The Ultimates 2 review

The Ultimates used to be the Ultimate Universe’s version of the Avengers, but now that the 616 Universe and the Ultimate Universe are combined, the Ultimates word must take on a new meaning. So it’s fitting that the Ultimates are comprised of some of Marvel’s most powerful superheroes. Black Panther, Captain Marvel, Spectrum, Blue Marvel and Miss America are working together to solve problems – cosmic problems. So what cosmic problem do they take on first?

Galactus!

The last issue ended with Captain Marvel and Blue Marvel meeting up with Galactus, who’s in the middle of devouring a planet, and offering to solve his problem. That didn’t go over too well, so the rest of the team must rescue them. Meanwhile, Galactus finishes wiping out all life on the planet while making his final preparations. It’s a brutal scene, with a lot of action and some good narrations on Galactus’s part. Of course the Ultimates end up fighting him on their own, and then the real magic begins. To say what happens would be to spoil what makes this issue so great, but this entire comic is both fascinating and epic from start to finish.

Writer Al Ewing does a good job with characterization, even if there isn’t too much actual development. Also, the science speech, whether Blue Marvel describing how they’re going to solve Galactus, or Black Panther describing the teleportation process, makes this comic even more interesting. My only concern is that there won’t be much character development at all, but this could very well change once the Galactus story is done with. We’ll see.

Henneth Rocafort’s art is great. It truly captures the epic nature of the story, using sense of scale between Galactus and every ship and superhero attacking him. He makes great use of Spectrum and Captain Marvel’s energy powers, along with Miss America’s weird teleportation ability. There’s also a lot of environmental detail on the devoured planet and in the various space ships showing up. The best page is probably the Black Panther’s vision of his father while he’s teleporting. It’s a montage that shows African objects, a man in a fur coat and all sorts of imagery thrown into a single 2-page spread. The colouring by Dan Brown is fantastic as well, making this comic bright and colourful to further emphasize the epic scale.

The Ultimates is easily the most epic series to come out of the All-New All Different Marvel, while it also feels very different from pretty much anything else in mainstream comics. The only real question is, where will this series go from here? If Galactus is the first problem the Ultimates solve, what massive challenge will they take on next? I’m looking forward to finding out. If you read Marvel and like cosmic stories, you should make sure to check this series out.

9/10