Will the fix stick?
Creative Staff:
Story: Al Ewing
Art: Kenneth Rocafort
Colors: Dan Brown
What They Say:
Galactus is beyond good and evil. Galactus is a necessary part of the universe. When Galactus hungers- living worlds must die. The Ultimates have heard it all before, and respectfully…they don’t agree. But can even the ultimate super team end the threat of the Devourer of Worlds for good? And if they do- what will take his place?
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
The Ultimates drew me into picking up the first issue just because the concept sounded interesting enough and I was curious to see if they would go big or not with it, because it really demanded it. The opening installment under Ewing and Rocafort pretty much nailed it with what I wanted, at least after the exposition and character heavy introductions were out of the way, as I loved the idea of this team of characters that was put together going out and solving some of the big problems of the universe – even if it requires fists once in a while. Tackling Galactus at the start of the run certainly has it going big, but it always comes back to that central problem with ongoing serialized shared universe comics. How long will it stick? And will it even stick within the confines of this series?
The way events unfold here is definitely exposition heavy and it works well if you’re willing to invest in there being a lot of understanding of what’s going on. With the pieces set in motion in the previous issue, this one has T’Challa translocating out to where Galactus is to put everything in motion with him. This serves two purposes; one is that we get a whole lot of his history in the space of two panels, bringing new readers up to speed and reconnecting existing readers a bit. The other is that it reminds us of Galactus’ origins in a good way, again over just a couple of pages, so that we get the understanding of what the Ultimates are trying to do to help him. The idea is certainly solid enough and it speaks to that idea that some of what Galactus did in the early days was hedging his own bets in a way should something change, which is certainly a smart move for anyone.
The downside to this installment is that while the team as a whole gets the small moments to shine from time to time while doing the job, they’re really relegated to minor supporting roles. This is T’Challa’s show at the moment as he has to try and convince, distract and tempt Galactus with the plan while actually putting it all in motion. I thoroughly enjoyed the dialogue between the two during it as it speaks of their positions well and it reinforces the way T’Challa views what his mission is and that they will, at times, go the distance to solve it even when there may be moral questions surrounding it. Galactus is essentially forced into this and that can be problematic for some heroes, but when you consider the scale of what Galactus has done, most will be able to work through that problem.
In Summary:
The Ultimates is solid storytelling and the ending has me wondering whether we’ll get more of this arc or if we’ll shift to another problem, which leads me back to wondering how long this fix will stick. That said, the only other thing to say about this issue is that even if the story is not to your liking, you need to be buying it for Rocafort’s fantastic artwork. The artists who work in the cosmic realm invariably have the opportunity to shine in some distinct ways because a lot of the rules are different. Rocafort certainly understands this and, combined with Parsons coloring work, brings it to life in an engaging way. There’s such a rawness and roughness about it that’s combined with a kind of polished skill that the whole thing is just stunning to look at. I’ve flipped through this issue half a dozen times since the first read through just to take in particular panels, expressions and layouts as there’s so much going on in small ways. This is a fantastic visual work that really takes it to the next level, something that Ewing seems to understand by his ending letter page. Here’s hoping the two will be challenging each other on this book for ideas for some time.
Grade: B+
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: Marvel Comics via ComiXology
Release Date: December 9th, 2015
MSRP: $3.99
