Honestly I feel nothing for this, but to be fair I never cared much for the Ultimate Universe in the first place. The problem with the Ultimate Universe is that is a cynical and frankly sometimes bitter take on superhero comics. And this new batch of writers isn't going to help that. I know this is probably not going to be a popular opinion but this latest crop of former indie writers need to stay away from superheroes. These "realistic" takes on characters need to stop it isn't leading anywhere. You are writing stories about people with amazing powers that fight one another in colorful costumes, go with that and play to your strengths.
Ultimate comics generally do away with the colorful costumes.
This just isn't Marvel either. I mean no matter what you think about Action Comics #900 that certain short story didn't really do much to celebrate the character or his history much. I am not saying that comics shouldn't tackle heavy issues or engage in social commentary, but just don't make that your only focus. I mean how great would have been to see Mxyzptlk again. All I am saying let's stop fooling ourselves with what we are writing/reading, it is all rather silly.
You act as if that is all there is to superhero comics. That story you mention in Action #900 was a small short story out of an entire book. Occasionally, comics do deal with things that would happen in our world.
For every title like Ultimates, there's a Thor: The Mighty Avenger. For every Moon Knight, there's a Marvel Adventure Spider-Man. Avengers Academy. Annihilators. FF. Incredible Hulks. Skaar.
Yes, that's a dinosaur, a monkey, a cowboy, a Hulk, and Ka-Zar.
Well, unfortunately I think it's more of a pride issue, or to be more accurate lack thereof. To these new writers it's probably a different story to say that they work on some dark, edgy, piece of material that they can and do make political points and whatnot in it, and generally they can be pretentious and whatnot.
Let's face it: if you wrote for Marvel, and you met, say...I dunno...some old high school classmate who'd never really been a geek or anything and is basically a respectable normal person, and they ask you what you do for a living and you say you write comic books? Well, I'd imagine there'd probably be a moment of blank stare and a 'uh...that's....nice, I guess.' All that while you could practically hear the questions or criticism going on in their head. There's just a stigma attached to anything seen as juvenile like comics. It's sort of the reason why they 'grew up' in the first place. So older and adult readers (who have more income to throw away on such things) don't have to feel embarrassed so much.
I think it's also an issue of what I like to call 'the fingerpaint dilemma'. Remember when you were like....five and you were smearing fingerpaints on a sheet of paper and smeared white with black and were so shocked that you got grey that you forgot all about the white and black bits? Yeah. Same concept here I think. The first bits of grey, gritty drama that we got were so alluring that noone stopped to think it might be best used in moderation.
It's not a pride issue. Marvel hired these guys based on their indie work. Hickman previously did two creator-owned series that got him attention in the comic world.
Pax Romana - A tale involving the military, time travel, and the Roman Empire.
The Nightly News - a story involving the news media and how it gets wrapped up in a story about a cult.
Nick Spencer did Existence 2.0 and 3.0 for Image.
He hit big with Morning Glories, a series about young kids at a sinister prep school.
Spencer also did the Action Comics Jimmy Olson backup, involving 5th dimension shenanigans.
These gentlemen aren't trying to prove something. They already did. They found success and Marvel hired them to bring their specific vision to certain titles. Hickman on FF, Secret Warriors, and SHIELD. Spencer of Iron Man 2.0 and Secret Avengers. These are deliberate choices on the part of editors and creators.
Already reading FF and it's...not so bad. I demand more Doom vs. Valeria amusement!
Then you're already reading Hickman's work. Do you feel all dark and edgy?
