit? NO IT DOES NOT IT DOES NOT IT DOES NOT. The hero doesn't make the villain do anything. The hero does not have the villain's murders or other atrocities on his or her conscious, EVER.
The Hero doesn't have control over other people's actions. No one does. If you really want to blame someone other than the villain for their actions, blame the writer.
Wait, did Magneto ever totally destroy Wolverine's hand? Cause if he didn't, that whole "regenerate from one cell" thing should bring Wolverine back to life. Therefore, the X-men just killed Wolverine by letting his hand incinerate in Magneto's lair. What assholes. And hey, maybe because Ultimate Reed Richards is such a bad scientist, he became a villain! I don't know, doing a 180 on his character like that is kind of dumb.
Anyway, it looks like Ninja Style Dancer might be dead. But, from the clues he gave us and since he didn't really go down swinging, he might be possessed by the Entity and is being used as its host. While, like others, I find the whole answering phone before treating injured a little wrong, with what you go through, it might make sense. The call might have been a warning that you were about to be attacked or something. Still, you could have put the phone on speaker and treat Ninja Style Dancer at the same time...
Had not been this creeped out since last year's Silent Hill review.
What was up with the comic's ending? I wasn't that surprised when you first put that mock-ending of Granny Goodness as the villain behind the scenes, because that makes as much sense as the real ending.
It's not a "twist" ending, because we've received no indication that Quicksilver was alive and no indication that he was ever thinking of emulating his father. His character just does a 180. This comes out of *nowhere.* It doesn't make sense at all.
As for the silhouetted woman, maybe she is the Scarlet Witch, but, as Tyler said, that would be just as dumb because we've received no indication that *she* was alive, either. What, did she just fake her own death, even though it was the robot who had planned to kill her? Did she and Pietro know about the robot's plan all along? Did they know about Dr. Doom?
If the silhouetted woman is not the Scarlet Witch and is, in fact, Pietro and Wanda's mother (since Pietro is talking about the Scarlet Witch in third person and they're in Wundergore), then what is her role in all of this? We only saw her in a flashback. Where was she all this time? And good grief, why does Pietro look so old?
This ending is so random, nonsensical, and stupid that I can only guess that it was cobbled together at the last minute because the writers couldn't think of another way to end the story.
@Anonymous, the one questioning the "heroes killing" issue
"The problem is that sometimes there are no alternatives. Sometimes a villain is beyond redemption, beyond containment and beyond just defeating. Sometimes you have no choice but to bring them down for good.
Heck, Even Batman himself decided that Darkseid had to die in Final Crisis."
Uh, Linkara acknowledged this possibility. He said that he can accept when a villain is simply too far gone, and that killing might be a last resort.
The last two words are important: LAST. RESORT.
And considering such works as Watchmen, the aforementioned Batman: Under the Red Hood (and the storyline it was based on), and others, a lot of heroes are a hell of a lot scarier than villains. If they did decided to compromise on their ethics once or twice, that is more than enough to cause some major damage. We went through this crap before: it is the reason we have 90s Kid.
And as it has been stated before, even in real life, with no superpowers or high technology, we still hold our "heroes" to a higher standard, expecting them to not execute criminals before their day in court, simply because it is expedient or easy.
You know what you get when Batman decides to kill? You get Frank Miller's Batman aka Crazy Steve. And does anybody really want that?
P.S. As far as the actual book, I think this is simply another symptom of this "Silver Age-o-philia" that is striking the Big Two. They have all these people trying to "fix" all the grim-and-gritty modern stuff by returning to Sliver age sensibilities (Heroic Age, Brightest Day) but they don't know how. So they kill and maim any modern characters, bring back the old ones, then proceed to kill and maim THEM! Arrrrrgh!
P.P.S. Wow, I just realized that Ultimate Spider-Man was the very thing Quesada wanted (a younger, single Spidey without the angst) AND IT STILL WASN'T GOOD ENOUGH. And now they are getting rid of him too. How...typical.
