![Are Ultimate Universe, Black Panther, and X-Men worth the purchase?](https://preview.redd.it/4t7knd0kag7d1.jpeg?auto=webp&s=923c20deda69ee49eac1e22e8eb23671eb8f6657)
Recently started reading Ultimate Spider-Man and I loved it, was wondering whether it’s worth it to purchase the rest of the new Ultimate universe comics, please give me your thoughts🙏
Recently started reading Ultimate Spider-Man and I loved it, was wondering whether it’s worth it to purchase the rest of the new Ultimate universe comics, please give me your thoughts🙏
I made a comment on my thoughts on X-Men here but I'll also be the one to stick up for Black Panther. Sure, it's generic, but hardly a bad story at all! While on the surface it seems like a fairly standard Black Panther story, some of the character arcs and actions differ vastly, especially with whoever is on the inside plotting against T'Challa.
Personally, I think they're all worth reading! At least, sample the first few issues and get a vibe. If you aren't crazy about one, don't worry about reading it (until the inevitable crossover).
Also Issue 1 of Ultimates already has me hooked, that's going to be a GREAT read.
I’d go so far as to say ultimate BP is the best and most interesting story so far. I’m loving the fresh take on Spider-Man but god it’s been like 5 issues of fuck all happening. Someone throw some challenges at Spider-Man already!
We're getting a new Sinister Six soon
tbf its the Hickman book so you know hes using it to worldbuild and just write married with kids Spidey
Yes on all but ultimate x men and ultimate spiderman are easily the best. However, ultimates just started
I like how ultimate x-men has such a unique and different story feel and art style too.
I like it when people experiment more with their craft instead of listening to MBAs go on about metrics saying, "this did well! Let's flood the market with that exact same thing! It's what the people want!"
peach momoko has a goated art style
Ultimate Universe was a one-shot book my friendo, and it was great.
Ultimate Spidey is really good. Very nice change from the ongoing ASM.
Ultimate Black Panther is good. Not on part with Spidey (at least for me) but it is a very solid book. BP being a character that has his own solo in this universe is also nice (I would have expected someone like Hulk, Iron Man, Cap, Wolverine or Daredevil to have a solo, not BP, so kudos to Marvel for letting him have it).
Ultimate X-Men is weird, in that, I recognize that it's good. BUT personally for me, the artstyle and the characters are not my cup of tea. I get it, they are trying to do new things, but for me, my X-Men need to have Wolverine, Colossus, Nightcrawler or at least someone like Cyclops, Rogue etc. Anime style is not for me.
Ultimates just started (only 1 issue came out) and it's my favorite (alongside Spidey). Already 1 issue in, and I think it's fantastic. Compared to other two, this one feels closer to Spider-Man (but it's about a team, and a bit more sci-fi and high concept type book, whereas Spidey is a bit more grounded).
Overall, I think they all are good and offer different types of stories with different concepts. Spidey is more grounded and very street-level esque. His family and close ones are his supporting cast.
Ultimates is the book that will change the narrative of the other 3 books. It's high concept, sci-fi book, but has ton of good character work and humanizing moments (and that was only in issue 1 lol). They are not perfect as a team, but they are trying to be.
X-Men had horror elements.
BP is like Dune. It also deals with politics (like politics of a country, backstabbing, intrigue etc)
or at least someone like Cyclops, Rogue etc
They've shown images of a girl that looks like Rogue and a girl called Natsu (Summer in Japanese for you non-weebs) that shoots a beam from one of her eyes. They haven't really done anything in the story yet though.
I will definitely pick up a trade for this book sometime in the future.
As I said, I think it's a well written, but the style is just not for me lol.
Still tho, I might be biased but I'm no idiot (I am). I think, I can recognize when something is good lol.
The guy at my LCS who was selling me on these books told me that he didn't care as much for UXM, and having caught up on all of them now, I disagree with him. I find Ultimate X-Men to be very interesting because it's not just Cyclops, Jean Grey, Beast, Angel, and Ice Man but in 2024 at a school in NY. It's still about kids at a school but it's in Japan and the mutants that are turning up in it are some deeper cuts from what's usually associated with the X-Men.
I’m seeing lots of people saying definitive yes or no for a lot of series, which I think is kinda ridiculous. It really depends on what kind of things you’re interested in, as each offers a unique storytelling experience, some closer to the classic Marvel feel, and some very much removed. I’ll try to give a brief description of each without giving too much away, and keep in mind these are all in their first arcs still.
