Ultimate X-Men...
- StoneCold Skywarp
- Posts: 6300
- Joined: Sat Sep 16, 2000 4:00 am
- Custom Title: Best Served Chilled
- Location: UK
Ultimate X-Men...
Despite how incredibly cheesy the free comic was, and dodgy the artistry was in certain frames, the comic's got my attention. Any good hop-on points in the near future? Or should I just save my money?
-
- Posts: 32206
- Joined: Wed Jan 31, 2001 5:00 am
- StoneCold Skywarp
- Posts: 6300
- Joined: Sat Sep 16, 2000 4:00 am
- Custom Title: Best Served Chilled
- Location: UK
- BigMaki
- Protoform
- Posts: 3282
- Joined: Sat Mar 09, 2002 10:30 pm
- Location: Jacksonville, FL. You may now feel sorry for me.
- Contact:
I like it, but I'm a huge fan of both the X-Men and The Authority, so combining the characters of the first with the style of the second only seems to make sense. Issue #34 is the start of a new storyline, but I believe it crosses over with Ultimate Spidey. I'd go for the first trade (The Tomorrow People) or the 2nd one, (Return to Weapon X). Avoid Volume 5 (Ultimate War) because the artwork is dodgy and it pretty much ends on a damn cliffhanger anyway...
I've read the first two TPBs of this and I plan on reading the next three. I hated the first trade so much that I had to see what happened next. The first story irritated me so much that I had to read on (or at least that is how I'm justifying purchasing the second TPB, it's more likely boredom and that I had nothing else to read.)
I found the characters in the first story incredibly shallow and "edgy" for nothing else but the sake of the fad. That the characters were called "X-Men" and were obviously the furthest from the actual X-Men eliminated any objectivity I had for the story no matter how objectively I tried to view it. That said, I shouldn't have picked it up as I knew that would be my reaction beforehand.
I did though and I can say that the second TPB is a much more enjoyable story and the characters flesh out into something much more recognizable to the X-Men I've come to love.
I've been told, by the guy at "The Comic Book Shop", that as the series progresses it becomes more enjoyable and so I intend to keep reading it as the TPBs are released. I'd highly reccomend it to casual fans as I'd probably like it even more if I wasn't a fan of X-Men comics.
Oh, BTW, I like Chris Bachalo and I glanced through Ultimate War and thought the art was great. I'll admit his style is somewhat beyond the norm but it really is beautiful stuff, at least in my opinion....
Oh and while I'm on the subject of "Ultimate" comics, I picked up "The Ultimates" TPB and noticed something I hadn't taken notice of before. Hitch's style has evolved into something very similar to Alan Davis. That is a plus if you ask me.
I found the characters in the first story incredibly shallow and "edgy" for nothing else but the sake of the fad. That the characters were called "X-Men" and were obviously the furthest from the actual X-Men eliminated any objectivity I had for the story no matter how objectively I tried to view it. That said, I shouldn't have picked it up as I knew that would be my reaction beforehand.
I did though and I can say that the second TPB is a much more enjoyable story and the characters flesh out into something much more recognizable to the X-Men I've come to love.
I've been told, by the guy at "The Comic Book Shop", that as the series progresses it becomes more enjoyable and so I intend to keep reading it as the TPBs are released. I'd highly reccomend it to casual fans as I'd probably like it even more if I wasn't a fan of X-Men comics.
Oh, BTW, I like Chris Bachalo and I glanced through Ultimate War and thought the art was great. I'll admit his style is somewhat beyond the norm but it really is beautiful stuff, at least in my opinion....
Oh and while I'm on the subject of "Ultimate" comics, I picked up "The Ultimates" TPB and noticed something I hadn't taken notice of before. Hitch's style has evolved into something very similar to Alan Davis. That is a plus if you ask me.
-
- Posts: 32206
- Joined: Wed Jan 31, 2001 5:00 am
SPOILERS, ESPECIALLY FOR ANYONE I'M CURRENTLY MAILING SCANS TO...
*
*
*
*
*
Yeh, the first arc, IMHO, tries much too hard to be different and k3wl - y'know, tipping over all the archetypes just to say "ah-ha! we tipped over all the archetypes! w00+!" - Storm's cowardice, Piotr's greedy character, Cyke defecting, Magneto being a 2D ****, Xavier not even hesitating to wipe Mags out, the Wolvy bad-guy gig, all contradicted by the fanboy wish fulfillment of Logan and Jean.. but it does get better
*
*
*
*
*
Yeh, the first arc, IMHO, tries much too hard to be different and k3wl - y'know, tipping over all the archetypes just to say "ah-ha! we tipped over all the archetypes! w00+!" - Storm's cowardice, Piotr's greedy character, Cyke defecting, Magneto being a 2D ****, Xavier not even hesitating to wipe Mags out, the Wolvy bad-guy gig, all contradicted by the fanboy wish fulfillment of Logan and Jean.. but it does get better
See that seems to me to be Millar's gimmick though. He goes for that shock value and his stories lack substance for it. The Ultimates was that way too only not nearly as thin as the Ultimate X-Men TPB.Originally posted by Cliffjumper
"ah-ha! we tipped over all the archetypes! w00+!"
1921\4\6-2010\1\21 Goodbye Grandma, I love you
-
- Posts: 32206
- Joined: Wed Jan 31, 2001 5:00 am
Hmm, maybe it's because the corresponding early Avengers stories were so terrible, but I really liked most of what's been done in the Ultimates... At least they've started Steve out as a xenophobic right-wing bastard, instead of suddenly changing him after three ****ing series *stabs Marvel Knights team in the eye*... Bryan Hitch is also fast becoming a fave artist... his TF stuff was rarely notably good, but Ultimates just blows me away... I like Tony too - the armour's got problems, but they're not along the lines that it's actually ****, a la the original armour. The only thing slightly annoying me is Pym, simply because they played their hand on him a little early.
-
- Posts: 32206
- Joined: Wed Jan 31, 2001 5:00 am
I love Hitch's art now, I also thought it was pretty much **** when he was drawing X-Men titles. Though, has he had a problem with producing artwork in the past? I wondered why the book was only at issue 9. I'm not actually looking at a year before a vol.2 is released in TPB am I? I might just go ahead an by the individual issues...
- BigMaki
- Protoform
- Posts: 3282
- Joined: Sat Mar 09, 2002 10:30 pm
- Location: Jacksonville, FL. You may now feel sorry for me.
- Contact:
Well, Hitch seemed to be on time when he worked on Authority with Warren Ellis. It was only once Millar and Quitely showed up that it took an eternity between issues.
I've been dying for issue #10 after seeing Nick Fury at the end of #9, but that feels like it was last year. I would expect the trade a month or two after issue #12 streets, so I guess it does look like it'll be sometime next year for the Volume 2 trade. Me, I'll be anxiously awaiting the hardcover, but I suspect I'll have a wife, kids and possibly grandkids by the time that comes out, so maybe they'll let me borrow it?
I've been dying for issue #10 after seeing Nick Fury at the end of #9, but that feels like it was last year. I would expect the trade a month or two after issue #12 streets, so I guess it does look like it'll be sometime next year for the Volume 2 trade. Me, I'll be anxiously awaiting the hardcover, but I suspect I'll have a wife, kids and possibly grandkids by the time that comes out, so maybe they'll let me borrow it?