Which is the best?
Which is the best?
The question is a bit vague. Series as in strictly stuff that ran as monthly titles? Because that limits it to Spider-Man, X-Men and Fantastic Four. Everything else during the first wave were mini or maxi series.
For it's longevity and consistency, Spider-Man has to get a shout out.
But as far as personal favorite material and that which had the biggest impact and left the longest impression, that would have to go to the various volumes of The Ultimates (specifically the Millar/Hickman runs). It would probably help if you broke it down into categories, like dividing each segment for every relaunch that occurred, and then choosing a favorite ongoing, mini, crossover, event etc.
Millar's X-Men followed by his Ultimates. Bendis pre ultimatum spider man and X-Men and Vaughn's X-Men next. Then Hickman's Ultimates.
Pre-Ultimatum Spider-Man. No doubt.
But some of the mini are really good too. Gah-Lak-Tus is probably the best.
I own the hardcover to Ultimate Gah-Lak-Tus and I wished I enjoyed it more - its just too far removed for me.
I would want to say Ultimate X-Men but it was so hit and miss, even when it was good.
My favorite will probably have to be Ultimate Spider-Man, the first volume and then Ultimate Comics X-Men has a close second.
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Overall, I'd have to go with Ultimate Spider-Man. The book has been the most consistent since its inception. It re-imagined many characters and stories from the 616 universe in truly interesting ways while making readers care deeply for the cast.
Here's why I didn't choose other mainline series:
-Ultimates: The first two volumes were realistic and bombastic- really, a summer blockbuster on the page. Unfortunately, Ultimates 3 and what followed couldn't live up to the Millar/Hitch team-up. There was a brief glimmer of light with Hickman/Ribic, but they left the book after two story arcs.
-Ult. X-Men: This book has been a bit all over the place since it started. In the beginning, it was a new interesting take on the mutants, but soon began to retread 616 stories with small variations. Since Wood took over, the book got a lot better, but my interest wasn't enough to pick it up again.
Ult. F4: Again, this book seemingly just added new tread to the 616 tire, content with retellings for the most part.
New Ultimates
Short and sweet answer: Every volume of Ultimate Spider-man. Peter AND Miles respectively.
Mark Millar's Ultimates for me.
Millar's Ultimates > Pre-Ultimatum USM > Wood's UXM > everything else > Ultimatum > Humphries's Ultimates.
Ultimate Spider-man
Hands down Ultimate Spider-Man takes my number one spot but the rest are pretty close to this in terms of quality as well: Millars Ultimates, Millars X-Men and Ultimate Extinction.
"A journey of a thousand miles, begins with a single step."
"With great power, comes great responsibility."
Ultimate Spider-Man > Millar's Ultimates > Vaughn's X-Men > Hickman's Ultimates > Everything Else > Ultimatum
For Mini Series:
Ultimate Extinction trilogy > Ultimate Doomsday > Ultimate Human > Hickman's Thor mini > everything else > Ultimate Hulk vs Wolverine.
For a mini, I figure I should throw Jason Aaron's Ultimate Comics Captain America.
I liked the grittiness we got to see from Ult. Steve Rogers. To me, that was what always set him apart from the 616 Steve. Although, that grit was seemingly forgotten towards the end(?) of his life.