HITCH: DONE WITH ULTIMATES 2 #13

[MattBrady]

by Benjamin Ong Pang Kean

In a thread entitled "End of an ERA" over at the MillarWorld boards, super-star artist Bryan Hitch informed board regulars and er, lurkers that he's completed all 40 pages of the much-anticipated Ultimates 2 #13, the last chapter before the creative baton is passed on to the incoming teams of Jeph Loeb & Joe Madureira (Ultimates 3), and Loeb & Ed McGuinness (Ultimates 4).

"It's been years coming but today I feel both sad and abso-frakking-lutely overjoyed.

"The bane of my life for the last five years is gone from my day to day routine. Apart from a little tidying up, the penciling on the final issue of Ultimates 2 (13), all forty four pages of it, is done. Inking is going. Colouring will follow and within living memory the book will come out. That may sound a little harsh but no job in my 20 pro career has been like this; so hard, so creatively rewarding, so time-consuming and so fulfilling. It will be nice not to struggle, if only for a few weeks!

"I've lived with little else by way of work for so long and although a little sad to be done with it, the new stuff ahead (which I've already started) is so exciting I haven't time to mourn.

"It's been such a good working relationship with MM all these years that we have each other booked up forever. Our next book for Marvel, already underway is as different from Ultimates as I could hope without straying too far from what we do best. TV and movie news to come as well but next year is shaping up to be my most fun and most productive in a long time.

"So, goodbye Ultimates. It's been swell.

"Hello to the new crew. See you all Summer 2007. In print that is."

So, who will live, and who will die?

Will Captain America and Iron Man start an Ultimate Civil War?

All will be revealed soon when Ultimates 2 #13 wraps up a highly acclaimed run by two of the industry's highest profile creators.

For more Ultimate goodness, check out Ultimate Spider-Man, which is currently re-imagining the "Clone Saga"; Ultimate Fantastic Four, which finds the team in the midst of a "God War"; and Ultimate X-Men, which has the team facing off against Ultimate Cable, Ultimate Bishop and Ultimate Domino.

There's also Ultimate Vision, which continues the "Ultimate Galactus" trilogy; and Ultimate Power, which is a crossover between the Ultimate titles and JMS' Supreme Power.

Upcoming projects include Ultimate Wolverine by Loeb and Michael Turner, Ultimate Iron Man 2, and… the final part of the Ultimate Daredevil and Elektra trilogy?

Also, there's this previously rumored but now clarified Ultimate Invasion by Bendis and Marc Silvestri which might or might not be an Ultimate-verse project.

And next summer's Ultimate event. Right.

And…Ultimate Wolverine vs Hulk.

Ultimates 2 #13 is currently due in stores on January 31st, 2007.

The solicitation for the issue reads:

Written by MARK MILLAR
Pencils & Wraparound Cover by BRYAN HITCH
"GRAND THEFT AMERICA"

The concluding chapter of the much-heralded Millar/Hitch tenure on Ultimates has finally arrived! All the running plot lines come to their cataclysmic end in these pages as the Team Supreme puts everything they've got into a grand finale that will take its place alongside the finest comics of the past decade. Alliances are made and relationships are severed in a tale you simply cannot miss. You have been warned! Part 7 (of 6)
48 PGS./Parental Advisory ...$3.99

[Arvandor]

At last! Can't wait.

[Prometheus3]

This is wonderful news! This means we might be able to see Ultimates 2 #13 before January.

I only buy Ultimates in TPB format and I can't wait to read the issue. So far I have not had much of the last part of Ultimates 2 spoiled for me and this means the TPB might come out soon.

[edgejedi]

how can we possibly see it before january? still has to be inked, colored, etc. then you know they have to solicit it. If we are lucky it ends up in the next previews which means we'll see it by march at the earliest. they arent going to rush solicit it. no email, update b.s. They have to put it in regular monthly (marvel) previews because there are still alot of people who dont order by FOC but still use intital orders.

[aceatkins]

I would really love to read an interview in which somebody sat down with Hitch, or another artist who has had continual deadline problems, and just discuss --- from their point of view --- where the time dilemma comes in. I'm talking totally non-confrontational, no finger-pointing, none of that. I think it would help me, and probably other fans, who don't understand why it should take three months or more to draw 40 pages of a comic book. I'm really not interested in a witch hunt, or anything like that. Bryan Hitch seems like a very nice guy and I enjoy his work alot. But I might be less annoyed at the delays if I knew exactly what it took to put a project like this out. I would find it enlightening.

[Scorned1]

It's about frakking time he finished. Just kidding. In all fairness this is the end of an era. All good things must come to an end. And this is it.

[sol]

I'd imagine the delays are with the obscene amount of detail in Bryan Hitch's work. I'm not going to judge on the time taken, but the final product. And The Ultimates has always been worth the wait.

Long live the Ultimates.

[michaelman9]

Originally Posted by Prometheus3

This is wonderful news! This means we might be able to see Ultimates 2 #13 before January.

