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jasmiinaf's review
3.0
I had a few problems with this comic. The thing that annoyed me the most was the action. I think comics should be balanced, but this had way too much action and I just got a bit bored. I liked the art but there was something that just felt weird for me.
witchofthemountains's review against another edition
4.0
It was really interesting to see the comic roots of the upcoming movie, but a lot of the conflict didn't make sense without a wider sense of context. Even with that drawback, the stories were engaging and often heartbreaking. I strongly recommend this volume to every Marvel fan, preferably before they see the movie!
luana420's review against another edition
3.0
Oh, Ultimate Marvel!
Following an idle LEGAL PURCHASE of a big collection of Ultimate Marvel books somewhere around 2004, my immature ass was smitten with these BOLD and DARING new reinterpretations of 1960s comic book characters, free of decades of continuity, and perfect for that legendary creature called "a new fan" to jump into after mayhaps seeing a Marvel movie and being interested where these Hugh Jackmen and Tobey Maguires came from originally.
I kept following the line through its ups and (many) downs until about 2011, until keeping up with monthlies became too much of a hassle. In 2015, Marvel made its biggest shake-up to the comics in ages, bringing everything more in line not with any Bryan Singer or Sam Raimi movies, but with their own in-house produced cinematic universe. One of these big changes was to be the destruction/cancellation of the Ultimate line.
Hell, I thought, with a clear end-point in sight, I might as well give the remainder of the books a shot! So here we are, having read "Ultimate Comics: Divided We Fall, United We Stand", a collection of the Spider-Man, X-Men and Ultimates story arcs that were wrapped up in that event. America is being torn apart after an attack (I can't remember who or why... maybe some sort of mutant North Korea? It's been years, man!) destroyed Washington and killed most of the nation's leaders, leaving some Iowa rando in charge. States are seceding, anti-mutant sentiment is at peak levels, and an army of Sentinel robots led by the consciousness of bigot William Stryker occupy the Southwestern regions.
The book starts off with the X-Men (or what's left of them) led by Kitty Pryde taking the fight to the Southwest, freeing mutants from the Sentinel death camps and building an army. They are aided in this by a disgraced (for what? I dunno -- maybe this wasn't the BEST pick-up point) Nick Fury who was hiding in some old Arizona military tunnels. This arc is pretty good, as it pretty much cuts to the core of what the X-Men oughta be about, and there's a lot of boots on the ground time with refugees and poor oppressed mutants. It's also pretty good at throwing up doubts on whether Kitty will end up more of a Xavier or Magneto type figure.
Next up is an arc of the hilariously/unfortunately titled Ultimate Comics: The Ultimates, where we learn about who exactly is behind all this strife: Thor's mischief son Modi, holding a grudge against his father after he trapped him in the World Tree along with all the rest of Asgard for... reasons (again, it's been a while). The art in this arc is quite iffy, and definitely a major step down from Bryan Hitch in the Ultimates' first volume back in '02. While the surprise appearance/introduction of Hydra is handled well, the re-imagining of the terrorist organization as simply an American anti-government militia is rather uninspired, even if they do have evil Asgardian backing. Why would a bunch of hicks adopt that whole thematic octopus thing? If nothing else, reacquainting myself with Ultimate Captain America really made me appreciate Chris Evans' portrayals in Marvel's movies. Despite being a perfect human specimen on the payroll of the most powerful government (?) on the planet, Evans still makes you believe his Steve Rogers is "the little guy". Not so here, where he's almost the platonic ideal of The Man. Note that I don't necessarily dislike this or think it's an invalid alternate portrayal, but it is an easy one.
Miles Morales, the Latin-African-American Spider-Man (and only remnant of the Ultimate U to hav survived the Secret Wars shake-up editorially speaking), probably has the best looking and written story out of the three presented here, though that probably depends on how high your tolerance for Brian Michael Bendis' "naturalistic" dialogue is. Unsurprisingly, this also had the least head-scratching moments in terms of prerequisite knowledge of events that happened before this story. Coincidence? Je ne think not!
