posted
I agree with Kubert's consistently proficient art, but somehow, Card's writing fails to astonish me here. I was hoping for him to meet or exceed Mark Millar's skills, but he doesn't even come near...
I was going to pick this up this week, but now I think I'll just wait for the graphic novel. I'm reading enough weekly Ultimate titles as it is.
Posts: 121 | Registered: Mar 2004
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posted
Six pages can easilly account for one-fourth of a modern comic book issue, and the rest of the Ultimate line has had much more impressive introductions than this.
The first six pages of Mark Millar's "The Ultimates" started off much like a blockbuster film, set in WW2, detailing a perfectly-crafted invasion attack, supported by the heroic actions of Captain America. And it has led the series to become a huge hit. (Also, The Ultimates features the very character Card is writing about here, and I'm interested to see if he can exceed Millar's talents when it comes to writing him.)
The first six pages of Brian Michael Bendis's "Ultimate Spider-Man" were already bursting with character development, as you learn about the radioactive spider, the potential side effects of the drug that's inhabiting it, and Norman Osborn's intentions involving the production of that drug. And once you've started reading it, it's pretty difficult to stop.
The first six pages of Warren Ellis's "Ultimate Nightmare" already had flashes, explosions, and waves of panic and mystery flooding the storyline, circulating around the 1904 Tunguska event, and then switching over to 2004, with an alien distress signal that may somehow be connected to it. All this occurs, and despite it, Ellis is famous for his decompressed writing style.
So yeah, I'd say that 6 pages gives you a pretty good impression on how good a series may turn out. More often than not, when some comics site on the net releases the first six pages of a new title, it usually helps readers determine whether they'll be buying the book or not.
Posts: 121 | Registered: Mar 2004
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posted
I liked the 6 pages. Its setting up the armor! The scenes with the blue stuff were pretty good (especially the one with the baseball bat. ouch. though I like what happened to the screwdriver. lol).
I also liked how OSC gets into the science of the armor. *shivers*
Oh and favorite line from the preview, " Sky blue. Goes with everything."
Those preview pages are just the opening of Ultimate Iron Man. Yes, from the looks of it, the mini is starting out slower then Ultimates or Ultimate Spiderman, but personally I like slow paced stuff if its written well and this seems to be.
I'm looking forward reading more of this!
DF2506 " Is pretty excited about this mini-series! Its so awesome to see OSC writing a comic! "
Posts: 128 | Registered: Sep 2004
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posted
I want to get this so bad. I thought that was a good intro, if it goes up from there I think the series will do well. Has there been any word about it from Kristine or OSC on the forum?
Posts: 853 | Registered: Feb 2004
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posted
We got the first issue today -- don't know the on sale date. Be we think it looks great and are very excited about it!
Posts: 780 | Registered: Jul 1999
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posted
My dad owned a comic shope for a while, I really grew up around comics, my dad had 5 spiderman#1's at one point in time. I think that comics have really gone downhill in the last 15 years, you used to pay a dollar and get 30 or 40 pages and now you pay $3.50 for about 10 pages.
This reminds me, I've got a couple of 1962 Batman 80 page giants i need to dig out. been wanting to look at them for some time here. Posts: 163 | Registered: Nov 2004
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quote: Yes, from the looks of it, the mini is starting out slower then Ultimates or Ultimate Spiderman...
Based on the pacing we saw here, I'd expect to see a two or three issue origin story and a single villain arc in the mini, which is being paced for the trade.
Posts: 37449 | Registered: May 1999
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posted
How exactly did OSC get into this? Did Marvel ask him to do it? Did he ask to do it? Did he choose Iron Man specifically?
Posts: 853 | Registered: Feb 2004
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posted
From what I read, it appears Marvel contacted him to do Iron Man specifically.
From Marvel's website:
quote: "I'm an enormous fan of Orson's writing, and our assistant editor Nick Lowe has made it his personal mission to get Mr. Card to write Iron Man," said Joe Quesada, Editor in Chief of Marvel Comics. "Iron Man is a strong and much-beloved character in the Marvel Universe. I know that Orson's new exploration and defining of him as a super hero will delight traditional comic fans and definitely appeal to a whole new audience of fans drawn to the science fiction element in his storytelling."
posted
It is slow compared to the other Ultimates and I am a bit let down by this as well. However, you have to realize that Bendis and Ellis have been in the game for awhile and this is Card's first go. I don't mind a bit of back story I just hope it remains semi true to "The Ultimates" Iron Man.
Posts: 79 | Registered: Mar 2002
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posted
I liked it. Andy Kubert's art is OK -- the characters aren't very expressive. He tells the story, but OSC's dialogue is more important.
It's familiar OSC territory -- lost parent, child prodigy -- but it's well done.
In some ways OSC is a good choice for Iron Man. Iron Man has usually been more about the character (alcoholic playboy businessman); from the Iron Man I've read, the villains themselves were never much important.
Posts: 2911 | Registered: Aug 2001
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