The Ultimates

I know who the characters are (some only vaguely though, like the Avengers), but I don't have any attachment to any of them (unlike the X-Men, for ex.). If the writing is good (and is, um, self-aware enough for my jaded comics tastes I guess) I would check it out.

I enjoy/ed the series immensely, but I think that's more because of my knowledge of the characters being revamped more than the quality of the story. And the art. Love that art. VG's comments are interesting, though, because I'm pretty sure (or was under the impression) that someone could get into the story as is, without the knowledge that these characters in drastically different states outside of _The Ultimates_, but since I came to the seires with all this a priori knowledge, I just took it all for granted.

I didn't mind the "HULK SMASH FREDDIE PRINZE" mood shift in the story that much, if only for a change of pace from the pervasive gloom & doom of the prior 4ish issues. Plus, my encounters with Mark Millar's work have braced me for some unevenness (cf. his _Ultimate X-Men_ run for a particularly egregious example), so I wasn't too surprised. Please note I haven't read these in quite a while - they're under a box underneath another box under some dust & more boxes - so my recollections are possibly spotty. Also, the godawful delays between issues (yay art) allowed the lesser plot points to slip away. Not that there's much nuance going on, excepting some characterization bits that I fear are going to fall aside for more full-screen spectacles (which is fine, to a point, but personally disappointing).

That all said, the sequence in issue #7 (I think) with Hawkeye and Black Widow and other SHIELD agents storming some office building, is COOOOOOL.

I hate his "pop culture" references (which probably will be outdated in five years time) and his apparent dismissal for the whole genre and his readers (once again, the ending of "Wanted"). He should come back to DC. But that's just my opinion.

Amadeo, if you're afeared of aging pop cult refs in your graphically sequential narratives, you should probably stay away from all Marvel and DC comics published between, um, 1939 and 2005.

I know, if he's not careful he'll start producing pop culture himself.

The France line is FANTASTIC.

Not that it wasn't enjoyable - I did read the damn thing, and didn't not like it - but there were plenty head-slapping moments that made me feel schmuckish in the process. It's light years better than his 12-part Spidey crap, tho.

As for FRANCE! - it wasn't the one-liner so much that grated my cheese, but the LOOK AT ME splash page of import that accompanied it. It's a throwaway hit-n-run line - it should be treated as such, not attached to some portentous "Cap pointing at A on crest" freeze-frame moment. (If it was a splash page of Cap going KAPOW! Kirby-style while saying it, tho, I'd be #1 fan.)

I recognize that the pop culture reference was a cheap shot, but I'm still reeling from Wanted (a.k.a. The Eminem And Hale Berry Show) and it's hard to believe that this is the same Millar that wrote Swamp Thing.

NB a fuller description would make it sound rubbish, read the comic and let it bump into you.

xpost Huk you should write an indie comic.

That's 48 pages right there.

More quirky autobiographical tales of growing up in Canada. "Guess So" continues with a poignant trip to the toboggan night. And complete in this issue is "Pointed", about love, rejection, and Green Arrow's finger. Huckle #2 was described by Cat Yronwode as "the best comic I've read this month" - discover its unique vision for yourself! $2.50

http://images.amazon.com/images/P/2871422869.01._SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg

i liked the way that the ultimates took a long time to build, and i thought the art was utterly in keeping with the epicness of the script - pure comic strip cinerama

The fact that they've remade Nick Fury by blatantly nailgunning on "...is Samuel L Jackson!" is kind of awesome.

which is too bad cuz i like the art and i (semi) like the idea. and maybe i was just having a bad day yesterday where everything kinda sucked (and i was, and everything did).

anyway... i uh brought it back and exchanged it for some other stuff. i love my comic book store. deep-dish discounts and the guy totally let me exchange the book cuz i didn't like it!*

*mind this is also because he recommended it & it was fairly expensive

I read the one with the twist-ending benevolent alien invasion and it just seemed like regular old crappy superhero bullshit to me.

Me too.

Ward is right about how moved I am by Grant's JLA, but I've gone on about that often enough here, and that's not what this thread is about.

*which he kinda bit for x-men, eh?

Also alternative futures are probably the best way to do different version of the current characters without having to get 1000 forms signed in triplicate. His DC 1000000 does a similar thing.

And he turned out to be a big-time Golden Age fetishist!

Ultimate X-Men has had its occasional moments but now I come to actually try and think of them it's all "Aha in THIS reality [x] is a BAD GUY". So maybe not.