This week's recommended comic is Ultimate Fantastic Four.

I have not seen the new Fantastic Four movie and I am by no means recommending that anyone go see it but if you have seen it and somehow came out of it with an interest in seeing these characters done right, Ultimate Fantastic Four will satisfy that need.

Marvel Comics' Ultimate line is a streamlined version of their regular universe that tells new, modern stories with classic characters free of 40 years of continuity and all the hard to rectify trappings that come with it. The line has been very successful because it's top of the line creators approach the books as if they were making the Hollywood version of the comics - cinematic, grounded in some sense of reality, and meant to appeal to new readers. If only Hollywood actually made them this good.

Ultimate FF is available in multiple forms now including a giant hardcover and three volumes of trade paperbacks, as well as of course the comic itself which is now on it's 21st issue and has a new creative team of superstar writer Mark Millar and artist Greg Land starting this month. So far the best the book has been is the 2nd and 3rd volumes written by Warren Ellis. Ellis is famous for his science fiction comics like Planetary (which actually contains an evil pastiche of the FF called The Four - highly recommended for another take on these characters) making him a brilliant choice for this comic. He brings an interesting techno-sci-fi angle to the book, telling stories about nano-tech and negative universes, but he also has a good handle on the characters and their dialogue.

The FF, having been created in the 60s and having very much embodied that era all this time, needed a good update especially in terms of their silly origin story. Ultimate FF does a much better job of bringing the team into the 21st century than the movie has done, I'm sure.

Check out your local comic shop today. If you don't know where your local comic shop is, find it here: http://www.the-master-list.com