First off, apologies for the lateness of this review. While the finale issue of "Ultimate End" came out in December, my comic shop forgot to hold a copy so I had to wait for the second printing to come out. And considering the distance from my home to my comic shop, I usually make one trip to pick up everything I have for the month.
Secondly, much like my Retro Review of the "Batman: Knight of Vengeance" miniseries that tied-in with "Flashpoint", I will be reviewing "Ultimate End", a tie-in miniseries to the much larger "Secret Wars" event. When it comes to "Secret Wars" itself, I did enjoy it, starting with a lot of potential and ending with a satisfying conclusion. However, I don't feel I would be able to write up a proper review on it. Jonathan Hickman's writing style is a lot to take in. I had a similar situation during the "Infinity" event back in 2013. It's really worth a read though, so I recommend the trade.
But with "Ultimate End", oh I have much to say on this one. Before that though, a little history on Marvel's Ultimate imprint.
While Marvel relaunched a number of long-running series during the late 90's, it only resulted in a temporary sales boost. Eventually they decided that instead of trying to bring in new readers to the main universe, they decided to start from ground zero (which was the working title for the line), creating a new line of comics set in a re-imagined universe where we see what the Marvel heroes we know would be like if they debuted in the 21st Century. Thus began the Ultimate Marvel universe, starting with titles featuring Spider-Man and the X-Men, written by then newcomers Brian Michael Bendis and Mark Millar, respectively. The Ultimate universe was a success, leading to other main titles like Ultimates (this universe's version of the Avengers) and Fantastic Four, along with a slew of miniseries. It got to the point where the Ultimate titles were outselling the mainstream Marvel titles. In fact, elements of the Ultimate universe have been and are still being incorporated into the live action Marvel films.
Eventually though, with Bendis and Millar making the jump to the mainstream Marvel universe and writing game changing events like "House of M" and "Civil War", the original universe was becoming revitalized and starting to outsell the Ultimate titles. This also brought about the problem that the two universes were starting to feel identical to each other. Enter Jeph Loeb, who would write the infamous "Ultimatum" event of 2008-09, which changed the very foundation of the Ultimate universe, mostly by killing a large number of characters: Daredevil, Doctor Strange, Yellowjacket, Wasp, a majority of X-Men like Cyclops, Professor X, Wolverine...seriously, there's a whole section on all who died during this story on its Wikipedia page.
My thoughts on "Ultimatum"? I understand what they were trying to do, but the execution was poor. Honestly, the bigger problem I had was how you had to read all the tie-ins and aftermath issues to get the whole story. Because of this, "Ultimatum" is the only comic book event that I own completely...I'm not sure if I should be proud of that or not.
The line was then revamped as Ultimate Comics, with its main books being Spider-Man still written by Bendis and Avengers by Millar (in this universe, the Avengers are more like the Thunderbolts). This era of the imprint lasted until 2011, ending with the "Death of Spider-Man" event, which did indeed kill the Ultimate version of Peter Parker, making way for new character Miles Morales to take up the mantle. This lead to the next era, Ultimate Universe Reborn, which not only featured Miles as the new Spider-Man in his own book, but new books for the Ultimates and X-Men. However, this era ended by 2014 with the "Cataclysm" event, where due to the events of "Age of Ultron", the Galactus of the mainstream Marvel universe was sent to the Ultimate universe and attempted to consume their Earth. While many this would bring about the true end of the Ultimate Universe and be the way they could bring Miles over to the mainstream universe due to his popularity, the Ultimate line was revamped again with Ultimate Marvel NOW!, relaunching the Spider-Man book again, along with new books All-New Ultimates, starring Miles and a team of other young heroes, and Ultimate FF. Ultimate FF lasted until issue 6 and All-New Ultimates ended at 10. The Spider-Man book seemed to end the most naturally at issue 12 and lead straight into Secret Wars.
