Conskipper’s interview series with the writers of Bloomsbury Academic’s second wave of Marvel of Age of Comics books begins with a journey to the start of the 21st Century and Marvel’s Ultimates with Ted Adams.
Adams examines Mark Millar and Bryan Hitch’s 21st century reboot of the Avengers and why The Ultimates “ultimately” became so successful and influential, both in the world of comics and beyond.
We spoke to Adams all about his exploration of the seminal series in this exclusive interview.
What was it that attracted you to the notion of writing an analysis of Marvel’s Ultimate line?
Ted Adams: Before retiring in 2021, I mostly spent my career as a comic book publisher/CEO—I’m one of the founders of both IDW Publishing and Clover Press. I was initially interested in examining the business reasons that led Marvel to reboot their most popular characters.
When I went to read the actual comics, I realized Millar and Hitch had created some fun comic books that had a heavy influence on the Marvel Cinematic Universe and how modern superhero comic book stories are told.
How did late ’90s Marvel’s initiatives like the Marvel Knights line pave the way for The Ultimates roll-out?
Adams: It actually started with the “Heroes Reborn” event that happened in 1996/1997. Jim Lee and Rob Liefeld returned to Marvel Comics, after starting Image Comics, to reboot some of Marvel’s classic characters. This was the first time Marvel rebooted their characters, and those comics were commercially successful.
After the “Heroes Reborn” event ended, Joe Quesada and Jimmy Palmiotti started the Marvel Knights line. The comics they oversaw weren’t reboots but instead took place in the regular Marvel continuity, but Quesada and Palmiotti were separate from the regular Marvel editorial team. I make the argument that the 90s were principally the era of superstar comic book artists—at least as far as Marvel superhero comics go—but Quesada and Palmiotti started to change that by getting filmmaker Kevin Smith to write their Daredevil series. That paved the way for writers like Brian Michael Bendis and Mark Millar to create the Ultimate Universe.
You mention that the day-glo cover of Incredible Hulk #377 by Dale Keown and Bob McLeod is the “most ’90s cover of them all”. What makes that cover the penultimate gimmick cover of the early ’90s?
Adams: I used that phrase in the caption below the cover reproduction shown in the book, and, to be honest, I was just trying to make the captions less dry than they usually are. So, I was mostly just having fun. Comic book colorists started to use computers to color comics in the 90s, and when I think about superhero comics from that era, they seem garish (or day-glo) to me.
How much was the Ultimates line a product of their times in terms of the politics and culture of the era they were being published in?
Adams: Like most entertainment, it was very much a product of its time. While the creators were almost certainly working on the series before the 9/11 attacks—The Ultimates #1 has a cover date of March 2002—there could be no way that event wouldn’t have an impact on how readers perceived the story. The Ultimates were super-soldiers working for the US government under the direction of Nick Fury, who reported to President George Bush.
And it wasn’t just President Bush who appeared in the comics. Real-world celebrities make appearances pretty regularly, and there’s even a mention of Robert Downey, Jr. This was, of course, many years before he would become Iron Man.
Which member of the Ultimates differed the most from his/her 616 counterpart and why?
Adams: Spoiler Alert: I think it’s fair to say all of the characters in The Ultimates show more flaws than the versions that were appearing in the Marvel comics of the time. Marvel was, of course, built on the idea that their characters were like real people—the Fantastic Four bickered like a regular family, Peter Parker was a science nerd bullied by his classmates, etc. The Ultimates develops that idea even further. These versions of the characters are not always noble, and they often show their insecurities in unappealing ways.
But the character that is probably the most different is Black Widow. In the regular Marvel Universe, she started as a villain but pretty quickly changed her path and became a hero who joins—and sometimes leads—The Avengers. In the Ultimate Universe, Black Widow is initially shown as a hero, but she ends up betraying her closest friend on the team and committing some horrific and unforgivable crimes.
Do you feel that the influence of The Ultimates is still noticeable in modern comic storytelling?
Adams: Yes. A big part of the reason The Ultimates was the best-selling comic book of 2002 is Bryan Hitch’s artwork. His cinematic story-telling—combined with hyper-detail and well-defined characters—has influenced many of the superhero artists who followed him. There are many instances where Millar lets Hitch tell the story on his own. He didn’t feel the need to include unnecessary dialogue or captions because, I assume, he knew that Hitch’s art told the reader everything they needed to know.
Paul Mounts, the colorist, also uses more natural, muted colors than was common for superhero comics of this era. I mentioned earlier that I found most of the early superhero computer-colored comics to be garish—overusing vibrant primary colors. Mounts doesn’t do that in this series. Hitch’s art and Mounts’s coloring balance spectacle and realism in an effective way.
And Millar’s acerbic wit and smart writing showed superhero writers that it was ok to bring a sense of humor and fun to their comics. He was also willing to break the format of team superhero comics—the first issue, for example, wasn’t a team book at all, it was mostly a story about Captain America in WWII. When the team eventually does get together, they don’t fight someone until issue five, and that fight is against one of their teammates.
As much as anything, I think they showed that superhero comics could reflect the real world—the characters are often funny, they make mistakes, and, yes, they occasionally put on their costumes to go fight the bad guys.
And, of course, both Millar and Hitch have gone on to have spectacular decades-spanning careers and are both regularly producing new and interesting work.
Look for The Ultimates: An Exploration by Ted Adams at your favorite bookstore or comic shop on May 14.
