DeadA while ago I posted an article about the recent Death of Spider-Man story arc and what Marvel plans to do after it is over. They announced through a press conference call that they will be starting a new banner of comics called “Ultimate Comics Universe Reborn,” which will start after Ultimate Fallout with Ultimate Comics: Ultimates. They continued these calls throughout the week, announcing new series and giving details on them. I figured I should give a rundown of the series under this new banner.
Ultimate Comics: X-Men
Nick Spencer (writer of Morning Glories and Shuddertown) and Paco Medina (artist, worked on New X-Men, some of the Curse of the Mutants stuff and the current run of Deadpool) are teaming up to bring us a new series of everyone’s favorite mutant superheroes, the X-Men.
After the events of Ultimatum, where Magneto steals Thor’s hammer and causes a massive tidal wave to New York, mutants are even more feared and hated than they were before. The government has even made it legal for people to shoot mutants on site. Spencer said that a lot of the mutants people love will be returning, including Jean Grey, Kitty Pryde, Bobby Drake, Rogue and Jimmy Hudson. Johnny Storm will also be making an appearance along with other heroes.
Like in regular Marvel Universe, most mutants believe that they were created for a divine purpose or that they were the next step in human evolution. According to Spencer, the revelation that the Ultimate mutants are the result of government bio-engineering experiments “changes everything they thought about themselves.”
Spencer said that has “been through so much” recently, what with Ultimatum and the more recent Death of Spider-Man. “Most of what motivates the action in this book, rather than saving the world, is really about saving each other.”
Since most of the main older characters are dead, the new X team is gonna be made up of the kids. Spencer said that this makes the story “more exciting. These kids are living in a world where the legends are dead, the giants are dead. This is more than ‘the dream is dead,’ both sides of the argument are dead.”
With Ultimate Magneto and Xavier dead, “you’re going to see attempts” to fill these roles, with some people trying to fulfill Magneto’s goals “in unique ways.”
At this point in the Ultimate Universe, technology has advanced quite a bit, making it easier and more efficient to hunt and kill mutants (can anyone say Deathlok?).
Oh, and Spencer confirmed that Ultimate Nightcrawler is dead. Spoiler alert, I guess. I haven’t read Ultimate X-Men yet but soon, very soon.
Ultinate Comics: X-Men hits shelves this September.
(For a full record of the press conference call, click here)
Ultimate Comics: Hawkeye
Jonathan Hickman returns with Rafa Sandoval (artist for Ultimate Enemy, Ultimate Mystery, and Ultimate Doom) with a companion series to Ultimate Comics: Ultimates, focusing on everyones favorite archer in purple, Hawkeye.
Ultimate Comics: Hawkeye is a four issue mini-series that will tie in to the first four issues of the Ultimates series. According to Hickman, “[Hawkeye]’s on a mission while Thor and Iron Man are on another mission, and it basically all culminates in what will be the future of the Ultimate Universe.” He also said that series don’t have to be read together, so that’s nice.
Hickman explained that he is really interested in covering Hawkeye’s military background. He says that he will “cover all of that – how he got recruited and why he’s so tight with Nick Fury.”
When asked if the upcoming movie Hawkeye will have much of an impact on the comic Hawkeye, Hickman said that if Jeremy Renner really gets that character and does a good job there could be some impact, but right now he doesn’t think the movie will affect the comic.
He was also asked how the SHIELD in the Ultimate Universe will compare to SHIELD he wrote for SHIELD and Secret Warriors in the main 616 Marvel Universe. He said the Ultimate SHIELD “is more proactive.” While the 616 SHIELD is kind of there to go “Hey kids, it’s SHIELD!”, the entire Ultimate Universe revolves around SHIELD. “It keeps going until it fails, which is the direction we’ve been teasing…SHIELD is so important and so overextended that something’s got to give.”
While this mini-series does ultimately play into a bigger story, “It’s all about the arc of the main character… that’s a completely confined story.”
No word on a release month, but keep an eye out for it later this summer.
(For a full record of the press conference call, click here)
Ultimate Comics: Spider-Man (obviously)
The man who has written everything Ultimate Spider-Man related, Brian Michael Bendis, will continue to write everything Ultimate Spider-Man related for the foreseeable future. Along with artist Sara Pichelli (drew the Homeschooling story arc for Runaways and has worked on some of the more recent issues of Ultimate Comics: Spider-Man), Bendis will be bringing us a whole new batch of adventures with a brand new Webhead.
Since we have a whole new Spider-Man, the character will change quite a bit. “This is the most nerve-wracking initiative I’ve ever been a part of, even more than when we launched Ultimate Spider-Man.” Bendis said about the new series, “People will see from the very first page, ‘Oh, this is different from what I had before.'”
Other characters will making appearances in the book, such as the Fantastic Four, to “react to the death of Spider-Man and say, ‘What’s going on here?'” Bendis then went on to talk about his character centric approach to the series. “Spider-Man is so grounded, with his feet on the floor, that’s the best part of his character. From there, they kind of tell you how they want to react to what’s going on around them.” That was pretty much all Bendis could say without ruining the first issue of the series.
In spite of all the new things going on in the new Ultimate Spider-Man series, Bendis said “there are some things that if you take them away, it’s no longer Spider-Man — even more than Peter Parker.” He also said that there will be more new characters with new spider-based powers.
Now I’m not sure if you noticed this (’cause I sure as shit didn’t), but in the promo pic for Ultimate Fallout issue 1, Gwen Stacy is wearing a shirt with a design similar to a couple of Ms. Marvel’s costumes. When asked about this, all Bendis would say is that “Gwen has a lot going on this year. A lot.”
When the conversation moved on to villains, Bendis said that “Mysterio is still a big concern.” He also said that there were going to be a few newbies that will play a big part in shaping the new Spider-Man’s landscape. The new Spidey will also have a very different relationship with Captain America than Peter Parker did.
At one point during the call, Bendis called the new book “Sara’s book.” When asked if David Lafuente, another artist who worked on Ultimate Comics: Spider-Man, Bendis said that Lafuente “may come back and do an annual, here and there, if his schedule allows.” He also said that the series will be shipping more frequently than monthly and that is one of the reason Lafuente will not be the regular series artist.
At the end of the call, Bendis said this about the Ultimate Universe fans. “A lot of fans who get in touch with us online say either that the Ultimate Universe was their first comic book, or their way back into comic books, and we’re not going to lose that emotional connection.”
(For a full record of the press conference call, click here)
Wow, that was a fucking long article. Sorry it took so long to get this together. Anyway, I am officially fucking stoked for these new series, how about you guys?
Oh, one more thing. Here are the covers for all the first issues of “Ultimate Comics Universe Reborn” and the variant covers for Ultimate Fallout.
Add comment