Ultimate Comics: The Ultimates volume 2 review

The second half of the story that began in Ultimate Comics: The Ultimates volume 1 continues in this volume but only until about half way. As of issue #10 the creative team begins to shift and begins to lead the story into a slightly new direction. More importantly, it announces the end of what was easily one of the more interesting Marvel comics of 2012.

Hickman continues to add more conflict in his story by introducing characters and events from previous Ultimate Universe stories. The big addition here being primarily adding Hulk to the mix. I really like the Ultimate Universe Hulk and the main reasons are that he continues to be intelligent when in Hulk form and he rarely reverts back to Bruce Banner. Hickman also further develops certain elements that were introduced in the first six issues such as Tian, the Heavenly Cities, floating cities populated by newly evolved super humans governed and protected by star headed brothers (quite literally).

As expected, Nick Fury and his Ultimates attempt to stop the growing threat of the Maker and his City. Also as expected, Hickman continues to add new elements to the escalating conflict which surprises the readers as well as the story’s heroes. This is the kind of conflict that makes us wonder what drives these people to continuously put their lives on the line to defend a planet that doesn’t appreciate the difficulties of protecting them. You really have to wonder. The Ultimates go through a physical and emotional hell on a regular basis. They’ve lost members from emotional and physical breakdowns and some have even been killed. I’m not sure how to absorb certain aspects of their behaviour. Thor, Iron Man and Fury’s main superpower seems to be stubbornness. They refuse to give up despite the fact that they’re up against something they barely understand and clearly won’t be able to defeat without more loss than gain. Hickman excels at writing a story set in a world of incredibly unique and powerful beings co-exist and what happens when they’re all participating in a global conflict. I seem to have answered my own question regarding the Ultimates motivation. With a threat so large as the Maker and the City, survival is as much of a reason to fight as any other.

The biggest disappointment of this volume is on the art side of things. Ribic’s last issue on art is #9. After his departure he’s followed by five other artists led by Luke Ross. Ross’s art is unpleasant after reading nine issues of Ribic. There is a heavy and obvious use of photo reference that serves only to make everything, especially the characters, look uncomfortably stiff. Some pages are much better than others and he draws certain characters better than others as well but overall it’s too dependent on photo references for my tastes. By issue #10, White has also left. He is replaced for one issue by Matt Wilson and, for the last two issues in this collection, Matt Milla. Wilson and Milla’s colouring styles are similar to one another but very, very different from White’s. The new colouring no longer fits the tone of the story that began in the first issue. Things, including people, are too bright. Instead of helping the comic’s narrative, the colouring distracts and forces me out of the story. Faces are overly coloured, different shades and hues are added to further demonstrate expressions and to put it simply the storytelling suffers as a result of the new colourists. Compare a page from Ribic and White’s collaboration with one from Ross and Milla: 

I don’t think I’ll be picking up the next volume. After the decreasing quality of the art and Hickman’s departure after the conclusion of this story in issue #12, I have no reason to return for the third volume. I have nothing against Sam Humphries in particular. He collaborated with Hickman for the last three issues and I would assume he was primarily responsible for the scripting and the dialogue and Hickman mostly took care of the plot. It’s difficult to say for sure, of course, but that’s the feeling I got while reading it. The main difference in scripting was that there were more jokes included in the dialogue and that demonstrated once more how the new creative team didn’t understand the tone of the story being told. From the bright colours to the stiff character poses and the unnecessary attempts at humour, Humphries and Ross will be continuing their work on The Ultimates without me. I’m just glad I took the time to read the first 12 issues of the series which are excellent, despite some of its flaws. If you enjoyed volume you’ll no doubt be reading this volume as well and I hope the changes in the creative team don’t bother you as much as I bothered me. Either way, it’s nice to know that daring stories, such as this one, can still exist in the modern comics industry even if they are short lived.

Ultimate Comics: The Ultimates volume 1 review

The Ultimates is the latest series of adventures of Marvel Comics’s alternate universe Avengers, and it’s quite good. There’s not need to beat around the bush on this one, especially since the comic itself wastes no time. With the very first issue the creative team composed of writer Jonathan Hickman, artist Esad Ribic and colourist Dean White, jump right into the story. Even from the very first page they manage to hook the reader and those who continued reading were not disappointed.

