Ultimatum series discussion [spoilers]

Bass said:
Actually, it doesn't.

Comic shops order several months in advance. So the way comic companies tell if something is selling is based on its pre-orders. They don't know how it's actually selling for ages. This is why there's a common phenomena in comic books: #2 is the hardest issue to get.

Shops order #1s, but don't know how it sells, so they order very few #2s. By the time they're ready to order #3 they have an idea of the demand of the series. It's weird.

As a result, comic companies get a-list talent and hype the **** out of a comic, make sure there's lots of pretty artwork (the easiest part of the comic to sell), and hope to sell the **** out of it - regardless of the actual quality of the comic. Movies and music do this too. No one is sure how good anything is so they use advertising to make sure they get enough to cover their costs.

For ULTIMATES 3, for example, Joe Maduereira got paid $1 million. Marvel has to make that money back somehow. So they have to sell the **** out of the title, even if its rubbish or they lose a LOT of money.

There's a lot of perceived importance. For example, when Marvel got Loeb exclusive, he was/is considered an industry leader. His contract promises him a lot of lucrative projects. He has to get them because the contract says so. This costs Marvel money. Marvel HAS to make that money back. They jack up the price, turn it into a crossover event, they do everything to make sure it sells.

In so far as I know.

And then people buy it because everything they read tells them too. It's not that they're sheep or anything, but they like their comics and they just read what sounds good. These comics sound good.

Some people just like crossovers.

But I don't know how much of their success is, "It's the only thing on the rack, so you've got to buy something". That is definitely a part of it too, which is why comics has people going "I quit comics forever". No one does that in cinema.

So it's three parts as to why they're popular:
1 - The numbers the comics sell in isn't indicative of their success
2 - People like these comics
3 - People are almost forced into buying the comics

And the third is very real. "Forcing" your audience to buy your book is a very real strategy. People like to pretend you're not being 'forced', but you really can be. The way you can tell is just to look at how people leave the comic book world. No one does that with cinema or television or music. At least, not in the way comic book readers do. That kind of negative reaction can only be created in an environment that actively treats them badly in some fashion.

Or something. I think. I may be wrong. I'm hardly an expert on the subject.
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being in the business.....this is mostly true
 
Captain Brighton said:
I must confess, I am still buying it. Partly it's the carcrash syndrome. Partly a bloody-minded, I've started, so I'm damn well going to finish it mentality. And not just for this book, but the whole ultimate universe. I've emotionally invested in these characters, and I want to see it through. I do actually want to see how it all ends, which by now seems just like a kind of morbid fascination.

But there's still a part of me that, in the face of all the evidence to the contrary, hopes that with just one issue to go Loeb is going to somehow pull some rabbit out of the hat and tie up all the loose ends left over from Ultimate Origins and Ultimates 3 and everything else and it will have an almost satisfying resolution.

'Be patient,' that part of me keeps saying. 'Maybe it will all make sense in the end.'

And yet I know the last issue will just be one big dumb gory fight and then 'continued in Ultimates 4' or whatever.

It's sad and pathetic I know. There's a part of me that's just a born sucker. I'm the guy after all who said, 'well hang on, maybe Saddam does have these weapons of mass destruction pointed right at us. You know, Bush and Blair probably know things we don't, maybe we should trust them.'

Sucker.

And lastly, as has been pointed out, Ultimatum does have a certain dumb appeal; scene by scene, you can get swept along by it until you stop and think, and then go 'aaargh, what am I doing!!??' and throw the comic across the room.

And then you creep guiltily back to it, like a dog.

We should start Ultimatum Anonymous. I'll go first.

'Hello, my name is Captain Brighton, and I am an Ultimatum reader.'

There. It's the first step to recovery.
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That explains why I'm still buying it.
 
Captain Brighton said:
Was Magneto singing old Byrds songs to himself just before all the good guys came crashing in through various windows?
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well, technically the Byrds stole that from Ecclesiastes.

