Subcultural engagement for the 21st Century...
Barbelith is a new kind of community (find out more)...
You can login or register.

The Ultimates 2

Page: 1 ... 3 4 5 6 7(8)9 10 11 12 13... 25

Spaniel

06:23 / 25.02.05

So Ultimate vision has turned up over in the pages of Ultimate Nightmare.

What is he? He's a Alien Robot sent to warn us about the coming of Gah Lak Tus.
Why's he called Vision? Because the aformentioned warning came in the form of a vision. Do you see?

diz

06:29 / 25.02.05

the new Black Widow armor reminds me of the #1 problem i have with powered armor heros (and, to a lesser extent, gadget heroes in general): if the Iron Man suit is so danged useful, there's no good reason on Earth why you wouldn't just make more of them and then hire a bunch of guys to be your Iron Man Squad. it's called manufacturing, and it's been part of society for a few centuries now.

not doing so kind of seems very "oooh, look at me! i made this armor, but i'm going to keep it all for myself so i can keep playing superhero! whee!"

Aertho

11:33 / 25.02.05

"oooh, look at me! i made this armor, but i'm going to keep it all for myself so i can keep playing superhero! whee!"

Isn't that how everyone treats Tony anyway?

Spaniel

13:41 / 25.02.05

Diz, you took the words right out of my head. I really hate having to overlook this stuff.

Billuccho!

21:42 / 25.02.05

If the Iron Man suit is so danged useful, there's no good reason on Earth why you wouldn't just make more of them and then hire a bunch of guys to be your Iron Man Squad. it's called manufacturing, and it's been part of society for a few centuries now.

...which is exactly what the pitch to my proposed Iron Man series would be, that is, if they ever let me write it (which they wouldn't). Tony would sit around inventing stuff or something while his Iron Men For Hire have adventures. I always thought more could be done with the superhero-as-bodyguard angle.

Regrettable Juvenilia

22:36 / 25.02.05

Just write it and don't call him Tony Stark.

Alex's Grandma

23:48 / 25.02.05

But do make sure he's wrecked all the time - Iron Man without booze and a terminal illness never really makes sense, for the reasons outlined above. Why wouldn't he just market the technology ? Nothing adds up, unless for whatever reason Tony 'needs' to be the only man in town with those clothes in his wardrobe - without the armour he's weak, his heart's bad, he's a booze hound, but with it he's close to being a god. If everyone who could afford an Iron Man get-up bought one, then Tony S would have to face up to his flaws as a 'person,' insofar as the other Iron Men might make a better fist of it, whereas if he keeps the kit to himself, no one can really question his decisions.

Aertho

00:53 / 17.03.05

Loki Sighting

Look for dark haired gents in green coats in the laboratories, italian mobs, and restaurants. This plays like a grand film, but it will never BE a film... Pick up the pace please.

I hope they crack open the Mjolnir's four-dimensional engine to find some ancient hammer with runes on it.

Also: do the names of the European Captains mean anything once translated into 616? Carlos Fraile, Hugo Etherlinck, Umberto Landi.

CameronStewart

02:47 / 17.03.05

Carlos Fraile is someone on Millarworld, which continues Millar's recent gimmick of putting little nods to his fans in his books. Hugo Etherlinck sounds like some kind of bad computer pun. No idea about Umberto Landi.

_Boboss

07:33 / 17.03.05

eh? so this is out? i thought it was next week...

Mr Tricks

15:44 / 17.03.05

Good read ncie pacing. The ORIGIN of THOR as told by his brother.

Let down by the design of the rest of the euro super soldiers. Was hoping for a design sence that would bridge the traditional Guardian/Vindicator look from the original Alpha Flight with that very nice Captain Britian one. Instead we gor a series of rather generic jumpsuits with vague color schemes. sigh

Hallo, Paper Spaceboy

16:38 / 17.03.05

Well, they are supposed to be knockoffs; they can't even be bothered to give them interesting code-names.

I love the ambiguity of Thor's origin; who's telling the truth? Are we ever going to find out?

It felt like the action sped up a bit in this issue.

I'm assuming that James Braddock is Brian's brother (ie Mad Jamie) rather than his father - ? It's weird to see Jamie as capable or sane. I'm a little sad to see the mystical origins for Captain Britain go, but it's always possible that the technology of the exo-suit might have a darker origin than Brian designing it...

