The Ultimates #1 (2024): Key Issue Guide

A 2024 issue fits none of the categories the market knows well. It is not a classic whose scarcity can be measured, nor a key whose importance is accepted: it is a first chapter whose future is open. Buying it means betting on two things at once, the staying power of a series and the place of a creative duo still little known to collectors.

As always in this guide, only verified information (creators, issues, dates) is stated as fact; the analysis is our own, with no reproduction of protected pages or dialogue.

The Ultimates #1: date, creators, content

The issue comes out in June 2024, after Ultimate Spider-Man, Ultimate Black Panther and Ultimate X-Men, the first titles of the new Ultimate line. Deniz Camp writes the script, Juan Frigeri draws it. To date your copy to the month, rely on the credits page of the issue rather than on a seller's listing. Above all, keep the attribution, which does not vary from one source to another: one writer, one artist, no guest artist on this first issue.

The principle, without giving away what follows: in this reworked world, the series gathers familiar figures around Tony Stark to form a team, with an objective that is nothing like a classic rescue mission. Check the exact cast in the issue itself, because the line's relaunches have changed the identity and role of several characters, and listing summaries are not reliable on this point.

The tone is what sets this title apart from its neighbors. Where Hickman's Ultimate Spider-Man tells the story of an ordinary man, The Ultimates speaks to those who like the politics of power: who decides, who controls, at what price. This choice is also a lineage, which the next section explains.

The context: the Ultimate line, from 2002 to 2024

The first series The Ultimates dates from 2002, written by Mark Millar and drawn by Bryan Hitch. It set the modern form of the superhero team overseen by a state agency, a formula that the movies would later adopt. Our article on the animated film Ultimate Avengers and Millar's series details this legacy. The old Ultimate universe disappears with Secret Wars, in 2015.

The relaunch comes from Jonathan Hickman. It opens in 2023 with the miniseries Ultimate Invasion, drawn by Bryan Hitch, back twenty years later on ground Hitch helped create, then by a single issue, Ultimate Universe, at the end of the same year. Each relaunched series then asks the same question: what becomes of these heroes in a world where an antagonist has made history narrower? The guide devoted to Ultimate Spider-Man gives an example of what this logic produced in 2000, with a different setting.

Placing The Ultimates in this relaunch has a precise editorial significance: it is the title where the heroes come together. If the other series follow a single character, this one has to build the team, and therefore the material for future events. For a collector, this means its issue one may become a continuity landmark rather than an object of immediate speculation.

Why this issue attracts collectors

Three reasons are plausible, and none is a certainty. The first is the brand: Avengers remains one of the best-selling names in the publisher's catalog, and a team issue one benefits from an audience ready to look for it. The second is the relaunch as a whole: the first issues of the 2024 Ultimate series are collected as a set, which supports demand for each.

The third is the creative duo. Camp and Frigeri are less known to the general public than the signatures of the first Ultimate line, and that is an unknown as much as an asset: a rising name makes its early work retroactively precious, but a name that stays discreet does not support the market value. Lacking a reliable criterion, look at what the series produces beyond issue one: critical reception, regularity of publication, presence on the publisher's sales lists.

Caution is needed on the notion of a first appearance. In a parallel universe that reuses existing characters, a known hero does not become a new character because of a new costume. If an Ultimate version of a character is introduced here for the first time, the catalog and the credits must confirm it. No first appearance is claimed here for this issue.

What makes the market value move

The market value of The Ultimates #1 is not established. This holds for all 2024 issues: first comes the momentum of the launch, then a settling phase, then an underlying trend that can take a year or two to emerge. The factors that will move it are identifiable.

The length of the series comes first. A team series that settles in for several years gives its issue one a renewed audience at each arc; a series that stops quickly freezes it. Printings come next: if the publisher reprints the issue, the first printing keeps a premium, the size of which depends on demand. Alternate covers play their part, diverting some of the demand toward more sought-after versions.