Wait a minute! The mutants were created by scientists? As Des Shinta said, that's the plot for Mutant X.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mutant_X_(TV_series)
That show was an awesome premise hampered by an abysmal budget. They should have just made ''that'' into a comic.
The saddest thing I find with this event series is that an event like the death of Magneto, Professor X, Dr. Doom, Dr. Strange, or even Wolverine or Cyclops, on their own, would have been worthy of an event series of comics just given the amount of impact those characters have and the lives they've effected and how major a change it is. This is something DC got right with the Death of Superman event, imo, that Marvel has kind of stumbled with in comparison. Alot of those guys I just named are the type where even long time enemies would come to the funeral, or hunt down the person who killed them. To see Marvel just toss them under the bus like they did in this event is mind boggling.
@Saidi from tunisia
Morrison is good at having crazy ideas,he's horrible when it comes to execution,he falls flat on his ass!
I kind of agree. I like Grant Morrison, but the stuff I like from him is his older stuff(Animal Man) or elseworldish titles(I.E Flex Mentallo, and All Star Super Man), but yeah I agree he can't handle major villains. I do also like his run on Batman and Robin(not perfect, but good none the less), and his Batman Incorporated seems interesting.
I also agree with you on Ultimate Gambit, he was one of the few Ultimate X-men I liked. Ironically most of the deaths in Ultimatum that pissed me off were the Ultimate X-men.
@Aaron "The Mad Whitaker" Bourque
You are a naive fool, who does not like to hear the truth
"You are a naive fool, who does not like to hear the truth"
Okay, enough of that - I don't want people hurling insults at one another here.
Wow, 106 comments and that one asshole who comes in to slam your storylines hasn't showed up yet. He must've finally given up.
@ Aaron "The Mad Whitaker" Bourque
By that logic, then it's not Peter Parker's fault that his Uncle died becuase he didn't stop that mugger.
Life is all about choices and consequences. A single choice made today can impact just one person or even a million people tomorrow.
A Hero has to accept responsibilities for their choices, including people who have died because of it. Maybe they can't save everyone, or maybe someone comes out of it with their lives ruined.
You can't just say they toss aside responsibility like that and accept the idea that heroes wouldn't give a crap about the very people they propose to protect. That goes against the very definition of the word "Hero".
Linkara, I totally understand your position. I even agree on most of it. That the reason why I liked "What's So Funny About Truth, Justice and the American Way?"
The problem is that sometimes heroes who adhere to a Moral code so strictly can come across like they're being selfish. Like they care more about their conscience and "code" above human lives.
Liking this story line more then others. Strong sence of mystery to it. I'm not sure if it's original music or not, but I've got that "I know that from somewhere and I just can't place it!" feel. There's an anime I forget the name of that had similar music that might come in handy for you. I'm sure more anime focused people can find it, but here is the only example I know of (at 7.25)
http://youtu.be/mt4BpnfAN-o?t=7m25s
As already said by others, answering the phone while your friend bleeds to death is silly. Found a mint condition Youngbloods comic? Under a Sega Menacer perhaps? :P
I liked the review. This was a hard series for me to read, as I was a big fan of the Ultimate universe, and enjoyed the interesting ways they attempted to modify the Marvel universe for the present day, as well as how they attempted to link all the superheroes and villains into a cohesive whole. Until this comic, anyway.
At any rate, I'm not sure if anyone has yet mentioned this, but I just wanted to clarify the whole 'mutants being created by humans' thing. It was established pretty early on in many of the Ultimate titles that the keystone of the entire universe was Captain America. Nazi Germany was being secretly supported by an alien race known as the Chitauri, which were initially supposed to be the Ultimate universe's version of the Skrulls (though this was later muddled in Ultimate FF), and they were giving the Nazi's advanced technology. To keep up, the US started the super soldier program, and first experimented on African Americans, with Nick Fury being the first test subject, giving him enhanced abilities, but not advanced enough. Ultimately, the program resulted in Captain America, but the secret of the program was lost when Cap was presumed dead.
