Wednesday, 31 January 2024

Ultimate Invasion #1-4

Ultimate Invasion #1-4

Originally released in 2023

Written by Jonathan Hickman

Art by Bryan Hitch



After 2015's Secret Wars, the Ultimate Marvel universe was all but destroyed.  Only a handful of survivors remained - Spider-Man (Miles Morales, who managed to get onto a multiversal life raft in the final battle between the main/616 Marvel universe and the Ultimate Marvel universe), his family and friends (who were brought back by Molecule Man after Miles gave him a cheeseburger), and the Maker (the Ultimate universe's version of Reed Richards).  While I'm not aware of all of the details, things did not go nearly as well for this version of Reed compared to the main one: he had an abusive (step?)father named Gary, he has no freedom over what he can use his intelligence for (being stuck in a government think tank), Sue rejected his marriage proposal, and the Fantastic Four broke up.  All of this (and likely more) took its toll on Reed, and he became a supervillain known as the Maker.



After breaking out of a tailor-made prison and stealing objects to get the attention of the Illuminati (a bunch of Marvel's super-geniuses and world leaders - Reed Richards, Professor Xavier, Tony Stark, Black Bolt, etc., who banded together to solve the problems of the Marvel universe in secret), the Maker prepares to go to a new universe, though he gives Miles an opportunity to go with him.  There are a lot of little touches in here that I like, such as how the Maker's dialogue is in lower-case like the Ultimate comics were, to show that he's out of place in the main universe, while Miles's dialogue is in all capitals to give the impression that he feels at home in the main universe or that he belongs there.



Despite the Illuminati's best efforts, the Maker is able to create a portal to another universe, which he effectively uses as a laboratory or a playground, trying his best to twist events to prevent the creation of superheroes (or their arrival on Earth, in the case of Thor), while keeping others under his thumb. (for example, he prevents the spider from biting Peter Parker, and he delays the launch of the Fantastic Four's shuttle by a day)  Before he enters his portal, he has an exchange with the main Reed Richards that seems to set the tone for his plan:



The rest of the story shifts the focus to the Howard Stark of Earth-6160, the universe that the Maker has made into his new home.  Howard's story focuses on fathers and sons, what we create for the world and what we leave behind.  It's a stark (no pun intended) contrast to the Maker, who does not care about anyone in this new world or how his actions have impacted it.  Even its version of Reed Richards is a test subject for him - it's unclear what he did to this Reed, but after the launch was delayed, the Maker seemingly killed the other three members of what would have been the Fantastic Four (or, at least, he believes they're dead) and forced 6160's Reed to wear a mask that resembles the mask of Doctor Doom.



Bryan Hitch's art is striking, with the double page spreads being highlights here.  Despite being longer than normal, the issues flew by as I read through them, and throughout them, there was this looming sense of dread, as though something was about to go (or had gone) horribly wrong.  Hickman's writing does a good job at building up the tension and keeping you wondering what will happen next.



I'm more optimistic about this Ultimate universe than I was about the previous one, which in my experience was bleak and cynical with the exception of the Spider-Man characters. (and I hadn't even reached Ultimates 3 or Ultimatum yet)  If this is any indication, it's starting off as being well-thought out with some powerful and resonant themes; that might change under other writers, but at least Hickman's given it a good base to work with.  I've heard good things about the new Ultimate Spider-Man by Hickman (where Peter is an adult, married to Mary Jane with them having two kids, when he is given another opportunity to become Spider-Man), so I'm looking forward to reading that when it's added to Marvel Unlimited.

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Hawkman (1964) #1-9

Hawkman #1-9 Originally released in 1964 Written by Gardner Fox Art by Murphy Anderson