Did the Ultimate Universe lose it's vision?

[Cadetak]

I read comics when I was younger but stopped until the wave of comic book movies reignited my interests. It wasn't exactly an easy thing to considering all the stories I had missed...In short I had no idea what was going on have the time in the 616 universe. So I started reading the Ultimate line of books and loved it at first for what it represented at the time.

It wasn't bound by decades of continuity and stories. At the time the stories were more realistic...no time travel or alternate futures. There wasn't an abundance of characters unlike in 616 where somebody would show up and I wouldn't know who they were or what they were about. There was only one book per franchise. The continuity between books was easy to follow. And it was in a modern more realistic setting. There was less of a pressence of aliens, demons, and gods which I liked.

In short the Ultimate Universe seemed to be a remake of the 616 universe. It made easier for me to jump back into 616. For example by reading the Ultimates it made it easier to get into the Avengers(which I wasn't very familiar with at the time)

Then everything, in my opinion went to crap. They brought time travel and alternate universes in for one. They started doing gimmicky things like making Cable future wolverine. The storylines became more outlandish...like the Clone Saga. I think you guys know what I'm getting at.

If you read the first few runs of Ultimate Spiderman, X-men, and Fantastic Four and compare them to their more recent runs you may see what I'm talking about. I stopped reading the Ultimate line all together so i don't know if the Ultimates is still good or not.

To me the Ultimate line was originally was a remake of 616 and a more streamlined more realistic approach to super hero comics. Now it just seems to be a parody of 616.

So anybody agree and if so know why it ended up like this?

 

[spectre]

yes, first ultimate book i read was ulitmate x-men. now while my feelings towards mark millar are a whole other issue that could fill up an entire thread, i really enjoyed the early days of ultimate x-men. millar's run on the book was full of attitude and moved at a breakneck pace. nowadays it just seems like another alternate universe x-men story. back then everything was new, and nothing was sacred. now they've fallen into a lull and slowed down long enough for a status quo to take hold, ergo writers are too afraid to incite any worthwhile changes. now most of the stories are just "hey look what character/concept/classic storyline we ultimatized this week!"

 

[Dan Ketch]

I've lost interest in all the Ultimate books except Spider-Man...

 

[Aristotle]

What was the vision of the Ultimate Universe ever supposed to be? "Hey, we're gonna cash in on our fans by having our cake and eating it too: you're tired of convoluted continuity, but you love the characters as they are. Weeeell, now you can have both, because we take the cop-out way in everything!"

 

[Darthphere]

This thread gets made once every month and a half.

 

[LouFerignoDemon]

I'd say it's lost it's originality, and in turn, focus. As it was meant to be some more "realistic" MU, with a much more...realistic approach. And while that's true in some cases, it seems to fall short, and basically try to rehash old 616 stories, rather than try to make awesome new ones that ARE available to them. (Ultimates 2, anybody? Awesome story, I felt. The only real thing to read in the entire UMU.)

It's still a halfway decent idea, but Ultimates feels like a Bendis MA/NA book, and the rest just feel junky. Spider-Man has all but lost what happens to Pete's personal life with Spider-Man involved. (He's a student, who has mutants at his school. Awesome?) Given that EVERYBODY believes that Spidey goes to that school, SHIELD apparently doesn't do anything to protect him, and nobody really seems to do much to get him there, unless they're destroying the school.

Rehashes of his old villans aren't really interesting outside of Venom.

The ONLY good thing is that they haven't tried to give him magic/extraterrestial/other crap to convolute things.

 

[LouFerignoDemon]

This thread gets made once every month and a half.

And yet, you yearn for it.

 

[Darthphere]

Also, Aristotle is the new Whirlysplat.

 

[livrule]

Spider-man still plods along in its own merry way and is worth a read most months but X-men is SHOCKING at the moment .... really bad. Kirkman needs to stick to what he does best ... making Walking Dead a great comic book to read 50% of the time.

 

[GoldenAgeHero]

ultimate spiderman sucks period. and so does ultimates 3

 

[LouFerignoDemon]

Spider-man still plods along in its own merry way and is worth a read most months but X-men is SHOCKING at the moment .... really bad. Kirkman needs to stick to what he does best ... making Walking Dead a great comic book to read 50% of the time.

