Someone please explain Ultimate Spider-Man to me

[checkeredhat]

Not the whole thing, just the end. I FINALLY got a hold of Ultimate Spider-Man volume 22: Ultimatum today and quickly devoured it.

Can anyone explain to me what the hell just happened? Its obviously a part of a much bigger story, because there is a large cast of Marvel characters there. Is there an Ultimate X-Men I'm going to have to pick up in order to fully understand it? Actually, come to think of it, do I have to pick up more of the Ultimates or Ultimate Fantastic Four? I swore Ultimates off after The Ultimates 2.

Basically, I found all the Ultimate titles other than Spider-Man to be written terribly, so I never kept up with any of them. Now it seems like I need to in orer to get what just happened in volume 22. And if that's the case, can anyone confirm or deny the quality of the issues or volumes needed to piece it together? Unless someone wants to be really really nice and spoiler tag me a rundown?

 

[Dave]

The Ultimate line was...interesting. USM was great, but The Ultimates & Ultimate X-Men were spotty at best and LOVED to rewrite origin stories. USM did, too, but not nearly as bad.

There's really not much to learn other than all of the titles had a climactic ending and now USM is being retooled and looks so cartoonish it's annoying. The New Ultimates looks promising because they are all basically bad guys (one of them is the Punisher) doing black ops stuff.

So..you won't hear me say this very much, but torrent the ole Ultimate lines. It's not worth getting them all - and this is coming from someone who DOES own them all! I have the ENTIRE RUN of USM, UXM & Ultimates as well as any title with "Ultimate" in it that doesn't include the name Elektra.

 

[ThatNickGuy]

I thought they all started out really well. Ult. X-Men was great while Millar was writing it and Ultimates 1 & 2 were great for a big dumb summer action popcorn flick. I even liked Ult. Fantastic Four, especially when Warren Ellis was writing.

Ult. Spidey was definitely way ahead of the ball on them. But honestly, I don't own any issues anymore because I've grown to really dislike both Bendis' writing and a number of his directions with the book (such as Green Goblin basically being Hulk).

I BELIEVE what you need to fill in the gaps is the Ultimatum mini-series, where they basically killed off about half of Ult. Marvel Universe characters. But honestly, I stopped reading around the Clone Saga crap and never looked back.

 

[Iaculus]

Unfortunately, Ultimatum was (from what I hear) both the worst of The Ultimate Universe stories and the worst of Jeph Loeb's oeuvre. For a setting and creator with records as spotty as theirs, that's saying something.

Part of why you don't get it, Calleja, may be that there really isn't much to get.

 

[checkeredhat]

Unfortunately, Ultimatum was (from what I hear) both the worst of The Ultimate Universe stories and the worst of Jeph Loeb's oeuvre. For a setting and creator with records as spotty as theirs, that's saying something.

Part of why you don't get it, Calleja, may be that there really isn't much to get.

Your confusion makes me laugh.

 

[Iaculus]

... Whoops.

aranoid:

 

[Frank]

Ultimatum, Ultimates 3, Ultimates 4, Ultimate Ultimates Ultimate or whatever that new series with Wolverine's kid who produces his own metal for his bone claws is called is all Jeph Loeb's fault. Jeph Loeb needs to be banned from writing anything ever again.

 

[ThatNickGuy]

Huh. I'm noticing a direct correlation of suck among the Ultimate books when Loeb began on Ultimates 3. Coincidence? I think not.

 

[CynicismKills]

Jeph Loeb shat all over the Ultimate universe. Ultimates 3 was garbage, Ultimatum was garbage. USM was the only one that held up from start to finish, and whatever you do, avoid Ultimate Iron Man like the horrible plague that it is.

 

[Dave]

The biggest issue with The Ultimates is that they had nowhere else to go. They fought Aliens, foreign super heroes and then THE GODS! Where do you go from there?

 

[Frank]

Overt incest and Venom.

 

[Dave]

Overt incest and Venom.

Overt?!? They pretty much said out loud that the Scarlett Witch and her brother were doing it. Of course, that was the UXM.

 

[Iaculus]

Overt incest and Venom.

You forgot the cannibalism.

If that was a coping strategy on your part, then I apologise.

 

[Null]

Overt incest and Venom.

Overt?!? They pretty much said out loud that the Scarlett Witch and her brother were doing it. Of course, that was the UXM.[/QUOTE]

That's what OVERT means. Implied means it was hinted.

 

[Dave]

That's what I said.


Okay screw you. Reading fail for Dave. No Rep for you.

 

[wana10]

you know what's better than everything in the ultimate universe? marvel adventures spider-man.

 

[checkeredhat]

you know what's better than everything in the ultimate universe? marvel adventures spider-man.

Is this true? Is there another Spider-Man series worth checking out?!

I stopped reading Amazing Spider-Man after.... well, you know. *glances around to make sure no one is around and then whispers:* One More Day

---------- Post added at 03:46 AM ---------- Previous post was at 03:45 AM ----------

And with Ultimate Spider-Man effectively over, and the Spectacular Spider-Man TV show canned, I need somewhere else to get my webslinging fix.

