Ultimate FF TPB Vol. 5 : CROSSOVER

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I'm sure most of you have your discussions in the individual issue threads since you buy the comic monthly, but some of us get our UFF in periodic chunks by only buying the trades. :) Anyway, thoughts on the latest :

Chrono-Bandits : Puh-lease! A group of hackers gets into the Baxter Building's files, steals plans for a time machine, and builds a working model? We had better find out that someone like Doom is directly involved in this because I am NOT buying that normal folks did this for one second.

Zombie FF : Eh. Zombies are brain-dead, aren't they? Anyway, this just came across as an Exiles story needing a home. The infection spread across the planet in three days? Impossible! If it's spread by bite, there's no way the superhuman population could infect everyone on the planet that fast. Sue brain damages the zombie Reed, yet he's up and talking just like normal by the end of the story. This storyline is a waste of time.

Namor : He was coming along just fine until the big reveal. Without his nobility, Namor is REALLY a lot less interesting. And what's the deal with him summoning Poseidon or whatever? He didn't get Ultimized as poorly as Doom, but he leaves much to be desired.

Mrs Storm : "A wrinkled old trout"!?! Has Namor gone blind after all of these years? I won't fault him for preferring Sue, but at least Reed realizes that Mrs Storm is looking PRETTY good... :) The Doom tattoo makes me wonder how soon she'll be surfacing again.

The Mini-Mates and Fantastic Oh-Five : Oh my GOD! These have to be some of the most ridiculous ideas to come along in a while. They effectively made FO5 an emergency plot device, but it's STUPID anyway. The Mini-Mates remind me of those dumb X-Kids from the Mojo universe.

Okay, so do I have anything good to say? :) The FF are handled well and the art is a real pleasure. In fact, if the heroes weren't handled so well as to make me dwell less on the lackluster villains, I might have dropped this title long ago. I've really enjoyed the Ultimates and the Ultimate X-Men. I wish the Ultimate FF would get on the ball and match or exceed their quality.
 
Chrono Bandits: I agree that a bunch of hackers would not be able to build their own time machine, but look at the gear they have when they are shown. They are not just a bunch of hackers. Johnny (or was it Ben?) must have been mistaken. Some entertaining scenes here (especialy Ben v TREX)

Zombies: only superheroes receive the infection. These superheroes that have super speeds. And Jets. And fantasticars, etc. These heroes are also spread all over the earth. (as Reed said thousands of them). It would be very easy for the virus to spread in three days. As for the brain damage, we know that this is not an ordinary virus, hence it targetting only superheroes- not superhumans, but all superheroes, from Black Cat to Ant Man. What we do know is that it does affect their brain enough for them to eat their relatives. Because we know that it is not a classic zombie-like virus, yet it does affect the brain, we may assume that the virus healed zombiereed's brain in some way. I found this storyline very interesting. I have yet to pick up the Zombie trade, but I will do so at the first oppurtunity.

Namor: For me, and this is simply my humble opinion, Namoris much more interesting here. He is still Namor the hothead atlantian, yet he has a much more interesting back story: he is the only surviving atlantean, a prisoner. Why would he be sealed in such a prison that only he could escape destruction? What did he do that was so horrible? Did it involve the extinction of Atlantis, Lemuria, or the underground Moleman civilization? We shall see. I have a feeling that this Namor is going to be very connected to the history and conspiracy of the Ultimate Universe. (and the poseidon shows that he is not just an atlantean, but an extremely powerful mutant atlantean that is stronger than Ben, can withstand Johnny's flame, is able to stretch Read past his breaking point, can fly, and on top of that he can manipulate the entire ocean!)
I found this a very interesting and entertaining storyline that I hope is revisited soon.
(As a side note, what do you have against ulti-doom? He is slowly building up a nation of followers one by one in his keep, eventualy founding Latveria by the looks of it! If we are lucky, this doom will not be building robot armor suits for himself, but experimenting upon his own body to upgrade his abilities. THAT would be an awesome doom)

Mrs Storm: eh, I hated her, but I beleive that that was the writer's intention. And yes, it does look like Doom is getting some atlantean technology.:D
I know that this will be revisited soon. As it involves more of Doom, I am looking forward to it.