To explain the build-up to "Secret Wars", the multiverse was dying, set in motion by the Beyonders, with alternate Earths colliding into one another, with both Earths being destroyed or one having to destroy the other to survive until the next incursion. By the first issue of "Secret Wars", the only two worlds left were the mainstream and Ultimate universes. While the forces of both worlds worked to prevent their destruction, both were lost. However, in his attempt to save existence, Dr. Doom usurps the power of the Beyonders and effectively becomes God, using his infinite power to create a patchwork of what he was able to salvage from alternate Earths called Battleworld, each existing in their own domain, separated and enforced by Doom's army of alternate Thors, and represented by a Baron that answers to God King Doom. Many of these domains are the focus of their own tie-in miniseries.
Which finally brings us to "Ultimate End", from the team of Brian Michael Bendis and Mark Bagley, who started the Ultimate universe way back in 2000 with Ultimate Spider-Man, set in the Manhattan domain that contains what remains of both the mainstream and Ultimate Marvel universes. While it was billed as the final story of the Ultimate universe, a better description would be the long-awaited crossover between the two universes, despite a number of interactions since 2012. Either way you want to view it, it fails in both categories.
The first issue lays down the basic foundation of the miniseries, showing the heroes of the mainstream and Ultimate universes working together, despite some distrust between them, to get back their own worlds despite Doom's power. What's interesting is that at the time this came out, "Secret Wars" was already at issue 2 and gave us the basics of how Battleworld worked. While everyone seemed to follow God King Doom, it appeared that the characters in "Ultimate End" knew what Doom did. Keep this in mind a little later. The first issue ends with the mainstream Marvel heroes leaving the meeting with the Ultimate heroes when a group of Thors are sent by Doom to confront the Ultimate heroes.
But by the start of the second issue, the Thors are actually confronting the mainstream Marvel heroes, killing their Hawkeye in the process. Now, I could see that the Ultimate heroes actually saw the Thors arrive to confront the mainstream Marvel heroes, but I think it's a continuity issue. Honestly, this miniseries leaves out a lot, probably trying to do what it could with the amount of issues it was allotted.
It was by the second issue that I started to notice some continuity problems. For one, the mainstream Tony Stark was acting like his old self and wearing his Bleeding Edge armor, compared to before "Secret Wars" when he had his personality inverted in "AXIS" and had a new silver armor, featured in the Superior Iron Man book. But a bigger problem I noticed was an apparently awkward interaction between mainstream Peter Parker and Ultimate Aunt May and Gwen Stacy, who had already met each before in the "Spider-Men" crossover story, also written by Bendis. It wasn't until during my second read-through of the series that it finally hit me. While the domains of Battleworld resemble the well-known alternate realities, they aren't the ACTUAL realities. Rather they are an echo created by Doom and changed so they worship him. For example, take the "Years of Future Past" miniseries, based on the reality shown in the famous X-Men story, "Days of Future Past". While it was Senator Kelly's death in the original storyline that set in motion the events of the Sentinel controlled future, Kelly is alive and is President and Baron of the Battleworld domain.
Much like that, the mainstream and Ultimate universes shown in "Ultimate End" AREN'T the true versions but an echo created by Doom. So any continuity issues carrying from those universes into "Ultimate End" can be explained by that (well, mostly, but we'll get to that). Also, apparently their domains were originally separated but it was Ultimate Tony Stark's tinkering with the cross-dimensional device used to travel between the two universes and shown in "Spider-Men" and "Cataclysm" that results in the merger of the domains. So that means while the heroes of both worlds are working to set things right, Doom doesn't want them to.
Issue two also includes a brawl between the mainstream green Hulk and the Ultimate gray Hulk. Now there is an art inconsistency where we see mainstream Hulk actually having a goatee, but it apparently goes away when their fight begins. It doesn't help that by the time of the upcoming brawl later on in the series' fourth and fifth issues, he has the goatee again. As the two battle, all the mainstream and Ultimate heroes gather to put a stop to their fight, ending the second issue.
