ultimates

This week saw the conclusion of the first volume of Marvel's newest incarnation of the Ultimates, which brought together a team of heavy hitters charged with defending the Earth from the most cosmic of threats. Next month, the title relaunches as Ultimates 2 by Al Ewing and Travel Foreman, and Marvel has provided us with a first look at unlettered pages from the first issue.

Over the course of the past year, across a number of titles, Al Ewing has slowly been re-establishing and redefining what the Marvel Universe looks like following the remaking of reality at the end of Secret Wars. This week in the pages of Ultimates #12, Ewing and Christian Ward tapped a new universe to introduce a team of familiar heroes. Spoilers for the issue follow.

Civil War II has completely overwhelmed the Marvel Universe, with all of your favorite titles tangentially tying into the event in whatever way they can in hopes of a sales bump. With a founding Avenger dead and battle lines nearly drawn, it's time to dig back into the story for more Civil War Correspondence, and review where I stand on the conflict. I reserve the right to flip-flop at will, although that's looking less and less likely. This time around we’re looking at the fourth issue of Civil War II, as well as two issues of The Ultimates, and I finally pick a side as a fan-favorite Marvel character crosses a line and becomes potentially irredeemable.

Marvel's next big line launch was formally unveiled this week via a special edition of Marvel Previews, including new #1s for Avengers, Venom, Captain Marvel, and Star-Lord, new launches for Champions, Jessica Jones, Kingpin, Bullseye, Slapstick, and Solo, and new concepts in Occupy Avengers, Iron Fists, Mosaic, Infamous Iron Man, and Unstoppable Wasp. Following our roundtable discussion of DC Rebirth, the ComicsAlliance team got together to break down the highs and lows of the new Marvel NOW. Join Elle Collins, James Leask, Katie Schenkel, Kieran Shiach, and Andrew Wheeler as they pick out the books they're most excited about and the books they're concerned about, and discuss Marvel's approach to legacy heroes and the state of diversity at Marvel today.

Yesterday we reported on the leaking of Marvel Comics' Marvel Previews free magazine, unveiling their entire post-Civil War II line-up including comics such as The Unstoppable Wasp, Solo, Foolkiller and Prowler. Today, the magazine has officially been released via comic stores and online, confirming even more titles and creative teams, including a Kate Bishop Hawkeye book and the much awaited Gamora solo title from Guardians of the Galaxy screenwriter Nicole Perlman.

Civil War II is just around the corner, and the news is starting to trickle in about what exactly it’s going to be, and what comics will be included in Marvel’s massive summer event. This past weekend at C2E2, Marvel unveiled a host of Civil War II news, including several brand-new miniseries, as well as announcing some of the details for crossovers that take place in regular books.

Marvel Comics will reprint the first three issues of several of its All-New, All-Different comics under the imprint Timely Comics. Debuting in June, Timely Comics presents the opening issues of these series in one oversized comic, at the reduced price of $2.99. The initiative offers readers the chance to catch up on cornerstones of the Marvel Universe like All-New, All-Different Avengers and Invincible Iron Man, but it also features collections of critical darlings such as Doctor Strange and Moon Girl & Devil Dinosaur, providing an easy access point for readers to try something new.

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.

Of all the books announced by Marvel during this week's big All-New, All-Different unveiling, one of the surprise titles that generated the most buzz was Ultimates, by Al Ewing and Kenneth Rocafort. Though the name echoes back to the Ultimate Universe version of the Avengers, this is a very different team, comprised of some of the Marvel Universe's major powerhouses and most brilliant minds as they tackle cosmic threats on the scale of... well, Galactus. ComicsAlliance spoke to Ewing to learn about the big idea behind this big team and the sort of threats they'll be facing, and to discover what drew him to put characters like Black Panther, Captain Marvel and America Chavez on one team --- besides the fact that they're all obviously the best characters.

Our critical rundown of the All-New All-Different Marvel line moves on to the seven Avengers (or Avengers-adjacent) team titles, which includes three teams with Avengers in the name, plus A-Force, the mighty Ultimates, a bunch of villains stealing an old Avengers-related name, and the Squadron Supreme, who aren't really Avengers at all, but we don't have a Justice League section.