Legion World Forums LEGION COMPANION Dr. Gym'll's Cultural Rarities The Ultimates Ultimate Thread - SPOILERS

Okay, so I've read 1-4. I need advice.

On the one hand, it still reminds me of a crappy Marvel-circa 1995 comic and is NOwhere NEAR the kewlness of the first two runs. And the Wanda/Pietro insinuations continue to gross me out.

On the other hand, it features the characters (well, the ULTI-verse version of same) that I really want to see in AVENGERS (excepting Wolverine) and the Valkyrie thing keeps me intrigued #4 SPOILER: (it is now obvious from #4 that she IS the former Defender from the previous ULTIMATES run). Plus I'm wondering about Wanda's real fate.

Is ANYone still reading? I thought Mystery Lad might be, because of the whole Valkyrie thing...

Dropped it after #1. Probably the worst transition to a new creative team in recent memory.

I find it so awful that the addition of even the Panther and Valkrye couldn't sway me. The worst Loeb's offered possibly ever.

PS - At this point I've dropped all Ultimate books but Spidey. And Bendis recently announced a 'new direction' for the book after this Ultimatum crossover stuff. If that means less Peter Parker stuff and more super-hero/Ultimates stuff, then I think I may be done with the Ultimate Universe permanantly. Apparently, I'll just be one among a great many too (gee, I guess all that internet uproar a few years ago was for naught?).

The Ultimate Valkyrie's debut pretty much offended me-- haven't had any interest in her since. Is there something there I should backtrack and check out?

The reviews of the rest of the book don't seem to support that.

Well, Ulti-Valkyrie is a member of the ULTIMATES with vol. 3 issue 1, and one gets the impression that she might be the former member of the "Defenders" that debuted in the previous run, despite now having a different costume, superpowers and a winged horse. She and Thor are apparently an item.

With # 4, it is made very clear that she IS the former Defender, when Mastermind uses his powers to put her into a "private hell" which depicts her in her former Defenders costume holed up in her apartment while her Landlord bangs on the door demanding rent. All the while, she is begging Thor to come rescue her, again.

So yeah, this definitely piqued my curiosity. When and how did she and Thor hook up and where did her Valkyrie powers come from?

I guess that's not enough interesting stuff for most people to continue to read a series, but I have reaLLLLLy missed the Valkyrie character. Because of her, I've decided to remain in for now.

The Ultimate universe relaunches in September—a move very cleverly timed by Marvel so readers checking out the DCnU have several new #1 choices by Marvel on the shelves. In addition to Bendis’ relaunch of USM with a half black, half-Hispanic Spider-Man (which is drawing all the media attention), the UU is also being relaunched by two of my favorite new writers in comics, Jonathan Hickman and Nick Spencer. I really like both of what these guys have been doing with their creator-owned work and work for hire stuff, but the big question I have is: do I really want to start collecting a new segment of the Big 2? I’m investing heavily in creator-owned stuff that I’m finding much more rewarding, and I’m surprisingly buying much more of DC than I thought I would because so much of the relaunch has been impressive so far. Do I really need Ultimate universe titles, after giving up on that universe years earlier?

I picked up the two Hickman titles, Ultimates and Ultimate Hawkeye to give them a shot. Both of them are well-written, interesting stories that are certainly different than what’s come before; there is no ‘by the numbers’ criticism here. The artwork on Ultimate Hawkeye by Rafa Sandoval (penciler) and Jordi Tarragona is exciting and engaging; meanwhile the artwork on Ultimates by Esad Ribic is a little boring for my tastes; it feels a little like Stuart Immonen-lite. But both issues were adequate art-wise.

Yet, at the end of the day, after reading them both, I found myself realizing that I just don’t care that much about the Ultimate Universe. I really don’t have any curiosity over what is going to happen to the Ultimate versions of the Marvel characters anymore. Part of that is Jeph Loeb and other’s fault for filtering the excitement out of the universe over the years. But also, part of that is the current creators fault for not giving me that “Oh wow, I’ve got to buy this!” moment in these titles. There is simply too many *great* comic books out there for me to focus on instead.

At the end of the day, the UU will always be “not the real ___” for me. In order to be on my pull list, they have to be better than the average comic book I might buy. These were good, but I don’t think I’m going forward. I love Hickman’s stuff but I’ll enjoy it elsewhere. (I do plan to at least sample Spencer’s Ultimate X-Men though).