 

[wana10]

you know what's better than everything in the ultimate universe? marvel adventures spider-man.

Is this true? Is there another Spider-Man series worth checking out?!

I stopped reading Amazing Spider-Man after.... well, you know. *glances around to make sure no one is around and then whispers:* One More Day

---------- Post added at 03:46 AM ---------- Previous post was at 03:45 AM ----------

And with Ultimate Spider-Man effectively over, and the Spectacular Spider-Man TV show canned, I need somewhere else to get my webslinging fix.[/QUOTE]

ma-sm is the best thing involving spidey that marvel puts out right now, and i'll fight anyone who says different.

 

[Vagabond]

And with Ultimate Spider-Man effectively over....

Ultimate Spider-Man is still ongoing, and still worth checking out.

But yeah, MA Spider-Man is the best SM going at the moment.

 

[Dave]

Still worth checking out? The artwork sucks balls. You can just tell it's made for kids.

 

[Matt²]

I stopped reading spiderman when Stracynski (did I spell that right?) was getting ready to leave, and Peter had just died... and then been resurrected somehow by "the spider" inside him. Didn't really make any sense.. It was RIGHT before the Iron Spider suit, so I've missed all stories since, and haven't known where to pick up again.

 

[wana10]

spidey has always been a strange character for me. whenever he gets a big story i usually hate it (clones, sins past, civil war, omd) but the little villain of the week things i love. and that's probably one of the reasons i like ma-sm, it avoids the big angsty messes and just tells fun spider-man stories.

oh, and astonishing spider-man & wolverine is lots of fun too

 

[SpecialKO]

Post-Ultimatum USM is actually pretty rockin', though the art takes some getting used to. It's half orphan super-heroes secretly living together, hilarious antics ensue, half kids incontrovertibly thrust into an adult world that has less of a clue what's going on and how to deal with it than they do.

The rest of the post-Ultimatum stuff is pretty lame, though. Ultimate Enemy *might* be going somewhere, though that could just be my impression since its currently focusing on Spidey and Samuel L. Fury.

 

[Vagabond]

Still worth checking out? The artwork sucks balls. You can just tell it's made for kids.

Yeah it's pretty bad, but I never thought it was any good to begin with. So the fact that it's only gotten worse doesn't really bother me. The writing is still the draw.

Ultimates Ultimate or whatever that new series with Wolverine's kid who produces his own metal for his bone claws is called is all Jeph Loeb's fault. Jeph Loeb needs to be banned from writing anything ever again.

That's Ultimate X. I'm going to risk all my credibility on anything and just say the latest issue (3) was actually pretty decent. Reminded me why Loeb got work in the first place.

 

[checkeredhat]

Huh. I remember reading that they were ending Ultimate Spider-Man and continuing it under some other name like Ultimate Universe Spider-man or the Ultimate Adventures of Spider-Man or some such nonsense, so I actually thought volume 22 was effectively the end. Thus why I said that and why I'm so curious to know how that story panned out accross the Marvel universe.

But there's more, you say? I like to buy them in the trade volumes rather than the individual issues, so I guess I'll have to wait.

I'll have to check into this other line you're telling me about though.

 

[Norris]

Huh. I remember reading that they were ending Ultimate Spider-Man and continuing it under some other name like Ultimate Universe Spider-man or the Ultimate Adventures of Spider-Man or some such nonsense, so I actually thought volume 22 was effectively the end. Thus why I said that and why I'm so curious to know how that story panned out accross the Marvel universe.

But there's more, you say? I like to buy them in the trade volumes rather than the individual issues, so I guess I'll have to wait.

I'll have to check into this other line you're telling me about though.

Well they did end "Ultimate Spider-Man" and relaunched it as "Ultimate Comics Spider-Man" but its got the same writer (Bendis) as the previous 22 volumes. The biggest changes were to the name and the setting (mutants are no illegal...no I don't get it either, Iceman and the Human Torch both moved in with Peter, May, and Gwen).

I mist say that Ultimate X has been surprisingly good, if you can ignore minor inconsistencies in back story (which I can...Ultimate X-Men was somewhat all over the place near the end).

 

[checkeredhat]

That sounds remarkably different, so I still feel justified in saying Ultimate Spider-Man is effectively over. That's something new entirely. Even if it continues from the same point, it goes in such a different direction and volume 22 ends in a way that can be read as the end.

I am seeing this like Scrubs season 8 and Scrubs: Med School.

Iceman, Human Torch and Spidey under one roof? So its Ultimate Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends?

 

[Norris]

Iceman, Human Torch and Spidey under one roof? So its Ultimate Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends?

Kinda but Spidey is the only one who actively heroes anymore. Peter is the still the focus, but he has more friends who can understand him. Oh, and the NYPD/Public in general love him now. It is different but that doesn't mean it's not worth checking out. I love it, personally.