Reading the Ultimate Universe from the beginning!

[Plawsky]

Oh my ;/

Haha WHOOPS. I have the review typed and ready to go, totally forgot to post it! But to be fair, I never actually said the date...

COMING MONDAY: JUNE 29th

[Plawsky]

As promised...

Ultimates by Sam Humphries (with Jonathan Hickman) (Ultimates #10-12)
My Rating: 6.5/10

The Ultimates found a return to form under Jonathan Hickman, and it was devastating to see him go. He had originally planned for a 5+ year run, but those plans changed within the book’s first year. Enter Sam Humphries, who came in to take over from Hickman and cowrite the end of his 12-issue run.

A quick disclaimer - in my review, I’m going to treat Humphries as the writer of this arc. That’s not because I want to make him a scapegoat, I just simply think that logic points to him writing this on top of Hickman’s plots and ideas, while Hickman took a backseat. It’s possible that’s not how it went down; if we find out that’s the case, simply switch around the names where applicable.

In short: it’s a disappointing ending.

But that’s not really fair, is it? The first nine issues of the series featured a brilliantly set up piece of world building. Something that was clearly meant to be more than just a single, 12-issue story. But with the change in creative teams, it’s not really fair to expect the new team to continue with the same story and mission statement. And I’m not sure anyone could have wrapped up that story well in 3 issues, because it simply wasn’t designed to be that way.

That being said, the ending that we got was very clearly a rush job in every sense of the word. These three issues hurry to jettison the mega-arc that Hickman was building, giving the Maker a quick ending. The characters here, especially Reed, are written in a way that helps the story end, but feels out of character; and the plot devolves into a stereotypical villain vs heroes, rather than the understandable pragmatist that Reed had been in the opening issues of the arc.

In that, I believe, lies the biggest problem here. Reed doesn’t come across as a character whose motivations make sense, he just comes across as a plain ol’ bad guy, and there’s nothing particularly interesting about that. It’s like Humphries didn’t get - or, possibly, didn’t care - what Hickman was doing with Reed; he just wanted to end it. The brilliant Reed/Hulk staredown from Hickman’s run devolved into a Hulk + giant serum fight, reminiscent of the awful Hulk-Pills ending of Ultimate Avengers, and Sue’s introduction to the story turned Reed into a poor villain, falling to the predictable “I loved you all along!” ending.

Humphries also added in some new elements to the story’s finale. The biggest, of course, is Anthony, the sentient brain tumor. The first scene with him was actually pretty fantastic. It was a neat way of looking into Tony’s psyche, possibly a manifestation of his cancer, mixed with decades of drinking problems and years of tragedy. But then the tumor became tangible and instrumental in the takedown of the City, and that’s where it all fell apart. It felt goofy and completely out of line with the tone of the rest of the series. Humphries also brought in Sue Storm, which makes sense in theory, but it resulted in the frustrating and out of character ending for Reed.

The art is more competent than the writing, at least. Luke Ross provides a decent sense of realism, in place of Esad Ribic’s epic, dramatic sense of storytelling. Ross’s designs are reminiscent of past Ultimates artists like Hitch and Cho, focusing on the reality behind these characters. Unfortunately, while the art is serviceable, it’s a major step down from Ribic, who was doing the work of his career.

All in all, it’s hard to be mad about this ending. It was an unfortunate time for Hickman to leave the book, and Humphries came in to finish his story in as quickly a manner as possible. When considering that, it’s a decent story, but it’s clearly a step down from the original direction the story was going to take. But even still, these issues aren’t a great ending on their own; they merely hold up because of the brilliance of the 9 issues that came before.

Humphries’ start on Ultimates was neither a solid conclusion to the story nor a fresh new direction for the series. It ends up coming across as a filler arc, completely forgettable. However, despite a complete dud of an anticlimax, the first 9 issues elevate the story as a whole to a point where this ending is still ok.

[wyokid]

That being said, the ending that we got was very clearly a rush job in every sense of the word. These three issues hurry to jettison the mega-arc that Hickman was building, giving the Maker a quick ending. The characters here, especially Reed, are written in a way that helps the story end, but feels out of character; and the plot devolves into a stereotypical villain vs heroes, rather than the understandable pragmatist that Reed had been in the opening issues of the arc.

In that, I believe, lies the biggest problem here. Reed doesn’t come across as a character whose motivations make sense, he just comes across as a plain ol’ bad guy, and there’s nothing particularly interesting about that. It’s like Humphries didn’t get - or, possibly, didn’t care - what Hickman was doing with Reed; he just wanted to end it. The brilliant Reed/Hulk staredown from Hickman’s run devolved into a Hulk + giant serum fight, reminiscent of the awful Hulk-Pills ending of Ultimate Avengers, and Sue’s introduction to the story turned Reed into a poor villain, falling to the predictable “I loved you all along!” ending.

