Having gone back and re-read this, I'm wondering if anyone has any thoughts on who the wolf is? A third vampire, presumably, but who?
Zombipanda said:
But doesn't the pacing seem a little off? It's a two issue arc. In the first issue, we get Ben Urich's new relationship and this new vampire who's not part of the 616 Universe. We don't see Morbius until the end of the issue, and we haven't evene gotten a glance of Blade yet... [snip]... It could be another arc where Bendis ultimizes characters with no explanation or no larger purpose, just for the sake of ultimizing them.
Agreement on the pacing. This suggests that there isn't really going to be much of an explanation for vampirism, and that we're going to head directly into the next arc (is that the Clone saga?) with little to no fall-out from this.
I'd really like to see some evidence that vampirism here has its own set of rules, something that makes this version of it unique to the Ultimate Universe. It's been done in various works of literature in the horror genre over the years, it should be do-able in comics as well.
E.Vi.L said:
I'm guessing it will be mystic in origin. After all, there is a Dr. Strange in Ultimate so there is magic. And the vampiric powers are too disconnected to be a mutation. Mutants usually have a single power, or a few powers connected by a single theme, unlike Vampires and Superman who have unrelated powers because a succession of authors thought it was cool. Vampirism could be analyzed scientifically, like some sort of supernatural disease. Perhaps magic itself has a scientific explanation in UU.
And therein for me lies part of the problem. Dr. Strange really kind of sticks out like the proverbial sore thumb in the UU. Most of the rest of what we've seen in this Marvel universe has some rational scientific (or at least plausible pseudo-scientific) explanation, but what Strange does seems completely separate from that. Even Thor, who's supposed to be the incarnation of a Norse god, has a possible backstory grounded in science and technology.
Strange, Jr. recites incantations and waves his hands around to work magic; if I, as a UU character, took the training, would the magic work for me too? Is Strange's ability to work magic yet another form of mutation, or some other form of genetic manipulation? (His mother is allegedly an extra-terrestrial, which raises a whole other set of questions, including "are two members of completely separate species with different evolutionary paths even able to
have children?")
I'm over-analyzing again, aren't I? I promise I'll stop now.
bluebeast said:
I wonder if Urich is going to turn bad for a while now or if Spidey will help him be a normal human again.
It will be interesting to see which way this goes, although with only two issues, I'm guessing Urich's vampirism won't be a long-term feature. Although leaving him in that state would allow for some intriguing possibilities. Do vampires necessarily have to "turn evil", or can their basic personalities remain intact? One of the most interesting characters from the old
Tomb of Dracula series was Hannibal King. He was a vampire, but also a decent person. If I recall correctly, it had to do with the fact that he refused to take blood from a living being.
It was good to see the Daily Bugle back in action, too. Ben Urich getting bitten kind of irked me... I hope Blade has a way around that.
Just curious about why this bothers you, Goodwill. It was mentioned in the preview summary for the issue, and the way in which it happens is actually pretty reasonable and believable.
This brings up another question: if you're bitten by a vampire, why is killing said vampire supposed to prevent you from turning into one?
Nattering again. Sorry. Getting off the thread now.... (Except to say that I agree with E about Morbius' choice of evening wear. Urk.)
