10 Nov, 2008

Writer: Jeph Loeb
Pencils: David Finch
Inks: Danny Miki

The following review is excerpted from Comic Book Revolution (click here to read CBR’s full review)

Ultimatum has finally arrived as Marvel simply could not wait for Secret Invasion to finish before cranking up this newest “big event.” I have to admit that Ultimatum doesn’t interest me that much. With the exception of Ultimate Spider-Man, I stopped caring about the rest of the Ultimate Universe years ago.

Also, I am not too sure that it was a wise idea by Marvel to tap Jeph Loeb to head up this big event. I enjoyed Loeb’s work over at DC, but Loeb has been incredibly disappointing since he came to Marvel. I mean, Wolverine was just awful and Hulk and the Ultimates 3 have been practically unreadable at times. I do not have faith in Loeb being able to craft a riveting big event with Ultimatum. I wish Marvel had given this task to Millar. Anyway, let’s hope for the best and go ahead and hit this review for Ultimatum #1.

Art: 8/10
Story: 3/10
Overall: 5.5/10

The Good

Loeb wastes absolutely no time kicking off this big event, giving the readers plenty of immediate mass destruction as natural disasters strike Manhattan and Latveria.

I have to admit that I just love the Ultimate version of Tony Stark. With the 616 universe Tony Stark practically unrecognizable after what Marvel did to him during Civil War and all of the subsequent stories, it is great to see playboy Tony in full effect. All the man wants are some ladies and a nice stiff drink and not necessarily in that order.

I also dig that we get to see Hank Pym assuming his Yellowjacket identity in this issue. I think I am probably one of the only Hank Pym fans in all of comic fandom. It would be nice if Pym would be able to use the Yellowjacket suit in order to redeem himself.

Finch does a phenomenal job bringing this big event to life. The double page splash shot of Manhattan being flooded — as just one example — effectively conveyed the massive scope of this catastrophe.

I am a bit curious to learn how Magneto managed to procure Thor’s hammer, especially as it appears to be the 616 version and not the Ultimate Universe version.

The Bad

Basically, Ultimatum #1 consists of Manhattan being flooded, some heroes getting killed, Latveria being frozen over and Professor X revealing to the surviving heroes that Magneto is behind the attack. There just is very little meat on the bones of this issue. Ultimatum #1 completely lacked substance and depth.

This is about as generic of a big event as you are going to find. The reader gets the sense that we have seen this all before in countless other comic books and movies. At no point does this issue convey anything particularly original or interesting. Instead, Loeb mechanically goes through the motions in giving the reader a big event that has a paint-by-numbers feel to it.

Of course, Loeb “treats” the reader to death, death and more death. It appears that several characters get killed off in this issue. I understand that David Finch said in an interview that Jeph Loeb was going to be brining much of the Ultimate Universe to a close. I guess that is code for killing off a bunch of characters. I can’t say that I find that particularly creative or original.

If Ultimatum is just going to be used to slaughter off a myriad of characters from the Ultimate Universe that I have absolutely no interest at all in it. I am so over the obligatory body count that both Marvel and DC feel that they must deliver with each “big event.”

I am also less than impressed with the basis for Ultimatum. Magneto hates humans and is going to use an assortment of natural disasters to kill off the human race. *Yawn* This is such an unoriginal and well worn theme. I know that comic books by nature are formulaic and that it is extremely hard to deliver a big event that does not employ some rather well worn themes. But, the fact remains that a story based on Magneto wanting to kill all the humans is just deathly dull and unoriginal.

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