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The Transformation Of The Marvel Universe Begins In Ultimate Invasion


JayC

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Just announced, two of the comic book industry’s most innovative and exciting creators are teaming up to reshape the Marvel Universe as you know it! This June, join writer Jonathan Hickman and artist Bryan Hitch in ULTIMATE INVASION, a revolutionary four-issue saga that presents a surprising new chapter for Ultimate Comics and bold new strides for Marvel’s iconic heroes.

Launched over twenty years ago, the Ultimate Universe provided a contemporary take on classic Marvel characters and storylines. Known for its edginess and explosive action, the Ultimate Universe was home to some of Marvel’s most talked about and thought-provoking series of the 21st century. The Ultimate Universe reached its cataclysmic end in 2015’s Secret Wars, but nothing stays buried in Marvel Comics for long. Is it time for the Ultimate Universe to make its grand return? The Maker seems to think so and the Illuminati must form once again to stop him from his plans to destroy – or perhaps rebuild – the universe, with Miles Morales at the center of it all!

Hitch’s work on The Ultimates helped redefine super hero comics for the 2000s and Jonathan Hickman has successfully invigorated the Fantastic Four, Avengers, and X-Men in the last decade. Wait until you see what these two powerhouse talents have in store next! The debut issue will include new data pages by Jonathan Hickman - plus exclusive behind-the-scenes material on the world-building that has gone into this project!

“[Revisiting the idea of Ultimate Comics] couldn’t be replicating or revisiting what Bryan did in the original Ultimates — creating a streamlined, modernized version that would eventually become the spine of the MCU, and it certainly couldn’t be what I did, which was a final chapter of a pre-existing universe,” Hickman explained to Entertainment Weekly. “We also thought the very idea of Ultimate Comics needed to be inverted from what the original universe was — we wanted this to be something that could really only exist in the comic space: a new way of thinking about, and enjoying, a new version of the Marvel Universe. I’m pretty happy to say that it feels like we’ve accomplished those things and we’re very excited for everyone to get to read it.”

“It’s been more than 20 years since I started work on The Ultimates, a project that would have a big impact on my own career and beyond, so when Marvel came to me with the idea of revisiting the Ultimate Universe with the man who so brilliantly and spectacularly destroyed the last one, I was both feet in!” Hitch said. “Jonathan is a terrific writer of big, sprawling epics, and we’ve talked about working together more than once so for this new Ultimate Universe adventure to unite us is very exciting. I get to bring two decades of new experience as an artist and storyteller to this. It’s new, different and familiar. It’s big budget, high-concept, widescreen storytelling. I feel right at home.”

Check out Bryan Hitch’s cover below, which will also be available as a foil variant cover, and stay tuned for more news about ULTIMATE INVASION!

ULTIMATE INVASION #1 (OF 4)
Written by JONATHAN HICKMAN
Art and Cover by BRYAN HITCH
Colors by ALEX SINCLAIR
Foil Variant Cover by BRYAN HITCH
On Sale 6/21

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ULTIMATE INVASION_Int2.jpg

ULTIMATE INVASION_Int3.jpg

00-ULTINVASION2023_COVER.jpg

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No.  Nooooo..!  It was dead! it was dead and we were all the better for it.  When they finally killed it during Secret Wars it was the ultimate "and nothing of value was lost" situation.  They shed the dross, kept what was usable and that was finally that. 

I actually have a lot of love for the ol' 1610 and say with sincerity that Hickman's Ultimate work is underappreciated gold, but my god did it turn in to a complete cluster towards the end.  Ultimate End was a nonsensical mercy killing. 

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I don't normally like Hickman, not because he isn't a good writer, but because he makes things too complicated, and stretches out his story arcs for YEARS. However, a four-issue limited series? I'm intrigued to see what he can do in a short-form story. I always enjoy The Illuminati, so that should be interesting. And, Brian Hitch on art? Sold. I'm not an Ultimate Universe fan, but as long as they keep it separate from the 616, and not pull another Miles Morales on us, this could be very cool. I just hope they don't try to use this as a vehicle to do more MCU synergy with the main 616. When I see "Transformation Of The Marvel Universe", I get worried, because it carries "Marvel NOW!" vibes, and I hated everything about that initiative. They gave every character terrible new costumes, they started retconning every character's backstory to align with the MCU, and they just basically decided that the fans who actually read the comics and the 50+ continuity that comes with it no longer mattered. They also cancelled Fantastic Four, and ruined X-Men, all because of the Disney/Fox feud. The comic books and the movies should be two completely separate entities. The comics will be around long after they stop making the films.

