UXM #1 was a fresh and unique start to this new Ultimate Universe. I was surprised by how dark the book was and the themes it tackled like bullying and suicide. Yes the art was indeed the standout and this book will be the closest thing I’ll probably come to reading a manga but this comic has me intrigued to checkout others in the genre.
I agree with Venom 1988 and blueharvest that the figure might be
Shadow King
but I’m thinking also possibly something else but we’ll see.
Life got in the way and got a bit behind. Bought UBP #2 last week but haven't had a chance to read it until last night. Overall, I'm a bit lukewarm on this book. I like a lot of the setup Hill is doing but I it's not fully grabbing me I guess. I do want to stick it out for the next few issues though to see how it goes. Side note I did see an interview with Hill where he said he was trying to take a page from Dune and I can totally see that (especially with some of the different factions in Wakanda). I do hope he leans more and more into that.
The 'Ultimate Spider-Man' #3 preview reveals a few costume changes.
aiptcomics.com
Solicits for June issues, including The Ultimates. The Black Panther one is kinda spoilerly though, but it does peak my interest more after feeling issue #2 was a bit mid, so excited for that. Also the X-Men one shows that
I switched to a mail subscription for USM, so I just got issue 3 in the mail yesterday. Hopefully future issues won't be a week late but we'll see. Anyway, I really dug this issue. Few random thoughts
* Thought the begining scene with May and Peter trying to figure out what his suit should look like was pretty fun.
* Bullesye was cool but I feel he got taken out a little too easy.
* The ending seems to be setting up an interesting dynamic with Harry and Peter. They first meeting is them as Spidey and GG and by the end they know each others identity. Depending on how things go, I could see them being friends first but then enemies due to Peter not approving Harry's methods on stoping crime (whatever that may be).
* I may have forgotten or missed it but even though Tony gave Peter his suit, it seems to have been developed by Oscorp. Hence why Harry was able to take control of it. If they do end up becoming enemies, I imagine Peter will ditch it for a less techy suit.
UBP #3 was a bit slow and very much felt like the middle issue between 2 and 4. I'm still invested though. Characterization is good, art remains phenomenal, while the outfits remain too detailed to be consistent between shots.
Caught up on UXM #2 and read UBP #3 today. I agree BP is still a bit too slow more my liking but I actually felt I enjoyed this issue more than 2. I like that there seems to be some type of ancient lore that's sorta connected to Wakanda and unknown to even T'challa but I felt I needed a bit more info than what the issue provided.
I enjoyed UXM#2 as well, though that is a bit of a slow burn as well. Also if it wasn't already apparent in the first issue, the 2nd issue really makes it seem the shadow character is indeed the Shadow King, specifically the panel where we see his human form and he's wearing what appears to be a fez like hat/helmet. Also I guess Shadow King might actually be another high school student.
Overall the art continues to be the best thing in both of these books.
Read USM#4 last night and despite having zero action in it, it was pretty good. The only complaint I had and it's minor is that they had a guest artist for it. It seems David Messina is filling in as a guest artist for issue 4 and 5. It's not bad, just feels like a step down from Checchetto, but overall he still did a fine job. Interesting to see Gwen Stacy is Harry's wife and that she knows everything about Harry and Peter's alter egos while MJ is still in the dark. This is probably gonna come back and bite later on.
Also it seems Otto is gonna make his first appearence next month. Minor spoilers about who else is in the preview. But I'm certainly getting Steve Ditko Peter Parker vibes for this Otto (character design wise anyway).
Read the FCBD Ultimates Issue and while nothing greabreaking it was kind of neat sneak peak on what to expect from the Ultimates book next month. Seems like one of the members of the Ultimates is going to be the original Human Torch/Jim Hammond. And the end of the story seems to hint at more members that what has vbeen revealed so far. The big crux of the story was that the team were infiltrating one of the Maker's storage facilities that held indestructible corpses and never worn costumes, to free Jim Hammond. Not sure if that's implying that all of bodies in the facility have the potential to come back to life though. And they get ambushed by a bunch of H.A.N.D. agents, which are the Maker's secret super- police. All wearing black and red suites and their faces have a weird blur/censor affect
And for a list of said remains are
* Previously mentioned Human Torch, who comes back to life at the end.
* The Vision (the original Timely Comics version)
* Black Bolt's mummified body (says it was an infant but looked like a child)
* Ka-Zar and Nobu (both stuffed?)
* The Senty's ripped costume (says unknown remains)
* An adamantium skeleton (we only see it's feet and the word Weapon). Given that they don't show the full name, I'm wondering if it's not supposed to be Wolverine and someone else.
Ugh my mail subscription delays are killing me. I just got UXM#3 Saturday and UBP#4 yeasterday so I'm behind. Probably won't get USM until next week if I had to guess.
Anyway, still enjoying both books. I was a bit lukewarm on Black Panther at first but these last 2 issues have started to peak my interest more. I just feel they are dragging out whatever secrets T'Challa learned about. I was hoping after last month's issue, we'd find out about what he learned but it seems we're gonna have to wait another month. For X-Men, I felt this issue was a bit slower than the last two but overall I'm interested to see what the cliffhanger leads to. Also cool that they confirm Maystorm was indeed inspired by Storm.Art is still great on both books.
Also early review for Ultimates#1. If the FCBD issue is any indication, I'm really intrigued to see what they do with this book.
Ultimates #1 came out yesterday, haven't gotten it yet but did get a chance to read USM #5. Still not fully feeling the art so I'll be glad to see Checchetto return for #6 (though it was cool to see the Osborn lawyer drawn to look like John Romita Sr). Pretty good issue and was interesting to see what Harry has been up to the last 6 or so months.