So you would probably think this would lead to an all out brawl with the heroes fighting the Hulks in the third issue, right? Nope. It starts out with mainstream Banner being held in containment by Ultimate Nick Fury and there's very little explanation to where Ultimate Banner went, despite the fact that he is a lot more unstable compared to mainstream Banner, not showing up again until the brawl in issues four and five. I mean, at least mainstream Banner can control his Hulk better, only losing control when pushed by someone like Ultimate Banner did. The issue ends with both Tony Starks busting mainstream Banner out so he can help them in their plan to set their domains right.
Issue four starts with the heroes teaming up to get mainstream Banner back from the Starks. This brings me to another problem I noticed in this series that isn't isolated. At some point over the years, it was decided that caption boxes and word balloons in the mainstream Marvel books would be "FULL CAPS" while Ultimate books would feature "Standard writing" in what I guess was a way to differentiate between universes. As such, both types of fonts are used for the characters depending on their universe. However, in issue four, Ultimate Hawkeye has a word balloon that is full caps. I'm not sure if it was Bendis or an editor who made the mistake, but that's the kind of thing that happens when you make both versions of the character have a similar costume. It happens again later on in issue five with Ultimate Kitty Pryde having a full caps word balloon.
Anyway, the Starks disagree on what course of action to take which leads to them gathering up the heroes of their universes for one final battle. Not counting pages where they're shown charging at each other, the actual fight only lasts ONE PAGE before the final page shows Miles Morales entering the fray.
Which brings us to the fifth and final issue and boy is it a doozy. Miles stops the fighting rather easily, yelling "STOP!" and webbing up everyone he can to get their attention. It's kind of hard to tell at first considering how crowded the panel is, I couldn't see the webs the first time and just thought everyone stopped. And no, this isn't an echo of Miles, but the true version from the real Ultimate universe, surviving the final incursion by hitching a ride on the Cabal's Life Raft in the main "Secret Wars" book. He has mainstream Emma Frost, Rachael Grey, and teenage Jean Grey use their psychic powers to broadcast the truth of Doom and their circumstances to all the heroes.
What happens after that is a two page spread of, and I seriously counted, 70 head shots of characters reacting to what they've been shown. Some of them don't believe him, others are horrified or pissed, and some don't say anything at all. I mean, was that necessary? We had to see EVERY character's reaction?
So Miles is part of the plan to rally up the domains of Battleworld to rise up against Doom (this is explained a lot better in the main "Secret Wars" book). Anyways, the heroes decide to join what would seem to be the final battle they'll take part in.
But before that, Miles Morales and mainstream Peter Parker and Tony Stark all leave messages for their loved ones before going in to battle. And this is another problem I have with this issue.
Let me start with Peter. They're acting like this is the same Peter Parker shown in the main "Secret Wars" book. It's not. Peter actually survived the final incursion and made it aboard Reed Richards' Life Raft along with Black Panther, Cyclops, Jane Foster/Thor, Star Lord, and Carol Danvers/Captain Marvel. The Peter Parker shown in "Ultimate End" is an echo of the mainstream version.
Miles leaves a message for his father, who we see for the first and only time in this book. But you know, at least Miles' dad actually got shown. Tony is leaving a message for Pepper, and we don't even see her, but the outside of Stark Tower. In comparison, Peter was leaving a message for Ultimate Aunt May and Gwen, who we actually saw him interact with in this series. With Miles and Tony leaving their messages, we don't have that same emotional pull. They couldn't have even shown Pepper? How hard would that be?
