UFF Millar and Beyond: Should I Come Back?

[Gideon Stargrave]

UFF has always been kind of a "meh" series for me, and I don't read it religiously. It just occured to me that I shouldn't be posting on this thread.

 

[Living Large]

Agreed. But not only that, it expands on the stacking universe concept Ellis came up with. Ellis wrote about a dying universe (The N-Zone) and the creatures who inhabited it. Carey, on the other hand, is writing about a younger universe where the beings are mostly super-powered.

I'm not sure why E considers it fantasy. :?

The only reason that I thought to compare Ellis's run with Carey's run is that both are dealing with science fiction / fantasy based stories and the tone is similar. (Science Fiction and Fantasy are in the same shelf space for a reason as they tend to overlap alot -- it's hard to know which is which and some are both)

Millar's run was entirely different in tone -- it was silly, designed to be good natured fun and not meant to be taken too seriously. Both Ellis's and Carey's runs appear to be both darker and more serious stories. I find that more entertaining generally.

 

[marvelman]

Does yummy cranberry stuffing bleed out of his ***?

Is the pope Darth Sidious?

 

[E]

Millar wrote fantasy

Carey is writing Sci fi

Space stuff is sci-fi

Not this kind of space stuff.

And Millar was not writing fantasy. It was tightly-wound widescreen action - it didn't read as sci-fi or fantasy.

Well, it's nothing like Ellis's run either, I think it's completely different from Ellis' run.

I don't understand why people say it is like Eliis'

I agree.

I'm not sure why E considers it fantasy. :?

It's not grounded in science like Ellis's stories were. Or, more accurately, Ellis had it a little more grounded in reality...sure the scientific concepts - if you can call them that - were "out there" (perhaps rendering them unscientific, but that's besides the point). But current arc by Carey is Star Wars. Star Wars was not sci-fi, it was fantasy.

 

[Ultimate Houde]

It's not grounded in science like Ellis's stories were. Or, more accurately, Ellis had it a little more grounded in reality...sure the scientific concepts - if you can call them that - were "out there" (perhaps rendering them unscientific, but that's besides the point). But current arc by Carey is Star Wars. Star Wars was not sci-fi, it was fantasy.

I always thought star Wars was Sci Fi fantasy.

 

[Terraneaux]

God War really sucked. The characters that were introduced in it seemed very mary-sue-ish. They constantly were upstaging the FF, who took the time to act uncharacteristically dumb (for people who are supposed to be geniuses, at least Reed and Sue). Basically, if you'd rather read about this funky group of intergalactic soldiers who, according to Carey, are cooler than the UFF in just about every way, then read this.

 

[E]

God War really sucked. The characters that were introduced in it seemed very mary-sue-ish. They constantly were upstaging the FF, who took the time to act uncharacteristically dumb (for people who are supposed to be geniuses, at least Reed and Sue). Basically, if you'd rather read about this funky group of intergalactic soldiers who, according to Carey, are cooler than the UFF in just about every way, then read this.

Heh.

I like this guy.

 

[Lynx]

God War really sucked. The characters that were introduced in it seemed very mary-sue-ish. They constantly were upstaging the FF, who took the time to act uncharacteristically dumb (for people who are supposed to be geniuses, at least Reed and Sue). Basically, if you'd rather read about this funky group of intergalactic soldiers who, according to Carey, are cooler than the UFF in just about every way, then read this.

I will agree that the new characters were very Mary Sue-ish. Actually, they were kind of pointless and could have been left out of the story or severely toned down and the outcome would have been the same.

 

[Hibiki]

wHY WERE YOU ON HIATUS?

 

[ourchair]

wHY WERE YOU ON HIATUS?

Who me?

Because I hated the end of the Tomb of Namor arc.

 

[Boleth]

Mary-Sue-ish

Which means?
I thought a lot of God War was meh. Bits and peices of it were: "Oooh!" *reads quickly to find out whats happening*
but most was: "meh" *read at whatever pace you feel like because the plot isnt going anywhere anyway*
3.5/5 for story, just because the bits that were good were GOOD

 

[David Blue]

Who me?

Because I hated the end of the Tomb of Namor arc.

Then you'd probably hate God War too, so you might want to skip it.

You've still got the basic elements, just arranged differently and presented at much greater length.

Bad boy, and now bad boys and girls, show up and compete successfully on a variety of levels, including sexual. (Obviously for more competitive fights we need to get the villains and the Mary Sue characters beating on each other more, and chasing each other's tails, as the Fantastic Four aren't well equipped to play at this high a level.)

Reed Richards invents a wish fulfillment device, or he's going to.

Emotional tangles are added to Reed and Sue. Ben stays tough. Johnny stays shallow. (I think he should have had his chance in Inhuman, but that was a bust both as a story and as a chance at emotional development. Better luck next time, Johnny!)

Not much is resolved. So home are the heroes, but the menace of the villain looms over them. Dum-da-dum-dum-dum!!

(I feel we're at a point of diminishing returns on that unresolved menace thing. Does it matter whether Namor shows up and trashes them, or what happens with Mommy Storm, if Darkseid gets his hands on the Anti-Life Equation, defeats the Forever People and abolishes free will everywhere? At some point you've got so many unbeatable threats lined up that it no longer matters. The heroes obviously can't handle these situations, so the writers have to take care of it for them somehow or other.)

The Tomb of Namor was a little better because the Fantastic Four went exploring, while in God War they wound up as passengers again. But that's all right, Reed'll do better in future.

I liked God War more over all. I don't know why. It sure wasn't because of the new characters. Big Bear, Beautiful Dreamer, Infinity Man - I didn't like any of them at all.

This is still early days for the Fantastic Four, you've got to expect them to be humiliated a fair bit by people that hopefully they'll learn to handle eventually.

Or, you don't have to expect that, you can expect whatever you like, but if you're not OK with the way the series was at the time of Tomb of Namor there is no reason to think you'll like it now.

 

[Lynx]

Which means?

I realized I never answered this.

A Mary Sue is generally a new, original character that overshadows the main character(s) in either power or plot significance. A Mary Sue also can mean that the character(s) is subject to a number of fiction cliches, like having a tragic past, for instance.

 

[David Blue]

I realized I never answered this.

A Mary Sue is generally a new, original character that overshadows the main character(s) in either power or plot significance. A Mary Sue also can mean that the character(s) is subject to a number of fiction cliches, like having a tragic past, for instance.

I think the Wikipedia article is helpful. It doesn't pretend that "Mary Sue" is anything but a subjective impression. This isn't science.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Sue

 

[Lynx]

I think the Wikipedia article is helpful. It doesn't pretend that "Mary Sue" is anything but a subjective impression. This isn't science.

I'll agree with that. I was just trying to explain, generally, what a "Mary Sue" is.

 

[David Blue]

And:
http://firefox.org/news/articles/6/1/Mary-Sue-Who-Are-You/Page1.html

In Elektra (2005) (that's the movie starring Jennifer Garner), I would argue that Abby Miller, The Treasure, played by Kirsten Prout, is a Mary Sue.

 

[David Blue]

I'll agree with that. I was just trying to explain, generally, what a "Mary Sue" is.

Sure. I was just pitching in because I'm in the same position as you: we both used the term without explaining it.