One of my big objections to what (admittedly little) I've seen of the Ultimate Universe is the completely wasted opportunity.
Created to be an entry point for new readers, to negate the need for knowledge of 40 years of continuity, the Ultimate books were in a perfect position to tell brand new stories, create brand new characters, and go where no Marvel has gone before.
Instead, all too often, the books seemed to be a race to introduce as many "Ultimate" versions of Earth-616 characters as possible. Damn the original story ideas, here's Ultimate Cable and Ultimate Stryfe and Ultimate Scorpion and the Ultimate Galactus trilogy and Ultimate this and Ultimate that. Rather than an entry point for new readers, they were marketed to attract old readers: "Come see our new version of X and Y!!"
I'm probably being unfair, because I haven't read many of these, but the Ultimate line just came across as Heroes Reborn with a more respectable pedigree. Same heroes, "different" universe, keep reintroducing the same characters we already knew. Instead of going original places, it looked like one huge extended "What If?" riff, re-telling stories they read in your youth with a "modern" spin.
Then along came Ultimatum, which looked like it promised an all-new start, a way to break away finally from the ghosts of Earth-616 and tell new stories, not echoes of past Marvel glories. They couldn't punt it this time, could they?
And then we get this solicit:
ULTIMATE COMICS ARMOR WARS #1 (of 4)
Sigh.
Stay tuned for Ultimate Kree-Skrull War, Ultimate Contest of Champions, Ultimate Infinity Gauntlet, Ultimate Celestial Madonna Saga, Ultimate Demon in a Bottle, Ultimate...
Their new motto should be:
Ultimate Comics: Retelling Classic Marvel Stories So We Don't Have To Think Of New Ones...
Created to be an entry point for new readers, to negate the need for knowledge of 40 years of continuity, the Ultimate books were in a perfect position to tell brand new stories, create brand new characters, and go where no Marvel has gone before.
Instead, all too often, the books seemed to be a race to introduce as many "Ultimate" versions of Earth-616 characters as possible. Damn the original story ideas, here's Ultimate Cable and Ultimate Stryfe and Ultimate Scorpion and the Ultimate Galactus trilogy and Ultimate this and Ultimate that. Rather than an entry point for new readers, they were marketed to attract old readers: "Come see our new version of X and Y!!"
I'm probably being unfair, because I haven't read many of these, but the Ultimate line just came across as Heroes Reborn with a more respectable pedigree. Same heroes, "different" universe, keep reintroducing the same characters we already knew. Instead of going original places, it looked like one huge extended "What If?" riff, re-telling stories they read in your youth with a "modern" spin.
Then along came Ultimatum, which looked like it promised an all-new start, a way to break away finally from the ghosts of Earth-616 and tell new stories, not echoes of past Marvel glories. They couldn't punt it this time, could they?
And then we get this solicit:
ULTIMATE COMICS ARMOR WARS #1 (of 4)
Sigh.
Stay tuned for Ultimate Kree-Skrull War, Ultimate Contest of Champions, Ultimate Infinity Gauntlet, Ultimate Celestial Madonna Saga, Ultimate Demon in a Bottle, Ultimate...
Their new motto should be:
Ultimate Comics: Retelling Classic Marvel Stories So We Don't Have To Think Of New Ones...