 

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I'm a fan of both of these creators so hopes are high that this is good. I quite enjoyed the Ultimate Universe, but it kinda shot itself in the foot when they kept killing off the most popular characters. Then joining the two universes was one of the worst ideas in comic book history, second only to, but by a huge margin, to the ANAD fiasco. But trying to combine the two universes and having two (or more) or certain characters was a bonehead move. Let's see if lightning can strike twice.

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On 2/22/2023 at 1:46 PM, RobertD said:

No.  Nooooo..!  It was dead! it was dead and we were all the better for it.  When they finally killed it during Secret Wars it was the ultimate "and nothing of value was lost" situation.  They shed the dross, kept what was usable and that was finally that. 

I actually have a lot of love for the ol' 1610 and say with sincerity that Hickman's Ultimate work is underappreciated gold, but my god did it turn in to a complete cluster towards the end.  Ultimate End was a nonsensical mercy killing. 

Oh man, this is where I’m at too.. by the end the whole idea of easy jump on, not hindered by decades of continuity was replaced by confusing and unrecognizable characters. 

I got swept up into the whole thing with The Ultimates. Hitch’s artwork was unlike anything in comics. By the time they got to the Ultimate End, the whole idea had overstayed it’s welcome. “End” was more of a car crash you can’t look away from than anything resembling what I’d consider a story. And it mercifully was over.

arent most of the characters on the cover dead? It too bad they can’t put the whole Ultimate experiment back in the bottle, Miles Morales included.

i can understand revisiting for an anniversary so here is hoping it ends again once this limited series is done. 

 

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I had a LOT of criticisms when the Ultimate line debuted.  Redundancy, brand-confusion, needless/POINTLESS maturation of the main-line characters for the movies, and a fair chunk of internal ugliness in the stories.  They lacked a lot of the charm and appeal of the mainstream Marvel Universe. Yeah, I was never much of a fan of it. 😞
And along the way, my criticisms were borne out, because Marvel kept looking back, nodding their heads to the mainstream, especially in the movies.  Like it was all a big c**k-tease, with a bit of wink to it.


It all came across as a "throw crap at the wall, see what sticks" kind of exercise....which.........honestly, has been a perennial Marvel ( and DC, for that matter) ploy for decades.  
And so this run of stories, while trying to feign that they are of consequence, simply add up to just being more inconsequential.    It's like the NEW UNIVERSE stuff, all over again, and that proved to be just as inconsequential too.

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On 2/23/2023 at 11:58 PM, TheArrow said:

I had a LOT of criticisms when the Ultimate line debuted.  Redundancy, brand-confusion, needless/POINTLESS maturation of the main-line characters for the movies, and a fair chunk of internal ugliness in the stories.  They lacked a lot of the charm and appeal of the mainstream Marvel Universe. Yeah, I was never much of a fan of it. 😞
And along the way, my criticisms were borne out, because Marvel kept looking back, nodding their heads to the mainstream, especially in the movies.  Like it was all a big c**k-tease, with a bit of wink to it.


It all came across as a "throw crap at the wall, see what sticks" kind of exercise....which.........honestly, has been a perennial Marvel ( and DC, for that matter) ploy for decades.  
And so this run of stories, while trying to feign that they are of consequence, simply add up to just being more inconsequential.    It's like the NEW UNIVERSE stuff, all over again, and that proved to be just as inconsequential too.

Some great points here. It really did seem like their ideas for "lasting consequences " was killing off characters they would never be able to touch in the mainstream Marvel Universe. 

It was pure schlock for shock. And Ultimate End was just "let's see how many characters we can kill in 22 pages".

I mean, The Ultimate line had its moments. Ultimates 1 and 2 were cinematic in scope and had a significant influence on the early MCU films.  but as the years stretched on the entire point of the line lost track of what the initial purpose was. 

