Ultimatum #1 (OF 5)

Great art!

(sees Loeb)

Damnit!!!! -_-;

Question. where is the ultimatium? According to Loeb this is a revenge story

I really want this to be good, honestly. Unfortunately, i have a bad feeling it won't be.

This is Loeb's last chance.

So glad I don't have to pick up another event book; thanks Loeb.

I wanted this sooo bad but I fear it will be a lot like the Ultimates 3.

And just think......Loeb still is writing Ultimates 4 and Captain America: White!

So its obviously not the end for Loeb....but those should be his last chances to wow Marvel.

the preview pages were not too bad, makes me want to pick it up.  but I most likely won't.  At least not until after Wednesday when I can get some feedback and see if its worth the buy.  I usually don't like doing that, but been burned too much by Loeb's books.  At least the art is always pretty

Hey, hey, hey, let's not bash Captain America: White. For one, Loeb's previous color themed stuff has been pretty good. Second, his stuff with Sale ranges from pretty good to pretty great. Third, issue 0 was pretty sweeeet!

Ultimates 4, though? Go nuts.

...Loeb kind of killed any interest I had in the Ultimate Universe. Now I hear he's killing the Ultimate Universe. *wonk wonk woooonk*

Not really -- I'm interested to see Millar's big Ultimate stories, the 1st one with Leinil Francis Yu I'll pick up but man...esp with the cbr.cc preview images for this, couldn't be less interested.  Just let me know how this changes the status quo and I'll jump back in when I'm more interested in the talent.

Oh My God how bad was that preview!?

In 11 pages I just saw Loeb did everything he is doing wrong now. Bad characterisations, clunky diaologue, some sex jokes, and just everywas was awful to read.

Oh and I hope you guys like being spoiled cause in one panel he ruins the entire Symbiote arc in USM in one fell swoop.....DAMN YOU LOEB!!!!

Magneto Strikes Back?

I stopped giving Loeb chances after his last two disasters. The preview pages of this support my decision.

I would be so excited for this if it wasn't for bloody Loeb!!!

Bugger! There is a spoiler for Ultimate Spider-Man in the on-line preview for this

The preview can be found here: http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=18668

Warning though: as said, spoilers for USM ahoy!

Warning the 2nd: These preview pages may have some of the worst dialogue I've ever read.

I'm not much of a Marvel fan but this looks interesting to me.

If Millar was writing this I would be so excited.  But Loeb screw that!

Is there a way to unpull this book on the site?

well they wanted to end the ultimate universe apparently, change the "status quo", they couldn't have picked a better writer to do it.  Maybe Magneto will attack them in different weather themes, and then you will later discover it was someone else! Oh, the mystery!

@ WadebeforeSlade -- If they do that, they should set Ultimatum up like a Megaman videogame w/ different themed 'level's' for our heroes to navigate through. Just when they think they killed Magneto, his head can levitate off his shoulders and they have to go to space (!!) to stop his evil from reaching to the stars.

@Champion - gosh, that preview was just...awful. Exemplified everything that I don't like about Loeb's work.

I just....seriously, I'm being serious here. Does Marvel even care about the quality of their writers? I'm sorry I dont wanna go on a rant about Loeb but....for like 5 years now none of his stories have had any redeeming qualities. I mean for the last 2 years even, with Hulk and his Ultimates run so far....it's had some of the most negative reviews I've ever seen.

When will Joey Q or someone just step in and say: Hey Loeb, can you like take it easy for a bit?

Joey Q will stop Loeb from writing when Loeb's books stop selling. Note that this is the fourth (w/ 263 pulls against #1's 351) most pulled book on iFanboy. We vote with our dollars. :(

Thank you Loeb for saving me money, making it easy to ignore this ultimate title.

BTW, I felt that Hush was the beginning of the ending.

Wow! Loeb's name on a book used to mean "please buy this" to the average fanboy, but reading this thread -- times have changed!

I hate to say it, but so far i am diggin it.  I havnt read Ultimate 3 cuz i read all Ultimate Line in Trades, but this seems pretty good to me. 

This is the best art that Finch has ever done.

I really liked this a lot. I didn't like Ultimates 3 but I felt this was pretty cool, assuming those deaths are real.