0-5 and Mini's: thought the mini's were stupid as well. Oh-five, I don't know what his place is in 616 continuity, so I have no idea if he was ultimized poorly or not. However, why would reed spend time building a robot to duplicate the four's abilities when he could build one with many more complex, powerful fighting systems?
Hopefully these storylines will be left alone in the future, as will the final one,

THe Magic Helmut: I am neutral on this issue. I believe that it is too overpowered, that Reed should have thought of something other than a bunch of superheroes and his girlfriend's mom, like a giant brick or adamantium cage or something. however, It drew such immense power that I doubt we will be seeing it again.


Overall: A lot of storylines that interested and entertained me, art that at most points was good, though occasionaly I found atrocious, and good dialogue.
Over all rating of trade: 4/5
 
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I loved the part with the "chrono bandits" and the team communicating over the timeline. Great start to the series. I wish that Ben punching dinosaur had meant more in the scheme of things (when the issue came out I talked about this in the context of a story which I now forget the name of, where guy travels through time and accidently stepped on a flower, and when he gets back to present time the President is different and things have completely changed), but it was cool.

The minimates were great Millar humor and I liked the H.E.R.B.I.E. update. Fantastic 05 was over the top but totally fit.

5/5 for the TPB.
 
I believe the story is "The Sound of Thunder". Here is my guess as to why Ben did not seem to interupt the timeline.

When "the first thing to crawl out of the ocean" was picked up, and subsequently knocked back by Sue's forcefields, it broke a few ribs. This disrupted the timeline, the only difference in the short term being the survival of a TRex. In the long term it created the timeline in which the Ultimate Fantastic Four Team Up issue took place.

Several million years later, Ben Grimm shows up, and kills the TRex that had survived, thus leading the Ultimate Universe back to the one we know, but causing minor distortions in the Timeline such as Nick Fury stating that the Four's neighbors complain about them when he is building the Ultimates (at a time when they should not exist yet), the Ultimate Spider-man Video Game, and the abomination known as Ultimate Deadpool.
 
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Ultimate Versio of The Doctor said:
causing minor distortions in the Timeline such as Nick Fury stating that the Four's neighbors complain about them when he is building the Ultimates (at a time when they should not exist yet)
Fantastic Four existed before Ultimates. Check the timeline.
 
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Ultimate Versio of The Doctor said:
Zombies: only superheroes receive the infection. These superheroes that have super speeds. And Jets. And fantasticars, etc. These heroes are also spread all over the earth. (as Reed said thousands of them). It would be very easy for the virus to spread in three days. As for the brain damage, we know that this is not an ordinary virus, hence it targetting only superheroes- not superhumans, but all superheroes, from Black Cat to Ant Man.

Hmm. Hadn't noted the HEROES bit before. So the infection only has to be passed on to all of the superheroes within the three day time span. I suppose that's possible.

Ultimate Versio of The Doctor said:
Namor: For me, and this is simply my humble opinion, Namoris much more interesting here. He is still Namor the hothead atlantian, yet he has a much more interesting back story: he is the only surviving atlantean, a prisoner.

He used to be hotheaded royalty. Now he's nothing but a mutant street punk.

Ultimate Versio of The Doctor said:
(As a side note, what do you have against ulti-doom? He is slowly building up a nation of followers one by one in his keep, eventualy founding Latveria by the looks of it! If we are lucky, this doom will not be building robot armor suits for himself, but experimenting upon his own body to upgrade his abilities. THAT would be an awesome doom)

Maybe I'm too tied to tradition, but I LIKE the armored suit. I'm not real happy with him being actually mutated. And shooting spines?! I think I'd prefer he was horrible disfigured and then had to build the suit... sort of like what they're doing with his legs nowadays. I really liked that the 616 Doom was a mixture of science and sorcery... both of which are studied fields. Just being some mutated person doesn't have nearly the menace for me. It makes him into "just a villain", not an archenemy.
 
Please, they're the Fantastic Four, not the Mundane Four.
 