I only buy Ultimates in TPB format and I can't wait to read the issue. So far I have not had much of the last part of Ultimates 2 spoiled for me and this means the TPB might come out soon.

I'm right there with you man. I love the collected versions of the Ultimates, and i can't wait to check this out!

[artiepants]

Originally Posted by edgejedi

how can we possibly see it before january? still has to be inked, colored, etc. then you know they have to solicit it. If we are lucky it ends up in the next previews which means we'll see it by march at the earliest.

umm, it's allready been solicited, they only resolicit if they cancel something, and it's not like the artist waits until every page is finished to feed it down the production pipeline...

it really makes me sad to hear Hitch will only work with Millar, because while i don't feel he puts as much into his art as he used to, he's still damn good, but i just can't bring myself to read another Millar project...

[Kolimar]

Originally Posted by Arvandor

At last! Can't wait.

My thoughts exactly.

[nickmaynard]

Originally Posted by edgejedi

how can we possibly see it before january? still has to be inked, colored, etc. then you know they have to solicit it. If we are lucky it ends up in the next previews which means we'll see it by march at the earliest. they arent going to rush solicit it. no email, update b.s. They have to put it in regular monthly (marvel) previews because there are still alot of people who dont order by FOC but still use intital orders.

you really think that it's 3 months away? that seems totally crazy to me.

[EyesBL7]

This is truly one of the signs of the apocalypse.

[Predabot1]

Originally Posted by sol

I'd imagine the delays are with the obscene amount of detail in Bryan Hitch's work. I'm not going to judge on the time taken, but the final product. And The Ultimates has always been worth the wait.

Long live the Ultimates.

Hear hear! He's a bloody nightmare to colour too... Laura DePuy must have super-cool cosmic powers or something!!

[Charlie Hustle]

i know people love this book but i just don't think Millar's a great writer. And didn't ultimates 2 # 1 come out like 2 years ago?

[Charlie Hustle]

Originally Posted by edgejedi

how can we possibly see it before january? still has to be inked, colored, etc. then you know they have to solicit it. If we are lucky it ends up in the next previews which means we'll see it by march at the earliest. they arent going to rush solicit it. no email, update b.s. They have to put it in regular monthly (marvel) previews because there are still alot of people who dont order by FOC but still use intital orders.

i'm confused, are you saying they only ink and color the book when ALL the pages are done? that doesn't make sense, i'm sure those parts of the production are right behind the artist, especially if he's late.

[Kolimar]

Originally Posted by Prometheus3

This is wonderful news! This means we might be able to see Ultimates 2 #13 before January.

Heheh...

[Kolimar]

Originally Posted by artiepants

umm, it's allready been solicited, they only resolicit if they cancel something, and it's not like the artist waits until every page is finished to feed it down the production pipeline...

It's still not gonna come out before January.

[lordlad]

At least i bet it'll come out before the next issue of Ultimate Hulk Vs Wolverine...........or All Star Batman for that matter.

[artiepants]

Originally Posted by Kolimar

It's still not gonna come out before January.

i just meant it wasn't going ot be until march

[GenerallZodd]

People are issuing press released for finishing issues now? Like Chris Rock said, you're SUPPOSED to do it....what do u want...a cookie?

[Grimm22]

Sad News

Miller is the life of the Ult.Marvel universe

He brought us not one but two amazing runs on Ultimates and some of the best writing on Fantastic Four, in ANY book in decades

Although his run on Ult. X-men was more bleh than yeah!, I still found it to be more acessable than the runs that followed his (Except for Bendis who rocked the house in Ult. X-Men!)

So as I am going to be reading the last fantastic issue of one of my favirote books of all time, I will be shedding two tears. One for joy, and how the world could be so blessed to recieve such utter greatness such as this and also one of sadness as it ends

Mark and Brian, you guys rock

[tiso_spencer]

Millar and Hitch is all I ever want to see from either one of them on the cover of a book. There's just no denying this is a dynamite team. I'm glad he finally finished it, but I'll wait for the Vol. 2 HC. It's pretty safe to assume no one major is going to die (maybe the Hulk) since Ultimate Power should be taking place ahead of all the Ultimate Line titles at the moment.

[Hoylus]

Looking forward to the end of Ultimates 2. I've always bought it as TPB's as well, so I'll have to wait that bit longer, but I'm sure it'll be worth it.

It does raise the issue that there's no pont calling comics 'monthly' any more though.
They're deifnately 'when the artist/writer can be bothereds'

I mean, I think the only title I get that appears regularly is X-Factor. All the others are ridiculously erratic. I'm pretty sure that Ultimate Hulk vs Wolverine, for example, will only be completed when Ultimate Hell freezes over.

[Ken B.]

This is pathetic. "I did my job, although it took extremely longer than supposed to. Praise me!"

[Jack Tango]

I just like how it's part 7 of 6.