Finally, adaptation. The Avengers are already carried by the movies, but the Ultimate version is not the one on screen: a film or series drawing on this relaunch would change the picture, and only an official announcement would justify taking it into account. Without an announcement, count this hypothesis as zero. As for condition, a modern comic marks quickly, at the corners and the spine, and a handled copy loses its edge from one year of reading to the next.

Telling one edition from another

Like most launches of major series, The Ultimates #1 exists with several covers. We give neither ratio nor precise reference here: a sheet written from memory is not the right source, and this information is found in reference catalogs. The method, however, applies to every copy.

Start with the regular cover, the one that accompanies the issue in its general distribution. Then look for the alternates: the cover artist is named in the notices, and a particular code may appear near the barcode. Check the printing mention inside: a second printing sometimes reuses the same image with a slight variation, or none at all.

Beware of confusion with the 2002 series. The two series share the same title and the same issue one, but they have neither the same creators, nor the same continuity, nor the same market value. A listing that mentions neither the year nor the name of Millar or Camp leaves doubt hanging: ask for a photograph of the credits before paying.

Buying pitfalls

The first is the confusion between the two series, described above, which traps buyers and sellers alike. The second is confusion between covers: a seller who presents the regular cover at the price of an alternate inflates the listing, and the reverse exists too. Always compare the listing image with the catalog one.

The third pitfall is the term "key" applied without justification. A team issue one is a key only if it contains a precise fact: an established first appearance, an event that will be cited later. Ask the listing to name that fact. If it is absent, the listing is selling vocabulary. The fourth is the "like new" condition that cannot be verified from a photo: demand views of the back and the corners, and prefer sellers who have kept their issues protected since release.

Finally, launch lots: a set of Ultimate issue ones may be offered as a whole, even though its elements do not have the same demand. Evaluate each separately before judging whether the overall price is consistent.

Neighboring issues that also matter

The first neighbor is Ultimate Invasion, the miniseries that launched the relaunch, signed Hickman and Hitch. It is the continuity starting point of the whole line, and therefore the most useful read before opening The Ultimates. The single issue Ultimate Universe, released at the end of 2023, plays the same anchoring role.

Among the sister series, the 2024 Ultimate Spider-Man is the most followed, and Peach Momoko's Ultimate X-Men attracts an audience of artist collectors. Each has an issue one that is collected for different reasons; The Ultimates is the continuity and team title. Within the series, spot the issues where a new member joins the team: they are the natural candidates to become collection landmarks if the character lasts.

Finally, the historical point of comparison, Avengers #1 from 1963, belongs to an entirely different price regime: reading the two together means measuring the gap between a Silver Age classic and a launch whose future remains to be written.

What grading changes

On a recent issue, the point of grading is to separate copies that look identical. In a stock where high conditions are common, the label mostly serves to compare what cannot be seen, without guaranteeing extra value. It can matter if the issue is a sought-after cover, in flawless condition.

Ask yourself the question the other way around: will a graded copy resell, in a few years, high enough above a raw copy to cover the cost of grading? Only transactions closed on comparable launches let you measure that. When in doubt, keep the copy protected and wait for the market value to firm up, because the option to grade does not go away.

How to track it in a collection

In your database, create the series The Ultimates (2024) separately from the 2002 series, and record issue one with the exact cover, the printing and the condition. Note the date and the source of purchase: on a recent issue, you will judge later whether the market value really rose or whether you bought at the peak of the enthusiasm.

To place a copy, first take the sales actually closed for the same cover; asking prices come only after. On a team relaunched in 2024, sellers readily inflate their prices when the series is being talked about. Gather several observations spaced a few months apart before drawing a trend. If you follow the whole relaunch, a dedicated list will keep you from buying the same issue twice under two covers.

Conclusion

The Ultimates #1 is a launch issue that owns that status: a team, a creative duo, a fresh continuity, no established first appearance. It is chosen for its role in the relaunch and for the possibility that the series lasts, not for acquired scarcity. Buy it in the right printing and the right condition, check that it is not the 2002 series, and let the series show what it is worth before making it a pillar of your collection.

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