But the messages aren't contained to these one panels but are stretched out over a number of pages. We start out with a group shot of the mainstream and Ultimate heroes charging onto Doomstadt for the final battle...followed by three more two-page spreads of 70 character head-shots. However, the head-shots disappear page by page, indicating that these characters are getting killed, leaving a white space from where they were. The last ones remaining are Peter, Miles, and both Tonys before one last double page spread of whiteness. Oh, and through all those pages, Peter, Miles, and Tony's messages to their loved ones just keep going. Honestly, I couldn't even finish reading their messages because of how busy these pages were; I just skipped to the next section. I mean, I know they wanted to save the final battle for the main "Secret Wars" book, but seriously, give us something more riveting than freaking head-shots.
So after the double page spread of whiteness, which is supposed to be the indication of the establishment of the All-New All-Different Marvel universe, we find Miles being awakened by his mother, telling he shouldn't waste his Saturday sleeping in. Now this is a big deal because Miles' mother was killed during the "Venom War" story arc of his solo book. What's also of note is that their word balloons are full cap like the mainstream Marvel books, signifying that Miles, and by extension his supporting cast, have finally made the jump to the mainstream universe, setting up for his new solo book in the All-New All-Different Marvel universe where he would become a member of the Avengers.
But yeah, establishing Miles' mother being alive is the only big development this series brings. If you want an actual reason why Miles' life jumped universes, you'd have to read the main "Secret Wars" book. It's actually done pretty brilliantly.
How do I sum up my thoughts on "Ultimate End"? Well, to borrow the catchphrase of a famous internet comic book reviewer, THIS COMIC SUCK!
I mean, it seems like they just gave Bendis mostly free reign and not to worry about continuity or what was happening in the nain "Secret Wars" book with the important part being that he give some indication of Miles' life in the All-New All-Different Marvel universe. But much like "Age of Ultron" (another Bendis book), the only important part to come of this was at the end and could have easily been referenced in another book...which they did...in the main "Secret Wars" book, when Peter and Miles are about to patrol together and he asks him what he told his mom he was doing. Hell, for a book that's I'm assuming was supposed to set up Miles's status-quo post-Secret Wars, he's only in one full issue, and he's supposed to be the most popular original character from the line.
But that aside, this book utterly fails as both a final farewell to the fifteen year old Ultimate universe and a Mainstream Marvel vs. Ultimate Marvel book. On the latter, such a crossover would have been better as its own story rather than a tie-in to a much larger story. I would say that it displays why the Ultimate universe should have been done away with long before then, but I can't help but feel there could have been some way to have it go out in a blaze of glory than it did. But if you want to see the Ultimate universe get more of a proper send-off, you're better off reading the main "Secret Wars" book AND Hickman's "Time Runs Out" story in Avengers and New Avengers that lead up to the event, as they do both feature characters from the Ultimate universe in a much more respectful way.
You know what's probably the biggest disservice this book delivers though? While we have Brian Michael Bendis and Mark Bagley ending the Ultimate universe with this book much like how they began it in Ultimate Spider-Man, it didn't include the character that started it all: Ultimate Peter Parker. Sure, Ultimate Peter did come back from the dead, gave Miles his blessing, and rode off into the sunset with MJ, but to not have him in the final Ultimate Universe story is just...well, I think I made my point clear.
I'm doing something I haven't done before with my comic book reviews. I'm giving "Ultimate End" a ZERO in both story and recommendation rating. Now, I'm not saying that it's the worst comic ever, but even some comics considered the worst have something going for it. "Spider-Man: One More Day" was an editorial mandate that butchered two decades of character development, but it at least had the emotional pull of Peter and Mary Jane's relationship to it. "Age of Ultron", which I still gave a 2/10 on recommendation, did have entertaining elements of time travel and alternate realities while setting up what eventually lead to "Secret Wars". But "Ultimate End" just exists. Compared to other really good or okay "Secret Wars" tie-ins I read, like "Amazing Spider-Man: Renew Your Vows" and "Years of Future Past", "Ultimate End" just felt like a soulless cash-grab with really no rhyme or reason for it. I'd hate to say it, but "Ultimatum" was a better read than this. What does that tell you?
No comments:
Post a Comment