Ultimates #5:
What Happened: This issue is, for the most part, a total set-up issue. The various members of the Ultimates, from Nick Fury on down, have to deal with the collapse of the SEAR(South-East Asian Republic), and it falling into mutant hands, as well as Crazy Reed Richards conquering Europe. The only real important thing in this issue would have to be the Falcon sneaking into Crazy Reed's cleverly named city, The City... For a genius, Crazy Reed sure isn't very creative... Anyway, with the world in turmoil, and America in need of a beacon of hope, Nick Fury goes out and contacts Steve Rogers, who was living in the wilds of New Mexico eating rattlesnakes. Steve turns down Fury, ending this issue.
The Good: For once I wasn't completely baffled by what I was reading. Reed Richards didn't appear in this issue! It was nice to finally see Cap show up.
The Bad: The specter of Reed Richards loomed large over everything happening here. None of the various storylines in this one interested me in the least. The scene with the ghosts of the Asgardians and Thor was just embarrassingly bad. I guess 11 year olds might have gotten a giggle out of that... I guess...
The Verdict: I think it's safe to say I have little to no interest in the Ultimate Universe anymore. It's unbelievable that Marvel managed to piss away what was once a pretty great idea. Maybe I should stop giving DC so much crap, because while I haven't liked their reboot as much as I liked the previous DCU, Marvel's soft reboot of their Ultimate line has just been terrible. I'll definitely be dropping this series, meaning I'll only be picking up Ultimate X-Men now... And to be honest, if Marvel was to fix the things I hate about the 616 X-Men(ie: the “No More Mutants” garbage), I'd be happy to drop Ult. X-Men as well. But as it is, the only place I can actually see new mutants pop up is in the Ultimate Universe, so I'll stick with Ult. X-Men... For now...
Score: 5 1/2 out of 10.
Yep, that makes it official. Come tomorrow I'll be dropping this series.
I'm completely baffled by this series. I love Hickman's work, but it's obvious he just doesn't really care much about the Ultimates. They're little more than props being knocked around to show how awesome Evil Reed and his minions are.
ReplyDeleteI'm starting to feel the same way about the Avengers (Ultimate or otherwise) as I do about Iron Man. When do they stop being overwhelmed in every single story, and start being Earth's Mightiest Heroes? I know the heroes have to take their licks, but damn.
"to show how awesome Evil Reed and his minions are." Yup, that's where this series lost me. It became all about Evil Reed kicking ass and not bothering to take names than the Ultimates doing... well, anything! When/if Hickman leaves this series I'd possibly consider it, although for $4, it would have to get some HIGH praise for me to give it another go.
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