Post by goldenfist on Sept 10, 2008 9:51:09 GMT -5
One of the bigger, albeit more mysterious, announcements coming from SDCC this year was that Mark Millar would be returning to the Ultimate Universe in 2009. Millar helped kick off the Ultimate line in 2001, spearheading such books as Ultimate X-Men and The Ultimates. Millar has been absent from the line since the final issue of The Ultimates 2 finally shipped last year, but no longer.
Marvel remained mum on any details, refusing to reveal which book Millar would be handling, and even whether his return would take place before or after Jeph Loeb's mini-series Ultimatum. At the retailer's summit today, they finally came clean. Starting next year, Millar will be launching a new series entitled Ultimate Avengers.
While we weren't able to pin down Millar for an interview (yet), we did get a hold of his editor, Ralph Macchio. Macchio has been the editor in charge of the Ultimate books from the beginning, and he was happy to clarify a few points regarding Millar's new series.
First off, Ultimate Avengers is an ongoing series set to debut after the conclusion of Ultimatum. The artist is still being kept a secret at this point. Millar dropped several hints in the past, saying that the mystery artist is someone he didn't expect to be available and that he's never worked with them before.
Interestingly, Macchio has revealed that Millar has turned in scripts for issues #7 through 9, but not #1 through 6. The reasoning, as he explains, is that, "Mark... needed to see and to be in on the Ultimatum plans before he could move ahead with Ultimate Avengers. We recently had our big Ultimate conference here, and Mark was in on that. He was able to help formulate events during Ultimatum and post-Ultimatum, so this way Ultimate Avengers will be able to fit seamlessly into the mold. It'll work out of Ultimatum."
Macchio explained the core premise of the series, saying, "What we have established, though, is that Ultimate Avengers is really an outgrowth of something that was set up by Mark and Bryan Hitch in The Ultimates. This group is kind of a black ops hit squad called the Black Ultimates. Initially, when Mark thought up of the background for the Ultimates he centered on Hawkeye and Black Widow, and they announced that this was going to be the area in which they worked. Well, now we're taking that concept that we just showed with Hawkeye and Black Widow and we're widening the group. That's where we are at this moment."
Macchio was willing to reveal the lineup of the team, though not without first warning that he didn't want to spoil Millar's story. "In terms of characters, we do have Hawkeye. We have a new Black Widow, because obviously the first one is dead. We have Punisher in there, and we also have a very interesting character – the first Hulk. More than that I don't really want to say."
When asked about possible villains for the series, Macchio hinted that Ultimate Avengers may place a stronger emphasis on supervillain characters than Millar's Ultimates stories have. He wouldn't reveal the major villain behind this story, though he did provide a few hints. This villain has not appeared in an Ultimate comic before, but is well-known in the regular comics. Macchio said, "This character is well-established in the Marvel Universe and has been for 20-something years, but can be viewed as both a hero and a villain."
Macchio also discussed the fate of the other core Ultimate books. He confirmed that Jeph Loeb and Frank Cho's The Ultimates 4 is still in the works, saying, "Jeph will be picking up where he left off with the final issue of The Ultimates 3." He indicated that Ultimate Avengers will probably ship first, but also noted that the publishing plans are still very tentative.
Surprising no one, Ultimate Spider-Man will be sticking around with Brian Michael Bendis and Stuart Immonen still at the helm. "What I can tell you is this – the events in Ultimatum, because the Ultimate Universe is a shared universe, all of them will be affected by Ultimatum. Ultimate Spider-Man is not outside of what happens. In Ultimatum, what happens to New York City and what happens to the world in general will be highly reflected in Ultimate Spider-Man, and the other books as well. It's all part-and-parcel of it. No book will escape it in any way."
Fans of Ultimate Fantastic Four and Ultimate X-Men, however, will be disappointed to hear confirmation of the popular rumor/fact that both books are being canceled. "Following issue #60 of Ultimate Fantastic Four and issue #100 of Ultimate X-Men, I believe those books will go dark. After that we're reformulating our plans in light of Ultimatum. As to what happens to UFF and UXM, we have some thoughts, but nothing I'd like to mention just yet."
With only three major Ultimate series confirmed at this point, and with Marvel's tendency to have four core books running at any given time, we wondered if there were any further holes that would be filled. Macchio said, "We kind of hit the four cornerstones of Marvel. You've got the Fantastic Four, you've got Spider-Man, you've got X-Men, and you've got the Avengers, or Ultimates in this case. They're the real cornerstones of the Marvel Universe, and now we've got them in the Ultimate Universe too. I don't want to spread out too much with these books. I do like that the universe is nice and concise, and the the titles are limited in number. We will continue to do limited series, we'll continue to do annuals, as we're doing this year. But I don't envision expanding the line beyond four monthly books."
