I was filling out my Previews order form today (finally), and saw the Marvel is rolling out the reboot of the Ultimate line. I also saw that they were being priced at $3.99. I, personally, had a mild interest in the new line, but the price was the deciding factor for me. What I do wonder though, is how the sales are going to be on these new series. They should get a decent number, since they will all be number 1s. How long will the numbers remain up? How many will balk at the price? (which would really be nearly impossible to tell, probably fewer than I think really) Unless the reboots end up being DOA, I figure Marvel will make a killing on this. The whole number 1 thing, and the price increase should net them quite a windfall.

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  • I understand what Marvel is trying to do; the Ultimate Universe has ended up looking far too much like the original line, making it pretty redundant. The sweeping changes are an attempt to make the UMU a vastly different place. Like you said, though, the price tag is likely to kill it quickly.
  • Rich Lane said:
    I understand what Marvel is trying to do; the Ultimate Universe has ended up looking far too much like the original line, making it pretty redundant. The sweeping changes are an attempt to make the UMU a vastly different place. Like you said, though, the price tag is likely to kill it quickly.

    Rebooting the Ultimate line?

    You mean a Crisis type reboot? Wasn't the whole point of the Ultimate line that it was a reboot* of the Marvel line anyway?

    *Of sorts
  • Figserello said:
    Rich Lane said:
    I understand what Marvel is trying to do; the Ultimate Universe has ended up looking far too much like the original line, making it pretty redundant. The sweeping changes are an attempt to make the UMU a vastly different place. Like you said, though, the price tag is likely to kill it quickly.

    Rebooting the Ultimate line?

    You mean a Crisis type reboot? Wasn't the whole point of the Ultimate line that it was a reboot* of the Marvel line anyway?

    *Of sorts

    I didn't dive into it enough to see if it is a reboot of the universe, or just restarting each series with a new number 1. The solicits in Previews didn't have enough info in them to say either way.
  • From my understanding, it's not a reset of the UMU, but rather a new status quo, much like what DC recently did with the Wildstorm Universe. They were concerned that the UMU had grown too much like the RMU (regular Marvel Universe), so they used this to shake things up. Things like: (SPOILERS!)

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    Professor X is dead. DEAD-dead, supposedly. This leaves the much younger than RMU X-Men mentorless.

    Hank Pym and Wasp are DEAD-dead, supposedly.

    Daredevil-DEAD-dead, supposedly

    Thor- Dead in a mythologically dead sort of way.

    J. Jonah Jameson has had a moment of clarity brought on by the destruction of New York City and is now disgusted by his harassment of Spider-Man and is planning to make up for it.

    We don't know what the final fall out will be in every regard, but that's some of it.
  • So this isn't a CRISIS-like reboot...

    it's more like the New Universe's The Pitt. THAT bodes well...
  • Daredevil? He wasn't even that big of a player in the UMU.

    I will say I did like the UMU version of Thor better than the RMU. Heck, Hank and Janet as well. That would be from Millar's characterization of them.
  • Actually, I wonder of the price tag will kill the line. I suspect that there aren't a whole loot of fans of the Ultimate Universe that aren't famns of the Marvel Universe in general -- and I bet there'll be a lot of general Marvel fans who'll see the price increase as a good reason to excise the entire line form their pull list -- as a way to subsidize the extra expense of many of the other $3.99 Marvel titles they're buying.

    I could be wrong -- I don't know much about the Ultimate U fanbase, so my assumption might be completely unfounded. But the price boost might well slide public opinion from "fun diversion" to "unnecessary expense."
  • I've had a standing order at my LCS for him to pull all of the Ultimate books for me for the last seven years and have backfilled the earlier issues that I missed. I was kind of relieved when I thought that they were killing the whole thing. If I weren't a completist I probably would have dropped it a long time ago. I'll almost certainly drop it now, or at least pull it back to only USM. I'm having trouble swallowing $4/book anyway (last week I left with a smallish bag of new stuff for $80, and for that kind of money I'd rather work on completing a run of Byrne X-men or the like), and being tied in at that price for the Ultimate books is asking a bit much.

    USM has maintained a generally good quality, and there were some issues of UFF that I thought were worth at least the price for the art alone. But UXM hadn't entertained me for years. It was as if they felt there were some obligation to introduce all of the mainstays as quickly as possible, and the entire thing felt rushed. Ultimates went from a title I enjoyed to a title I dreaded based on both art (which I had a hard time following) and story (which I had a really hard time following, to the point that I always felt like I'd missed an issue, and which I had a harder time enjoying given how they treated the Maximoffs). Lately it seemed like they were doing things just to shock people.

    One annoying tendency that the UMU developed was to make side references to the then-much-delayed "Ultimate Wolverine v. Hulk" (e.g. Wolverine to Hulk, "Haven't we done this before?"). Those references would have been funnier if I hadn't (at the time) paid real money for two issues of an incomplete series.

    In the end I think that what may kill the UMU for me is that I've finally gotten back into the mainstream MU, and I'd rather spend my money on books that count in the continuity.
  • I read the first 2 or so arcs of UFF, and I am just not a Fantastic Four guy. I try it out every few years, and I have yet to find one I really like.

    UXM definitely had its ups and downs, but overall I enjoyed it, and I really enjoyed the that it was its own universe without all of the other mutant titles out there.

    In the end I think that what may kill the UMU for me is that I've finally gotten back into the mainstream MU, and I'd rather spend my money on books that count in the continuity.

    This doesn't really matter to me, a good story is a good story. How many stories that were in continuity 5 years ago still count? 10? etc.

    I'm having trouble swallowing $4/book anyway (last week I left with a smallish bag of new stuff for $80, and for that kind of money I'd rather work on completing a run of Byrne X-men or the like), and being tied in at that price for the Ultimate books is asking a bit much.

    This I understand completely.
  • Duane Stewart said:
    last week I left with a smallish bag of new stuff for $80

    Wow, talk about differing definitions of "smallish." My comics budget for the month is just over $80.
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