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Tweak says, "titty sprinkles!"

stolisomancer (stolisomancer) wrote in scans_daily,
@ 2009-09-16 20:57:00

Entry tags:

char: iron man/tony stark, creator: steve kurth, creator: warren ellis, publisher: marvel comics, title: ultimate armor wars

Ultimate Armor Wars #1
It's an article of faith on SD that everyone in the Ultimate Universe is a dick except Peter. It's untrue, of course; the UFF are all, if anything, kinder than their mainstream counterparts, and most of the X-Men are perfectly decent people. Then there's Ultimate Tony Stark.

There were a few things about today's Ultimate Armor Wars that jumped out at me that I thought I'd share.

Tony is going to his Manhattan office after the Ultimatum incident, where despite the water damage to the city, his basement laboratory complex has survived more or less intact. Inside, he finds not one but two ~~jormungars~~ infiltrators.

I get a kick out of the fact that Tony's reaction, upon learning that Justine has a fairly decent reason to be there, is to wish her luck and walk away.

Tony proceeds to get into a fight with the second infiltrator. Without being too spoilery - I do think this book's worth your money - Justine takes a shot at the infiltrator during the fight.

I guess what really interests me about Ellis's version of Ultimate Tony is the complete lack of alpha-male behavior. Tony's a genius, yes, and absolutely self-confident, but he also has almost none of 616 Tony's ego. He's laid-back to the point of being almost careless, because he can afford to be; he's so good at what he does that he can do whatever's required in five-minute bursts of competence.

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Yay, other Ultimate verse fans! tl;dr

jazzypom
2009-09-17 08:42 am UTC (link)

I guess what really interests me about Ellis's version of Ultimate Tony is the complete lack of alpha-male behavior. Tony's a genius, yes, and absolutely self-confident, but he also has almost none of 616 Tony's ego. He's laid-back to the point of being almost careless, because he can afford to be; he's so good at what he does that he can do whatever's required in five-minute bursts of competence.

Yes, this. Especially the laid-back to the point of carelessness bit. Millar has the same approach to Tony Stark too, but the thing with Ellis is, he has a more restrained hand at writing Tony Stark (compared to say, Millar) so his Tony comes across as well... not so much of a privileged dick, I guess (I like both approaches).

I've always said that Ultimates Tony would be 616 Tony if he embraced his magnificent bastardy and just gave it free rein. 616 Tony knows that he can be a dick, can be highlanded, that he has a lot of power and tries to do right with it, whereas Ultimates Tony isn't racked by such torturous misgivings. I don't know if its his sickness that makes him have this carpe diem outlook towards life, but it's certainly freeing.

Hmm, I think Ultimates Tony does have confidence in himself and his abilities, but he isn't hung up on say... a sort of moral centre that 616 Tony engages in. For instance, 616 Tony's side during the Civil War and him putting his name and friendships on the line because he thought this was the right course of action. Whereas Ultimates Tony would have thought the whole palaver a nightmare, and just ... go off to Ibiza and party with the beach babes or something.

Man, I love Ultimates Tony Stark in ways that I'd love a child... if I chose to have any. He has faults and blindspots, and uses alcohol as a crutch, but he's good people when it counts. I <3 you 1610 Tony. No, lie.

I'm torn between buying the floppies or waiting on the trades though. But I make it a point of if I like what I ...accquire, I support it by buying the floppy. But I already know that I prefer buying the trades, so whatever to do?!

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	Re: Yay, other Ultimate verse fans! tl;dr stolisomancer 2009-09-17 10:55 am UTC (link)
	For a limited series like this one, it's no contest. Ellis has said repeatedly that he sees more money from trade paperbacks than floppies, and a limited series doesn't need to worry about perpetuating an ongoing. Buy the TPB and rejoice; Ellis's work reads better that way anyway. (Reply to this) (Parent)

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