Ultimate Universe came first, and is a one-shot tying the start of this new Ultimate Universe (which we saw in Ultimate Invasion) to everything else, but is especially a lead-in to the Ultimates run that just started (issue 1 came out a couple weeks ago). If Ultimate Invasion is the prologue, you could say Ultimate Universe is chapter 1 (or maybe 0.5 is more accurate) of the “main story” of this world, which is continued in The Ultimates. This one feels more like your traditional team book.
Ultimate Black Panther has been compared a lot to Dune a lot. It deals with some politics of T’Challa being king of a very isolated Wakanda, but also delves a solid amount into the mysticism that works alongside (and sometimes in conflict with) the technology of Wakanda. There’s an air of paranoia throughout Wakanda & the book itself (so far) as he confronts the supernatural to prepare against the threat of the outside world, which can no longer be ignored.
Ultimate X-Men is very unique. It’s a bit slow-paced so far, but it’s basically delving into some dark things going on at a school, all surrounding a student’s suicide. Kids discover they’re mutants and you specifically look into the life of one girl who was friends with the boy who committed suicide, and who seems to be haunted by an apparition that may be his ghost. TBH, it’s really hard to describe in a way that gets the very unique feel of the book across. More so than anything else in the new Ultimate line, this one is its own thing, and a far cry from what you’d expect from a superhero team book.
The comparison to Dune is honestly because movie is so fresh in people memory. It's standart Black Panther story. We had better, but had much, MUCH worse.
Universe - Yes
Black Panther - Maybe (leaning toward Yes)
X-Men - Maybe (leaning towards No)
:0 how could you say such a thing about X-Men :(
Haven't read the latest issue but so far it hasn't pulled me in the way the rest of the Ultimate stuff has. I think the character choices aren't exactly the best and the pacing has been beyond slow.
It's definitely something you wait until the trade paperback releases, for sure.
I actually didn't think I'd like it as the art style isn't my favourite but I've read the first two issues and it's fantastic. The art really works for me ow as well.
Pretty much where I'm at too, Panther kinda feels like "just another story" and I'm not into anime so X-Men is doing nothing for me.
First of all: subscribe to Marvel Unlimited!!!
Universe, yes - a good set-up for the world and intros the Ultimates.
Ultimate Spider-Man, yes - it's a terrific book with great characterization. It doesn't solely rely on the idea of "Spider-Man, but different!" If anything, it feels like a very familiar version of the Peter Parker we love, just in a slightly more mature set of life circumstances. It's also Hickman's best character writing at Marvel for well over a decade. If you enjoy Spider-Man at all, it's a must-read.
Ultimates, maybe - how much are you interesting in the concept of watching an alternate version of the Avengers getting assembled with a ticking clock counting down to when they'll need to deal with one very large, looming problem? (I think the core concept of it is really strong and I like Deniz Camp's writing, but the coloring from Frederico Blee is ruining it for me.)
Ultimate Black Panther, eh - leans very heavily on if you want to see an alternate version of Wakanda being revealed to the world after the MCU's version and/or a redux of the Panther/Storm romance with different impediments. Despite a terrific story hook, the characterization is not distinct and it's very decompressed. Issue #3 was literally just T'Challa and Killmonger walking about 500 meters together. (This is a total slog for me.)
Ultimate X-Men, meh - if you like the style of pace of manga you will dig it. It would be more accurately titled "New Mutants," because it's about a group of girls at an intermediate school verrrrrrry slowly discovering they have powers. (Momoko's translator/cowriter commented recently that the pacing is deliberately not-Western-comics style pacing, and I just cannot hang with it.)
The reason I didn’t sub is because I wanna read Spidey the moment it drops, I always buy it on my Kindle app😂
Sure, but if you can basically skip 2-3 other books each month and save them to read three months later than MU has already paid for itself! It's so affordable for what it is.
I'm reading them online and can't wait to buy the trade paperbacks. I don't collect singles anymore. But they're FANTASTIC. It's made me go back and read the ultimate universe. It's been months. I'm finally at secret wars and man..
Also ULTIMATE INVASION will very much help you. I'd reccomend reading some of the old ultimate universe too but it's a commitment
Oh yeah I know the story of invasion from Comicstorian (rip). As for the old Ultimate, I’ve only read Spider-Man (both Peter and Miles)
Literally same! I only read some of spiderman. And from comicstorian.
I have a website if you want. And then a second website that tells you the reading order.
You can skip some books. I'd deff reccomend going on the old ultimate ride there is some really good ones. I loved how they portrayed nick fury . The gah lak tus.. everything had such a diff edgy 2000s realistic flare to it.