Aertho

18:08 / 17.03.05

Oh JAMES Braddock has always been sane, but he's always been dead too. Jamie (James II) is the wild reality warpin' older brother. Almost Loki-like, now that you mention it.

I'm not sure the Otherworldly magical mystery of the Braddock clan is gone altogether. I don't think it's absolutely necessary for the story so far. But where do you think they came up with the tech to support four-dimensional engines, and these supersuits, if not from the center of the Bleed?

Hallo, Paper Spaceboy

18:57 / 17.03.05

Does jive with what I remember (off the top of my head) about James Braddock I coming to 616 and setting himself up as an advanced scientist. The question of which James - James or Jamie - this is? Purely because of how Brian speaks to him, struck me as more brotherly than son-fatherly. But I could have misread it. I don't recall much of the Braddocks in Ultimate X, though - what was the story over there? I only read the two Bachalo issues with Proteus-in-Betsy.

Another sidenote: was Brian 616's mother also a native of Otherworld? I don't think it was ever said.

While you could argue that not much is lost without the Otherworld origins, it certainly makes him more interesting to me than a knockoff of Captain A like the other Captains.

matsya

02:15 / 18.03.05

make more of them and then hire a bunch of guys to be your Iron Man Squad. it's called manufacturing, and it's been part of society for a few centuries now.

They did that in an early What If? issue back in the - what? seventies? - where the avengers all got iron man suits with the pointy masks. A bigyin for Giant Man and a wee ain for the wasp. Thought it was pretty cool, did my nine-year-old self.

Isn't the shtick in the Ultimates that they're rooly, rooly expensive to maintain?

Anyway, there's lotsa armor folks. Weren't the Guardian dudes from that super-prison all Starkified?

m.

X-Himy

03:53 / 18.03.05

Yeah, in the Ultimate Universe, it basically takes a massive team to run, and in addition to paying dozens of people per suit, apparently the power drain, upkeep, etc is astronomical. That is not to say that the US government could not spring for all that, but if the point of the Ultimates is to create autonomous super-soldiers like Captain America, and Iron Avengers is exactly the way they don't want to go.

Spaniel

06:29 / 18.03.05

I wonder if Captain Spain and friends are going to get killed, or perhaps severly injured. These guys are bland, generic and dull and look like perfect cannon fodder.

Also either Thor is supposed to be psychic or there's more going on here than meets the eye. He has, on a number of occasions - this ish included - known things he couldn't possibly know. Doesn't prove he's an Asgardian god, but food for thought nonetheless.

_Boboss

07:37 / 18.03.05

warren ellis, to be fair to the gadget lord of disfigurement, made a good argument for stark industries' bespoke-cottage business-model: mass production of the iron man suit would just mean that baddies would have anti-iron man bullets within a year. got to be careful not to force the enemy to evolve better than you.

yawn - thing's buddy

09:08 / 18.03.05

man, thor better pure hummer the cap.

thought thor's brother looked like he might steal your girlriend.

'origin' story was cool, neat - bet mm was well chuffed with that and perhaps may have considered sending it to Alan tgo run his eye over.

the three million people tony stark love gimmick was annoying because if he'd said 30,000 or even at a push 300,000 I'd have accepted the notion.

But 3 million?

silly millar.

I'm sure Alan would've told him that too.

yawn - thing's buddy

09:12 / 18.03.05

and after he's hummer'd him, he'd better hammer him in aw!

Spaniel

10:09 / 18.03.05

I hope to see Thor bring the big bad beat down on a whole lot of 'em. Not only is he hard as fucking nails, he's smart and operationally (at least) sane.

The Hulk was just hard as nails - okay, a bit harder.

Krug

06:42 / 20.03.05

Another great issue, but as always some irritating Millarisms..

1) The aforementioned 3 million people bit. And the whole Jarvis 'harlot of dreams' Billionaire Bachelor party scene.

2) The tv celebrity cameos. They just look ridiculous and it feels that Millar's trying to give it real world credibility or look more significant and contemporary...it never works for him.

I really like what he's doing with Captain America even if it's not strikingly original.

Loved the Loki bits and while I'm still not taken with Hitch's art, his Thor is fantastic. Don't have any comicbook posters on my wall but I'm thinking of buying the cover to the next one if they make a poster out of it (along with Decalog ones).

I must say I'm really feeling good after every issue and quickly forgetting what I didn't like five minutes later.

