Ultimate Invasion #1 Review

(W) Jonathan Hickman (A) Bryan Hitch

The Ultimate Universe is something I missed first time around.  The idea that you could update all of the origins of classic Marvel by having their origins take place in the modern day as opposed to the 1960’s was revolutionary at the time, and it provided a level of freshness that Marvel arguably needed at the time.

The idea has always intrigued me, so as soon as I saw the Ultimate Spider-Man was going to start hitting the omnibus format, I knew I had my way in.  So far there have been two volumes covering almost 80 issues, and I devoured both of them upon their release.  Then I moved onto The Ultimates Omnibus, and wow do Marvel Studios owe Mark Millar and Bryan Hitch some royalties, because they basically set the template upon which the whole MCU has been built.  I have picked up the first Ultimate X-Men Omnibus but have yet to indulge.

Which brings us to Ultimate Invasion.  Apparently originally the brainchild of Donny Cates (he even gets a special thanks in the credits of the book), it is ultimately (see what I did there?) brought to us from the team of Jonathan Hickman, and original Ultimates artist, Bryan Hitch.  And boy does it deliver.

If there’s one thing Hickman specialises in, it is big ideas and broad concepts.  He delivered 2015’s Secret Wars which effectively killed off the Ultimate Universe, so maybe it’s serendipity that he revives it.  Having revolutionised the X-Men with the Krakoa era, he has now set his sights on the whole Marvel Universe.

Earth 1610 is back, and The Maker, AKA a psychotic version of Reed Richards from the Ultimate Universe, is waging war.  A great bulk of the book is spent showing how he has been kept secluded, under arrest and hidden from the world, and how he breaks free from those chains.  And he does it in a smart, twisted and gruesome way.  His perfect plan is slightly upset by someone he hired not being present and a replacement sent in his place.  This small alteration is enough for those in charge to realise that it is no longer Reed Richards in their custody.

Hickman has always been great at juggling a large cast of characters but making each voice unique, and he is on top form here.  There are times where I believe Hackman’s ideas can almost be too big and can get away from him slightly (ironically enough he’s in the Marvel Universe to me, what Scott Snyder in the DC Uinverse is to Keith!), but he echoes the original Ultimates Universe tone of Mark Millar brilliantly here, aiming instead for a large scale blockbuster with plenty of twists.  He also writes a truly terrifying foe in The Maker, and we are right to worry for the heroes here given what they are up against.

There are more than enough breadcrumbs laid out for us in issue 1, without going into too much specificity regarding The Maker’s plan, but letting us know that the Marvel Universe should be on the highest of alerts.

Bryan Hitch’s art is fantastic here.  It’s great having him back in the Ultimate Universe, as you feel right at home with the visual style of the first issue.  There are bombastic set pieces, large scale pages, and plenty of great, subtle details in the faces of the characters.  I must admit I wasn’t the biggest fan of Hitch’s work recently on Venom, with Cafu coming in and steadying the ship, but this book is simply gorgeous and a major selling point in the admittedly larger cover price.

But the price may have been a little steeper than most modern comics, but I thought it was fantastic value for money given the quality on show.  And I can’t wait for the next issues to come out, before a proper rebirth takes place for the Ultimate Universe!

Fantastic Four #1 Review

Fantastic Four #1

(W) Ryan North (A) Iban Coello

First up, a confession.  I have never found a Fantastic Four run that has engaged me enough to see all the way through.  It’s not that Marvel’s first family haven’t had loads of great talent involved over the years – heck, the likes of Jonathan Hickman, Matt Fraction and Dan Slott have all taken the reins at one point or another. But I just haven’t found that run just yet.

But if the rest of this series lives up to the quality of this first issue, then they may have their hooks in me at long last.  For me, this is up there with the best single issues of the year.

Ryan North has gone on the record, that after Slott’s large cosmic, universe spanning run, he was interested in starting small, with self contained stories for each of the heroes.  And Fantastic Four #1 kicks off with an absolutely doozy, as we follow The Thing and his wife Alicia.

