With the fact that Ultimatum seems to be killing off people left & right--albeit mainly people who milled around the background of other people's titles--do you think the post-Ultimatum universe should be populated with more original characters (like Geldoff, but actually worth reading) or more "Ultimazations" of the 616 Marvel characters?

Discuss.

EDIT: Dammit, misspelled "Ultimatum" in the title. Eh, you know what I mean hopefully.

 

Neither.

The Ultimatum mini ruined everything that made the Ultimate Universe special. Reading the first Ultimate Spider-Man and X-Men arcs and you see these name you recognize but it was completely different. Fresh, new, etc.

Since Ultimates Vol. 3 and Kirkman taking over Ultimate X-Men it's been a rehash of the 616-verse. I don't want new characters and I certainly don't want a mirror of the 616. I want the last 2 years of the Ultimate line removed from continuity.

But that's not going to happen so I'd prefer if it just died.

 

I agree completely. The Ultimate Universe used to be awesome, but now it's just drivel. I gave up on it a few months back, and I never thought I'd say that.

 

They should just let the entire Ultimate line die. Better that than to let Jeph Loeb keep running it.

 

Wow. I was upset that I hadn't been able to keep up with Ultimatum (watching a train wreck kinda thing), but now I'm glad I haven't and just may walk away completely.

Can anyone tell me what happened to the Ultimate Fantastic Four? The last issue of thier series ended on a cliffhanger.

 

The thing that boggles my mind is that Ultimatum actually sells despite the mass hate. I've never heard one person at my LCBS say that they like the series, yet each issues sells out within the first week, usually on Weds at that.

 

It's a combination of the art and sheer shock value.

Honestly, I've never heard of someone say the story is good. At most you get things like "I wanna see what happens next" or "I wonder who else is gonna die". You never hear "Fuck this story is really well done!".

 

Post-Ultimatum Ultimate should be sure to NEVER, EVER let Jeph Loeb do another book again..bring back Ultimate Thor as he was before Loeb raped him into the one dimensional character he is now (among others), and pretty much get rid of all the bullshit that's currently going on.

Ultimate Spider-Man and Ultimates 1 & 2 were awesome books..so much potential wasted.

I agree. Everything before it was badass, but the moment Fury went to the SS universe stuff started to go downhill fast. Saddest part is, when I was reading the Supreme Power TPB, I noticed a drastic change in quality and writing from one page to the other. When I was done with the book, I checked what it was.

IT WAS THE ISSUE THAT GODDAMNED LOEB TOOK OVER.

 

Would you like to know what I want?

Because that requires several pages of ranting, and some VERY uncivil words.

The only Marvel books I read after FNSM died was either a Civil War book or Ultimate Spidey. I also got into Ultimate X-Men and Ultimates. After this however, the only Marvel (and comics in general too) book I read is Franklin Richards: Son of a Super-Genius.

 

I think they need to clone Brian Bendis and Mark Millar and only have books written by those guys. Heck, even their names are superhero-esque.

 

I pretty much only read Ultimate Spider-man in trades.

I had definitely wanted to catch up on the other lines.
From what I saw, most of it looked really good and some of it looked great.

There was so much done correctly in Ultimate Spider-man it was scary.

Now that I see what a shock and gore-fest Ultimatum is I think I'm done.
I mean, Blob is big and fat because he is a mutant and I am suddenly supposed to believe that he eats people?

And I can also attest that at my comic shop they say that no one likes Ultimatum, but its one of their top selling titles.
Go figure.

 

Going by the Ultimate Avengers article in the latest Wizard, I'd say both.

The article gave away spoilers for what's to come, so here:

Spoiler

It will introduce Tony Stark's brother, and also Ultimate Red Skull.

 

If post-Ultimatum things are going as they're planning it, Loeb will be doing Ultimates 4 with Frank Cho on art.

 

Ultimatum spoilers:

Spoiler

The flood killed off Doctor Storm. Sue was badly hurt but was up and fighting as of #4. Johnny has been possessed by Dormammu. Reed, Doom, and Zarda travel to the Supreme Power Universe to get Fury back.

 

Luckily, I stopped paying Marvel for its downhill spiral right when Ultimatum started, and have been getting it for free on Wikipedia ever since. I'd like to thank all of the super nerds that take the time to write out lengthy summeries on Wikipedia. Ahh...better than Google.

Seriously though, I don't like where this is headed. The Ultimate books used to rock, but now they're just as stale and craptacular as they can get. They need to stop random killing and start decent story telling. At this rate, in a few months, we'll find out that the entire universe was created by 616 Valeria Richards. She got pissed that Franklin made a Universe post Onslaught and decided to dabble as well. Just wait, it's coming...

 

This is the problem with a great many comic book fans.

They pay money for crap they don't like.

That just encourages more crap to be made. Anyone think All-Star Goddamn Batman is a good book? No?

Then don't buy it.

When sales figures drop, books get reworked or canceled.

This about sums Ultimatum up for me. Note: heavy SPOILERS inside the link: Tales From the Longbox 31: "Ultimates 3: Ultimately Crappy"

- Coeloptera