Greetings lovely Comic Viners! Today's Roundtable is being co-hosted by the grand master, sora_thekey (Geo to his friends) & I, xerox-kitty, humble substitute for a few weeks while Geo goes AWOL from the Roundtables.

Editor's Note: Because this particular Roundtable User Discussion (RT) has two hosts the format will be different. Whenever xerox-kitty is "speaking" it will be written in Italics and when sora_thekey is "speaking" it will be written in Bold.

If you want to add to our conversation then please feel free to comment below! We’d love to read your own opinions after you’ve read ours. If you’ve had fun, then you can go back and read our other Roundtable sessions here and share your thoughts there too. Even if you disagree with us, we like comments. Honest!

Along with Sora & I today are returning Roundtable friends; thehummingbird (THB) & danhimself (Dan). Before we get going, please introduce yourself!

Dan: Hey this is danhimself....

THB: Hello everyone, THB here! I was out tending my garden when a unicorn being chased by a cop trampled my oranges, I was quite sad! A warning I have even less an idea of what I am saying today than normal.

I could go for an orange right now... Hi! I'm your awesome co-host Geo!

Thanks for joining us this evening! Before we kick start today's Roundtable, could you give me a quick summary of what you've read recently?

I read Ultimate Spider-Man #160 (Have not read this weeks comics yet) and OMG! I loved it!

Dan: I've been working my way through today's new books. I just finished Batman Incorporated #7.

THB: I am reading Gotham City Sirens #23, Finished my Birds of Prey Trade, and most importantly my most recent obsession Batwoman: Elegy!

I've just got a hold of the first two Unwritten trade paperbacks (Tommy Taylor The Bogus Identity and Inside Man). Can't wait to read some new Mike Carey stories, but I'm curious what his non-X-Men tales will be like. Anywho...

So this might be an awkward RT for everybody since this is one around will have two hosts. You feel special yet?

Soon I am going to have to go MIA from the Roundtables because of some Real-Life (Non-virtual) stuff I will be tending to but the amazing copycat, xerox-kitty, will be taking over for a while. So let's begin.

Today's topic is the Ultimate line of comics published by the "House of Ideas", Marvel. There's been a lot of drastic changes in the last few years, and some more changes are due this Autumn (or should I say 'Fall'?). I know Geo is a big fan, so I'll hand over to you now, Boss!

Well as you guys know (or should) back in 2000 the Ultimate line of comics launched by Marvel trying to create a modern take on the existent characters. Starting with Ultimate Spider-Man (by Bendis and Bagley) and followed by other remakes of well-known characters and teams such as the X-Men, the Fantastic Four and the renamed Avengers: The Ultimates. Not too long ago the ten years of Ultimate stories were discontinued to create probably the most controversial event ever: Ultimatum.

I know that Dan shares my love for Ultimate Comics. Dan would you like to give us a rundown of what happened in Ultimatum?

Dan: Ooooookaaaay. Let's see if I remember this right. Wanda is killed and that makes Magneto very angry so he tilts the axis of the planet causing a huge tidal wave to hit New York City, killing tons of heroes including some of the X-Men and Daredevil. Magneto then sends his Brotherhood out to wage war on the rest of the surviving heroes which results in probably one of the most disturbing scenes in comics where Blob eats the Wasp. The remaining heroes gather and attack Magneto's base and that ends with Magneto and Wolverine both dead.

Here's a list of the heroes and villains that were killed during the event

Wow... It's amazing that anyone's left alive!

THB: Wow I was unaware all of this happened, though overall I am fairly new to comics in general.

Whoa Dan! Now that's an answer!

The Ultimate Universe was cut in half opening a lot of new opportunities for new characters to be introduced. Since then it's safe to say that the Ultimate Universe has not been at its peak. The big thing involving Ultimate Comics is the latest event: The Death of Spider-Man.

Because it's such a recent event we will skip any spoilers but what we want to talk about is the revamp that Marvel is doing with the Ultimate line of comics this Fall (or Autumn). Have you guys heard about it?

Dan: Well the one thing that the writers have said is that they wanted to make the Ultimate Universe very different than the 616 so one way to do that is to kill off lots of characters I guess. Ultimatum wasn't received very well by fans or critics but it accomplished what it set out to do and that was make sure that no one was able to confuse the Ultimate Universe with the 616 Universe. They've been taking even more drastic steps lately like having Wolverine's son James Hudson replace him the X-Men's Wolverine and even going as far as to kill Peter Parker in Ultimate Spider-man #160.

THB: I was aware of its occurrence, however, as I have warned I am pretty uneducated about what is to come, when said event does happen. I am quite curious as to what is expected after such changes.

I blogged about the up-coming new Ultimate Comics X-Men that's coming in September. I was amused to see an Ultimate Wolverine costume that looked more like the regular Wolverine costume. I remember Ultimate Wolverine looking like a wannabe rock-kid with a goatee in jeans & a vest top.

Looks like Ultimate Wolverine's little boy is all grown up ;)

The interesting thing about this RT is that two of us know the Ultimate U very well while the other two know little to nothing about it.