The story is straightforward enough.  The Thing and Alicia are on a trip and they end up pulling up at a motel for the night.  Some of the locals don’t take kindly to Ben Grimm’s appearance, and they attempt to harm him by driving a truck into their room as they sleep.  But alas, the truck disappears into thin air.  And despite all the noise and commotion, no one has any recollection of what happened the night before.

They take a walk around the town, only to find out they’ve somehow ended up in the middle of small town America in the 1940’s.  Not only that, but they are stuck relieving the same day over and over!  So a mystery begins as they try to figure out why this is happening and how they can escape it.

Knowing the Fantastic Four was starting fresh from #1, I would never have guessed that the titles biggest influence would be Groundhog Day.  But that’s exactly what we have here.  We have Ben getting to know the townspeople, and even the ones who feared him in the beginning, become his best friends.  Alicia shows how charming and thoughtful she can be.  And you’re reminded over and over just how much heart these characters bring to the Marvel Universe.

The art is vibrant and clean the whole way through it, with detailed expressions and plenty of humour to be found in the imagery.  There’s also repeating imagery with subtle differences as we’re stuck in this time loop with the characters.  I actually read this issue out loud to my son, who hung on my every word (Probably nothing to do with the quality of the story admittedly…), and I wondered at the start if the first few pages were mistakenly reprinted over and over!

The reason why this timeloop has been created and where the story goes is so endearing and genuinely affecting by the end.  To go into too much detail would spoil it somewhat, but some of the last few pages had me welling up a little.

And then we get a few pages added to the end which while separate from the Ben and Alicia story, go somewhat towards letting us know what the conflict is going to be for the series moving forward.  Absolutely incredible first issue and count me all in on this run on Marvel’s first family.

Punisher #7 Review

Punisher #7

(W) Jason Aaron (A) Jesus Saiz (Present) Paul Azaceta (Past)

When The Punisher came back after an indefinite hiatus, there were plenty of people who didn’t like the direction they were taking the character, even before picking up an issue.  The guns were gone, replaced by a Sword.  The iconic Punisher skull was redesigned and replaced. His mission to wipe the scum off the streets of New York had been replaced by a more worldwide cause, and is for all intents and purposes, an assassin whose targets are fed to him.

But why would Frank even consider being a tool of chaos and destruction for someone else?  Well, they were able to deliver something to him that he’s always wanted – more time with his wife, who was of course slain along with his children at the beginning of his journey to becoming The Punisher.

This throws up plenty of questions about Frank’s state of mind.  He knows that his wife is dead, but is willing to play along with the charade in a bid to disway his guilt over failing to protect her.

He gets to indulge in extreme violence and destruction, which has always been his modus operandi.  And take out his rage and pain against the faceless hordes.  But was he The Punisher in mind even before his family’s untimely demise?  Has this predilection for violence always been there?  This misguided sense of using violence to protect those who can’t protect themselves?

That’s what Jason Aaron has been doping throughout his run so far, choosing to split it over two timeframes, with a different artist tackles each period.  Paul Azaceta handles Frank’s past, even going back so far to when he was a kid.  While Jesus Saiz handles the art in the present.  This dual exploration of Frank has been fantastic the whole way through the series, and #7 is arguably the best so far.

In the present, Frank is on a collision course with Daredevil.  And that’s exciting stuff on its own, and there is some fantastic action in this issue.  But for me, the guts of the issue lie with Frank when he returns from the war.  His kids are scared of him.  He can’t sleep in a normal bed, preferring a tent outside.  He doesn’t know how to be intimate with his wife.  He just feels he’s come back from the war broken.

But over the course of the issue those protective instincts kick in and he is able to find peace, as the children’s guardian and protector as much as anything else.  And this makes knowing he ultimately fails them in that role all the more heart-breaking.

This is a fantastic series and arguably the best Punisher has been since the iconic Garth Ennis days.  The first trade is already available and if you even have a passing interest in the character, should be deemed absolutely essential.