I was a late-comer to The Ultimates. As an avid fan of both Spider-Man and X-Men, the Ultimate lines of these characters appealled to me. However, having no interest in the Avengers, I passed over The Ultimates time and time again.

More the fool I.

Having had it recommended to my by a friend, I decided to give The Ultimates a try, picking up one of the six-issue softcover collections. In this case, the cut-off point was an issue called Giant Man vs. The Wasp.

If you have read this, you will be able to imagine how much I needed to read the rest of the series. I all-but-ran back to the store the next day, with a lame story of how I had picked up the wrong volume, and left with the 13-issue hardcover, which I still go back and read to this day.

The Ultimates was and is one of the greatest comics produced by Marvel in the last ten years. Mark Millar and Brian Hitch took characters in whom I had NO interest and crafted an interesting, mature storyline, which had me on the edge of my seat the whole time.

Volume 2, which I collected in comic form, was even better, and the constant delays were worth every agonising week when the issue finally came out.

Issue 13 will always rank as one of my favourite issues, with the eight-page (I kid you not) spread of a single fight scene.

When Ultimates 3 was handed to Jeph Loeb, I was optimistic. His work on The Long Halloween alone was enough to make me happy that they had chosen someone with excellent credentials for the job.

While I will always appreciate his work, Jeph Loeb has entirely screwed up The Ultimates, with poor characterisation and little regard for anything that has come before. Every character has been boiled down to a single, defining characteristic or brought more in line with their normal Marvel counterparts.

So, I decided to write an issue of my own. A kind of therapy, while Mr Loeb continues to destroy the Ultimate Universe.

While the issue turned out ok, I will be working on revising much of the work, as myself and a few friends have come up with an actually overarching plot with which to sustain an actual series, which we will post here, hopefully with some comments and art provided.

Meanwhile, I would love to hear any comments on this issue from fans of The Ultimates.

Just please don't complain about my views on Jeph Loeb's work on Ultimates 3. You won't convince me.