The announcements go like this:

• New Ultimate Spider-Man book with a new Spider-Man, new costume new cast.
• An Ultimate Hawkeye mini series. Clearly one of the most interesting characters in the Ultimate Universe.
• New Ultimates book with the remaining roster from the outcome of Death of Spider-Man.
• New Ultimate X-Men book. Confirmed roster: Wolverine's son, Kitty Pryde as Shroud, Rogue, Iceman and Human Torch. With a special appearance by former Jean Grey, Karen Grant (I think that's her new name).

Opinions?

Dan: I'm excited about Jonathan Hickman writing in the Ultimate U. He's one of my favorite Marvel writers and he tends to write with a long term goal in mind so that should be really good. I'm also pretty excited to see who the new Spider-Man will be.

I know that a lot of people are excited for them. The comments I've seen are mostly positive, but a lot of fans are worried that Ultimate X wouldn’t finish before Ultimate Comics X-Men starts.

Dan: Well they won't have to be worried for long xerox-kitty since Ultimate X #5 is sitting in my pile from today.

THB: When it comes to X-Men, is that all the characters like the final rostering? Or just the ones announced so far? Personally it is better than I was expecting.

All we know about the Ultimate Comics X-Men is from what's on the cover. I was thrown by a mysterious red-hooded figure, which is apparently an alternate identity for Kitty Pryde.

THB: The Hawkeye mini series sounds exciting, characters like this seem to lack some of the attention I believe they deserve.

One comment about how Ultimate Hawkeye resembles the Smallville version of Green Arrow made me laugh!

But of course, all the attention is on Spider-Man... everyone wants to know who's under the mask. Isn't that what J Jonah Jameson has been asking New Yorkers for the last 50 years? ;)

Dan: Also another interesting note is that the Ultimate J.J.J. knows who Spider-Man is and after seeing his heroic deeds during the Ultimatum tidal wave and Spider-Man saving him from the Ultimate Chameleon twins after Ultimatum he's done nothing but praise Spider-Man in his paper and has even given Peter a raise and permanent spot on the Daily Bugle staff.

That way whenever Peter Parker wasn't around he would have an alibi and JJ would cover for him. This way Peter would get paid to be Spider-Man.

THB: I will once again warn, I know next to none about any of these titles except X-Men, so here goes. When it comes to the Spider-Man concept of both a new cast and costume, I find that concerning for fans. This is probably the DC Harley Quinn fangirl in me talking, but if they make too many changes it could destroy a very strong character in these line up, with a very loyal and strong fan base.

The new Spider-Man costume is just incredibly cool!

Dan: I've got to agree with Sora to. The new Ultimate Spider-man costume is incredibly cool looking. Plus I don't think fans should worry that much. Despite what some will say about Bendis's writing, his incredibly long run on Ultimate Spider-man has been really good throughout the entire series.

THB: The Spider-Man changes seem to be, being done well, I might even have to check it out.

The series has lasted for over ten years with the same writer. I say the book is doing great THB!

THB: Wow! I really must check it out, I love it when series keep the same writers for such a long time.

So we know little to nothing about the future of the Ultimate U except what I just mentioned. THB and xerox do you two plan on buying any of these series? Or at least try them out?

THB: I will be trying X-Men for sure, since I have recently become a pretty big X fan in general. I actually am keeping up with two on-going X-Men, I guess you would call, spin off series. So I am looking forward to the opportunity to start at a new place in the series.

Sorry, but I'm not sold on the changes. Ultimate Comics X-Men seems to be picking up the strays left over from Ultimate Comics Spider-Man & Ultimate X. If it's truly going to be 'Ultimate', then it should be the biggest & the last story to top all other stories. So unfortunately I'm not convinced to pick up an extra title.

Dan: I'll definitely stick with the books despite the renumbering. I'm still hoping for a new Ultimate FF title since I thought the first one was great.

I want an Ultimate FF title too... Especially since there might be a wedding issue somewhere between two of the original Fantastic Four members. (It's not who you think!).

Dan, if you had to choose one book from this new slew of Ultimate Comics, which would you pick?

Dan: If I had to pick one then it would be Ultimate Spider-Man. But it would be hard not to read Ultimate X-Men to especially with the way the last issue of Ultimate X ended (which I read while we were doing this).

THB: I will stay true to my X-Men fandom, and pick up Ultimate X-Men if I only had one to pick, though my curiosity about Ultimate Spider-Man has been peaked.

Well, I'm afraid it's ultimately time to wrap things up.

THB jumps on the unicorn that had been being chase: Au Revoir kids! THB needs to go buy some more orange seeds!

Dan: Well I can't really think of anything clever to say so I'll end it nicely.

See Ya Later!!!

Awww! xerox-kitty is giving the RT an Ultimatum!

Yep, I'm Ultimate xerox-kitty, so anything I've done has been out of mainstream continuity!

This is Geo/sora_thekey signing off...

-- Geo (sora_thekey) 24/7 geek! -- Follow me on Twitter: @sora_thekey