The story, once you break it down, is rather simple. A villainous genius, The Maker, creates impressive evolutionary pressure cooker somewhere on the European continent and it threatens the planet. Nick Fury, commander of SHIELD, and his Ultimates are unable to deal with this thread and compounded with other global catastrophes they are nearly completely defeated. There have been several similar stories in superhero comics but the creative team manages not only to make it fresh but also succeed in making the threat feel real. The only possible conclusion here appears to be the collapse o

f both the Ultimates, SHIELD and several world governments.

The first comic I read with Esad Ribic on art was the opening story arc of Uncanny X-Force. He has a different style than many artists working in mainstream comic. There’s a European vibe to his art and I like it. He’s well suited to smaller character moments as he is big action sequences and that’s exactly the kind of balance in storytelling that makes a good team superhero book. That compounded with the fact that Ribic’s art simply looks good makes him an excellent choice for this title. My only complaint is that sometimes, when there’s a lot of action, his panels can get a little too packed with art and details but it’s difficult to criticism because he still manages to make it look good. I love the way he draws Thor. I think the Ultimate Universe has my favourite Thor look and it’s mostly because of the beard. I love Thor with a thick beard. It’s better than a goatee and it’s significantly better than the wimpy beard Thor has in the Marvel movieverse. I think Thor looks good without the beard in regular Marcel continuity but here in the Ultimate Universe, the beard is able to excel in part because of the difference in tone.

You can’t talk about Ribic’s art on this book without mentioning Dean White’s colours. He’s an excellent colourist. He’s not my favourite but he has such great skill that it’s impossible to ignore his contributions to the art. He’s very versatile and his colours look very different here than they did on Uncanny X-Force. It was good then but I think it’s better here, simply out of personal preference. The colours of The Ultimates manage to incorporate the vibrant colours and sense of wonder of superhero comics but it’s also grounded in the 21^st Century pseudo reality of the Ultimate Universe line of titles. I can’t recall reading another comic that was coloured by White other than books also drawn by Ribic and that’s fine because I can’t think of anyone else I’d rather see colour Ribic’s art.  They’re an impressive collaboration and their work definitively helps to elevate the story.

Hickman has become a prominent writer at Marvel in the last five years. He’s written fan favourite and acclaimed runs (Fantastic Four is a good example) and he’s become one of the Marvel Architects which essentially means he’s proved himself as a writer and now Marvel gives him access to their most popular properties. Hickman is currently the writer of the recently relaunched Avengers and New Avengers. I haven’t had a chance to read either of those yet but I have a feeling it would be more difficult for Hickman to write a story like the one in The Ultimates. For starters the tone of the regular Marvel Universe and the Ultimate Universe are very different. There’s a sense of danger in The Ultimates that would be nearly impossible to match in a regular Marvel book because the writers are limited in what they can do. Yes there can be stories that change things but at the end of the day the characters and the titles are a product that has to remain recognizable. If you look at the characters and the world of the Ultimate Universe today compared to the first few years after it launched, very few things remain the same.

That’s probably one of my complaints, actually. So much has changed that sometimes it’s difficult to know which character is who, what they’ve done and how they’re different from their Marvel Universe counterpart. For examples, when Thor was first introduced in Mark Millar’s The Ultimates, he was a man pretending to be a god but then he actually became Thor God of Thunder. Now in Hickman’s run he no longer has his godly powers but not quite, now he potentially has more than ever before because he’s the living incarnation of Valhalla. . . or something. See what I mean? Things in the Ultimate Universe have gotten complicated over time and despite some ok to mediocre comics in the line there are some real gems. What’s great about The Ultimates is that Hickman doesn’t even use all the team members in this first volume. Instead he has several other secondary as well as tertiary Marvel Universe characters into the mix. A smart move that has already paid off in this volume and I’m convinced will continue to do so in the second part of the story.

Hickman, Ribic and White tell a thrilling, no-holds-barred superhero comic and expect you to keep up. I love comics that are dense and quick, I love comics that challenge me. With Ultimate Comics: The Ultimates my ability as comics reader and my knowledge of Marvel’s Ultimate Universe are challenged while my cravings for intelligent, well-crafted and interesting superhero comics are satisfied. The Ultimates isn’t a run of the mill smash ‘em up comics spoon fed to you by a barely sub average writer, this is the real deal and I’d recommend you check it out.

Click to enlarge.

Take a moment and read this page it's sucks you right in. I particularly like the Maker's helmet and the visual reference to the mushroom cloud of a huge explosion. This new addition to the landscape is clearly not going to have very positive outcomes. Pictures can express as much if not more than worlds and the otherworldly aspect of the helmet and the Dome on this page are a clear example of that.