NotBlue

18:53 / 21.03.05

The heat vision image of quicksilver attacking - is it from airforce1 style fury land, or is that the image Thor's staring into in his hammer?

Also, in vol1, why the leccy sparking from his shirt six by sixso much when he takes down the alien invasion fleet?

Still hope he's real mind.

Aertho

21:29 / 21.03.05

Leccy = Lightning?

I'm thinking his armor works exactly the way Loki described it to. Summons storms and stuff, simulates superhuman strength, durability, forcefields and disrupts "psychic attacks". The hammer also works as an energy conductor as well as house a "4-D engine".

He's totally a God, like we want him to be. But... chances are, he'll be diagnosed a crazed telepath by Charles or something. Just to f with him a bit.

Thor's my fave, but Millar is NOT going to give him an out by "proving" his divinity. It's going to come down to Thor curing Tony or something.

Aertho

21:35 / 21.03.05

I didn't even respond to the heat vision topography image. I'm reading that as What Thor sees in his head when he prays to Mjolnir or something.

But I think that's misdirection. Now that you mention it, the way it's laid out, the yellow spots are humans, and that means it's seen from on high - so could be Air Force Zero, or wherever Fury's spying from. Weird man. Millar's best work?

CameronStewart

00:16 / 22.03.05

>>>>2) The tv celebrity cameos. They just look ridiculous and it feels that Millar's trying to give it real world credibility or look more significant and contemporary...it never works for him.<<<<

The thing that bugged me this time is that Dave Letterman and Jay Leno are hardly confrontational, hard-hitting journalists, and so Millar's portrayal of them lobbing difficult political questions at Jan blows whatever "realism" there is out of the water.

He did get Leeza Gibbons' vapidity dead on, though.

Aertho

00:42 / 22.03.05

That was supposed to be Letterman and Leno being hard-hitting journalists? My bad. I thought since they're comics who lob sarcasm to unsettle their guests, I read it exactly that way.

Ha! I'm defending Millar!

The Natural Way

13:09 / 22.03.05

That tech business is just a load of shit. Thor's a God. How eeeeeevil is that pretty, pretty brother of his. With Thor, the supernatural collides with the Ultiverse and opens up a whole new can of action. I think, in all likelihood, Thor's gonna go down next ish.....and when he does..... Fucked. There's no way Millar's gonna throw Loki - one of the Avengers best baddies - on the fire and we've already had one insane, mega-powered ex-Ultimate to contend w/. Thor's a hero and he's a God and there's no two ways about it.

ThePirateKing

13:38 / 22.03.05

I'm really enjoy this second vol. The Loki stuff is lovely.

doctorbeck

12:24 / 23.03.05

>The thing that bugged me this time is that Dave Letterman >and Jay Leno are hardly confrontational, hard-hitting >journalists, and so Millar's portrayal of them lobbing >difficult political questions at Jan blows >whatever "realism" there is out of the water.

yes but these are the Ultimate Letterman and Leno, harder, tougher, snappier dialogue and without all that multiple timeline continuity baggage of the regular ones.

am thinking this is one of the best superhero books in ages.

Dan Fish - @Fish1k

12:38 / 23.03.05

The italian one was named after Millars italian Brother-in-law, or something like that. If you do a search on Millarworld for posts by Millar, there was a thread explaining all that stuff. He also explains the Etherlink guy's name, but it sounded like there was some sort of inscrutable in-joke thing going on there too.

The Falcon

15:17 / 23.03.05

Thor's a hero and he's a God and there's no two ways about it.

Fuckin exactly.

Aertho

16:45 / 23.03.05

Thor's a hero and he's a God and there's no two ways about it.

Fuckin exactly.

Izzat for me? I said I think Thor's a God hero. I said he is one too. I just think that if we're up against a reality-warping archenemy god like Loki, the armor will work the way it's said to. The funnest part about Thor is that though he's a god, no one has any REAL proof to believe he's what he says he is. Which is why he won't get that proof anytime soon. The weirdness is great.

The Falcon

20:31 / 23.03.05

It's not specifically for you, Chad. It's for everyone who believes, like the Ultimates, that baws origin.

My heart will break into a million pieces if this becomes established as 'fact'.

The Natural Way

20:41 / 23.03.05

Wasn't aimed at you Chad. I got you the first time round.

Page: 1 ... 3 4 5 6 7(8)9 10 11 12 13... 25

Add Your Reply