The subject of Marvel's news conference on Wednesday was a major crossover in the Ultimate line, the Ultimate War miniseries written by Mark Millar and drawn by Chris Bachalo.  Debuting in December, the full title of the series is Ultimate War: Ultimate X-Men vs. The Ultimates.  Although Marvel Editor-in-chief Joe Quesada was ill and couldn't make the teleconference, writer Mark Millar stepped in to talk about the series he is writing.  Millar noted that he hated most crossovers because nothing much of import ever happened in them; the one exception that Millar cited was DC's mammoth Crisis on Infinite Earths, which had major ramifications for the DC Universe. In his soft Scottish burr Millar hinted that the Ultimate War would not be without major events or consequences.

 

In addition to the Ultimate War mini-series, Marvel plans to make December Ultimate Sweeps Month -- imitating a television network's use of the best episodes from the best series plus special events to maximize the number of viewers during a particular ratings period.  For Marvel's purposes the Sweeps Month will be geared towards reaching out to civilians and picking up new readers for Marvel's most accessible line -- the Ultimate books.  Ultimate X-Men #26 will contain the prologue to the next story arc, while Ultimate Spider-Man #33 will include the first installment of the Ultimate Venom story.