Zombipanda said:
:shock:

You sound like an expert.
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'expert in the field of comic books'...that sounds much nicer than 'nerd'. :D

Grocer Man said:
I've only read Hush, The Long Halloween, and his Superman/Batman run. While I agree for the most part, how is the Long Halloween being retold? I get that it's a retelling of the origin of Two-Face. But when was the first Batman story that showed the origin of Two-Face and how greatly it affected Batman?
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yeah, but again, it wasn't "here Loeb, write a Batman story and go to town!" It was, "Loeb, write a story about how the Mob in Gotham fell to the freaks and how Harvey Dent's transformation into Two-Face affected Batman." They gave him parameters to work within. And it was those parameters that made the story interesting, not his story-telling. His run in the Ultimate Universe has been the exact opposite of that. They said, "Hey Loeb, come write for the Ultimate Marvel Universe, it's not like the regular Marvel Universe. Any thing goes!" No parameters, equals lots of freedom for Loeb equals Ultimate Hulk Annual and Ultimatum.

ProjectX2 said:
Timothy Callahan's one sentence review of Ultimatum #4: It reads as if it were written by Sid from "Toy Story." :lol:
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hahaha, I'm just waiting to see super heroes emerging from mud puddles with nails through their heads.

Captain Brighton said:
I must confess, I am still buying it. Partly it's the carcrash syndrome. Partly a bloody-minded, I've started, so I'm damn well going to finish it mentality. And not just for this book, but the whole ultimate universe. I've emotionally invested in these characters, and I want to see it through. I do actually want to see how it all ends, which by now seems just like a kind of morbid fascination.

But there's still a part of me that, in the face of all the evidence to the contrary, hopes that with just one issue to go Loeb is going to somehow pull some rabbit out of the hat and tie up all the loose ends left over from Ultimate Origins and Ultimates 3 and everything else and it will have an almost satisfying resolution.

'Be patient,' that part of me keeps saying. 'Maybe it will all make sense in the end.'

And yet I know the last issue will just be one big dumb gory fight and then 'continued in Ultimates 4' or whatever.

It's sad and pathetic I know. There's a part of me that's just a born sucker. I'm the guy after all who said, 'well hang on, maybe Saddam does have these weapons of mass destruction pointed right at us. You know, Bush and Blair probably know things we don't, maybe we should trust them.'

Sucker.

And lastly, as has been pointed out, Ultimatum does have a certain dumb appeal; scene by scene, you can get swept along by it until you stop and think, and then go 'aaargh, what am I doing!!??' and throw the comic across the room.

And then you creep guiltily back to it, like a dog.

We should start Ultimatum Anonymous. I'll go first.

'Hello, my name is Captain Brighton, and I am an Ultimatum reader.'

There. It's the first step to recovery.
Click to expand...

yeah, I'm there with you too. I went to my LCS yesterday and one of the comics I wanted to pick up was Ultimatum #4, but it was sold out. My reaction was, "It's sold out? What morons bought this?!?"

Then I went and bought a copy from the other comic book shop across the street.

My name is CaptainCanuck and I have a problem.


By the way,
Doctor Strange's head being popped
was really graphic and gross, I can't believe they showed that.
 
I can only come to one conclusion as to how Magneto could heal his arm...

Iron in his blood (thank you X2)

That alone is waaaaaay too smart for this series.
 
Anybody else remember when Ultimatum was supposed to end in February?
 
i think the anticipation of each issue is the worst part. Ultimatum is like pulling a band-aid off a hairy arm. We all know it's going to be painful, why can't we just do it quickly?
 
captaincanuck65 said:
i think the anticipation of each issue is the worst part. Ultimatum is like pulling a band-aid off a hairy arm. We all know it's going to be painful, why can't we just do it quickly?
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I agree, but specifically, Ultimatum is like the band-aid being on a slightly different hairy body part.
 
if we are going that route, why not go hot wax, a la 40 Year Old Virgin, on said slightly different hairy body part
 
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