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Yeah, Bryan Hitch's art was always cinematically epic in framing and scope---it was perfectly realized for movies.  The writing though.......the situations in some stories ( especially early on in The Ultimates) could be ugly and mean-spirited. I'm not going to paint the whole run with a brush from just a couple of issues, but I did not like that tone.  Letting cynicism take a dump on  hope doesn't make for appeal, at least in my book.

 

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  • 2 months later...

Next month, readers will witness a transformation of Marvel characters and storytelling that could only come from two of the industry’s greatest visionaries, writer Jonathan Hickman and artist Bryan Hitch, in ULTIMATE INVASION #1. The start of a redefining four-issue saga, ULTIMATE INVASION #1 will see the heroes of the Marvel Universe clash with one of the few survivors of the Ultimate Universe (which met its doom in 2015’s Secret Wars), a confrontation that ends with the promise of something all-new and vastly different than anything that’s come before.

Fans can get their first look into this revolutionary new project this Saturday in FREE COMIC BOOK DAY: SPIDER-MAN/VENOM #1. With a print run of nearly 500,000 copies, this issue will showcase a dramatic scene from ULTIMATE INVASION #1 where the Maker presents Miles Morales with an offer he may not be able to refuse, while the reunited Illuminati desperately tries to shut down the Maker’s attempt to reshape the Marvel Universe.

In the coming weeks, readers will behold a glimpse into this breathtaking new world and get reintroduced to new versions of familiar characters in a thrilling trailer. In addition, a limited number of retailers can participate in a virtual press conference taking place within the next few weeks, where they’ll have a rare opportunity to learn about the overall development and impact of the series directly from the creators themselves, Hickman and Hitch. Details will be provided shortly in the Marvel Mailer.

“[Revisiting the idea of Ultimate Comics] couldn’t be replicating or revisiting what Bryan did in the original Ultimates — creating a streamlined, modernized version that would eventually become the spine of the MCU. And it certainly couldn’t be what I did, which was a final chapter of a pre-existing universe,” Hickman explained to Entertainment Weekly. “We also thought the very idea of Ultimate Comics needed to be inverted from what the original universe was — we wanted this to be something that could really only exist in the comic space: a new way of thinking about, and enjoying, a new version of the Marvel Universe. I’m pretty happy to say that it feels like we’ve accomplished those things and we’re very excited for everyone to get to read it.”

Check out all the covers along with interior art and an all-new teaser image that utilizes a data graphic from the debut issue, and pick up ULTIMATE INVASION #1 on June 21.

ULTIMATE INVASION #1 (OF 4) – 75960620234800111
Written by JONATHAN HICKMAN
Art and Cover by BRYAN HITCH
Colors by ALEX SINCLAIR
On Sale 6/21

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ULTIMATE INVASION_InteriorB.jpg

ULTINVASION2023001_cover.jpg

ULTINVASION2023001_DautermanVar.jpg

ULTINVASION2023001_Foil_Var.jpg

ULTINVASION2023001_JTC .jpg

ULTINVASION2023001_Lim_Var.jpg

ULTINVASION2023001_McGuinness .jpg

ULTINVASION2023001_Momoko_Var.jpg

ULTINVASION2023001_Pichelli.jpg

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I thought we were done with the lame Ultimate Universe after Secret Wars. They scrapped everything but Miles and the Maker. I am a Hickman fan, but probably gonna skip this one.

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On 5/4/2023 at 1:29 PM, GarimusPrime said:

Somebody mentioned elsewhere that this series is going to be $8 per issue?? Can anybody confirm that?

The solicitations include price tags.

First issue sits at $8.99 with 56 pages. Second issue is $5.99 with 40 pages. If the second issue is also oversized, maybe the third and fourth will be too.

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On 5/4/2023 at 3:08 PM, ADour said:

The solicitations include price tags.

First issue sits at $8.99 with 56 pages. Second issue is $5.99 with 40 pages. If the second issue is also oversized, maybe the third and fourth will be too.

I get that they're oversized...but $8.99? I can't justify paying $9 for a comic book, even if it's something that looks as good as this does. Marvel HAS to realize that sales are going to suffer with this book because of the price tag. The regular $4 price point was already beyond pushing it, and I'm fairly certain that $4.99 will become the new standard in the next year or two.

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