Follow along friends, as the Ultimate Universe and I march merrily towards oblivion! Next up? Ultimate Iron Man!
Following an idle LEGAL PURCHASE of a big collection of Ultimate Marvel books somewhere around 2004, my immature ass was smitten with these BOLD and DARING new reinterpretations of 1960s comic book characters, free of decades of continuity, and perfect for that legendary creature called "a new fan" to jump into after mayhaps seeing a Marvel movie and being interested where these Hugh Jackmen and Tobey Maguires came from originally.
I kept following the line through its ups and (many) downs until about 2011, until keeping up with monthlies became too much of a hassle. In 2015, Marvel made its biggest shake-up to the comics in ages, bringing everything more in line not with any Bryan Singer or Sam Raimi movies, but with their own in-house produced cinematic universe. One of these big changes was to be the destruction/cancellation of the Ultimate line.
Hell, I thought, with a clear end-point in sight, I might as well give the remainder of the books a shot! So here we are, having read "Ultimate Comics: Divided We Fall, United We Stand", a collection of the Spider-Man, X-Men and Ultimates story arcs that were wrapped up in that event. America is being torn apart after an attack (I can't remember who or why... maybe some sort of mutant North Korea? It's been years, man!) destroyed Washington and killed most of the nation's leaders, leaving some Iowa rando in charge. States are seceding, anti-mutant sentiment is at peak levels, and an army of Sentinel robots led by the consciousness of bigot William Stryker occupy the Southwestern regions.
The book starts off with the X-Men (or what's left of them) led by Kitty Pryde taking the fight to the Southwest, freeing mutants from the Sentinel death camps and building an army. They are aided in this by a disgraced (for what? I dunno -- maybe this wasn't the BEST pick-up point) Nick Fury who was hiding in some old Arizona military tunnels. This arc is pretty good, as it pretty much cuts to the core of what the X-Men oughta be about, and there's a lot of boots on the ground time with refugees and poor oppressed mutants. It's also pretty good at throwing up doubts on whether Kitty will end up more of a Xavier or Magneto type figure.
Next up is an arc of the hilariously/unfortunately titled Ultimate Comics: The Ultimates, where we learn about who exactly is behind all this strife: Thor's mischief son Modi, holding a grudge against his father after he trapped him in the World Tree along with all the rest of Asgard for... reasons (again, it's been a while). The art in this arc is quite iffy, and definitely a major step down from Bryan Hitch in the Ultimates' first volume back in '02. While the surprise appearance/introduction of Hydra is handled well, the re-imagining of the terrorist organization as simply an American anti-government militia is rather uninspired, even if they do have evil Asgardian backing. Why would a bunch of hicks adopt that whole thematic octopus thing? If nothing else, reacquainting myself with Ultimate Captain America really made me appreciate Chris Evans' portrayals in Marvel's movies. Despite being a perfect human specimen on the payroll of the most powerful government (?) on the planet, Evans still makes you believe his Steve Rogers is "the little guy". Not so here, where he's almost the platonic ideal of The Man. Note that I don't necessarily dislike this or think it's an invalid alternate portrayal, but it is an easy one.
Miles Morales, the Latin-African-American Spider-Man (and only remnant of the Ultimate U to hav survived the Secret Wars shake-up editorially speaking), probably has the best looking and written story out of the three presented here, though that probably depends on how high your tolerance for Brian Michael Bendis' "naturalistic" dialogue is. Unsurprisingly, this also had the least head-scratching moments in terms of prerequisite knowledge of events that happened before this story. Coincidence? Je ne think not!
