4thletter! » Ultimate Edit Week http://www.4thletter.net we like talking about comics, and hopefully you like reading us talking about comics. Tue, 16 Mar 2010 08:01:06 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.1 en hourly 1 ©4thletter! 4thletter@gmail.com (4thletter!) 4thletter@gmail.com(4thletter!) Comics 1440 comics, superheroes, marvel, dc, humor, manga, graphic novels Fourcast! David, Gavin, and Esther from 4thletter.net present The Fourcast! A podcast focused on comics criticism, reviews, and news. Check out our latest thoughts on comic books of all sorts, from superheroes to manga to indie minicomics. 4thletter! 4thletter! 4thletter@gmail.com No no http://www.4thletter.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/pod4l_bug2.jpg 4thletter! http://www.4thletter.net 144 144 New Ultimate Edit Week 1: Day Seven http://www.4thletter.net/2010/03/new-ultimate-edit-week-1-day-seven/ http://www.4thletter.net/2010/03/new-ultimate-edit-week-1-day-seven/#comments Sun, 14 Mar 2010 02:56:58 +0000 Gavok http://www.4thletter.net/?p=5430 The penultimate pages showed Carol Danvers and Tony Stark getting all shouty and arguey. Then Shanna the She-Devil, Ka-Zar, some tigers and the mute Black Panther who isn’t Captain America in disguise this time hang out in Central Park. Things suddenly get cold. What could this mean?

That’s all for this week. ManiacClown would strangle me if I didn’t at least feature the Farmville SHIELD image he made for a throwaway gag. Really, the guy would just give me updates about stuff I don’t understand. Never played Farmville and never plan to. Here you go.

Stay tuned for this Wednesday as my 12-day Wrestlemania Countdown begins, tough guy!

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]]> http://www.4thletter.net/2010/03/new-ultimate-edit-week-1-day-seven/feed/ 3 New Ultimate Edit Week 1: Day Six http://www.4thletter.net/2010/03/new-ultimate-edit-week-1-day-six/ http://www.4thletter.net/2010/03/new-ultimate-edit-week-1-day-six/#comments Fri, 12 Mar 2010 19:24:32 +0000 Gavok http://www.4thletter.net/?p=5414 Yesterday’s adventure involved Thor having the mistress of the afterlife take care of his hammer. Then Tony Stark and Carol Danvers started going for the jugular. Let’s continue on with that.

This was one of the more difficult Ultimate Edit installments to write based on the matter of what we were critiquing. Back when we first started doing these, we laid down some ground rules and made certain things off-limits. The main one being Jeph Loeb’s personal tragedies relating to his son, Sam. The whole point here is never to make fun of Jeph Loeb the person (who I’ve heard from many is a genuinely nice guy), but of his writing.

A lot of Jeph Loeb’s writing has become very much Sam-based, and that is completely understandable. Captain America: Lost Son was more than anything Jeph’s attempt to come to terms with his son’s passing. It wasn’t my cup of tea, but I respected what he was doing. He would continue to make minor references to his son in his work, which was fine, but it’s become more and more apparent that it’s something he can’t push himself past. Most of his work revolves around it, basing the adventures on father/son relationships and the grief related to it. Hell, look at why Magneto killed everyone in Ultimatum.

For those who haven’t read the original, the Iron Man narration boxes tell the story about how Tony Stark met a young boy named Sam in a hospital who was dealing with cancer. It was the boy’s horrible experiences and eventual death that inspired Tony to become Iron Man and create the Ultimates. The whole overuse of Sam is beginning to dilute the message and the seriousness of it all, at least in my eyes. It makes me think of when Puff Daddy used to talk about Biggie Smalls so much that on one skit show, Jamie Foxx (I think) played the role of Puffy and would randomly start pointing up and yelling about Biggie. The crowd laughed pretty hard at this, showing that the whole thing has resorted to becoming self-parody. It’s disheartening to see that this is the direction Jeph Loeb has been leading into.

It’s a touchy subject, but I wanted to get it off my chest.

