Marvel Age of Comics: The Ultimates by Ted Adams

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Book Name: The Ultimates

Author: Ted Adams

Series: Marvel Age of Comics / The Ultimates

Original Story, Adaptation, or Something Else: Something Else - History/Literary Criticism

Published Date: Expected publication May 14, 2026


Official Synopsis: The 1990s and early 2000s were a time of intense change and experimentation for Marvel Comics. Out of this emerged The Ultimates —a comic which would have an explosive impact on Marvel and the broader pop culture landscape. Writer Mark Millar, with artists Bryan Hitch, Andrew Currie, and Paul Neary, reimagined the classic characters that made up Marvel’s premiere super hero team, the Avengers. Looking at them through a modern, post-9/11 lens, the creators treated the characters as super soldiers who reported to the US government. Illustrated with full-color art, Ted Adam’s entry in The Marvel Age of Comics takes listeners through Marvel of the ‘90 the Marvel Knights imprint, the creation of the Ultimate universe with Spider-Man and the X-Men, and finally the Ultimates themselves. With its unique blend of grounded realism and over-the-top action, The Ultimates ensured that comic books and pop culture would never be the same.


Review: The Marvel Age of Comics is turning into an excellent series of quick, easy-to-read books, taking a critical approach to different aspects of Marvel's history but still maintaining the spirit of what makes reading comics fun in the first place. The Ultimates by industry veteran Ted Adams continues the success of the earlier installments of the series, this time turning an eye to the Mark Millar and Hitch storylines of The Ultimates and The Ultimates 2. The writing in the book is excellent, with it being easy to read and with smart analysis of the Ultimate characters and storylines. I liked the attention that was placed on the creators of The Ultimates and the teamwork that they had in the creation of the comic series. Adams also did an excellent job detailing the history of Marvel Comics from the late 1990s and what gave rise to the Ultimate line. There are stretches of the book where it feels like The Ultimates is just being recapped without any analysis, but thankfully, that is a minor problem. I also like how Adams ties the context of The Ultimates into the real world, which was dealing with the then recent 9/11 attacks. The Ultimates by Ted Adams is an excellent book choice for comic readers, especially those interested in or nostalgic for the early 2000s.


What Works: Capturing how and why The Ultimates was relevant in the post 9/11 world.


What Doesn’t: At times, the book gets heavy on providing recaps of the individual issues in The Ultimates without producing any analysis.


Rating: 4 out of 5 frozen WW2 super soldiers




MISC

    Version Read: Kindle eReader

    How Acquired: Advance Copy

        Special Notes: I received an advance copy through NetGalley. My opinions are my own and                                           are not influenced by this or any other consideration.


About the Author: Ted Adams is a comic book industry veteran.


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