Ultimate C**** S***?

[ZGangsta 0]

So I'm reading some WizardWorld reports over at Newsarama, and I'm reading something about a talk they had with Marvel's Joe Quesada about the Ultimate line, and I see this gem:

Quesada left a few other basic hints at things to come, including what he called “at least three significant milestones” in Ultimate Spider-Man.

 

”Ultimate Spider-Man #100 is just chock full of good stuff,” he said. “#101 is the beginning the of the Clone Saga, and #104 is the issue in which Brian [bendis] and Bags [Mark Bagley] break the Lee/Kirby record for most consecutive issues on a single title by a team and they did it in almost half the time.”

 

Oh yeah, redo the Clone Saga. Can't fucking wait.

 

Bad bad decision.

[Sass 0]

Comics are as bad as the movies today. Everyone seems creatively bankrupt and hoping to re-invent the wheel. Every fanboy writer wants to recreate their favorite characters in their vision. What a bunch of hacks. They should be able to work with (or against) whatever they are given without going the re-start route.

 

Buncha shitdicks.

[Guest JMA]

Why would Marvel want to redo a storyline that the majority of fans now loathe? How is this good from a business perspective? I'm not seeing Marvel's logic here.

[Guest Desperate Housewife]

Personally, I trust Bendis not to fuck this up. He's good with continuity, and stuff like that.

 

 

But I hate Ultimate Spiderman with a passion anyway, so will be sterring well clear anyway.

[Sass 0]

Personally, I trust Bendis not to fuck this up. He's good with continuity, and stuff like that.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

For real???

 

That is one of the biggest misconceptions I have read here all year. Bendis is anti-continuity and ignores everyone elses work aside from his own.

 

The New Avengers #2 jail break saw a lot of dead guys alive and kicking...like the Purple Man. JasonX can give his two cents here...I hope.

 

But, wow, Bendis...good...with continuity...

[Vyce 0]

I see sarcasm is not lost on you, Sass.

 

Why would Marvel want to redo a storyline that the majority of fans now loathe? How is this good from a business perspective? I'm not seeing Marvel's logic here.

 

If I had to wager a guess? Bendis' ego.

 

He probably went to Quesada, and convinced him that he, the great Bendis, could write the story and make people LIKE the Clone Saga. Quesada agreed, because he's in love with Bendis (which is my working theory, as it's the only sane explanation as to why he lets him get away with the shit he does).

 

That's my take. Don't know if I'm right. But it's certainly within the realm of possibility. And probability.

[Sass 0]

The words "Bendis", "good" and "continuity" just don't mix.

[Kaertos 0]

Well, having sat through most of the previous Clone Saga I have to say i was a little upset that they were pulling this into Ultimate also.

 

However, so far I think Ultimate has done very well, and I think that there is a chance, albeit a small one, that this could be pretty good.

[bobobrazil1984 0]

Its all much ado about nothing.

 

Only the writing matters. Quality-wise it matters not a lick if Bendis does an ultimate clone saga or an ultimate peter goes to the drugstore saga. If you like his writing, its not going to suddenly go to shit because he's writing an ultimate clone saga. and if you hate it, its not making any difference either.

 

(besides, i thought the comment was a joke).

[pochorenella 0]

I don't see a problem with an Ultimate Clone Saga on Ultimate Spider-Man.

 

YET.

 

IMO, the biggest problem with the [original] Clone Saga was that it ran stupidly over-long, because, make no mistake, despite all the hating you hear about it, the story did SELL a shitload of comics.

Ultimate Spider-Man has been one of my favorite series of the past years. You can argue all you want that it takes Bendis 3 issues to accomplish what could be done in a single issue, but I think he truly gets what teenage Peter/Spidey is all about, and his reinterpretations of stories/characters have left me satisfied. And what can you say about Mark Bagley? He's Mr. Consistent/Relieable in an era where such terms are almost unheard of.

What I figure this is gonna be (if true) is a reinterpretation, like almost everything that has happened in USM. There's no need/place for a maxi-crossover with other titles, and it'd be stupid as hell to strecht this for 2 years or more like the original, which I think Marvel knows all too well. If this makes an interesting or compelling story and has a decent payoff then I don't see the harm in it.

 

But let me know when they come up with Ultimate Kraven's Last Hunt, and Ultimate Who Killed Jean DeWolff, and Ultimate Maximum Carnage, and Ultimate Assassin Nation Plot,...

[SuperJerk 0]

This story has to be a joke.

[Special K 0]

From the topic title I thought you meant Ultimate Cock Sucker.

 

That would definitely have to be on the Marvel Knights imprint.

[Vampiro69 0]

Shouldn't have my computer have exploded from reading in a sentence Bendis, good with, and continuity.

 

I have to agree with the above sentiment. The clone mess caused myself and many others to stop reading comics for years. It also made me decide to stick with DC when I started to collect comics again. DC makes mistakes but Marvel pissed me off and I haven't bought a book of theirs yet in the last 2 years.

[Sass 0]

Has Bendis ever had a *good* original idea since writing Ultimate Spider-Man?

[Vampiro69 0]

not really, in my opinion.

[Sass 0]

I've never cared for his "creative" idea of revealing a super hero's ID to the public. Never.

[UseTheSledgehammerUh 0]

Bendis' work on Powers, DD, Spidey > your jealous

 

Plus he shared some birthday cake with me a few years back. Bendis rocks.

[Sass 0]

Do you two smoke out of the same bong together?

 

You're drunk or high. Maybe both.

[Vampiro69 0]

I never knew that a person being given cake makes you a great writer.

[SuperJerk 0]

Has Bendis ever had a *good* original idea since writing Ultimate Spider-Man?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

I'm not even particularly sure that taking pre-established characters and plots and retelling them with contemporary dialogue constitutes being "original".

