The risks of fixing the big problems.
Creative Staff:
Story: Al Ewing
Art: Kenneth Rocafort
Colors: Dan Brown
What They Say:
Sometimes you can’t fix something without taking a look at the whole thing at once. Spacetime is broken. If the Ultimates want to fix it, they need to go…OUTSIDE. But who- or what- is out there waiting for them?
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
The opening two issues of The Ultimates definitely got my attention with what it was attempting to do, both in the cast of characters assembled and the scope of their mission. While I’m always wary of team books that involve name characters with their own series that can throw off the path of the team itself, the use of T’Challa and Carol here is spot on and fits in with the team that’s assembled. Particularly when you want some real experienced players involved in fixing the problems of the universe. Bonding them with lesser players, but powerful players in their own right, ups the overall feeling of the book and allows some like Blue Marvel to be a lot more integral while taking the chance on expanding others, such as Spectrum.
While The Ultimates get to celebrate in their own limited way the success of the ISO-8 element being used to change Galactus, it’s not something that has gone over well elsewhere. Part of this fits in well as there really is a galactic element to things in there are organizations, empires, and more out there which can taken offense for a whole host of reasons what Earthers might do. While there’s a lot to like about Galactus not being a destroyer of worlds anymore, the Shi’ar aren’t exactly thrilled with the idea of him going around the galaxy breathing life into dead worlds. There’s not a lot of depth or reasoning given to this, but I like how it pushes back against The Ultimates who in turn make it clear, at least amongst themselves, that they will continue to press forward to do the right thing. You can see the potential blowback coming a mile away.
With that in play for another day, the shift comes from T’Challa and Brashear about dealing with the whole abuse of the timeline thing. There’s a great two-page spread showing some of the problems being faced with its impact in a range of areas, again showing that the whole time travel aspect really is abused. The idea is to try and stop the Doomlock thing that allows a lot of it from happening, but it requires stepping outside of normal space and going to the Neutral Zone to deal with it. This is a wonderful little subplot that brings Giant-Man in briefly to help while reinforcing the kind of battles one has to deal with in order to run with the Ultimates. The journey itself takes up some beautifully illustrated pages with America handling the jumps through space, but it lands us in a surprising area by revealing that the Anti-Man has been sitting out here all this time. And the rush to go back to the past and see what this is all about begins…
One subplot that dangles deliciously here involves Monica, aka Spectrum, as she talks with Carol about her abilities. Her running with the Ultimates has her wanting to push her abilities in order to really handle the job and she talks about what she struggles with to her in a good way. What really intrigues though is the introduction of the idea that Monica has fully become a creature of light and has to work, unconsciously, to take solid form and live as a normal person. This has some good questions posed with equally good responses from Carol about why the thought that she’s changing should scare her, considering they live in a world where evolution happens briskly. I’ve long liked Monica since I was first introduced to her in Avengers far too many decades ago so I’m glad to see her involved here.
In Summary:
The Ultimates continues to kick ass. Plain and simple. They’re tackling big problems and getting creative about it while also looking like they’re just going to run with the fallout and deal with it in an almost dicatorial way – while also being fully transparent, at least to those on Earth. I’m really curious to see where they’ll go since there are a lot of things they can tackle and hopefully some of it will stick for at least a while. I’m really hoping for another look at Galactus to see what else he’s up to out there, but the quick shift to the timeline problem is also pretty well. Ewing and Rocafort are just delivering in spades book after book and this is pretty much my must-read Marvel book right now.
Grade: B+
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: Marvel Comics via ComiXology
Release Date: January 6th, 2015
MSRP: $3.99
