Forum - View topicHouse of 1000 Manga - Karakuridôji Ultimo
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gedata
 Posts: 617 |
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This art is very pointy and sharp.
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partysmores
 Posts: 284 |
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Oh damn, they were selling the first volume of this at Scholastic Book Fair at my brother's middle school. Wonder if they're aware of the later volumes?
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terminus24
 Posts: 304 |
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I enjoyed reading Ultimo during it's run in Jump. Really need to get caught up though, I've only read the first four volumes and I've just never really gotten around to buying the rest.
That said, I also think It's a really good entry point into Manga, simply due to Stan Lee's attachment to the series. He's a pretty popular guy, even among folks who don't like American comic books (such as myself), because of everything he's done from helping create famous superheroes to his numerous cameos in the Marvel properties (I quite enjoyed the one in this week's Agents of SHIELD, even if it was really short). |
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malvarez1
Posts: 2120 |
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Wow, glad to see Ultimo here. Despite all the initial hype, it feels like no one reads it anymore.
I know people who were turned off because it was "complicated". I really like it. Some of the twists go too far, and I think Takei's art is so big, I get lost sometimes...but I like it. Its basically a battle of good vs. evil, taken to an 11th over-the-top level. My main problem is, I don't find most of the characters likeable. |
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TarsTarkas
 Posts: 5938 Location: Virginia, United States |
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Looks very interesting. Will have to take a look.
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medama_oyaji
 Posts: 99 |
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I was a huge fan of the Shaman King manga, but Ultimo didn't really grab me. I've thought about tracking it down and giving it a second chance though, because I'm still a fan of Takei's work.
While SK did sort of fall apart at the end, I think his rework on the end in the rereleased volumes was really great, and it's too bad that we won't see it in English (officially, at least). I'd love to see Shaman King Flowers in Viz's Shonen Jump! |
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Krotchstak
Posts: 94 |
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Oo, a Takei manga! I've been reading the Complete Editions of Shaman King recently, so this is cool to see.
Any chance you'll be covering Takei's big hit in this column, Jason? I remember reading a Takei-general column you did on Comixology once, and it'd be cool to see Shaman King featured here. |
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GeorgeC
Posts: 795 |
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A point or two about Stan Lee ---
He still works with Marvel...! He's the chairman emeritus of the company. It's largely a position of respect and he has no real editorial authority BUT he's worked longer for the company than anyone else. I do believe that even as chairman emeritus he still draws a check from Marvel. Stan Lee will never willingly quit Marvel as long as he's able to talk! What Stan Lee stopped doing decades ago -- by the mid-1970s -- was editing the Marvel Comic book line. He was the main editor at Marvel for at least two, if not three decades. He was the main Marvel Comics scriptwriter for a huge chunk of that time, too. I hesitate to use the term "sole writer" because comics are a collaborative medium and one thing Stan Lee can't do is draw! The whole business of credit for creation becomes very subjective as soon as you get at least two people involved in any project so I'm not going to address the controversies surrounding who created what at Marvel. That's been gone over to death in many books and articles... Stan Lee's main function after leaving the publishing side of the company in the mid-1970s was to help negotiate licensing deals for movies and TV shows based on the characters -- many of which he co-created with some of the best-known American comic book artists in the history of the medium. The effectiveness of those efforts is debateable but that's what he basically did for at least two decades. In addition, he did a lot of voiceover work for the animated TV shows. He provided narration for the Spider-Man and Hulk animated TV shows in the early 1980s and he's occasionally voiced other characters (in addition to cameos) in other series since then. The one function Stan Lee never gave up -- except for a short time earlier this century after the first Spider-Man motion picture was released -- was being Marvel's head cheerleader. Except for that short period of time where his employment was terminated over a dispute concerning royalties he felt he was owed from the first Spider-Man film among others, Stan Lee has always championed Marvel Comics -- even when he didn't particularly care for upper management and some of their inexplicable business moves -- and served as the company's main ambassador of goodwill at comic cons around the world. I once saw Stan Lee at a comic con in 2000. It was the MegaCon in Orlando, Florida. I didn't bug him for an autograph because A) I didn't have anything on me for him to sign; B) the line was very long -- any con where he appears he's generally one of the emost sought-after autographs; and C) frankly, even from 20-50 feet across the room, I could tell he looked a bit tired! |
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enurtsol
 Posts: 14889 |
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We got a photo with him a few years ago since one of us shares the same name and we had the Japanese tankoubon of Heroman. |
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jr240483
 Posts: 4459 Location: New York City,New York,USA |
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Actually, he's not. and haven't been a part of Marvel let alone the chairman ever since Disney acquired the entire marvel franchise.(personally fox should have acquired Marvel considering they have full rights to X-men and Wolverine) the only thing he's ever done since was made cameo appearances for some of the Disney X.D series like Ultimate Spider Man,those short marvel stories that showed on Starz, and the agent of SHIELD live action TV series for ABC so the editor was 100% right. but to be frank, the main reason why the manga have even gotten an interest in the US marketplace was cause his name was plastered in the front cover,similar to heroman. |
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Ashen Phoenix
 Posts: 2950 |
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For me, I'm torn on whether to stick with or drop Ultimo. I read and bought the first 3 vols., enjoying the story and some of the cast a lot - the potential for the good-vs-evil battle to not be so clear cut especially - but from going over vol. 4 I feel like things are getting too convoluted.
Time travel and epic robot battles? I'm on board. Moral debates with hidden depths? Awesome. But when 30-something characters are thrown at us and their roles/personalities are all delivered rapid-fire, it gets a bit headache-inducing. Add on to that the fact that I've come to find the main hero (Yamato) and villain (K) unlikeable, and I just don't know if I ought to continue or call it quits. As someone who adores Shaman King (and am still hoping for the Perfect Editions to be seen stateside) I feel like Takei's crazy-busy art style has only escalated since then, and not always in a good way. |
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