The ULTIMATE UNIVERSE "The end" by IGN -

[kable]

After reading an article regarding the end of the ultimate universe by some divs from IGN I was very angered - Check the article on the site, but heres a snipit from the second page - I couldnt resist, I had to put my two peneth in! and respond to their crock of ... opinion ( see below )


Question One: What is the state of the Ultimate Universe? Does Marvel still need the line six years after its launch? Do readers?

Dan Phillips: With apologies to fans of Ultimate Fantastic Four and Ultimate X-Men, Brian Michael Bendis and Mark Bagley's Ultimate Spider-Man is the one and only reason the Ultimate Universe still exists. Yes, once upon a time The Ultimates - the line's other hugely successful flagship title - actually came out more than twice a year, but that was a long time ago, back when the Ultimate Universe still strived to provide a modernized, accessible take on Marvel's most iconic superheroes. After a slew of bad team-up specials, crappy crossovers and enough continuity confusion to rival the 616 Marvel reality, the Ultimate Universe has become little more than a playground where famous writers and artists can tweak the classic Marvel mythology. Ever since The Ultimates' ridiculous delays made the title all but irrelevant, Bendis and Bagley's Spider-Man has been the only thing keeping this entire line afloat. That's not to say other writers haven't succeeded in turning in quality work on FF or X-Men, there's just no way these derivative series would exist without Ultimate Spider-Man single-handedly pulling in readers.

Question Two: Conceptually what are the strengths and weaknesses of the Ultimate Universe? Has it delivered better stories than the Core Universe?
Dan: There was a brief moment following the Ultimate Universe' debut where it genuinely seemed like Marvel's latest imprint might actually succeed in attracting hordes of new fans to the comic book industry. Although the quality of creators working on the Ultimate Spider-Man and X-Men books had a profound impact on the line's success, brilliant marketing and opportune timing really launched the Ultimate Universe on its way to the top of the sales charts. The debut of the first X-Men and Spider-Man movies sent thousands of new and former comic book fans clamoring for more stories staring these characters, and the Ultimate series were the only places to read about these heroes without having to dig through decades of continuity. Perhaps it was unavoidable, but after over half a decade, the Ultimate Universe just isn't very new-reader friendly anymore. With the quality of the regular Marvel Universe books soaring to new heights, there isn't much of a reason to jump blindly into the Ultimate titles instead of the Marvel titles.

Question Three: Do you think any changes should be made to the Ultimate line? What would be the main books? Would there be events and mini-series?

Dan: Fans of the Ultimate Universe won't like this opinion, but I think it's about time every Ultimate series except Spiderman disappears forever. Instead of producing two mediocre Fantastic Four series, why not put out one great one? Instead of figuring out alternate versions of famous Marvel heroes and villains, why not just create new ones?

My comments back to them -

I have just finished reading the answers to both of your questions regarding the Ultimate Universe - I have to totally disagree with you in what you are saying. To summarize; you are saying every ultimate title is totally pants apart from Ultimate Spider-Man of late, the core Marvel world has become exciting again so why do we need the ultimate universe, the punctuality of the ultimtes is very poor of late. Personally I agree with the disastrous time keeping of ‘The Ulltimates’ I think Marvel should get their finger out and manage the project better as a fan it simply is not acceptable – the only reason im not extremely disappointed is because im looking forward to the Joe Mad and Jeph Loab team up on the title – Millar and Hitch have constructed a solid book and despite what you two think about possibly canning it, which is a totally DUMB ASS idea – due to the fact im a casual reader and don’t want to spend my spare time worrying about what issue ive missed in the civil war saga or the fact that I can still afford to take my girl friend out because ive being boosting Mr Quesada bank balance by purchasing every Marvel title in site!!! I want to make my point clear, the ultimate universe is a fantastic concept, the quality in titles such as The Ultimates, Ult Xmen and Ult Spiderman is there for all to see , without any doubt these are fantastic books and SHOULD NOT be canned. Stop being daft!

Check out the site and i'd like to know your thoughts?

[Byrne]

I haven’t been reading any of the Ultimate’s stuff so I can’t offer my opinion on what has been said here. However, from a business perspective I think that ending the production of the Ultimates series would be an unwise decision. So many of you comic regulars are so avid about them that it appears Marvel would only be letting down there most devoted fans. Would Apple decided to end there production of the ipod simply because they couldn’t see how it was benefiting the rest of the company? No, they are aware just as Marvel should be aware that by producing the products that everyone wants they build customer base by capturing the interest of new customers. In turn these new customers start investing more and more money into other products that the company provides.

In the case of Marvel, Ultimates draws new people into the legends of these superheroes. These people become interested in one or two of the characters and quickly find them self’s looking for more to read. This takes them out of the Ultimates and into other products produced by Marvel.

From a business stand point I think this would be foolish.

[marior718]

I read the article when it came out, and I don't really think Marvel is ready to can the Ultimate universe yet. I've recently come back to reading comics after missing about 6-7 years, and Ultimate Spidey is what bought me back! There are still good reasons to read the Ultimate books: Why read Ultimate Spidey? The Bendis/Bagley duo have shown consistency and quality that the regular Spidey books have not shown the last few years. Bendis' quick and snappy dialogue make him probably the best Spidey writer now. Why read Ultimate X-Men? How about after coming back to comics, I have discovered that the core X-Men have split apart into different books! Uncanny has Storm and Nightcrawler. The regular X-Men book has Iceman and Rogue. And to top it off, Astonishing X-Men has the others, but because that book doesn't take part in any of the upcoming events, some think it is taking place in the future. Isn't this one of the reasons the Ultimate universe was created? One book. One storyline. Once a month. Quality story and art. Hell, if Ultimates gets Joe Mad back on top of the game then that in itself will be worth collecting for me. If the sales are strong, I would find it difficult to believe they will can the Ultimate lines.

[kable]

Marior -
You took the words right outta my mouth...like you say the beauty of the ultimates universe is that you get one comic per month of each flagship hero - easy to collect, less xovers, cheap and easy to keep track, which leaves me to say Ultiamte marvel all the way!