Let's Talk Comics

Look, I get why the Ultimate universe needed Ultimatum. The mainstream Marvel comics had become too much in tone like the “Ultimate” line, and there needed to be something big to distinguish the Ultimate line from mainstream before the Ultimate line became obsolete and irrelevant.

If major characters die left and right, I don’t act like a five year old (read: fanboy) and bitch about it on the internet. I care if characters die because we’re supposed to care about these characters. We’ve invested time and money into learning about these characters and getting into their heads, so to watch them die can be heartbreaking. 

But the emotional connection to fictional characters isn’t the topic of discussion today. The topic of discussion is business.

Marvel Comics, as a business, is waiting for the Ultimatum storyline to finish before it can launch its rebrandedUltimate Comics line. From what has been said over the various forms of social media (Twitter and Facebook mostly) it seems as if everybody involved in the relaunch of Ultimate Comics is standing on the proverbial edge of the building and waiting for Ultimatum to finish so they can start (or in the case of Ultimate Comics Spider-Man, continue) releasing their product. 

The first issue of Ultimatum came out in November 2008. To date, only three issues of this series have been released. Granted, these issues have been selling like hotcakes, but I would think Marvel would want Ultimatum to be over quickly with a huge bang so they could be releasing the four Ultimate Comics titles instead of just the one Ultimatumtitle.

If they want to do a real shock-and-awe event that literally destroys the Ultimate universe, it needs to be hard and fast so the readers care. Two months between issues is, at least to me (and it’s my blog so I’m allowed to have an opinion) 

Here’s another point of the rebranding I’m thinking about: If Jeph Loeb, the writer behind Ultimatum, is only putting out books once every other month or so, why is editorial handing him two of the four new Ultimate Comics titles?

My point is this: Timing between issues is a key factor in serial storytelling. Some stories can be drawn out slowly, like Jonathan Hickman’s Secret Warriors. Others, like Ultimatum need to not drag on. I think the main reason people are complaining of event fatigue (even while gobbling up every issue of every event comic done by Marvel and DC) is that some stories are dragging on when the pacing should be faster.

I understand it’s a problem with the medium itself, and that comics take a long time and a lot of effort to make. I have the utmost respect for the people in the comic industry because they’re really working their asses off when they could be working fewer hours for more money somewhere else. 

Then again, Ultimate Hulk vs. Wolverine #3 sold out after a two year delay, so what the fuck do I know?