Comic Info
Comic Name: Ultimate Secret
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Writer: Warren Ellis
Artist: Steve McNiven/Tom Raney
# of Issues: 4
Release Date: 2005
Ultimate Secret #2
Reprints Ultimate Secret #1-4 (May 2005-December 2005). An experimental space flight is sabotaged by aliens called the Kree and the only person who tried to prevent the destruction was a Kree called Captain Geheeneris Halason Mahr Vehl of the Kree Void Navy. When Mahr Vehl reports to Fury that he intends to defect to Earth, he also brings warning of Gah Lak Tus. With help from the Ultimates and the Fantastic Four, Captain Mahr Vehl leads a group to a Kree ship with the search for answers to a threat to Earth and the galaxy.
Written by Warren Ellis and illustrated by Steve McNiven and Tom Raney, Ultimate Galactus Volume 2: Secret collected the four issue limited series Ultimate Secret and has also been released as part of Ultimate Galactus Trilogy trade paperback. It followed the first five issue series Ultimate Nightmare (collected as Ultimate Galactus Volume 1: Ultimate Nightmare) and was followed by Ultimate Extinction (collected as Ultimate Galactus Volume 3: Ultimate Extinction). The series was met with a big delay upon its release and received so-so reviews.
Ultimate Secret waited too long after the first book Ultimate Nightmare to be considered relevant. The series was meant to be a big turning point for the Ultimate Universe and brought together various teams. Here in Ultimate Secret, the Ultimates and the Fantastic Four are thrown together to face the alien threat of the Kree and “ultimately” the threat of Gah Lak Tus. With the delay, Ultimate Nightmare was already a bit forgotten and the Ultimate Universe which was once peaking was already slowly declining. The Ultimate version of Galactus seems irrelevant.
Ultimate Secret #3
The story is ok and moves quickly. I like the Ultimate Captain Marvel and that was my main interest in this series. Ultimate Captain Marvel however seemed to go the way of most of the Ultimate side characters (who remembers Hawk-Owl and Woody…or even Ultimate versions of Daredevil and Elektra?), and just fizzled out like the final book in this series Ultimate Extinction which seemed to have no buzz surrounding it.
Ultimate Secret’s art is fair, Steve McNiven has done better, but it works for the series which seems rushed as it is. I like the art for the first issue but feels it deteriorates beyond the first or second issue, but the story is also less compelling so that might be the reason. It breaks down into a couple of big fights at the end and lots of flashes and explosions…not the smooth techno-organic art of the first issue or so.
Ultimate Secret isn’t the best series, but it does continue the tale. Reading it back-to-back with the other collections works much better than it as a stand-alone series as it was released to the stands. Unlike the time between Ultimate Nightmare and Ultimate Secret, the time between Ultimate Secret and Ultimate Extinction wasn’t as long…but by that point no one cared.
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