See, for me Reed never felt in cahracter with Hickman. Humphries Sue line that he has brings him back to being in character. Ultimate Reed was always doing stuff for Sue. He was almost pathetic which this line really walks the line well with. Sue on the otherhand has well moved past him and had found a new love while Reed, as shown in Ultimatum and it's UFF tie-ins, had not. It finally brought Hickman's poorly explained characterization that first manifested in Ultimate Fallout back around. Everything else is so good that people, including myself, diregard it.

Humphries also added in some new elements to the story’s finale. The biggest, of course, is Anthony, the sentient brain tumor. The first scene with him was actually pretty fantastic. It was a neat way of looking into Tony’s psyche, possibly a manifestation of his cancer, mixed with decades of drinking problems and years of tragedy. But then the tumor became tangible and instrumental in the takedown of the City, and that’s where it all fell apart. It felt goofy and completely out of line with the tone of the rest of the series. Humphries also brought in Sue Storm, which makes sense in theory, but it resulted in the frustrating and out of character ending for Reed.

I really like it. There was clearly more to Anthony and whether Humphries always planned for it to be a gem or not it still worked for me. It also gave us Giant Hulk which was absolutely awesome.

The art is more competent than the writing, at least. Luke Ross provides a decent sense of realism, in place of Esad Ribic’s epic, dramatic sense of storytelling. Ross’s designs are reminiscent of past Ultimates artists like Hitch and Cho, focusing on the reality behind these characters. Unfortunately, while the art is serviceable, it’s a major step down from Ribic, who was doing the work of his career.

Luke Ross doesn't have Ribic's characters in shock faces throughout so it's a step up in my opinion. Even in Secret Wars these faces take me out of the comic becuase of how overexaggurated they are.

All in all, it’s hard to be mad about this ending. It was an unfortunate time for Hickman to leave the book, and Humphries came in to finish his story in as quickly a manner as possible. When considering that, it’s a decent story, but it’s clearly a step down from the original direction the story was going to take. But even still, these issues aren’t a great ending on their own; they merely hold up because of the brilliance of the 9 issues that came before.

Humphries’ start on Ultimates was neither a solid conclusion to the story nor a fresh new direction for the series. It ends up coming across as a filler arc, completely forgettable. However, despite a complete dud of an anticlimax, the first 9 issues elevate the story as a whole to a point where this ending is still ok.

I think this is why his run failed for people. They wanted more Hickman and Humphries wanted to go into different stuff. Overall I'd give this arc an 8/10 with Hickman's at 9/10 (held back because of Ribic's shocked face art).

[Wolverine12]

I can't believe I haven't commented on this yet, this is one of my favorite threads. I have to say that the last few issues of this story felt jarringly different then what preceded it. Reed's evil turn never made sense to me but Hickman made it work so well that I could ignore the how and why. Humphries more or less reduced his evolution over 1000 years to a "but I did it for you Sue." The giant Hulk v Anthony fight was not a fitting end to this, Reed and his city were built up to be practically unbeatable and then this happens and its just over.

I'm not saying Humphries should have just done what Hickman wanted because it was now his book and he should write his story, I just didn't care for his ending. I was never a fan of the talking tumor either it never felt like it fit in with Tony or the rest of the series.

The art was solid but Ribic had set the bar extremely high so I think Ross's contributions seemed not as impressive as they could have.

I think this comes off as more disappointing then it really is because what came before it was so good.

[TotalSnorefest]

Humphries also added in some new elements to the story’s finale. The biggest, of course, is Anthony, the sentient brain tumor. The first scene with him was actually pretty fantastic. It was a neat way of looking into Tony’s psyche, possibly a manifestation of his cancer, mixed with decades of drinking problems and years of tragedy. But then the tumor became tangible and instrumental in the takedown of the City, and that’s where it all fell apart. It felt goofy and completely out of line with the tone of the rest of the series.

Having never read much of the Ultimates main series, seeing that 'sentient tumor' appear in a cross-over (probably Doomsday, or maybe Cataclysm?) was truly a jarring moment haha. Took me a while to understand it wasn't a visual representation of Tony's thoughts. I understand what they were trying to convey, but I don't think it's very well executed.

[harashkupo]

I went back and started reading Hickman's Ult Hawkeye and Ultimates(so so good) and something confused me. In issue two when the Children attack and destroy Asgard, I just realized that I can't remember when or how Asgard became situated on the Earth. Can someone tell me when this actually happened?