Marvel remained mum on any details, refusing to reveal which book Millar would be handling, and even whether his return would take place before or after Jeph Loeb's mini-series Ultimatum. At the retailer's summit today, they finally came clean. Starting next year, Millar will be launching a new series entitled Ultimate Avengers.
While we weren't able to pin down Millar for an interview (yet), we did get a hold of his editor, Ralph Macchio. Macchio has been the editor in charge of the Ultimate books from the beginning, and he was happy to clarify a few points regarding Millar's new series.
First off, Ultimate Avengers is an ongoing series set to debut after the conclusion of Ultimatum. The artist is still being kept a secret at this point. Millar dropped several hints in the past, saying that the mystery artist is someone he didn't expect to be available and that he's never worked with them before.
Interestingly, Macchio has revealed that Millar has turned in scripts for issues #7 through 9, but not #1 through 6. The reasoning, as he explains, is that, "Mark... needed to see and to be in on the Ultimatum plans before he could move ahead with Ultimate Avengers. We recently had our big Ultimate conference here, and Mark was in on that. He was able to help formulate events during Ultimatum and post-Ultimatum, so this way Ultimate Avengers will be able to fit seamlessly into the mold. It'll work out of Ultimatum."
Macchio explained the core premise of the series, saying, "What we have established, though, is that Ultimate Avengers is really an outgrowth of something that was set up by Mark and Bryan Hitch in The Ultimates. This group is kind of a black ops hit squad called the Black Ultimates. Initially, when Mark thought up of the background for the Ultimates he centered on Hawkeye and Black Widow, and they announced that this was going to be the area in which they worked. Well, now we're taking that concept that we just showed with Hawkeye and Black Widow and we're widening the group. That's where we are at this moment."
Macchio was willing to reveal the lineup of the team, though not without first warning that he didn't want to spoil Millar's story. "In terms of characters, we do have Hawkeye. We have a new Black Widow, because obviously the first one is dead. We have Punisher in there, and we also have a very interesting character – the first Hulk. More than that I don't really want to say."
When asked about possible villains for the series, Macchio hinted that Ultimate Avengers may place a stronger emphasis on supervillain characters than Millar's Ultimates stories have. He wouldn't reveal the major villain behind this story, though he did provide a few hints. This villain has not appeared in an Ultimate comic before, but is well-known in the regular comics. Macchio said, "This character is well-established in the Marvel Universe and has been for 20-something years, but can be viewed as both a hero and a villain."
Macchio also discussed the fate of the other core Ultimate books. He confirmed that Jeph Loeb and Frank Cho's The Ultimates 4 is still in the works, saying, "Jeph will be picking up where he left off with the final issue of The Ultimates 3." He indicated that Ultimate Avengers will probably ship first, but also noted that the publishing plans are still very tentative.
Surprising no one, Ultimate Spider-Man will be sticking around with Brian Michael Bendis and Stuart Immonen still at the helm. "What I can tell you is this – the events in Ultimatum, because the Ultimate Universe is a shared universe, all of them will be affected by Ultimatum. Ultimate Spider-Man is not outside of what happens. In Ultimatum, what happens to New York City and what happens to the world in general will be highly reflected in Ultimate Spider-Man, and the other books as well. It's all part-and-parcel of it. No book will escape it in any way."
Fans of Ultimate Fantastic Four and Ultimate X-Men, however, will be disappointed to hear confirmation of the popular rumor/fact that both books are being canceled. "Following issue #60 of Ultimate Fantastic Four and issue #100 of Ultimate X-Men, I believe those books will go dark. After that we're reformulating our plans in light of Ultimatum. As to what happens to UFF and UXM, we have some thoughts, but nothing I'd like to mention just yet."
With only three major Ultimate series confirmed at this point, and with Marvel's tendency to have four core books running at any given time, we wondered if there were any further holes that would be filled. Macchio said, "We kind of hit the four cornerstones of Marvel. You've got the Fantastic Four, you've got Spider-Man, you've got X-Men, and you've got the Avengers, or Ultimates in this case. They're the real cornerstones of the Marvel Universe, and now we've got them in the Ultimate Universe too. I don't want to spread out too much with these books. I do like that the universe is nice and concise, and the the titles are limited in number. We will continue to do limited series, we'll continue to do annuals, as we're doing this year. But I don't envision expanding the line beyond four monthly books."