Thus, every other superhuman in the Marvel universe is essentially the result of research attempts to create new super soldiers in some way shape or form. Spider-Man and his villains are all the result of government contracting research out that went eventually went awry. The Ultimates are the result of in-house government attempts to do the same thing. The Fantastic Four are the result of a government think tank training scientists to be new researchers in the field. And the mutants, well we already know about that.
This has the effect of making the universe very cohesive, but also a bit limiting, as they have to try and shoehorn everyone into this framework. Also, this was not exactly spelled out very well, even in Origins, as you'd have to read every Ultimate title to really see that this was the overarching theme of the Ultimate universe.
This is why i stick mostly with limited series and collected editions. I read a timeline in the back of a Fear Itself tie-in, I felt like my head was gonna blow from all the info, it was confusing enough as to why Loki was in a woman's body but everything else after that seemed rather convoluted.
Also that has to be the dumbest ending i've ever seen in a comic ever. Plus why is Doctor Doom normal looking? I thought he was suppose to be a satyr in the Ultimate universe.
Oh and good luck with the Entity(at least i think what that creepy ET sounding thing is) Linkara, if you don't survive can i have your hat? XD
And speaking of continuity, DC re-boots it once again
Yeah, Ultimatum sucked, but without it, you wouldn't have the incredible Ultimatum Spider-man: Requiem issue, written entirely from J. Jonah Jameson's persective. That surely has to be the best thing to come out of this horrible event.
Sam.
Allow me to rant on two things in this comic that you probably didnt have time to go in full detail about.
Firstly, Wolverine's death. You mentioned before that heroes should have grand deaths, and this came close, yet was so off the mark. That Wolverine would still strike Magneto despite the horrible damage to his body was badass, and his death would have been awesome, if it wasn't for a lot of factors that raise my blood pressure. One, he charges Magneto alone despite the fact that Magneto could just kill him instantly had he not been carrying the idiot ball till later. Two, Magneto was holding the idiot ball, when he could've killed Wolverine instantly. Three, the other heroes dont do anything to help him, just standing at the sidelines like some inverted "mook chivalry". Four, none of the other heroes were in trouble, nor did they distract Magneto and prevent him from escaping. This scene could have been better if all the heroes were incapacitated or in serious danger, and Wolverine bravely charged ahead to kill Magneto, but it wasnt the case, so the death scene is ruined.
Secondly, the revelation that in the end, Quicksilver killed Cyclops. What? What?! WHAT?!?! Wasnt he dead in the end of ultimates 3?? Wasn't the sole reason for Magneto's rampage was the seath of his son and daughter?? You mean he didnt even check if his own son was alive?? And his son didnt tell him or stop him??? This is Bullcrap!!! The whole plot of ultimatum could have been avoided if Magneto knew Quicksilver was alive!!! All the deaths, even the good ones like Hank Pym's and Thor's have become even more pointless!!!
Dear Lord, this comic Sucks.
Touching on what you had said about the beginning about continuity and reboots and what not Lewis, what are your thoughts regarding the recent press announcement that DC will be releasing fifty-two first issues in September as restarts of their titles and the supposed changes that will occur to make them more accessible to new readers? I would honestly like to hear your opinion on it, and simultaneously maybe get a comforting word or two; I don't know, I just felt really conflicted when I heard the news. I'm actually a bit frightened on how this all going to turn out.
I noticed that somebody already mentioned the DC reboot, I'm just going to point out that once again you have the most amazing timing. But please, use these powers for good.
THE XMEN ARCADE GAME! SWEET!
Ya know, there is always one thing that bothered me regarding Magneto, Iron Man, and Wolverine, maybe even several others including Valkyrie from the last vid: Why would you bring metallic weapons and such against people like Magneto?
I mean technically, and I am going by movie standards btw, so I might be wrong about this, but wouldn't Wolverine and Iron Man just be used as ping-pongs against Magneto, or, seeing all the gore, have the armor crushed in and the adamantium ripped out? I'm sure no one would be surprised at this rate.
I dunno, this is just a guess, and I might be wrong. But considering that Magneto was able to control Thor's hammer, I still think it's a likely possibility. Who knows? Maybe I'm wrong, but it's been bothering me all day.