Enough about the serious stuff. Let’s move to stupid stuff, like Farmville.

Thanks to ManiacClown, who spent WAAAAY too long working on that Farmville image. Join us next time as the big villain shows up and more sex is had. No, not by the villain. Maybe in the next issue.

Day Seven!

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]]> http://www.4thletter.net/2010/03/new-ultimate-edit-week-1-day-six/feed/ 7 New Ultimate Edit Week 1: Day Five http://www.4thletter.net/2010/03/new-ultimate-edit-week-1-day-five/ http://www.4thletter.net/2010/03/new-ultimate-edit-week-1-day-five/#comments Thu, 11 Mar 2010 08:35:52 +0000 Gavok http://www.4thletter.net/?p=5402 Our last installment featured the end of the Ultimates vs. Defenders fight with Son of Satan stealing Mjolnir from a very stupid Valkyrie and then escaping with the rest. Meanwhile, Thor has gotten bored of being king of the mountain and wants to escape the land of the dead. Hela will grant him that wish, but she wants something in return.

This first page might be a little not-work-safe.

Real talk: despite all the crap I give Loeb, I found the original scene between Tony and Carol to be really well-written.

Thanks to ManiacClown, who can’t get past how much Ka-Zar looks like Skwisgaar Skwigelf from Metalocalypse. Join us tomorrow as we finish that scene, get an aside from Captain America and Zarda, then see what Ka-Zar and Shanna are up to.

Day Six!
Day Seven!

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]]> http://www.4thletter.net/2010/03/new-ultimate-edit-week-1-day-five/feed/ 3 New Ultimate Edit Week 1: Day Four http://www.4thletter.net/2010/03/new-ultimate-edit-week-1-day-four/ http://www.4thletter.net/2010/03/new-ultimate-edit-week-1-day-four/#comments Wed, 10 Mar 2010 08:30:27 +0000 Gavok http://www.4thletter.net/?p=5399 What happened on Day Three? Let’s see, the duo of Hawkeye and Iron Man were doing pretty badly against the Defenders until Captain America showed up with what seemed to be Xena Warrior Princess and the Glamazon Beth Phoenix. They turn the tide and start whipping some Defender tail. A tail that Hellcat surprisingly does not have. During all this, Zarda punches Luke Cage in the nuts and prevents the possibility of Ultimate Danielle Cage.

We move forward.

Here is a quick cutting room floor panel. The expression on his face sells it so well:

Thanks to ManiacClown for the Thor dialogue. Speaking of Thor, I only noticed during the editing, but Frank Cho snuck in some uncensored bare breasts on that page. I blacked it out, but in the original spread you can see it in-between the panel of Thor sitting on the throne and the panel of Hela unmasking. I guess Frank Cho is to boobs as Leinil Yu is to Howard the Duck.

More bare breasts tomorrow, but these will be the comic book hair-draped-over-the-nipples kind.

Day Five!
Day Six!
Day Seven!

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]]> http://www.4thletter.net/2010/03/new-ultimate-edit-week-1-day-four/feed/ 16 New Ultimate Edit Week 1: Day Three http://www.4thletter.net/2010/03/new-ultimate-edit-week-1-day-three/ http://www.4thletter.net/2010/03/new-ultimate-edit-week-1-day-three/#comments Tue, 09 Mar 2010 09:01:54 +0000 Gavok http://www.4thletter.net/?p=5383 Welcome back!

In our last installment, Hawkeye and Iron Man continued to talk about stuff (their favorite bands, chicks who’ve broken their hearts, the Matrix) until a bunch of angry dudes with superpowers showed up randomly. Sucks especially for Hawkeye, since nearly everyone on the opposing team appears to be bulletproof.

How will our heroes (if you can call them that) get out of this alive?! HOW?!

Join ManiacClown and I tomorrow as we watch the Ultimates continue to fight the Defenders. Then we get a special appearance by everyone’s favorite Ultimate Edit mainstay! Then again, I’m only assuming he is.

Day Four!
Day Five!
Day Six!
Day Seven!

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