[Plawsky]

I went back and started reading Hickman's Ult Hawkeye and Ultimates(so so good) and something confused me. In issue two when the Children attack and destroy Asgard, I just realized that I can't remember when or how Asgard became situated on the Earth. Can someone tell me when this actually happened?

It was pretty much hand waved in Ultimate Fallout #2 (I believe it was #2), where we see Thor having a vision of Asgard during Peter's funeral. There's no real explanation beyond that.

[harashkupo]

It was pretty much hand waved in Ultimate Fallout #2 (I believe it was #2), where we see Thor having a vision of Asgard during Peter's funeral. There's no real explanation beyond that.

Thanks, I was racking my brain trying to figure out when Asgard showed up.

It's a shame about Tian and the Children. Such great ideas with so much potential to get tossed away so poorly.

[Plawsky]

It's a shame how long this has been neglected. I've failed myself, and I've failed the two people left who are still probably interested.

BUT NO MORE!

After this weekend, RTUUFTB (what a mouthful) returns! With...



Ultimate X-Men by Nick Spencer!

It's a quick twelve issue read, so join me! Celebrate the end of the Ultimate Universe by going back in time a little bit with me.

After we get this behind us, we'll move on to books we never actually covered on the old forums. And soon enough, maybe we'll finish the whole dang thing.

[Wolverine12]

It's a shame how long this has been neglected. I've failed myself, and I've failed the two people left who are still probably interested.

BUT NO MORE!

After this weekend, RTUUFTB (what a mouthful) returns! With...



Ultimate X-Men by Nick Spencer!

It's a quick twelve issue read, so join me! Celebrate the end of the Ultimate Universe by going back in time a little bit with me.

After we get this behind us, we'll move on to books we never actually covered on the old forums. And soon enough, maybe we'll finish the whole dang thing.

I thought you'd abandoned me

[Plawsky]

i thought you'd abandoned me

never!!!!!

[wyokid]

never!!!!!

Happy six-hundred and sixty-sixth post.

[Russ840]

It's a shame how long this has been neglected. I've failed myself, and I've failed the two people left who are still probably interested.

BUT NO MORE!

After this weekend, RTUUFTB (what a mouthful) returns! With...



Ultimate X-Men by Nick Spencer!

It's a quick twelve issue read, so join me! Celebrate the end of the Ultimate Universe by going back in time a little bit with me.

After we get this behind us, we'll move on to books we never actually covered on the old forums. And soon enough, maybe we'll finish the whole dang thing.

Dude. I have been waiting ages for you to get on with this lol. It's a shame it's over but for me, the ultimate universe has been crap overal, since ultimatum.

Still love reading your thoughts Plawsky.

[harashkupo]

It's a shame how long this has been neglected. I've failed myself, and I've failed the two people left who are still probably interested.

BUT NO MORE!

After this weekend, RTUUFTB (what a mouthful) returns! With...



Ultimate X-Men by Nick Spencer!

It's a quick twelve issue read, so join me! Celebrate the end of the Ultimate Universe by going back in time a little bit with me.

After we get this behind us, we'll move on to books we never actually covered on the old forums. And soon enough, maybe we'll finish the whole dang thing.

This was fun going back and reading Spencer's Ult issues. Re-reading it reminded me of his Morning Glories series.

Two things I really liked about this short run. Well 3 if I include the incredible artwork. One was the fact that it connected so well with everything else going on in the UU. I had forgotten how connected this new phase of the UU was and that added an extra level of enjoyment for me. Second was Spencer focusing on so many characters and it was pretty well balanced. Jean's group, the underground crew, Storm's concentration camp, and the political fallout. Every issue felt like a piece in a larger story unfolding with a bunch of players.

The only down sides were the constant death and destruction and that Apocalypse plot felt a little all over the place. Of course Spencer might have had a chance to start rebuilding the x-side and the poccy storyline could have come together well. Who knows?

[BlitzMah]

This was fun going back and reading Spencer's Ult issues. Re-reading it reminded me of his Morning Glories series.

Two things I really liked about this short run. Well 3 if I include the incredible artwork. One was the fact that it connected so well with everything else going on in the UU. I had forgotten how connected this new phase of the UU was and that added an extra level of enjoyment for me. Second was Spencer focusing on so many characters and it was pretty well balanced. Jean's group, the underground crew, Storm's concentration camp, and the political fallout. Every issue felt like a piece in a larger story unfolding with a bunch of players.

The only down sides were the constant death and destruction and that Apocalypse plot felt a little all over the place. Of course Spencer might have had a chance to start rebuilding the x-side and the poccy storyline could have come together well. Who knows?

Yes yes yes! The artwork!