It's rather like shock numbness. So much bad dialog and death for its own sake, the events in the fifth issue just kind of wash'd over, like I was watching someone else watching it transpire as you give commentary (which is kinda what happen'd, but hardly the point)
I really liked this universe, and this comic is like when a friend's relative dies. You've lost something, but what hurts most is that your friend has lost something more.
And then the story snippet at the end, if the Ninja died just there, I'd say it's a well earn'd death. It carried weight, and he still accomplish'd something important. However it is still ambiguous, as we don't know the nature of the entity or its effects.
The event we're seeing unfold here is shaping up to be an example of how to correctly do everything that bad events fail at.
"By that logic, then it's not Peter Parker's fault that his Uncle died becuase he didn't stop that mugger."
There's an enormous difference between abetting a robbery and not killing someone. Besides, Peter didn't kill Uncle Ben, the MUGGER killed Uncle Ben. Pete can feel guilt over it all he wants. He's not right to, but that's his choice, and it fueled him to become a hero, and later (until OMD/BND) a better hero.
"The problem is that sometimes heroes who adhere to a Moral code so strictly can come across like they're being selfish. Like they care more about their conscience and "code" above human lives."
Or they're trying to set an example.
. . .
"By that logic, then it's not Peter Parker's fault that his Uncle died becuase he didn't stop that mugger."
Well....yeah. It ISN'T his fault. That mugger could have killed anyone or no one. It was sheer chance, just like the spider that bit him (screw that totem nonsense). A big aspect of Spider-Man's whole characterization is that he blames himself for that WHEN NO ONE ELSE WOULD. That is who he is, which means it makes even LESS sense for him to go around killing anybody, villains or not. Because that same responsibility that drives him to fight crime also prevents him from committing the SAME CRIME that hurt him.
And by YOUR logic, Spidey should off every villain he lays hands on, since he has first-hand experience with that kind of guilt. Any one of them, even the goofy ones, even a plain old mugger, can hurt or kill any number of people, by intent or accident. So he would be better off just knocking them all off. And what about their families? Yeah, the Joker might not have anybody sane crying over him, but quite a few villains have other people in their lives. Are they now justified to kill Spidey because he killed someone close to them?
Honestly, it is weak justification, and it leads down a slippery slope towards a path we shouldn't want our so-called "heroes" to follow.
And really, looking at your previous comments, I am still confused as to what you are trying to argue for here. The caveat for "last resort threats" has been given already. So what exactly are you asking for here? Just straight up Punisher style vigilantism?
Actually, what Wolverine said at the very start made sense to me. In any fight, you got to hold back some for defensive purposes, so you don't leave yourself open to a counter-attack.
Any fight you intend to survive anyway.
But if you don't care if you die as long as you take the other guy out, well, that means you can attack that much harder. Basically Logan said "I'm gonna get all Kamikaze in your "
Sure, he could have said it better, but I understand the logic behind it.
I feel your pain about the poles, Linkara.
"Or they're trying to set an example."
You can't set an example to dead people.
Get your ass back here, comic! You're not finished yet. I demand you get back here and explain a couple of things...
What happened to Johnny Storm and Dormammu?
What happened to the Hulk and Colossus?
Magneto could not have died that easily! Where is he? I demand to know these things, NOW!
Dr. Doom, Stan Lee's most acclaimed super villian of all time, WOULD NOT HAVE DIED THAT EASILY!!!
This comic is not worthy enough to just walk off and leave this stuff hanging! NOT WORTHY!!!! This comic needs to get it's ass back here and finish this stuff! NOW!!
Where's the Punisher to shoot these guys in the head when you need him!!?? WHAT WAS THE POINT OF THE MIND SWAP WITH MAGNETO?!?!? WHAT COMPUTER DID XAVIER UPLOAD HIS THOUGHTS ONTO BEFORE HE DIED!?!? XAVIER ALWAYS UPLOADS HIS THOUGHTS TO A COMPUTER BEFORE HE DIES!!!!!!! ARGH!!