[Vampiro69 0]

In my mind almost all the Ultimate stories are ripoffs of what they did in the past.

 

People like to give such huge props to Millar's the Ultimates. While it is an interesting read it won't hold up at all. You have Bush as president and within 6 years the story will seem to dated. Also a reference to Shannon Elizabeth makes the series already seem so yesterday. When is the last time you have heard her name mentioned?

 

Also, it seems to me that the Suicide Squad was done 20 years prior based on the same premise.

[Guest JMA]

In my mind almost all the Ultimate stories are ripoffs of what they did in the past.

 

People like to give such huge props to Millar's the Ultimates.  While it is an interesting read it won't hold up at all.  You have Bush as president and within 6 years the story will seem to dated.  Also a reference to Shannon Elizabeth makes the series already seem so yesterday.  When is the last time you have heard her name mentioned?

 

Also, it seems to me that the Suicide Squad was done 20 years prior based on the same premise.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I don't think that The Dark Knight Returns looks dated even though there's a very "eighties" feel to it (Reagan, the Cold War, ect). By the same token I don't think the The Ultimates will look dated at all in the future. I like the use of real Presidents in comics, rather than having their faces be hidden by shadows (that, to me, is dated).

[Sass 0]

Pop culture refernces date comics.

 

Dating things in super hero comics is a *bad* thing.

 

Unless it's something like Transmopolitan or their ilk, then leave the dating stuff out of super hero comics.

 

Seeing Nixon, Reagan, Clinton and Bush in comics always looks dumb since the characters don't age even though there's nearly 40 years worth of Presidential terms between those guys. Cap's still an early 30's looking guy even though he saw Nixon blow his brains out on the Presidential lawn in Captain America #175.

 

Peter David's use of Bill Clinton in his early 90's Hulk run was also weak as well and I don't hate many things from his run of books there. I just didn't like how he was dating the Hulk (or Marvel for that matter) the way he did. It just looks dumb to me.

 

One of the funniest and saddest mentions of pop culture I saw in comics was when Mary Jane and Spider-Man got into an argument over *Aerosmith* tickets in Spider-Man #19. This was when Aerosmith got hot on MTV with all of the Alicia Silverstone videos (1993ish) and I just thought it was an incredibly weak attempt at pandering to the masses to show how "hip" comic books can be.

 

Ugh.

 

The Ultimates assessment about Shannon Elizabeth was also dead on. That was just lame pandering. Can't comic book writers come up with and create their Universe's actors and politicians (who they might be able to make more interesting than the real folks)? Is that too much to ask for?

[Vampiro69 0]

Presidents are what makes comics look bad in the long run. I remember seeing Superman smacking around Kennedy and Kruschev in an old issue.

 

Fashions at the time is one thing that can be forgiveble. Remember seeing Sue Storm with the Femullet? That can't be avoided. However, Presidents and the so called "hot" celebs ruin comics.

 

Plus does anyone remember Freddie Prince Jr. to this day. He also had an appearance in the Ultimates.

[Guest JMA]

The Ultimates assessment about Shannon Elizabeth was also dead on.  That was just lame pandering.  Can't comic book writers come up with and create their Universe's actors and politicians (who they might be able to make more interesting than the real folks)?  Is that too much to ask for?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I agree with you about the Shannon Elizabeth reference. I also wasn't too fond of Freddie Prinze Jr. being mentioned in a comic. However, I don't think a comic universe should come up with completely fictional actors and politicians. I like to see real characters in a comic occassionally.

[Vampiro69 0]

Glad to see that I am not the only one to dislike Freddie Prince Jr.

[SuperJerk 0]

In my mind almost all the Ultimate stories are ripoffs of what they did in the past.

 

WHAT?

 

When did a schizophrenic hippie Thor ever fight the Avengers?

 

When did Hawkeye ever watch his entire family get brutually murdered by a clandestine hit squad?

 

When did the Hulk ever tried and executed after killing hundreds of people?

 

I do not see your point at all.

 

 

People like to give such huge props to Millar's the Ultimates.  While it is an interesting read it won't hold up at all.  You have Bush as president and within 6 years the story will seem to dated.  Also a reference to Shannon Elizabeth makes the series already seem so yesterday.  When is the last time you have heard her name mentioned?

 

While I agree its annoying, the use of pop culture references is entirely too trivial a thing to distract me from the plot, characters, or art. A few minor references to celebrities isn't enough to make me hate the entire series.

 

Besides, the books are being published in the year 2005 for people in the year 2005 to read. Who cares if parts of it seem dated when you reread it in a few years? Nobody bitches about reference to Reed Richards serving in WW2, Rick Jones being a 1970s folk singer, Peter Parker going to the original SNL, or Flash Thompson getting drafted to Vietnam. People just ignore those parts, and remember the parts of the story they liked.

[Guest JMA]

Glad to see that I am not the only one to dislike Freddie Prince Jr.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I don't really care about Prinze in real-life; I just don't want to hear him being referenced in comics that I buy--especially not by the Hulk.

[Vampiro69 0]

What I meant is that with some of the Ultimate line. I just feel like they are taking the older stories and giving them a slightly modern take on them.

 

When I have read them I feel like it is stuff I have read or heard of before is all.

 

Thor was a great way to go, I will give Millar that much.

[Guest JMA]

What I meant is that with some of the Ultimate line.  I just feel like they are taking the older stories and giving them a slightly modern take on them.

 

When I have read them I feel like it is stuff I have read or heard of before is all.

 

Thor was a great way to go, I will give Millar that much.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I agree with you to an extent, but a lot of what's being done in the Ultimate line is great. You mentioned Ultimate Thor, and he's as good an example as any.