* Seems Tony provided Shocker's gloves to someone that died and the Shocker we saw in issue #2 stole them from the dead guy. I would assume the dead guy was supposed to be Herman Schultz only because Tony was probably giving equipment/powers to people based on The Maker's database like he did with Peter. So if that's the case, the Shocker we saw is someone else. Not sure if they will come back to this.
Read Ultimates #1 earlier than expected and I loved it. I know it's only the first issue but out of the 4 books, this has probably jumped to my #1 spot. Compared to the other #1 issues, I feel like there is a lot packed in this issue and they don't waste time forming a team (though tbf, most of the team already came together prior to this). Also I really dig Juan Frigeri's art in here. I wasn't sure how well it would mesh with the team (especially after having Stefano Caselli do the Ultimate Universe one shot) but I think his art works really well.
Random spoiler stuff
* So it seems using the Imortus Engine, Tony was able to send back a number of "Origin Boxes" six months into the past in an effort to make up for lost time and create heroes. Tony said if any of the original hero identities died, then they would try to find replacement. Not sure how many they sent (at least 14) but only 1 or 2 actually took. The rest were either rejected, intercepeted or deceased.
* Base on the footage show on the screens, it seems Spidey is the 1 of 2 that took. Carol may have accidently blown up, Hawkeye seemingly took up his costume but later left it in a trashcan (ala ASM #50) and Hank Pym rejected his (more on that later). While not shown, I assume Shocker is being counted as one of the intercepeted ones as well.
* Hank and Jan are exterminators and we find out later in the issue he got one of the origin boxes but rejected it due to the information he found about about 616 Pym in the box and all his failuers. He was reluntant to take his powers because he didn't want to hurt Jan or anyone else. Cap ends up giving him a pep talk and eventually Pym is the one to save the day in the issue. Also apparently The Maker caused irreversible brain damage to Hank in an effort for him to to make sure he never became a scientist.
Anyway, I don't want to get to spoil the whole issue but it was pretty entertaining and I like a lot of the worldbuilding going on. If the original Ultimates book was about a US goverment team that was sort of a reaction to a post-9/11 world and everything is grim, this Ultimates is basically a off the grid team trying to fight back against a world that has been corrupted and bring back back heroes and well hope I guess lol. Really excited for the next issue.
Ultimates #1 was a very good start and a really great emotional arc as well for Hank and Janet that hooked me throughout. Ultimate X-Men #4 continues what I think to be an interesting read and I love the art and characters so far. Ultimate Spider-Man #6 was a great conclusion to this amazing first arc and it’s kinda funny where’s I think that Ultimate Spidey is basically the comic version of Superman and Lois. It’s so heartwarming and respectful the mythology and legacy of Spider-Man but still remaining fresh and unique just like Superman and Lois is for television. Can’t wait for UBP this week.
Sorry I've been behind been trying to catch up lol. To anyone that cares, don't use Marvel's own mail subscriptions service. Despite the big discounts, shipping is bad and customer service is worse. Just got my copy of USM #6 in the mail 2 days ago, despite coming out 3 weeks ago. Gonna either switch to another service or go to my LCS after my current subscriptions are done.
Anyhoo, USM #6 was great. Felt it was a good end of an arc for these intial 6 issues. Excited to see where things go from here. Im still liking the other books but I feel the pacing my main pain point. UBP #5 was good finally getting to explain some things. UXM#4 was good as well but didn't feel there was much progression. It does feel that we're gonna potentially get a team of sorts in the next issue or two.
I guess for me personally, while I really dig the idea of these books moving in real time, some of the books don't utlize the time skips well enough and maybe that's why the pacing feels off for me? I haven't read haven't read Ultimates #2 yet so can't speak on that, but for me it really feels like USM utlizies this real timeline. There actually feels like there is enough going on to believe that time is progressing but not to the point that you feel lost between issues. And part of that is while the first 6 issues feel like an complete arc, each issue works well as stand alone issue.
Where as the other 2 books, I don't really get that. To me it seems the writers of those books had a specific story they wanted to tell but then they had to go back and adjust things to make sure the books are moving in real time.
To use UBP as an example, Tchalla leaves Wakanda #2 and returns in #4, so he's gone for roughly 2 months. In #3 Okyo says T'Challa has been missing for weeks but later in the issue the interaction we see with T'Challa have with Killmonger makes it seem they have just barely met. And the beginning of #5 it seems they bring the weird glowing ball back to Wakanda, which I understand probably took time to do but the way it's presented makes it seem not much time has past since #4.
I have other examples between the 2 books but don't want to turn this post into a novel (more than I have anyway lol). Maybe this might seem nitpicky but for me the books are both moving in real time and not moving in real time. And as a result, I feel the books issue to issue not much is really happening, despite time progressing.
October solicits. Seems like we're getting an unknown Sorceror Supreme in Black Panther as well what appears to be a Native American Hawkeye in Ultimates. In the first issue of Ultimates it did show Clint Barton dumping his equipment in a trashcan ala ASM #50. So Im assuming this guy found it.
Ultimates #2 was pretty good as well. Like the 1st issue, it seems they are able to cram a lot stuff in 1 issue without it feeling bloated. Pretty cool to see Midas as the villain of the issue and kinda funny that he owns the White House after the US ended. Also pretty interesting interesting to see the brief snippit of history being shown to Steve as he tries to catch up on the last several decades.
Got around to reading USM #7 earlier this week. Seems like Peter's nano suit, now with an AI of his own voice, is potentially going to be the Venom symbiote of this universe. Also Harry having an AI voice of his dad in his suit? That's surely not gonna lead to trouble either lol Great issue though.
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