WHERE DID THE SUPER SKRULL GO?!?!? I want answers! I'LL KILL YOU ALL!! GOD DAMNED COMIC!! It's not worthy enough to wipe your ass on it!!
"You can't set an example to dead people."
Wha...what does that even mean? I suppose you mean the people who would die because of the hypothetical hero's inability to kill, but that is ridiculous. The hero, if he worth a damn, could and should be able to end a conflict without ANY loss of life, the enemy included. That puts him above the villain, who I assume must not care about all those bystanders and yes, he should be considered a role model for other heroes.
And again, it has been said: if things are SO bad that the hero HAS TO KILL, then it is understandable. But that doesn't mean everybody should pat him on the back, nor he shouldn't feel some guilt.
And oftentimes, that "code" they like to follow is the very reason they are heroes in the first place. Again, I gotta ask, if they should be allowed to discard their "code" so, what makes them any better than the villains?
Great Review Linkara! I understand creating a new universe to attract new readers who don't know the extensive Marvel Universe. I also understand killing off many Heros and Villans to make way for those who need more focus in Marvel or create new characters with new stories. These Comics just failed to do it in every which way possible by non-sensically killing Several Heros AND VILLIANS!
Yes I say Villians should be counted! They are more than a plot tool to further a hero's story. Killing them off for no-reason does just as much damage to a universe as killing a hero. I'm sorry Killing Dr. Doom in the end of the Comic is just as bad as killing off Nightcrawler because there really wasn't any purpose to it. The same can be said for Magneto. Villians should die in a blaze of glory as well either by their plan being foiled by a superhero or in an epic battle with a hero. Villians should not die to pad a story or make a hero look badass.
I love how the Entity story is progressing but umm Ninja style Dancer was severly injured on your floor and you stop to answer the phone! What kind of Doctor are you!?
Although I understand what the word technically entails, it could work based on the theory that this was "the last story" in the universe. Just a possibility, although still not anywhere near a good justification
-Okay, enough of that - I don't want people hurling insults at one another here.-
I know Linkara has to approve comments before there published, so that makes me wonder how many don't get through, and why some do. I'm going to test something.
So I must ask...
Is that your hair or did a cat die on your head?
Your so ugly that when you where born the doctors spanked the wrong end.
Your mama's so fat that when she jumped up she got stuck!
"I know Linkara has to approve comments before there published, so that makes me wonder how many don't get through, and why some do. I'm going to test something.
So I must ask..."
Oh, I tend to approve every comment, unless it's spam. I'm a big believer in free speech and expression... but don't mistake that for an unwillingness to lay down the law if I need to. People around here TEND to keep the comments pretty dang civil and for that I appreciate it, but if that should change, I may start exercising my power.
Unbelievable. How could Marvel screw up something that should have been cool? This could have been a great blockbuster event, but instead it becomes nothing but an excuse to throw in pointless death scenes and random acts of mass destruction just to elicit some kind of shock! This may not reach DC Countdown so bad it's horrible level, but it still sucks! Worst Ultimate Marvel series EVER!
Excellent review, BTW. The moment where you throw Ultimatum into the trash bin instead of burning it is a crowning moment of funny and awesomeness ever.
The fate of the Ninja-Style Dancer is one of the most shocking moments ever, and incredibly well done (given scenes with him throughout Ultimatum). And now to count down the weeks until you face the Entity.
Great review. I laughed out loud during the Granny Goodness part. Seriously though, I wouldn't have been too surprised if she was the main villain, it would fit with the whole messed up tone of the book. I enjoyed the Ultimate universe when it first came out because I was a new comic reader at the time and here was the new universe I could dive into without any researching, but boy did this event screw it up. I don't even bother with it now, sticking to main universes for now on.
Thanks for the info about starting comic books. I tried once before and wanted too badly to know everything that happened before. But now I'm just going to jump in and go from there.
So i just reread the ultimatum tie-ins, in particular, ultimate origins (which I still like, despite some blatant retcons, because it is well written and I enjoy the irony in Nick Fury's (he was forced to become the first super-soldier and now leads the super-soldier experiments) and the mutant backstories (all mutant activists claim that the mutant gene does not work like a disease, when in fact it blatantly does.).
