Comic Features

When Did Marvel’s Ultimate line Stop being Ultimate?

Once upon a time, Marvel had two major universes struggling for control of Marvel Comics future. In an interview, Joe Quesada (EIC of Marvel) was asked if they would every end the regular Marvel Universe in favor of the Ultimate Marvel Universe. This was a time when Marvel fans actually had to worry about the Ultimate line taking over as the new continuum. This was at a time when Ultimate Spider-man usually held two of the top ten sales spots with Ultimate X-Men hogging another. Can you imagine, no more Universe 616? What if every story from Marvel was based in the Ultimate Universe? Why didn’t that happen? When did the Ultimate Universe stop being Ultimate?

Tomorrow People                                                                                                                                                                         

At the beginning of the Ultimate line there were two writers and two artists: Brian Michael Bendis and Mark Bagley on Ultimate Spider-man and Mark Millar and Adam Kubert on Ultimate X-Men. Essentially both titles were retcons (retroactive continuity) of their Marvel Universe counterparts, but so much more at the same time. The line grew with the addition of The Ultimates aka the Ultimate Avengers, then even further with Ultimate Fantastic Four. These books all have two things in common: Mark Millar and Brian Bendis, the godfathers of the Ultimate Universe. They created a modern retelling of everyone’s favorite Marvel characters. The beauty was the continuum. No longer messy with decades of old stories and mismatched timelines, everything was in the same world. It was new and interesting to see classic characters explained not by magic or by being in the wrong place at the right time. Everything was connected and affected everything in the world.  It was so wonderfully crafted. The Hulk was created to replicate the super soldier serum that made Captain America. Mutants DNA was unlocked for the same reason and Wolverine became Mutant Zero. There was a logical explanation for everything.

The Cover Artist Phenomenon

David Finch is the newest artist to join, what I call, the cover artist phenomenon. He went from working on all the hottest books at Marvel, to doing all the covers for Marvel. Yes, I am exaggerating for the sake of the point, but the point still stands. David Finch signed exclusively to DC in January with no project announced. Granted, they may have people already in place on the books they want him to work on, but he could still work on something bigger than a cover. Even a one shot would move issues and make his presence known. Instead, he drew a variant cover with Lex Luthor. Last week, DC showed off Finch’s amazing cover of Batman #700 and he talked about how much of an honor it was to draw the cover for such a milestone issue. My question is: Why didn’t he draw the issue itself? Was there not enough time for him to work on it before June?

PSP Comics – The Digital Comic Age Begins

If you own a PSP, then you probably know that last year an update rolled out bringing comics to the PSP. Then in December, the digital service actually started. Every week since then, the Playstation store (PSN) has rolled out new and old issues of comics every Thursday. If you own a PS3, don’t bother trying to look at the store. It’s only available by accessing your PSP or by downloading MediaGo for your desktop computer. Of the two, I recommend Media Go. It’s free, fast and you don’t have to find a WiFi signal.