Ultimate Comic/Webcomic Madness!

[Robert McSantos]

He just said on his twitter that he's going to do the villains later. I shudder to think what this guy's scientifically plausible Bizarro would look like.

[Tekkactus]

His Lex Luthor will look something like this, I'd wager:

[Agrajag]

Yes, obviously Diaz loves robots and cyborgs. And yeah he's made it more hard sci-fi, which actually might not be appealing to all people (although I personally love it). But I really think there's something to be said for more radical changes than DC actually did. When they redid everyone for Silver Age, they actually changed tons of shit. But in this latest reboot I feel nothing noticeable has really changed. I really wish they would have actually gone for a clean slate and reimagined all the characters. Even if they did it Ultimate Marvel style in a separate set of books.

[Ben]

When they redid comics for the silver age, they were rebooting and re imagining characters that had existed for like 12 years at most. Compared to this reboot re imagining characters that have existed, and not just existed but existed large in the public consciousness (I'm sure Bob Kane would never imagine his little shadow homage would end up spawning a movie that made 1 hundred million dollars) for like 60 years.

Also in regards to the completly reinventing themselves for Silver age, they really only did that with Flash and Green Lantern. Bats, Superman, Wonderwoman etc all remained basically the same. The major changes for silverage didn't come from changing existing character but introducing new stuff. (The justice leauge, etc) Even ultimate's only really changed side characters like Fury. The mainstays like Spiderman, Captain America and Ironman just ended up with more distilled versions of themselves. At first anyway... then shit got retarded and I'm not even going to touch on that.

What really set the silver age and ultimates apart from there normal counterparts was the tone and attitude of the writing.
Superman didn't get radically reinvented, his origin was the same, his costume was basically the same. But the tone of his stories became more fantasticall, more focused on fighting braniac in his fortress of solitude rather then throwing bootleggers out of windows. Ultimate basically started as retelling the same stories with a more realistic slant. Spidey was still a geeky kid whos uncle got killed after he got super powers etc. But it presented it with a closer aproximation of reality then the previous comics had. It wasn't radical sweeping changes in character designs and origins that set these apart from there original points, instead it was a general shift in the attitude of the people writing them. And honestly we're way too early in this reboot to tell if anything like that is going on in this new one.

[Robert McSantos]

You might consider checking out the Earth-1 original graphic novels that DC are also putting out. From what I hear, they're a lot closer to Ultimate Marvel. The Superman one by JMS is already out, and the Batman one by Geoff Johns is out in May.

[Joopac_Badur]

Lol, a lot of butt hurt going on with these Diaz's reboot of DC. Remember guys, it was just his silly reinterpretation of these characters; it's not like he's getting his own title with DC.

Personally, I'm hit or miss with his redesigns. I really liked Wonder Woman and Superman's new costumes. Flash's was okay. Powergirl would be nice except I think she should have the hole in her chest like the old costume as it is kind of her symbol. Nothing looks super-hero-y about Cyborg. Why did he even bother with Green Lantern?

As far as the origins, I actually like the focus on Superman being more alien-y. Powergirl's new back story is also pretty cool.

Not that it matters much to me. I generally dislike DC's main titles. Boring.

[Agrajag]

Why did he even bother with Green Lantern?

Because he was doing the Justice League and thought GL should be on his redesigned League, even if the character itself is mostly identical. Also he wanted Yuko and Ananth to be super heroes?

And Cyborg reminded me of Static Shock's sidekick. Except presumably more hilarious, since it's Moss. (Personally I'm a fan of superheroes who don't look like superheroes, like Brit or Atomic Robo).

Not that it matters much to me. I generally dislike DC's main titles. Boring.

Yeah maybe this is my main problem with DC? Although I like pretty much every animated DC cartoon I've seen, so I'm not sure what the deal is. Maybe it's not that everyone needs a huge major redesign, they just need to write less shitty comics.

[Ben]

Yeah maybe this is my main problem with DC? Although I like pretty much every animated DC cartoon I've seen, so I'm not sure what the deal is. Maybe it's not that everyone needs a huge major redesign, they just need to write less shitty comics.

Yeah now you're getting it

For the most part there comics suck. They're dark stuff from the reboot is generally pretty great so far though (Swamp thing, Animal Man, Frakenstein) you should give atleast them a shot. I mean Frankenstein is about a team of universal monster movie monsters as a super hero team.

[Agrajag]

Yeah I've heard Animal Man and Frankenstein are pretty good, just not sure they're good enough to spend $3 a month on. I might pick up trades for those eventually though. I did buy Batman #1 and wasn't overly impressed, but it wasn't bad. I hear Flash #1 is pretty good too.

Currently the only stuff I'm actively buying monthlies of are Chew, Atomic Robo, and Irredeemable.

[Ben]

Yeah I've heard Animal Man and Frankenstein are pretty good, just not sure they're good enough to spend $3 a month on. I might pick up trades for those eventually though. I did buy Batman #1 and wasn't overly impressed, but it wasn't bad. I hear Flash #1 is pretty good too.

Currently the only stuff I'm actively buying monthlies of are Chew, Atomic Robo, and Irredeemable.

Download em to have a look and see if they're you're thing.

Man I really need to get into atomic robot. I've been getting Chew through trades and it's kind of amazing.

[Agrajag]

Atomic Robo is pretty friggin awesome. There's a ton of material up online for free (all their FCBD issues and a couple other random things). This one is pretty much my favorite thing ever: http://www.nuklearpower.com/2009/07/24/ ... -day-2009/

Also the current volume issues have pretty much the best solicit text (second one down on this list: http://www.firstcomicsnews.com/?p=24947)

[Ben]

oh fuck me dead new animal man and swamp thing continue to be amazing.

[Tekkactus]

Yeah I was just about to come in here and praise the hell out of Animal Man. I wasn't sold on the art in issue one, but this one has confirmed I love it. The amount of times I said "holy shit what the fuck is that oh god back the fuck up" was staggering.

EDIT: Also, Mrs. Pickles is the most adorable skeleton in the world. I love how the zombie pets have all been just sorta adopted into the family.

[Ben]

yeah the first issue had me kind of up in the air on the art. But getting into the weird shit the art is fucking perfect.

Also stormwatch issue 2 was pretty great too.

I'm really loving some of the divisions with the new 52. The Dark and the Edge from what I've read have been pretty fucking stellar (Ignoring Suicide Squad)
Men of War is probbably my biggest surprise from the new 52. That Book was fucking killer.

[Tekkactus]

I also think the art was a little looser and cartoony in issue two, which worked to its benefit. Issue one felt like tracings over photos for the mundane stuff. This issue seems more comfortable with playing around with anatomy a little more. That zookeeper's cheeks, for example.