Ultimate Marvel

I have been downloading more comics from mIRC to read recently. The Fantastic Four movie will be out next week, so I thought it would be a good time to pick up Ultimate Fantastic Four. I also got Ultimate Spider-Man while I was at it, since he is one of my favorite super-heroes.

For those who are unfamiliar, the "Ultimate" series of Marvel comics are remakes of the original title in which the story is retold from the beginning (probably for newer comic book fans to jump into the series). However, the story takes place in an alternate universe (some call it the "Ultimate Universe"), so even though the characters and stories are somewhat similar to the original, they are unrelated and have their own differences.

Utimate Fantastic Four felt a little strange. The artwork was too cartoony and simple for my taste (I have been spoilt by The New Avengers). Reed Richards is only like 21, which was weird for someone being 'the world's smartest man'. Even Victor Van Damme ('Doom'-to-be, since none of the characters have been given any 'hero names' yet) was not as well-represented as I had hoped. The story is typical super hero stuff so far. Perhaps things might get better later on as the series only had around 20 issues so far.

On the other hand, Ultimate Spider-Man blew me away. The comic is way cool. Everything we love about Peter Parker/Spider-Man has been retained, albeit younger (Peter is only a high-school student). The story is very written; Peter has to contend with true-to-life situations and I found myself feeling his pains, worries, and frustrations as he tries to hide his identity while being a normal guy at the same time. The plot is also very good and the usual Spider-Man humour (snappy one-liners and such) are better than ever; I actually found myself laughing out loud. The re-designed villains also have a lot of personality to them, which makes it an exciting read. Here are some of my favorite funnies in the comic:
- Maybe he was thinking of someone else...
- Fat people
- You can never be too careful

How I wish I could burn the comics onto CDs and spread the love.