Hickman and Hitch's Sprawling Epic: A Review of Ultimate Invasion #1

 written by Jonathan Hickman

penciled by Bryan Hitch

inked by Andrew Currie

colored by Alex Sinclair

Jonathan Hickman's plan to rebuild the Ultimate Marvel Universe kicks off in earnest, with evil Reed Richards, aka the Maker escaping from his Damage Control prison and rapidly setting his plan in motion. Will even Marvel's ultra-powerful Illuminati (Reed Richards, Tony Stark, Namor, Black Bolt, Charles Xavier and T'Challa) be able to stop him?

When the first Ultimates issue came out in January 2002, over twenty-one years ago, I was absolutely gobsmacked by Bryan Hitch's astonishing "widescreen" art, which fit Mark Millar's script like a glove.  It was Captain America's World War II origin story told like it never had been before, and in fact, it went on to inspire how the character was depicted in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Heck the entire first year of issues was basically what served as the narrative backbone of the MCU. 

Unfortunately, the quality of the entire line declined precipitously after that first big arc, and by the early 2010s the Ultimate line of comics was on its last legs, having been thrown a bit of a lifeline by the introduction of Miles Morales, a new Spider-Man. Then, in 2016, Jonathan Hickman ended it all, with a storyline I hadn't even stuck around for anymore: Secret Wars.  It's fitting, then that Hickman, the man who ended the Ultimate Universe, finally teams up with Hitch, the guy who kicked it into high gear.  So what have they brought us?

Well...it's a forty-eight page first issue that is prohibitively expensive. It starts off with a sixteen-page heist, nine pages of which feature exclusively a bunch of anonymous characters whose significance to the plot ends as soon as the Maker appears, and thereafter features a lot of panoramic dialogue pages featuring Mister Fantastic, Black Panther, members of the Illuminati, and Miles Morales. It's only at the tail-end of the issue that we see what the Maker is up to, and to Hickman's credit he leaves an interesting teaser as to what's to come as he starts changing key events to reshape reality.

Narratively, it's a far cry from the 28-pages of full-blooded, action-packed storytelling that Millar and Hitch delivered in 2002 when they presented a hard hitting adventure evocative of Saving Private Ryan in that very first Ultimates issue.  Hickman is known for his slow-burn storytelling, but to my mind he still burned a little too slowly here.  Apart from the Maker, nobody does anything of significance here, and I truly hope that changes next issue. 

There's still a lot to love here, though; Hitch and his Ultimates inker Andrew Currie bring their absolute A game to this issue, though Alex Sinclair, whose vibrant colors made Jim Lee's work on Batman and Superman look brilliant twenty years ago, presents a surprisingly muted color palette considering the scope of this story.  Still, art this brilliant is, by itself, almost worth the price of admission.

I'm on board until this end of this story, but I really, really hope future issues are not as expensive as this one was, because if I'm honest the cover price was kind of brutal. 

7.5/10

Upgraded Ock vs. Osborn: A Review of The Amazing Spider-Man #28

 written by Zeb Wells

penciled by Ed McGuinness

inked by Mark Farmer

colored by Marcio Menyz

After the thrashing they endured last issue, Jonah Jameson brings Doc Ock's shattered sentient octo-arms to Norman Osborn's company, which unfortunately also leads Otto Octavius right to their doorstep. Norman and his employee Peter Parker suit up as the Gold Goblin and Spider-Man, but Otto's got some new , seriously upgraded octopus arms, and a couple of other tricks up his sleeve besides that.

As I said when reviewing the last issue, I honestly appreciate that Zeb Wells is building on the past rivalry between Otto Octavius and Norman Osborn that Dan Slott first developed back in Ock's "Superior Spider-Man" days and that Nick Spencer brought to a head two years ago when he purged Norman Osborn of his sins/evil.  It's often a pet peeve of mine that past stories are ignored so I'm glad to see this express acknowledgment of the past.