Magneto already knows that man created mutant. He was the son of the main researcher. He was the person who freed wolverine from captivity. He was the second mutant, and the main cause for the spread of the mutant genome. The conclusion to ultimatum makes no frigging sense. Magneto doesn't care whether the next step in evolution was manmade or not, he just knows that now, man is no longer needed.
Addendum to above: The entire point of ultimatum was as sort of a universal reboot, so people could just jump in again. Yet the people who were called had the shortest backstories. The european captains for an example, can be described in a single sentence ("EU supersoldiers whose suits give them flight and superstrength"). Yet the character with the longest backstories were kept. The most blatant of these are Zarda and Spider-man. For Zarda's backstory, you actually need to read a whole other alternate universe.
Sorry for posting three times in a row, but, after reading the comments, I have to explain some stuff regarding the ultimate origins mutant origin.
It all started with three men, during World War II; James Howlett, Nicholas Fury and someone with the last name Fisk. When they were looting a house, they were caught and detained. At this point in the war, the allied forces were desperate. They saw no way to win the war without the use of atomic weapons, and that thought scared everyone. So they started experimenting on their prisoners, trying to make better soldiers, so they wouldn't have to kill every person in Japan or Germany. Nick Fury was the first test subject and was the person who first received the captain america serum and survived (though he wasn't nearly as strong as cap), but escaped afterwards, until he rejoined the military during the golf war, trying to atone for his sins during WWII. What happened to mr. Fisk is unknown, but it can be surmised that it has something to do with the ridiculous bulk and strength of Wilson Fisk, the kingpin of crime.
Now James Howlett is where it gets interesting. The canadian version of Weapon X saw the success of captain america, and wanted to do something similair themselves. But instead of creating a serum, the scientists there managed to alter Howlett's DNA. But something was wrong. A few months after Howlett's DNA was altered, the scientist's wife got pregnant, and a healthy baby boy was born, named Erik Lensherr. Erik had a normal life until he became a teenager, when suddenly all metal around him started to move. The father realized what had happened and tried to shoot Erik, but it was too late. His powers of magnetism were realized and the bullet ended in the scientist's skull. Erik read his father's notes and freed Howlett, who had now been experimented on for nearly 20 years, and both started traveling the world. Erik, now calling himself magneto, saw how afraid all humans were of the mutants, and brought them to the savage land, where no normal man would ever try to go as a way of keeping them safe. Howlett was captured by Weapon X, where he was deployed as a weapon, fighting in the gulf war among others.
All in all, this part of the story fits continuity very very well. It doesn't leave any real gaps, and fits into the parts of Wolverine's backstory that Millar had revealed. There are some minor contradictions between this and Kirkman's run on ultimate x-men, but the continuity issues of and with Kirkman's stories is something to rant about another day. Also, there is a lot more in ultimate origins than just this, but this is the part that is most relevant to ultimatum.
And just because I love multi-posting so much (or I continually remember new stuff regarding this crappy comic).
Ultimate Fantastic Four was written by Millar, Bendis, Ellis and Carey.
Ultimate X-men was written by Millar, Bendis and Kirkman.
Ultimates was written by Millar, and some mini's (ultimate iron man, ultimate human) by Ellis
Ultimate Spider-man was written by Bendis.
So Millar, Bendis, Ellis and Carey are pretty much responsible for all ultimate stuff, with them mostly ignoring Kirkman and vice-versa.
Now come the ultimatum lead-ups and tie-ins
Ultimate fantastic four was written by Pokakski
Ultimate X-men was written by Coleite
Ultimate Spider-man was written by Bendis
Ultimates was written by Loeb
Of these, only ultimate spider-man was any good (indeed, it was the fantastic end to a great series, I strongly advice reading it), which begs a simple question: WHY CHANGE ALL THE BLEEPING WRITERS?
So... When will you be reviewing 90s Kid's copies of Youngblood Strikeforce #4?
