Favorite Comic Runs VOTING: Mark Millar's SUPERMAN: RED SON vs. THE ULTIMATES

How are Tony, Steve, Janet, or Clint not "inherently good?" They all seem unselfish to me.

Okay, apparently putting "vs" instead of "or" confuses some people...

Red Son

Going with Red Son. But I thought Ultimates 1&2 were great.

@k4tzm4n: Oye vey

Ultimates is junk as far as I'm concerned, standard fare for Millar nowadays, but Red Son was the sweet spot for him.

Ultimates. I can't get into any Superman comic. They never work for me.

You don't get it. Thor is the only classic heroic figure. He is thor, he is a force of good, he is an environmentalist, he fights even when his friends call him crazy. The one without an edgy twist to make him relevant. Clint was on death row, Janet probably a mazohist considering the many beatings she got from Hank over the years, Tony a heavy drinker and the reason for doing this is that he has a brain tumor and wants to leave a good name.
Again, are they good? Yes they are, my point was that the only character without a heavy flaw to make them "realistic" is being ridiculed as a crazy hippy.

This is so cloooooose. I own both in Hardcover Editions and I must admit that, The Ultimates is more rewarding in every aspect, it has the characters, the personality, GREAT art, awesome fights and was very refreshing at a time when the industry was becoming stale and repetitive.

@micah: Yeeeaaah, it's a pretty edgy book. A great book, but definately an edgy book. There was mass murder, cannibalism, drug addictions, spousal abuse, attempted rape, incest, and mild racism.

I like them both, but Red Son was better.

@captain13: Very well put. I agree completely. Ultimates all the way.

@maddpanda53 Exactly, as horrible as all that was, it was the real world.

Red Son hands down. I'm a sucker for alternate history stories and the art actually reminds me of the 60's.

My only copy of Red Son is a beat up, worn out, piece of crap. I don't own The Ultimates. I've read Red Son way too many times to not vote for it. It's my 2nd favorite Superman story (behind All Star Superman).

I only read Ultimates V1 and Red son. I doubt Ultimates V2 was much better but I still won't vote on the off chance that it was.

The Ultimates was released in 2002. The characters in the book would have cast some of the biggest actors in the world at the time to play themselves. Here's the who's who:

Gallery

Brad Pitt as Captain America

Johnny Depp as Iron Man

Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury

Lucy Liu as Wasp

Matthew McConaughey as Giant-Man

Steve Buschemi as Hulk

Red Son any day of the week.

Im a DC fan and i also dont think the Marvel movies are anything to brag about but i choose the Ultimates.

I have to pull for the Ultimates here.

Superman: Red Son was an excellent story with well written characters, a strange additive of Cold War history mixed with Superheroes, and excellent development of the plot and characters throughout the majority of the book. Superman: Red Son, however, is the WORST story in comics to this day.

How can it be both? Well the last page explains that entire point. Millar takes this incredibly crafted story and says "Oh well, you don't deserve a proper ending, here is the worst cliche known to man to end this story"

I hate Red Son with a passion and refuse to recommend it to any one solely because of the ending.

Ultimates takes the story of the Avengers and gives it a much darker and more human turn than what either company was really doing at the time. It's been a while since I've read it, but I enjoyed both 1 and 2 greatly and would read them again given the opportunity.

I hate lazy, BS endings in comic books and Red Son tops the list there. That's why Ultimates wins here even though Red Son (up until the end) was a better Story.

[I also think the third option is pretty insulting to visitors of this site. It would have been just fine with I haven't read either]

The Ultimates. It introduced me to comics.

Red Son is my favourite Superman story.

There, I said it.

Ultimates.... That is only for the volume 1 and 2.
Everything else was just regular... These days i hardly care about the ultimate universe....
It no longer puts me on the edge of my seat.

But, Red Son is a really smart take. And love it too much as well. I think ultimates gets a higher score for its art....

If Red Son doesn't win I'm quitting Comic Vine.

Red Son for the win !!!

Red Son.... no contest

and really I call Spite

this is like a CVbattle of Superman vs Jimmy Olsen

@captain13 said:

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LOL. Is that Clark,Lois and Jimmy in the background.

@squalleon said:

@captain13 said:

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LOL. Is that Clark,Lois and Jimmy in the background.

Yup. The Ultimates had everything, lol.

The Ultimates for me was like watching a movie! It revolutionised comics for me at that time and made me fall in love with the avengers again. I liked how he brought so much realism and humanity into these characters. It really felt like the Ultimates were a real live superhuman team in existence today.....not a comic book. (Bryan hitch's art added to it as well :) ) But i think another viner pointed out that his take on the ultimates is what all the marvel comics movies surrounding the avengers movies seem to be pulling from. Millar's Ultimate run in my opinion is better because of the EFFECT its had on the marvel universe and all its media .He changed the face and feel of A LIST avengers. Hawkeye's abilities were defined better an his costume change in ultimates is now a mainstay in the 616 universe. He made Captain America SUPER again and the soldier like uniform has many variations which was used in the captain america movie as well as in the 616 universe.

I think his greatest achievement was the samuel l jackson Nick Fury, who has been so popular, the movies used him and the main 616 universe had to bring in a "Son of Nick Fury" who looks just like the Ultimates version.

I loved his run on Red son but over all, if we look at which one of these stories affected their respective companies the greatest,it would be His run on Ultimates, thus in my opinion, making it the best out of the two books.

Last day to vote.

I was never a fan of Millar's take on the Avengers and his Ultimates.His Ultimates felt like every single other one of his books and runs.

So Red Son for me.

I'd have to disagree with your claims about the characters having 'edgy twists'.

For one, calling Jan a 'masochist' is a terrible oversimplification of the situation. I'm no expert on domestic abuse, but calling a character a masochist just because she doesn't leave her abusive husband seems like a grossly inaccurate thing to say. Obviously the book showed it as something more complicated than that. Not to mention that she did technically leave Hank for Steve at the end of Ultimates 1. Also, Tony being a heavy drinker? Not really an edgy twist...616 Tony has been far more embarrassing with his drinking, really (see: Demon in a Bottle & Iron Monger).

Clint being on death row was really a minor aspect from his backstory...in fact, it wasn't mentioned much outside of Hickman's series, and I don't think it was even in Millar's Ultimates. It's not exactly a big part of Hawkeye as a character, to boot.

I agree with the notion that the Ultimates did have flaws, but I wouldn't go so far as to say that made them 'edgy' (which really, is a word so often misused it's become passe).

Also, @risingbean, hope you're voting in this too.