Ultimate Fantastic Four #26

[history79]

8 pages of 24

Comments

[quatoria]

It amuses me that all along, they've been bragging about the not-sexist way in which they've handled Sue Storm in this series. Yeah. Okay, guys.

[mrstatham]

Different writers for a different run. The guy making the 'not-sexist' claims was talking about his run where Sue ended up as little more than a baby machine. Millar never made such a claim.

[thanekos]

The secret of Namor's hair: he soaks his head and lets his hydrokinesis do the rest.

[doctor_spanky]

I thought he was just always standing over an updraft, or was drawn by Greg Land

[althechi]

That last explanation can't be the right one. It makes too much sense.

[randyripoff]

LAND!!!!!!!!!

[remial]

is it just me or does Momma Storm look like Lisa Ann?

She does only not as busty.

[7dialsmystery]

I keep thinking that Johnny Storm looks like he was directly traced from one of the 90's child stars (Jonathan Taylor Thomas?) wearing a farrah fawcett wig.

[beyondthefringe]

Talk about letting an artist play to his skills...

[drtechnobabel]

I'm not sure if it's his cocky grin or the way his eyes are angled, but every time I look at that second-to-last panel, I can't help but think that Namor isn't looking at Reed. For whatever reason, he's looking at and talking to us the readers when he says Sue meant it.

Again, I don't know why I have that feeling, I just do. Anyone else?

[redmagpie]

Yeah, Reed should be standing on his other side and also... I kind of just feel like Namor's looking into my soul there?

[mrstatham]

"My dignity means more to me than everything in this world put together!"

Namor, you're thinking with your dick, are incredibly abusive, and will fold and once you get a kiss from a girl. You are literally the saddest, least dignified guy in the Ultimate Universe. All you need is a fucking fedora.

Also, is it just me or is really, REALLY fucking gross that not only does Namor claim Sue enjoyed the kiss - which would be in character - but she's presented as looking embarrassed, like she actually did? After he smacked her around? What the fuck, Millar?

[filthysize]

I mean, it's a real thing for sexual assault victims to experience pleasure from the act itself and feel horrific guilt about it. It's part of what makes some spousal/date rapes so tragic, that there are victims who were convinced that because their bodies enjoyed the attack, it couldn't really be rape. I don't think that making Sue react that way in itself is gross. What's gross to me is Millar deciding to adapt the love triangle of the 616 versions into this kind of dynamic.

[mrstatham]

True, but you can bet that isn't what Millar/Land were aiming for, in this. It just reads like more of an excuse to show off how awesome Namor is, and I still think it's gross that Millar would even write that scene after we've had Namor smacking Sue around and abusing her, and yeah, that this is considered an update of the 616 dynamic with Namor repeatedly trying to woo Sue from Reed is fucked up.

[jaybee3]

The only part I liked was when Ultimate Sue had ZERO interest in Namor and was a actually disgusted with him (which is a change from 616 Sue, depending on the writers) which was quite a change. And then "she meant it" - after he beat her and tried to kill the city and forced sexual advanced on her. Ugh! Really?

[writeofway]

Because, you see, Namor is a big, strong, muscular "May-UN" and Reed is a lanky, awkward, geeky nerd. And, apparently in Millar's mind, women will go for the hot guy every time. No exceptions, the women get no say, "I have absolutely no interest in you whatsoever." "Kiss me." "No." "My testosterone and abs compel you." "Okay." "You liked it." "I did."

Sickening.

[writeofway]

And even taking the story at face value, they practically validated Namor's disgusting, violent, misogynist behavior in the end when he gets what he wants and then gets to walk away with no repercussions.

[fredneil.livejournal.com]

I don't think I've ever seen the people you're talking about actually wearing fedoras, just trillbies. The fedora itself is a hat of noble lineage, worn by Cary Grant, Humphrey Bogart, George Reeves, and Leonard Cohen.

[wizardru]

So I pretty much passed on most of the Ultimate Universe after a certain point. I dropped them immediately after The Ultimates went straight into 'why you make me gotta hurt you baby' mode, ruining any fun the vibe had.

I was always confused as to the design intent of the Ultimate Universe, where it seems like only Spider-Man actually managed to work right. I thought the original goals were to make a more modern take not ground in forty years of continuity and to be at least marginally more believable. Instead, it seems like every Ultimate title immediately started trying to make the continuity every bit as unapproachable and congested as the 616.

And this...this is just...I don't know. Can Land draw non-objectified women, at all? I mean, seriously. I was confused that I was seeing Sue and Johnny's mom, there, and not Sue. So much of this seems so ridiculously self-aware. This isn't material that's jump-on for new readers, it's re-hashing for the old ones. Which isn't necessarily bad (though I think this story is pretty icky at points), but it doesn't really seem to do what I thought it was intended to do.

Although the new FF movie apparently is riffing directly on the Ultimate version, I guess so...there's that.

[q99]

Really, a more modern take seemed to mean more 'gritty,' but that's about it.

-Can Land draw non-objectified women, at all?-

Yes, but possibly not in this, his most reference-heavy phase of his career.

[bruinsfan]

The only example I can think of is the abuela that hit Proxima Centauri in the head with a brick at the beginning of his and Al Ewing's Mighty Avengers run. I suppose octogenarian fetish porn was harder to find than just a regular photo of a senior citizen.

[the_phantom]

Please anyone correct me if I'm wrong, but if i'm reading these scans right... Did Sue Storm just Instantly Forgive a guy who (Lets call it what it is) tried to rape her?

[mrstatham]

She isn't forgiving him, it's a bullshit scenario where Namor gets to make out with her so he'll fuck off out of the book like the toxic piece of shit this version is. But hey, Millar!

[dr_archeville]

Ugh.

And they never really did anything with Namor after this, did they? I vaguely recall seeing him bound in chains at Ultimate!Doom's feet during... something, several years later, but that's about it.

[lascoden]

Yeah, Doom had him in his fish tank at the end of Ultimatum. He was there when Ben killed Doom, but I don't think they ever explained what happened to Namor afterwards. I suppose he could still be there in Latveria?

[silverhammerman]

I think he turned up in Ultimate FF, where he (predictably for that series) hit on Sue Storm.

[stubbleupdate]

The panel of Momma Storm in her knickers is how I explain to people that Land is lazy and terrible

[nyadnar17]

Wait....Namor is a mutant? I thought that in the Ultimate Universe Mutants were man made?

[dr_archeville]

The reveal that Ultimate MU's Mutants were artificially made just a few decades ago was revealed in a comic that was released several years later, so that idea might not have existed for the writers of this story.

Or, it could be that Atlanteans did to Namor something comparable to wht the human scientists did millennia later.

[lascoden]

That last panel...never thought I'd see porn-face in a tidal wave.

[burkeonthesly]

Apparently, Land literally can not draw from any other references.

[jaybee3]

This may be some of Land's worst (traced) art ever - and that's saying something. Almost none of the expressions make sense. The writing is horrible too. Was anyone trying with this book - it fails on all levels.

[lyricalswagger]

This is horrible.

Thank god the Ultimate universe/line is ending soon.

[miramira]

I need a shower. The "I feel unclean" kind, not the "I need to cool down" kind.

[silverhammerman]

Maybe it's that the culture has shifted over the years between when this was published and now, but that ending is just enormously upsetting to me. Namor doesn't read as cute or roguish, just misogynistic, entitled, and incredibly creepy.

[lyricalswagger]

#notallatlanteans

[lbd_nytetrayn]

That bit with Mrs. Storm... writing to Land's strengths, I guess?