the ultimates

Last October, Marvel embraced the creative world of cosplay with an awesome line of Cosplay Variants featuring dedicated fans geared up as their favorite superhero, gracing the cover of that character's comic. It seems like the line was so popular that it's getting a second outing, as Marvel has unveiled the first look at this year's round of Cosplay Variants, debuting in stores from September.

Welcome to Cast Party, the feature that imagines a world with even more live action comic book adaptations than we currently have, and comes up with arguably the best casting suggestions you’re ever going to find for the movies and shows we wish could exist. This week I'm turning my attention to one of Marvel's most interesting current team books, The Ultimates, by Al Ewing and Kenneth Rocafort.

How do you do an Ultimates series post-Secret Wars, without the Ultimate Universe? The original series by Mark Millar and Bryan Hitch was supposed to be a reimagining of the Avengers concept for the 21st century, and had significant influence on the Marvel Cinematic Universe, both narratively and visually. After the events of Secret Wars, we no longer have an Ultimate Universe, but we do have a new Ultimates comic by Al Ewing, Kenneth Rocafort and Dan Brown. Four issues in, they’re re-imagining and redefining what a superhero team can be in the twenty-first century, just like the original volume did fourteen years ago.

Comic book writer Mark Millar completed this week what he claims was his final script for Marvel Comics, presumably an issue of Ultimate Comics Avengers Vs. New Ultimates. Millar has enjoyed uncommon commercial success with many of his creator-owned properties, most notably Wanted and Kick-Ass, and he intends to pursue more work along those lines...

My Saturday morning began with the Ultimate universe panel featuring architects Brian Michael Bendis, Jeph Loeb and artist David Finch, with their fearless leader Joe Quesada serving as moderator. Beginning shortly after the scheduled start time, partially due to Quesada's tardiness, Loeb quipped, "we thought it was appropriate that the Ultimate panel start late...