Eh, I've liked WD for the most part, some of it drags, but it's mostly good.

But Ultimates stuff is about shocking you by doing a lot of 616 stuff, then making it opposite in the end any more.

Or by making it odd and lame.

Ultimate Silver Surfer anybody?

 

[Mogwai]

how's UFF lately? i dropped it after millar left.

 

[Specter313]

I'd say it's lost it's originality, and in turn, focus. As it was meant to be some more "realistic" MU, with a much more...realistic approach. And while that's true in some cases, it seems to fall short, and basically try to rehash old 616 stories, rather than try to make awesome new ones that ARE available to them. (Ultimates 2, anybody? Awesome story, I felt. The only real thing to read in the entire UMU.)

It's still a halfway decent idea, but Ultimates feels like a Bendis MA/NA book, and the rest just feel junky. Spider-Man has all but lost what happens to Pete's personal life with Spider-Man involved. (He's a student, who has mutants at his school. Awesome?) Given that EVERYBODY believes that Spidey goes to that school, SHIELD apparently doesn't do anything to protect him, and nobody really seems to do much to get him there, unless they're destroying the school.

Rehashes of his old villans aren't really interesting outside of Venom.

The ONLY good thing is that they haven't tried to give him magic/extraterrestial/other crap to convolute things.

That's pretty much what's wrong with Ultimate X-Men right now. Kirkman is essentially translating 616 stories over into Ultimate without making them more original or more remarkable than their predecessors and what original stuff he does do, like the Magician arc, don't seem cleanly thought out and that's why fans pan them so much.

 

[deathshead2]

I miss Millar on UFF.
That was a great book, but that was long time ago.

 

[Aristotle]

This thread gets made once every month and a half.

And I respond exactly the same way every month in a half. Ah, the little securities of life.

Also, Aristotle is the new Whirlysplat.

I remember Whirlysplat, but I don't remember what that means.

 

[PhotoJones]

Also, Aristotle is the new Whirlysplat.

Whatever happened to Whirlysplat, anyway? The last time I saw him around, he was using a dummy account (Dexterfan, or something) to agree with his points.

 

[Darthphere]

And I respond exactly the same way every month in a half. Ah, the little securities of life.

I remember Whirlysplat, but I don't remember what that means.

It's bad.

 

[Aristotle]

Oh do tell. If you're going to insult me, it loses its bite if I don't know what it means. It's kinda why insulting people in a foreign language is actually pretty dumb.

 

[Darthphere]

Oh do tell. If you're going to insult me, it loses its bite if I don't know what it means. It's kinda why insulting people in a foreign language is actually pretty dumb.

Stop being lazy and do some research.

 

[Aristotle]

Um, no. It's your insult.

 

[Darthphere]

Um, no. It's your insult.

You're the one that wants to know.

If I called you a troglodyte, and you didn't know what that meant, that's your problem not mine. Find a dictionary.

Either way, you're in the beginning stages anyway. As long as you don't follow me around making remarks about my post count, you should be fine.

 

[Blader5489]

I think Ultimate Spider-Man and the Ultimates are the only books that actually embody that "vision." To me, UXM and UFF just seem redundant.

 

[Aristotle]

You're the one that wants to know.

If I called you a troglodyte, and you didn't know what that meant, that's your problem not mine. Find a dictionary.

Either way, you're in the beginning stages anyway. As long as you don't follow me around making remarks about my post count, you should be fine.

HAhAHAHA, you have over 54,000 posts!...there was seriously someone who did THAT?

Anyway, I'm still not sure what I've done that's so foul and vile. I think Stan Lee sucks. I think BrianWilly's too negative all the time and loves to hate comics. I think PhotoJones instigates every confrontation I've had with him, and I somehow get the infraction for it. Where's the crime in any of that?

 

[Darthphere]

HAhAHAHA, you have over 54,000 posts!...there was seriously someone who did THAT?

Anyway, I'm still not sure what I've done that's so foul and vile. I think Stan Lee sucks. I think BrianWilly's too negative all the time and loves to hate comics. I think PhotoJones instigates every confrontation I've had with him, and I somehow get the infraction for it. Where's the crime in any of that?

You're their yin to their yang, or vice versa.

 

[PhotoJones]

When I was like, 12, I had a yin/yang necklace. I thought I was badass.