Ultimate Marvel Now!

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Ok, I usually leave the comic articles to Chris, but this one has me far too excited to pass up.

You see, when I started reading comics I started with Marvel’s Ultimate line of books. Most importantly Ultimate Spider-Man. Suffice to say, it’s been rocky for the line. With complaints that things were too similar to the 616, to a lack of cohesion in the line, Marvel stepped in to literally flip the Ultimate books upside down. With the Ultimatum taking place in 2009 Marvel killed off a majority of the leading roles in comics we know and love. No more Cyclops, Ant-Man, Black Widow, and even Wolverine. Efforts were redoubled to focus on a smaller number of books with the writers working together to keep the timeline from falling apart. That’s when the Ultimate comics were rebranded Ultimate Comics.

It sort of fell apart within 2 years or so. At that point Marvel took another look at their line, which was now in decline, and decided the only way to make things better was to kill off the Ultimate Comics Peter Parker. For those of you that don’t know, Ultimate Comics are strict on their “Permanent Death” policy, so the death of Peter Parker means no more Spider-Man. An odd decision considering it was the number 1 selling book in the line. As much as I had hoped, it was not a marketing ploy. Pete didn’t just change costumes and become a new hero. He died in the arms of Aunt May and Mary Jane. It was terrible.

With that Marvel again relaunched Ultimate Comics with an all new Ultimate Comics Spider-Man, as well as Ultimate Comics The Ultimates, Ultimate Comics X-Men, and 3 mini series: Ultimate Comics Hawkeye, Ultimate Comics Iron Man, and Ultimate Comics Wolverine. This new relaunch of the Ultimate Comics line was pretty well received. The new Ultimate Comics Spider-Man received mass praise from readers and critics alike. Some of the books suffered from slow pacing, but for the most part the writers kept everything intertwined fairly well. Each book tended to, in part, reference on another which helped the line of comics feel as if they all existed in one world. It looked like things were turning around for the Ultimate Comics, but. . .

Sadly, after the events of Age of Ultron, the 616 version of Galactus made his way into the Ultimate Comics universe. He then combined his strength with that of the Ultimate Comics Gah Lak Tus in the Cataclysm event that crossed over the entire Ultimate Comics line. The Ultimate counterparts of our heroes are significantly underprepared for such a threat, and as a result. . . well I don’t know. It’s not over. After Cataclysm began Chris and myself started noticing a lack of solicitations for the Ultimate Comics, and since we both follow that line closely, we were sort of nervous. We arent the only ones, many suspected that Ultimate Comics would soon be coming to an end, and some of the Ultimate heroes would be finding new homes in the 616. We were wrong.

Today Marvel has announced a new initiative to again rebrand the Ultimate Comics with Ultimate Marvel NOW!

Brian Michael Bendis, Michel Fiffe and Joshua Hal Fialkov will take the lead in the 3 new Ultimate Marvel Now! books.

It all starts in April with ALL-NEW ULTIMATES, from the creative team of Michel Fiffe (Copra) and Amilcar Pinna (X-Men: First Class). Spider-Man, Black Widow (formally Spider-Woman), Kitty Pryde, Bombshell, Cloak & Dagger officially unite to tackle the vicious, rampant crime wave overtaking Hell’s Kitchen! But can this new team of Ultimates stand up to the murderous gang known only as the Serpent Skulls?

Ultimate Marvel NOW! continues through the spring of 2014 with the launch of ULTIMATE FF by Joshua Hale Fialkov (Cataclysm: Ultimate X-Men) and upcoming superstar artist, Mario Guevara. The FF – Future Foundation – is all that stands between the Ultimate universe and COMPLETE AND UTTER DOOM! Can Sue Storm, Tony Stark, Machine Man and Sam Wilson face the oncoming devastation directly after the events of Cataclysm?

And finally, Miles Morales is back in his own web-slinging solo-series, MILES MORALES: ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN by creator Brian Michael Bendis (Ultimate Spider-Man, All-New X-Men) and artist Dave Marquez (Cataclysm: Ultimate Comics Spider-Man, All-New X-Men). In the wake of earth-shattering events, Miles is back in action with a new status quo and a new outlook on life! But there is no time to sit back and relax. A BIG villain from Peter Parker’s past is alive and well and about to turn New York upside down.

I’m really excited about all of these books! I love that All-New Ultimates has none of the standard Avengers in in. No Thor. No Iron Man. No Captain America. What’s cooler than that? These 5 characters have been teamed up in the past few issues of Ultimate Comics Spider-Man, and it’s been awesome. Hopefully a different writer can keep up with the quality Brian Michael Bendis has brought to this group. What’s to look forward to in Ultimate FF? Teaming up Tony Stark and an unmarried Sue Storm should be pretty hilarious. Also, MACHINE MAN! Lastly, you’d be hard pressed to hear me say this a year ago, but more Miles Morales is a good thing. The kid has really grown up since his book started, and not just because they aged him an extra year. It’s going to be nice to see what else is in store for him.

Well, there you have it! While the Cataclysm is going to rock the Ultimate Comics pretty hard, it’s not going to erase them like many had thought. What do you think about the ULTIMATE COMICS NOW!? And how about those Ultimate FF costumes! Wooo, those are wild!

Tell us what you think in the comments below!

Eric is not a boss. You can Email Eric or follow Eric on Twitter @EricSweeten or Facebook

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