Customer Reviews

Ultimatum: Requiem (Marvel Premiere Editions)

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

"Ultimatum Requiem"
(Marvel Comics, 2010)
-------------------------------------
NOTE: mild spoilers below
-------------------------------------

This slim volume, a coda to the Ultimatum crossover "event," wraps things up for three of the now-canceled Ultimate Marvel titles. Mostly, it's a good read, but it's gotten harsh reviews, mainly, I think, because readers felt the Ultimatum story arc was so sucky. But this book itself is not so bad. In it, we find out what happened to Ultimate Spider-Man, after the conclusion of his title, in which it appeared he had died in the Ultimatum wave. (The Spider-Man title, written by Brian Michael Bendis, was consistently the best of the Ultimate books... that level of quality is upheld here, and by and large this is a satisfying if regrettable conclusion to an excellent series. (Sort of: although the cancellation of USM was collateral damage from the implosion of the Ultimate line, it has been renewed in a second series...)

Next comes the wrap-up of the Ultimate FF, which was okay. The one really sucky story was the epilogue to Ultimate X-Men, a title that had devolved into sheer crap by the end of its run, and found no redemption here, in a pretentious wreathe-laying episode. As far as I can tell, the entire "Ultimatum" arc was just an excuse to snuff out these particular characters, and snuffed out they are: Cyclops, Wolverine, Nightcrawler, Professor X, Angel and many others are dead, dead, dead -- not that anyone really cares, the book was so dull by the end. But other than that single issue, this collection is worth reading; indeed, you can read this and skip the main Ultimatum book and get along just fine. (DJ Joe Sixpack, ReadThatAgain book reviews)

I've come to terms with the fact that Marvel let Jeph Loeb - a writer whose work I used to enjoy - all but destroy the Ultimate Marvel Universe and kill off half of its characters. I'm not happy about it, but I think there's a light at the end of the tunnel. That light became clearer after reading Ultimatum Requiem.

Whatever your feelings about Ultimatum TPB, Ultimatum Requiem is a necessary postscript, and a touching one at that. It essentially looks at the aftermath of Ultimatum and sets the stage for what's next. The Spider-Man tale is particularly moving, as it focuses on Daily Bugle publisher J. Jonah Jamison's change of heart after witnessing Spider-Man's heroic last acts. He essentially is writing Spider-Man's obituary, as Spidey's fate was (at the time) unknown. There are also a couple of interesting stories featuring the Fantastic Four and what's left of the X-Men. Essentially, the Fantastic Four break up and the X-Men bury their dead. Where they go from here is anybody's guess.

Ultimatum Requiem is a well-written, well-illustrated way to move past the events of Ultimatum. Hopefully this will be the start of something positive for the Ultimate Universe, and that something will not include Jeph Loeb. I'm just glad the Ultimate Universe wasn't totally shut down.

Yes of course the Ultimatum was weak and we all loath Loeb at the moment. Don't let that stop you from picking this one up though. It was a good read with some heart and one of the few Ultimate Books that does not disrespect Millar or Bendis.

As the closing bookmark for Ultimatum this story does little to really redeem anything that happened. It's a nice closing point and bridging point to the newly revamped ultimate world, but it does little to take the bad taste out of your mouth from ultimatum. Might be a nice jumping on point for anyone who missed out on the older great ultimate stories and just wants to start up with the new stuff.

The ultimatium series is best described as " Hey cool I really like that character, oh whoops, now he's dead." If you want to see the Ultimate Universe's version of your most delighted characters crash and burn in a poorly written and paced abortion of enormous proportions, then any of the ultimatium books are for you.

i'm a collector of the Ultimate Spider-man series. I get depressed of how each volume get shorter than the previous one. But overall, the artwork is fantastic as well as the storyline. A must for the collectors