It was a wild ride I'm kinda sad to be at secret wars but I'm ganna re read ultimate invasion (it's like 4-5 issues) and then ultimate universe and I'll be all caught up. The new ultimates seems pretty crucial . I didn't get into this new ultimate black Panther or xmen one (not rly my style) but I'm reading them online as they come out to stay in the loop
To be a hater, I don't really get the Ultimate X-men one. As in it doesn't feel like it's part of a universe and just feels like another "Peach Momoko makes everything Japanese." I have some of the Demon Days stuff which was just doing it's own thing but eh not into it here.
Yes they are super good and read able. Black Panther is a clean take on Wakanda and is super entertaining, X-Men is different but in a. good way, and Ultimate universe is a good one shot explaining the status quo of the universe.
Absolutely.
Yes on spider-man, rest is meh.
Ultimate Universe is a fine primer. Ultimates is quickly shaping up to be on par with Spider-Man, however.
Ultimate X-Men is rad; incredible art, fun new take on the emergence of mutants, easily the most unique book.
Ultimate Black Panther is fine but the least noteworthy from the line. It feels kind of generic by comparison - so far not much to differentiate it from the last half dozen 616 Panther relaunches
The new Ultimates line is just 1 issue in, so can’t really say yet
Ultimate Spider-Man is easily the best written Peter Parker comic in the last 5 years
Ultimate X-Men is an incredibly unique take on the idea of X-Men so far, and the main character seems to be Armor, who never really gets to be a main character anywhere else, so that’s fun
As for Ultimate Black Panther, I haven’t read it, but it seems pretty run of the mill compared to the rest of the series, which all have something to distinguish themselves from the other iterations of that team/character
Yes to Ultimate X-Men! Throw all expectations away for a traditional X-Men book with Ultimate X-Men, it’s a completely ground up reboot about mutants becoming public for the first time, and making them magic based. It’s very character focused and a slowburn, no team has been formed yet but we already know who the roster will be (except for one more member who’s yet to be revealed). It’s also got a very whimsical artstyle, done entirely with watercolor.
and making them magic based.
The logo literally shows a strand of DNA, so they might not be as magical as they appear to be.
True true
Yeah, absolutely. Though, both BP and X-Men feel like they'll be better experienced via the trade paperback, due to the way the story is told. Especially X-Men.
Panther is badass. Never gave X-men a shot as I’m not a fan of the artist.
The only one that actively bores me is Black Panther, the rest is pretty good. X-Men might not be your thing as it's very different from regular X-Men comics (it's Japanese slice of life with mutants. I think there's only been one fight so far).
I'd wait for trades though because floppies suck.
it's not really slice of life - it comes across more like the early chapters of a horror story
Yeah, good point. They're doing fairly mundane stuff so far though.
I've been dying to get the new ultimate spiderman but I can't find it anywhere I'd literally trade my firstborn for it
You can purchase it on the Kindle app, and don’t trade your firstborn
Ultimate X-Men is no good.
Ultimate Black Panther is ok.
Ultimates is ok so far. Hard to gauge.
Ultimate Spider-Man is great.
Too soon to tell for Ultimates
Yes to Ultimate Spider-Man
As of now it’s a no for me for Ultimate Black Panther. The first issue was exciting but has been dull afterwards
I hate the ultimate X-Men because they stand out from the general background. This disgusting drawing of Peach Momoko and an incomprehensible story, the question is - why would Marvel do that? It would be better to make a separate series for Peach Momoko, and leave the ultimates with a single drawing style and narrative
Bro, what?
What's "disgusting" about her art style?
It's super unique, and leagues better than whatever some mainstream artists are doing (yes, it was a jab at JRJR)
No.
The whole line is the good with the exception of x men being for manga losers. Just skip it, the title is misleading. It's not the x men.
Ultimate Universe is a one-shot that explains the status quo of this universe. You need to know the details from the issue to understand what’s going on, but you’d only really need to read it if you’re getting into The Ultimates book as well.
Speaking of, The Ultimates has just started but there’s plenty to suggest it’s worth picking up - particularly as you’re reading USM which it has the most direct connections to. It’s basically the universe’s equivalent of the Avengers title, to explain it succinctly.
The Ultimate X-Men and Black Panther titles are interesting largely because the appeal for them is the exact opposite. The former is a fresh take on the property that completely does away with the usual status quo in its focus, presentation, and overall design. The latter, meanwhile, is intentionally familiar - its world, characters, and thematic conflicts fit right in with popular understandings of Black Panthers character and mythos, which is by design of the Ultimate world.
I’d say they’re all worthwhile books to follow - especially as they seem to be following a consistent flowing of time to suggest they’ll be connecting together more cohesively down the line. Each one is a great read but for very different reasons, so if you’re not fully invested in that wider story, probably best to just read Ultimate Universe and decide from there if the setup for these characters is appealing.