Follow along friends, as the Ultimate Universe and I march merrily towards oblivion! Next up? Ultimate Iron Man!
nicxmac's review against another edition
5.0
The United States isn't so united anymore so Captain America stepped-up and did something about it. In return, the citizens of the United States elected him as the new president even though he wasn't even running for candidacy because after all, when your country is at war and the person currently leading the country doesn't seem to do much good, you'll suddenly feel lost. Until Steve Rogers, aka Captain America who's actually doing something about it gives hope to the citizens of America once again. So who wouldn't want him to be the president? At least for the time being.
Meanwhile, Kitty Pride aka Shadowcat from X-men leads a group of mutants to stand -up against the sentinels that are killing mutants which were created by William Stryker. With the help of Nick Fury, ex-director of S.H.I.E.L.D., Kitty and the group of mutant rebels successfully infiltrated the camp the holds up young mutants and together, they successfully defeated the sentinels.
And, there's a new spider-man in town. A thirteen-year old boy named Miles Morales who just started getting used being spidey and have joined the ultimates in protecting the country.
---
But, those are just some of the highlights of this volume. And to be honest, it was one of Marvel's best one yet. Of course I know that I'm not reading them in chronological order since I was caught a bit off guard that Peter Parker was dead and there was a new spider-man in town. Gwen Stacy is still alive and kicking and Wolverine had a son named Jimmy who's apparently have a thing with Kitty. But the storyline was pretty solid and a lot of interesting new characters as well as new arcs for old characters. Definitely a must read for any Marvel comic book fans out there.
Meanwhile, Kitty Pride aka Shadowcat from X-men leads a group of mutants to stand -up against the sentinels that are killing mutants which were created by William Stryker. With the help of Nick Fury, ex-director of S.H.I.E.L.D., Kitty and the group of mutant rebels successfully infiltrated the camp the holds up young mutants and together, they successfully defeated the sentinels.
And, there's a new spider-man in town. A thirteen-year old boy named Miles Morales who just started getting used being spidey and have joined the ultimates in protecting the country.
---
But, those are just some of the highlights of this volume. And to be honest, it was one of Marvel's best one yet. Of course I know that I'm not reading them in chronological order since I was caught a bit off guard that Peter Parker was dead and there was a new spider-man in town. Gwen Stacy is still alive and kicking and Wolverine had a son named Jimmy who's apparently have a thing with Kitty. But the storyline was pretty solid and a lot of interesting new characters as well as new arcs for old characters. Definitely a must read for any Marvel comic book fans out there.
slipperbunny's review
3.0
I had a few problems with this comic. The thing that annoyed me the most was the action. I think comics should be balanced, but this had way too much action and I just got a bit bored. I liked the art but there was something that just felt weird for me.
josephodoran's review
3.0
The problem with this volume is that it's all unrelenting action. There's no juxtaposition between more quiet scenes, and so all that big action is wasted on the reader. None of it feels particularly exciting.
Neither is there any room for character development. Thor gets a little exposition, but that's about it.
What this volume is good for, however, if providing the broad view of the war. If you're going to read vol 3 of X-men and Spider-man, then this is the one to read first.
Neither is there any room for character development. Thor gets a little exposition, but that's about it.
What this volume is good for, however, if providing the broad view of the war. If you're going to read vol 3 of X-men and Spider-man, then this is the one to read first.
tqlikesbooks's review against another edition
4.0
I haven't read the rest of the Divided We Fall, United We Stand series but I felt that didn't hinder me too much (as I had read the rest of the ultimate comics x-men series). I love the x-men, they are my favourite superheroes. This book- like many of the x-men comics- deals with themes of prejudice, humanity (and lack thereof) and injustice. I enjoyed this story and I can't wait to continue the rest of the series.
The only real problem I had with this was the artwork and I found that all of the female characters looked the same.
The only real problem I had with this was the artwork and I found that all of the female characters looked the same.
katytron's review
3.0
This is like the Hollywood version of a Marvel event. All intense flash, no pacing, no balance. America is his White House. Pfeh.
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