Finch is a bit too Jim Lee/Andy Kubert here for my tastes, but the real problem with this book is the writing, and by that i mean not just the scripting, dialogue, characterization, and pace, but the premise itself.  I have never been that crazy about Loeb's stuff.  The best of his stuff with Sale is decent, but nowhere near the level of what Bendis and Millar have done with the Ultimate Universe.  I am dreading what this book will mean for USM, given that it already spoiled, for no good reason, a major plot point from the current arc.

How does this have a 3.5/5, the preview pages were TERRIBLE. The issue couldn't have gotten good enough to warrent a 3.5 could it?

It gets much better after the preview pages, although I only gave it a 3. 

Wow, it didn't suck. Not the highest praise I know but after Ultimates III I was dreading this. I came close to not pulling it. I actually enjoyed it. I know all it is doing is setting up a story that is almost certian to drag on for far too long but I liked it. I hope Loeb doesn't screw it up.

 PS the art is so much better in the book then the online preview. Don't judge it from the preview.

Um, any reason why this is $3.99? I looked at it in the store, but it felt like the same thickness of my other monthlies.

@WadeWilson- It's changed on these message boards but the sales figures still show his books are selling just fine.  

I've officially lost all faith in Loeb. This was dreadful. I read through it in about 5 minutes and wanted my 3.99 back. I believe the whole book can be summed up by this line, which works as a tagline, but not as actual dialogue: "For what they've done... THEY MUST PAY THE ULTIMATE PRICE!!!"

WHO TALKS LIKE THAT?!

Comic book super villains do, usually.

I'm confused though about that final page. If Magneto has Thor's hammer then what the hell happen to Thor? There was no indication what so ever that he was swept up from the waves nor did it look like he got kidnapped. Why does it feel like Loeb wrote that final page and then wrote the rest of the story in that order?

I do wanna admit that Loeb had balls and took out some big names already. Who did die though cause I got confused as well?

Magneto stole Thor's hammer at the end of Ultimates 3

As for who died, Xavier seemed to confirm that Beast, Nightcrawler, and Dazzler were dead.

 and it LOOKED like Wasp, Human Torch, and Dr. Storm also died 

@Balefuego: But Thor was sparring with Val in this issue. Let's just ignore on how bad Loeb's take on Ultimate Thor is and I wonder if he is using his hammer. Cause it wouldnt make much sense why he would be so happy or be Thor in general if he doesnt have his hammer.

But if those are the people who died....Meh....not a big lost. Okay losing two members of FF is big (but then again Reed said Sue was still breathing) but losing those X-Men and Wasp is nothing big.

Well, the Thor in Ultimates 3 also had a bunch of different hammers.

 (yes I know that dosen't make it any less stupid)

I hated Ult. 3 but this was good.  It may not deliver in the next few months, but this was a solid opening and fantastic art.  Kind of ruins the current USM arc though as Gwen is back and seen fully functional...

Overall I enjoyed the comic, mainly because of the art.  The story overall was fine but a few of the transitions were rough. First, when the tidal wave hits, it just happens so quickly that it lost me.  How could the Baxter building be filled with water to the top floors (Johnny and Dr Storm drowning) while from the outside the water seemed maybe half way up?  And how did the whole city fill with water between two pages (timed at a few seconds) without levelling every building (although I enjoyed the destruction left behind when Sue pushes the water back)?  Also, Reed running into Namor immediately was simply absurd - the ocean, even right off the coat of NYC, is still a huge place for such a quick meeting.  The dialogue in general was fine for me, although I agree that the gratuitous sex joke was off-putting.  With all of that said, this first issue sets up the series as a major battle royal, and if it delivers on the promise of an extended, exciting fight then I'll be a fan for sure.

I think that I'm done with this series.  Except for Ult. Spidey & the recent upswing in Ult. X-Men, I don't really care about the Ultimate Universe anymore.  That's sad.  But I'm not buying Ultimatum anymore

i gave this a shot and once again i'm glad i work at a comic shop because i would have felt robbed if i paid for this. 

 what was up with finch when he drew doom's eyes? 

@UncleBob: I agree completely. After such great Batman stories like Hunted Knights, The Long Halloween and Dark Victory i thought Hush would have been near perfect. but what I got instead was mediocrity.

The only thing thats keeping me from saying "he cant write a good comic unless Tim Sale draws it" is his run on Superman, which had its strong moments.