Ultimate X-Men - Mark Millar Nostalgia
Thread starter Dr.Strangefate
While all my Ultimate Comics are sleeping in boxes in Milwaukee, I decided to pick up the first two "Ultimate Collections" of Millar's run on UXM... And *******, does it piss me off... I don't mean to say that the comic itself angers me... It just reminds me of all the potential this series really pissed away.
Those few issues where its mostly them talking about Xavier's Dream, from when he talked to the brainwiped Magneto, to Kitty joining the school... They really had me caught... I think the Hellfire storyline was a bit much, but aside from that one instance, virtually everything in this series screamed for the potential for something truly great...
And it went on to prove that Ultimate X-Men has lost its central idea, the thing that gave the book real momentum... Basically, they were making the world a better place, a more advanced thinking society... They were living the various stages of Charles Xavier's plan...
Bendis was the first one to start to **** it up, by cluttering up the book with too many new characters too quickly. Vaughan did a good clean-up job, and did the only work on the book that matched the original Millar material... But then came Kirkman and now Coleite... Before those last two, even the most unnecessary stuff worked, it could have been pushed aside or made stronger, but for the most part it worked fine. It's amazing to think of how much has been destroyed just in the last 32 issues... Depressing, actually. I have no idea how i would fix this book if i had the chance...
I honestly think that if Millar had for some reason decided to write this book in longevity, We'd be closer to that goal now. Trials and tribulations would have prevented themselves... But we would have seen moments like Magneto finally coming round to teach at the Xavier Institute (yes, even after Return of the King and Ultimate War and ALL of that)... Real progress, real story development...
And now... The potential isn't even there anymore. All the bull**** that they've piled on that title the last few years, even when the bull**** wasn't necessarily poorly written (I think the Cable stuff was interesting enough, and well-written, but still bull****), its just erased hundreds of directions this series could have been taken.
Now we've got Ultimatum, and 616 Magneto sitting in 616 Asteroid M, ready to destroy the world... Not to make it a better place. Just because he's grumpy.
It's bull****. It's horrible.
I can't believe they destroyed the Ultimate Universe. It really was special... It really captured the hearts of these characters and brought them into the present like nothing ever before. They started a new movement of comics, and participated in what I still consider to be probably the best period of comic books in my lifetime (2000-2004 or 05)...
I can't believe its really gone... Wanting to write Ultimate X-Men made me want to become a writer.
God, what a waste.
VERY VERY TRUE - What a fantastic start, with multi-layered potential... turned into a narrow, unfunny joke.
Ultimate Human was the best thing in the Ultimate U in the last 2-3 years. A 4-issue mini!??!
"For what they have written, we will pay the ultimate price."
fenway said:
$90 please.
Ultimate X-men was my first comic in my collection. I miss it dearly.
Nexus of the World
Folkestone, UK
Millar's Ultimate X-Men.
Bendis' first 20 issues of Ultimate Spider-Man.
Bendis' Ultimate Marvel Team-Up.
Hitllar's first 19 issues of The Ultimates.
The Golden Age of the Ultimate universe.
(You'll note that poor Ultimate Fantastic Four isn't part of the golden age. Poor things.)
Also, you'll note that my "Golden Age" has been scientifically determined and there is no potential for debate. So speaketh I.
Bass said:
I really liked the first arc and somewhat the second.
I'd even agree with that, but add that There was a short lived silver age of the Ultimate Universe...
BKV's Ultimate X-Men
Bendis's Ultimate Spider-Man #21-53 (Everything up until Carnage)
Warren Ellis' Ultimate Fantastic Four
Warren Ellis' Ultimate Galactus Saga
And then came the dark ages...
So, we're in the 90s era of the Ultimate Universe now, which started with the introduction of Cable, Carnage and Joe Mad. Interesting parallel, no?
Lynx said:
Across the lake from Cap Canuck.
Ultimate War. First Ultimate crossover.
What about Millar's run on Ultimate Fantastic Four? The moment he left UFF was the moment I stopped caring really.
I think Ellis' run on UFF was better, but you could tack it onto the silver age.
I would add Ultimates 2 to the Silver Age instead of Gold.
Ultimate Avengers looks to be the reset of the modern age as the original Ultimate comics were overall.
Ninja4peace
Birmingham, UnitedK
People say that carnage's first appearance was the defining point that started the bronze age.
but really - I still think Millar's Ultimate x-men is one of the best x-men runs. I think you can pull it out into it's own continuity, and then follow it up with new x-men and astonishing at some point in the future. That's my X-universe.
The Overlord
While Millar's UXM run is good, its hardly perfect. It was too over the top in places, Sentinels killing mutants on national TV and no one complaining is very unrealistic, likewise Sentinels blowing up buses full humans and no one complaining is unrealistic. Also I think ultimate Magneto is pretty boring.
The Overlord said:
*infracts*
You're being too kind. A banning is more fitting, I say.
You have to admit 616 Magneto is more interesting then Ultimate Magneto. :wink:
I don't know. That seems kind of unfair a bit. I mean, 616 Magneto has been around for 45 years -- as of Sept. '08, so he's had more time/stories for people to see what he's all about and what-have-you. Ultimate Magneto hasn't been used so much in the past 8 years in the UU.
There's been "The Tomorrow People" (UXM), "Return of the King" (UXM), "Ultimate War" (UXM/Ultimates crossover), "Magnetic North" (UXM), and now in Ultimatum.
I didn't read past Ultimates 3 #1, so I don't know how much he was featured in that, though from I don't remember him (reading from people's post) doing much anyways, so I wouldn't really count that.
His UXM arcs have been a few years apart each time. In them he's done really powerful, smart, and scary things. I'm not sure what's the worst thing 616 Mags has done to really rank him higher besides where he almost killed all of Manhattan during Planet X. But then Marvel decided to make that someone else and not the real Magneto. Ultimate Magneto was ready to reverse the earth's poles! He's murdered/killed with no remorse. They've made 616 Magneto soft and I hate that. Right now, I'd say Ultimate Magneto is the better version.
Even with Loeb he's still insane.
Bah Ultimate magneto is nothing more an two dimeansional psychopath, with no real backstory, who acts like a dick for real reason. Sure he is more ruthless, but he is less complex and more genric personality size. He's like meaner version of silver Age Magneto, sure powerful villain, but totally without depth.
616 magento being a well intentioned extremist and a gray character, makes him more interesting then Ultimate Magento who is just a generic baddie who eats puppies for breakfast for no real reason. In real life there are people who are in the grey area, who are hard to classify as just being good or evil, 616 Magneto is the moral grayline, Ultimate magneto is a boring Hitler wannabe.