Oh, and another thing... :)

This isn't exactly a dig at the FF, but what's with little Sue building an anti-gravity playpen?! She says she had some help. Should I assume she's lying and her 'help' really did all of the work? It's preferable to the alternative. I just hate it in comics when anyone with a science background seems to be a super-genius in multiple unrelated fields. It doesn't work that way and it plays on the ignorance that the general public has regarding science or the scientific method for that matter. I'll grant you that Reed could now be such a scientist with his mutant mind, but there are very few comic book scientists I'd give the same leeway to. I know, you'll say it's fiction. Just be more flexible and suspend your disbelief. Anything's possible. Right. Would you be so willing to believe that Daredevil could beat Galactus by kicking him in the head? Of course not. Even superhero comics have to impose boundaries if they want any hope of drama. From the 616 universe, Hank Pym is a biologist AND a master of robotics? Please!
 
Thanks for the correction vintsukka. The cont error fixed by the time traveling then is not Nick Furry's comment, but the comment made (I believe by Johny) before they were the fantastic four about calling inthe ultimates.

Jack, Now that it has been mentioned, that playpen thing did annoy me. Not so much about it being outside her field, but her age. Reed was building a device based upon physics years ahead of his time when he was 15, but it was a small device only able to transport toy cars one way. It was faulty at times, small, and in his field. Sue his much younger and is able to create an antigravity device that affects a whole room? Where did she get the negative matter? Did she create it herself? Did she come up with a completely new radical theory about antigravity? It just doesnt work.


And we've only seen one (in trades) appearence of Doom. I believe that in the current (monthly) storyline, he is much closer to the Doom that you enjoy. He is growing as a character, the things you mentioned may come later.
 
I'm sure most of you have your discussions in the individual issue threads since you buy the comic monthly, but some of us get our UFF in periodic chunks by only buying the trades. :)
Me too.

Anyway, thoughts on the latest :

Chrono-Bandits : Puh-lease! A group of hackers gets into the Baxter Building's files, steals plans for a time machine, and builds a working model? We had better find out that someone like Doom is directly involved in this because I am NOT buying that normal folks did this for one second.
OK, a later story can say what was special about them. That doesn't bother me.

Zombie FF : Eh. Zombies are brain-dead, aren't they? Anyway, this just came across as an Exiles story needing a home. The infection spread across the planet in three days? Impossible! If it's spread by bite, there's no way the superhuman population could infect everyone on the planet that fast. Sue brain damages the zombie Reed, yet he's up and talking just like normal by the end of the story. This storyline is a waste of time.
Some zombies must have something happening in their brains, otherwise shooting or stabbing them in the head wouldn't stop them.

Ultimate Reed Richards, however, is brainless. He lacks internal organs. As shown early in Ultimate Fantastic Four 2: Doom he has an untearable bacterial sac to hold food, and nothing else. I guess zombie Reed is different.

Don't ask me why Ultimate Reed Richards needs glasses. I wish he didn't.

Namor : He was coming along just fine until the big reveal. Without his nobility, Namor is REALLY a lot less interesting. And what's the deal with him summoning Poseidon or whatever? He didn't get Ultimized as poorly as Doom, but he leaves much to be desired.
I liked him, but he could have been better. However to be better he needs his undersea kingdom. Maybe he can recruit water-breathing aliens and found one later?

Mrs Storm : "A wrinkled old trout"!?! Has Namor gone blind after all of these years? I won't fault him for preferring Sue, but at least Reed realizes that Mrs Storm is looking PRETTY good... :) The Doom tattoo makes me wonder how soon she'll be surfacing again.
Who knew trouts were wrinkled anyway?

The Mini-Mates and Fantastic Oh-Five : Oh my GOD! These have to be some of the most ridiculous ideas to come along in a while. They effectively made FO5 an emergency plot device, but it's STUPID anyway. The Mini-Mates remind me of those dumb X-Kids from the Mojo universe.
I didn't like them, but they were a mistake in the right direction, that is keeping things fantastic. As long as the writers remember that this is the Fantastic Four I think the series will be OK.

Okay, so do I have anything good to say? :) The FF are handled well and the art is a real pleasure. In fact, if the heroes weren't handled so well as to make me dwell less on the lackluster villains, I might have dropped this title long ago. I've really enjoyed the Ultimates and the Ultimate X-Men. I wish the Ultimate FF would get on the ball and match or exceed their quality.
I think Ultimate Fantastic Four is chugging along nicely. I could live with years and years of the same quality, even though you always could ask for things to be even better.
 

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