Great comic story!I like it.
All cast plays better role in this comic.We want more in future.
Ah, Ultimatum, so many kinds of concentrated stupid that was dedicated to the likes of Mark Millar and Joe Quesada- Wait just one darn minute...
The Ultimate Universe was Created by Joe Quesada, and in said universe, Peter Parker was involved in Love Triangles... Why did he even have to make the One More Day Retcon, then?! Was having perhaps one of the most popular Alternate Universes go your way not good enough for you?! Geez, every time his name is mentioned, Joe Quesada finds a new way to be a complete HACK.
I am posting.... FROM THE FUTURE!
Anyway, just saw the video, and thought I'd comment on a few things (I'm a rather big fan of the ultimate universe myself). Some of the comments here will also apply to the ultimates 3 review, since the two are pretty close.
First of all, a few continuity errors that haven't been mentioned yet:
- Thor's powers actually come from his belt and hammer.
- Magneto already learned about the origin of mutants in ultimates 3.
- Doom thinks Magneto wouldn't have the willpower to destroy the world. Up till this point in ultimate comics, there have only been 2 major operations by Magneto: In the first x-men story arc, he was just about to blow up the entire united states, in return of the king, he was going to tilt the earth's axis (more on that later)
- Magneto thinking that all of humanity was destructive. In return of the king, he actually robbed museums worldwide in order to preserve the good things of human culture. Ultimate magneto doesn't really resent humans, he just thinks there is only one non-animal species on the planet. Before mutants, that was humans, after mutants, that was mutants, putting humans on the level of, say, a cow. Hell, he even put a human male and human female in his arc of animals.
Also, three small notes about your review, before I move on to two really big things:
- Ultimate Magneto is a lot more powerful, intelligent and precise than 616 magneto. In the first x-men arc, he actually managed to hold about a hundred sentinels in place, pull apart their processors and re-arrange them, making them follow his orders. Magneto could probably be called the main villain of ultimate marvel (Hell, the ultimates were specifically assembled as a reaction to his sentinel stunt). So he could probably control Iron Man's suit.
*Ultimate Wolverine is as big a douche as portrayed here (well, at least the millar-version is. The kirkman-version, like all ultimate x-men, is exactly like the 616 counterpart). In one of the first x-men arcs, he actually tried to kill Cyclops so he could bone Jean Grey. When he switched minds with Peter Parker (long story) for a day, he tried to bone Mary Jane. Yeah, a lot of these involve wolverine boning people. It isn't exactly helped by the fact that early ultimate x-men stories suggest that he has Daken-like pheromones (Millar-written mutants have a much larger array of oddities)
-Ultimate blob actually has eaten people before (including, again, in return of the king). The comics, however, had enough taste to not actually show the eating.
Now, the two big ones.
1. You might be wondering why I have referenced the return of the king storyline so much. Why is that? Because Ultimatum is a complete rehash of the first half of that storyline. Magneto, in a flying fortress located in the savage land, using something to enhance his powers (banshee in ultimatum, a machine made by forge in return of the king), uses his powers to destroy human civilization. Before doing this, he uses large groups of multiple men to strike at specific targets. In the end, however, this plan is stopped after the heroes dramatically crash through the window. Now, the difference is that return of the king is one of the best comics I have ever read (might be a bit too dark for your tastes), while ultimatum is one of the worst. So not only is much of ultimatum copied from a better comic, it actually made mistakes about the continuity in relation to it.
The second big one is that the terribleness of ultimatum actually lasted more than nine months. You see, they did actually set up this event, though they did so in the most stupid way possible. In order to set up the continuity, they kicked the creative team off of two the three on-going series at the time, replacing both with terrible writers. The last few issues of ultimate x-men and ultimate fantastic four would fit perfectly into this show, if you ever want to do more ultimate stuff.
Loved the review though
Oh, forgot to add. While stuff does happen in the tie-ins that isn't mentioned in the main comic, it isn't actually anything important. No seriously, the plotlines you didn't see finished were all completely pointless (well, they killed a few more people, but I guess you expected that)
Post a Comment