That said, more than the last several issues of this run (including the ones I hated), this one feels oddly decompressed. I always welcome the chance to see Ed McGuinness' artwork on this book, which looks great in this issue, I can't help but feel like this has been dragged out just a little bit. I know four issues make for a better collected edition than three (as this arc looks like it'll wrap at issue #30), but Wells could have had a little bit more going than this showdown.  Last issue, we caught a glimpse of Ashley Kafka, which is clearly setting up a future storyline, but this issue, apart from a brief walk-on by Kraven the Hunter, is focused purely on the protagonist and antagonist of this storyline.  While a part of me appreciates that, well, again my problem is that it feels like filler.

Still, filler illustrated by Ed McGuinness is still worth a whole lot of main stories drawn by a whole lot of other artists. 

7.5/10

Going to Hell: A Review of Daredevil #12

 written by Chip Zdarsky

drawn by Marco Checchetto

colored by Matt Wilson

With Daredevil having defeated the Stromwyns, the money behind the Hand, all that remains is for him to chase the Beast down to Hell and reclaim the souls of his friends. The only problem is that to do it, he has to die, and his wife Elektra isn't about to let Matt, good Catholic that he is, take his own life at the very mouth of the Inferno.

This issue was billed as a duel to the death between Matt and Elektra, in a case of some pretty egregiously misleading marketing. Surprisingly, though I quite preferred what ACTUALLY happened as opposed to what was hyped up to happen, for a number of reasons.

First of all, I really like the fact that Chip Zdarsky is revisiting the storyline involving the Beast that his predecessor Charles Soule wrote during his last year or so on the book. Before he really hit his stride with the "Devil's Reign" miniseries, I kind of thought Zdarsky's writing had gone all over the place, with his advocacy against the penal system being his one bright spot. I felt he meandered a bit to get to this point but I'm also glad he's not pretending to shatter any status quos here.  

Second, on that note, I really like focused this issue feels; we really get a sense of Zdarsky's endgame here, and for the first time in a while I feel really excited about the next issue.

This issue is basically just as setup for the climactic throwdown that will take place over the next issue or two which will close out Zdarsky's run, so I look forward to Zdarsky and Checchetto giving it the full beans, as it were.

8/10

After the Gimmick is Done: A Review of The Amazing Spider-Man #27

 written by Zeb Wells

penciled by Ed McGuinness

inked by Mark Farmer

colored by Marcio Menyz

In the wake of Kamala Khan's death last issue, Peter Parker aka Spider-Man and Norman Osborn, aka the Gold Goblin, struggle to move forward with their lives. The threat from Wayep and his emissary Rabin may be gone but there are plenty of threats ahead, including Otto Octavius, whose mechanical arms abandoned him the time he fought Spider-Man, but who has new machinations up his sleeves, with Norman Osborn in his sights.  

With Zeb Wells' big mystery box having been opened, he's gotten back to writing interesting stories again, and as much as I despised "What did Peter do?" I am willing to give Wells the benefit of the doubt on the next few issues. After, all giving that I'm spending on these comics, I'm the only one losing out if I insist on grumbling about his bad story choices.

Setting up Doc Ock against Norman Osborn is something I have not seen nearly often enough since Norman was brought back from the dead in 1996. I've seen Mark Millar and Dan Slott pit them against one another in two stories that were nearly a decade apart, and in both cases Otto came off worse. I could be missing on another story here, but it seems Otto has come to hold a grudge against Osborn over these encounters. This story seems interesting enough, though Wells' last big mega arc has left me wary. Call me cautiously optimistic for now.  

Besides, despite my deep disdain for Wells' gimmicky writing, I persevered to see Ed McGuinness back on art duties, and the man does not disappoint in the least. It grates on me that I have had to wait as long as I have to see this guy draw Spider-Man stories on a semi-regular basis, but, hey, better late than never. I still hope to see Jim Lee illustrate tales of the webhead one day. 

8/10