Continuing Failures of the Ultimate Line
I've already talked a bit about the Ultimate line, and what I saw as its purpose, as well as its inability to fulfil that purpose. But there is more. Recently, a new Ultimate title cropped up, Ultimate Elektra. This itself is a spinoff of the Ultimate Daredevil and Elektra miniseries. Now, I understand that both of these exist more as movie tie-ins than anything else. Ultimate Daredevil and Elektra came out to coincide with the Daredevil movie, and Ultimate Elektra is coming out to work up to the Jennifer Garner Elektra movie.
Of course, I wonder why. To start, the DD and Elektra miniseries had nothing to do plotwise with the DD movie. If you want the mini to exist with the movie, at least make the plot have something to do with the movie. The story itself was basically just a retelling of Miller's Daredevil - Man Without Fear mini, though more from Elektra's point of view.
The Ultimate Elektra series, written by Mike Carey (whose work I enjoy a great deal), has had a rather inauspicious start. For me, it is boring as hell. The story continues from Ultimate Daredevil and Elektra. It follows the basic decompressed mold of telling little in one issue, and confusing pressure and noir with dull and repititious. Like I said, I adore a great deal of Mike Carey's work, such as My Faith in Frankie, but this is nothing.
What annoys me more is that Elektra is nowhere near to being a core Marvel character, and thus, not well suited to Ultimatization (that is a helluva word). Daredevil himself is arguably such a character. Most people reading comics today (myself included) would think that Daredevil is a linch-pin in the Marvel 616 Universe after hearing so many of his stories, but most forget that he was an unaccomplished, dull, Spider-Man clone until Frank Miller did his wonderful work in the 80's. After Miller, Daredevil got bad again, and he didn't get better until he was cancelled and relaunched under Marvel Knights (and not under Smith, he didn't get good until Bendis got ahold of him, but that is another story). Hell, Ant-Man seems to be a more important character!
Anyway, I don't necessasrily believe that Daredevil is that important of a character to start burdening the Ultimate continuity with. And there we come to the important word, continuity. The Ultimate Universe was also supposed to be relatively free of all the continuity and baggage of the 616 Universe. Sure, when you have an Uncle Ben character, you know he is going to die soon, but otherwise, the Ultimate Universe is supposed to be free of the last forty years of events that have made the Marvel Universe a bit of a mess. There is no need for an Ultimate analogue of every 616 character. In my opinion, the only Ultimate characters needed are Spider-Man, X-Men (take your pick of characters), Avengers (likewise, so long as it has Captain America), and the Fantastic Four.
The Ultimate Universe is barely five years old, and already they have continuity problems. Elektra just got her own series, but she already showed up in Ultimate Spider-Man. Is Ultimate Elektra set somewhere in the nebulous past of the Ultimate Universe? We can only assume so. And then there is Ultimate Team-Up. Written by Bendis as a bunch of mostly one-shots, some are in continuity, some are not. The Fantastic Four issue especially causes trouble, because no one knows when they exist. Personally, I could do withot all of the Ultimate Team-Ups. Sure, some of them were good, but not all of them. And do we really need an Ultimate Punisher or Doc Strange? Or even worse, an Ultimate Blade?
Now, I understand, every character is someone's favorite. But the Ultimate Universe was supposed to be clean, and written with at least something of a plan to avoid the screwups that have already occurred. It should be relatively free of super-characters, so that there is still a sense of wonder and change that happens with these characters. As it is, the Ultimate Universe is just as populated as the 616 Universe. And if all these characters need to be introduced (and I surely don't think they do), then do it slowly, and with forethought.
Of course, I wonder why. To start, the DD and Elektra miniseries had nothing to do plotwise with the DD movie. If you want the mini to exist with the movie, at least make the plot have something to do with the movie. The story itself was basically just a retelling of Miller's Daredevil - Man Without Fear mini, though more from Elektra's point of view.
The Ultimate Elektra series, written by Mike Carey (whose work I enjoy a great deal), has had a rather inauspicious start. For me, it is boring as hell. The story continues from Ultimate Daredevil and Elektra. It follows the basic decompressed mold of telling little in one issue, and confusing pressure and noir with dull and repititious. Like I said, I adore a great deal of Mike Carey's work, such as My Faith in Frankie, but this is nothing.
What annoys me more is that Elektra is nowhere near to being a core Marvel character, and thus, not well suited to Ultimatization (that is a helluva word). Daredevil himself is arguably such a character. Most people reading comics today (myself included) would think that Daredevil is a linch-pin in the Marvel 616 Universe after hearing so many of his stories, but most forget that he was an unaccomplished, dull, Spider-Man clone until Frank Miller did his wonderful work in the 80's. After Miller, Daredevil got bad again, and he didn't get better until he was cancelled and relaunched under Marvel Knights (and not under Smith, he didn't get good until Bendis got ahold of him, but that is another story). Hell, Ant-Man seems to be a more important character!
Anyway, I don't necessasrily believe that Daredevil is that important of a character to start burdening the Ultimate continuity with. And there we come to the important word, continuity. The Ultimate Universe was also supposed to be relatively free of all the continuity and baggage of the 616 Universe. Sure, when you have an Uncle Ben character, you know he is going to die soon, but otherwise, the Ultimate Universe is supposed to be free of the last forty years of events that have made the Marvel Universe a bit of a mess. There is no need for an Ultimate analogue of every 616 character. In my opinion, the only Ultimate characters needed are Spider-Man, X-Men (take your pick of characters), Avengers (likewise, so long as it has Captain America), and the Fantastic Four.
The Ultimate Universe is barely five years old, and already they have continuity problems. Elektra just got her own series, but she already showed up in Ultimate Spider-Man. Is Ultimate Elektra set somewhere in the nebulous past of the Ultimate Universe? We can only assume so. And then there is Ultimate Team-Up. Written by Bendis as a bunch of mostly one-shots, some are in continuity, some are not. The Fantastic Four issue especially causes trouble, because no one knows when they exist. Personally, I could do withot all of the Ultimate Team-Ups. Sure, some of them were good, but not all of them. And do we really need an Ultimate Punisher or Doc Strange? Or even worse, an Ultimate Blade?
Now, I understand, every character is someone's favorite. But the Ultimate Universe was supposed to be clean, and written with at least something of a plan to avoid the screwups that have already occurred. It should be relatively free of super-characters, so that there is still a sense of wonder and change that happens with these characters. As it is, the Ultimate Universe is just as populated as the 616 Universe. And if all these characters need to be introduced (and I surely don't think they do), then do it slowly, and with forethought.
posted by X-Himy at 2:52 AM
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