Comic Info
Comic Name: The Ultimates
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Writer: Mark Millar
Artist: Bryan Hitch
# of Issues: 7
Release Date:
The Ultimates #12
Reprints The Ultimates #7-13 (September 2002-April 2004). The Ultimates have just formed and they are already falling apart. Bruce Banner has been imprisoned to prevent him from changing into the Hulk, Thor may be crazy, and Hank Pym is on the run for beating Janet. Unfortunately, the world needs the Ultimates more than ever as an alien invasion is about to occur. Joined by Black Widow, Scarlet Witch, and Quicksilver, the Ultimates will have to put their differences aside if they hope to save the Earth and stop the aliens before they enslave humanity.
Written by Mark Millar and illustrated by Bryan Hitch, The Ulimates Volume 2: Homeland Security is the follow-up to The Ultimates Volume 1: Super-Human. The best-selling comic was also collected as The Ultimates: Ultimate Collection—Volume 1 which contained all thirteen issues of the first series.
The Ultimates was a great series and helped shape the course of the Marvel Universe Avengers. Like Ultimate Spider-Man, The Ultimates took a harder, more realistic line to the idea of superheroes and how they would function in the real world. As a result, you get a gritty read that really can surprise at points.
The Ultimates #13
Mark Millar already demonstrated his uber-hero ideas as a writing on The Authority which had a similar idea. With so few superhumans, it becomes the superhumans’ job to essentially patrol the world for threats. Like The Authority, Millar made the characters very fallible with the concept that just because a person is put on a pedestal by society, it doesn’t make them good.
The collection has some great stuff, but my favorite part of the Ultimates has to be the Captain America dynamic set up in the comic. On Marvel’s Earth-616, Captain America fights for the people. In the Ultimate Universe, Captain America is a soldier for the United States. He has a real moral code that cannot be broken, and this volume has the great throwdown between Hank Pym and Steve Rogers that steals the volume.
The art for the series is also good. Hitch was pretty hot at the time. I got a bit burned out on him (especially with all his DC work). I try to look at this collection with fresh eyes and remember how strong the art was for its time.
The Ultimates was a gradual decline for the most part. I did like the second series (but probably not as much as the first volume) and the third series was almost unreadable. The Ultimates, however, is strong here and definitely worth a read. The Ultimates 2: Homeland Security was followed by The Ultimates 2 1: Gods and Monsters.
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