Nextwave: Agents of HATE

Warren Ellis has a history of writing what are essentially creator-owned titles in established shared universes. He did it with Stormwatch, The Authority and Planetary in the Wildstorm universe. He did it with Excalibur and other associated X-titles in Marvel. And he did it with Nextwave.

Nextwave was written at a time when Ellis was working exclusively for Marvel. He's said that during this period he felt he was being paid to service Marvel's vast back catalogue of characters and concepts. Which is a fair argument to make. I wish Marvel would try their hand at creating a new batch of heroes and villains but this approach is a good alternative. Ellis selected a handful of barely used characters, stuck them together as a team and pitted them against a batch of equally barely used enemies (and new enemies with very clear links to established ones). It's a decent substitute for entirely new creations.

The characters in question were Elsa Bloodstone, a monster hunter who'd appeared in her own limited series before spiralling into obscurity; explosion-happy mutant Tabitha Smith; Monica 'Photon' Rambeu, who can transform herself into any form of energy on the magnetic spectrum (it’s about as interesting to see used in a comic about as it sounds); and android Aaron Stack (formerly Machine Man). They're joined by new creations The Captain, who has the standard flight and super strength combo, and recurring villain Dirk Anger. Through his usual snarky dialogue, a strong reliance on humour and a series of threats that are either inspired by the Lee and Kirby era or Saturday morning cartoons Ellis writes what is one of his best pieces of work.

The tone of the book is not dissimilar to The Authority: the aim is to have a fun comic that plays on the standard tropes of superhero titles on the shelves. But while Authority had serious moments and global level threats Nextwave retains its humour at all times, never trying to be anything more than amusing comic, and problems that are intended to be outlandish more than world-threatening. Ellis deliberately wrote Nextwave to be as shallow as possible, saying that emotional arcs and character development are foreign to comics. I think there is a place for these things but Ellis is right that they've become overused. More comics could get away with having a gang of supes smacking a giant robot about.

The premise is designed around this. We're told that the Nextwave group have gone rogue from former employers HATE (Highest Anti-Terrorism Effort) after finding out that they're backed financially by the Beyond Corporation, a former terrorist cell. Using a stolen business plan the team travel around the US hunting out Beyond's UWMDs (Unusual Weapons of Mass Destruction). These UWMDs take such forms as a genetically engineered, Transformers-inspired robot, an army of samurais, various floating cities, and sixties fave Fin Fang Foom.

Stuart Immonen probably deserves a mention at this point. I'm sure most artists at Marvel would be able to draw the things Ellis thinks up for Nextwave, but I don't think anyone could have done quite as good a job. He gets the right blend of action and fun.

It's a simplistic approach but one that allows Nextwave to simply be enjoyable. There are no Big Ideas or underlying messages, it's designed just to be a fun read. It helps that Ellis amuses himself with a letters page and a Q&A segment at the start of each issue, the latter of which is there to get new readers up to speed but features minor alterations each issue for regular readers.

Nextwave was originally going to be written for twelve issues by Ellis and then get passed on to a new writer. For whatever reason that didn't happen and the series wrapped up as its initial creative duo left. I doubt anyone could have made the book work as Ellis did so it's probably a blessing in disguise that this happened. A return would be welcome, but only written by Ellis and ideally drawn by Immonen. For anyone who's enjoyed the initial stretch of The Authority and Planetary (and why wouldn't you, both are great) this series will go down a treat.

Deadpool: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

Into its third volume the Deadpool MAX! series continues to be one of the best things Marvel are putting onto the shelves of comic shops. But it’s for a different reason than in the first two volumes (read about those here and here). While those books succeeded by emphasising Deadpool’s comedy, something which hasn’t been done right enough during the character’s twenty-plus year history, the third succeeds by exploring Deadpool’s more tragic elements.

It was something that could have failed. The title had been set up as something funny and so that’s what people had come to expect from it. But writers Gerry Duggan and Brian Posehn do such good exploring Deadpool’s history with Weapon X, and the stolen memories and deformed cancer patient sufferings that come with that, that you find yourself swept along.

In hindsight they were making readers care about Deadpool during their first two volumes too. But because they were doing it with humour, something you’d expect from the character and his titles anyway, it wasn’t noticeable. Also, you don’t tend to read something funny and think to yourself “yes, I am beginning to care about this character.” They’re a talented pair of writers.

There are still laughs though. Even when Deadpool finds himself fighting through North Korean concentration camps alongside deformed X-Men clone experiments he’s given wises to crack. But it’s the first two issues of the volume that are home to most of the laughs. The first is once again told as a flashback. It takes place in the seventies and sees Deaders teaming up with Iron First and Power Man to take on The White Man. Every joke you could expect with a villain who’s chosen that name is used, usually by or within earshot of Power Man. It’s gloriously silly, and a great start to the collection. It also helps to balance out the more grim surroundings of the rest of the volume.

Much was made before the arc started coming out as singles of Wolverine and Captain America’s involvement. While they’re used well and there’s a logical reason for their team-up with Deadpool they do at times feel a little surplus to requirements, like they’ve been added to the title to encourage crossover readership. Both are well written though. Cap in particular. He’s a character I don’t usually care for (which can’t just be because I’m not American) and it was nice to see him believably presented as a compassionate, caring man instead of the military genius poster boy he tends to be in various Avengers titles.

The new art of Declam Shalvey takes some getting used but it’s fine once you do. Even if you’re not keen on it it can be overlooked because the writing is so strong. Posehn and Duggan continue to be the best writers to ever work on a Deadpool title. And this title continues to be one of the greatest successes of Marvel’s NOW! initiative.

Ultimate Avengers: Next Generation

Both series of Mark Millar and Bryan Hitch’s Ultimates were well received by those who read them. They reworked the origins of Marvel’s premier superteam for a modern audience and told mature episodic stories. They are amongst the best comics written since the turn of the millennium. Not even the horrible misfire that was Jeph Loeb’s Ultimates 3 could ruin them.

In 2008 Marvel decided to shake up their Ultimate line with a big crossover apocalypse event dubbed Ultimatum. The line’s credibility had already taken a battering with the Ultimate Power story but Ultimatum was worse. It was designed as a reboot of the whole line. It achieved that goal, with all ongoing titles either being cancelled or rebranded with new numbering, but also delivered an incredibly boring story that insulted fans and made no sense to new readers.

One good thing did come out of the reboot though: Mark Millar returned to write more stories using some of the characters he’d used in The Ultimates. Confusingly this new book was dubbed Ultimate Comics: The Avengers. The Ultimates were an Ultimate universe version of the Avengers, whilst the Ultimate universe’s Avengers were a black-ops S.H.I.E.L.D. team. It’s a minor detail and what that doesn’t really matter in the scheme of things but, well, it’s always seemed like Marvel made a choice with the name.

Poor choice of title aside it was a promising start. Millar had proven skilled at spinning compelling modern day superhero yarns that fused politics, history and pseudo-science with traditional superheroic action. With access to all the characters he’d written so well and a promise that he would be using ideas he’d originally planned for further Ultimate series it looked like Marvel were on to a winner.

The first six issue series, subtitled Next Generation, saw Nick Fury rehired by S.H.I.E.L.D. (after some time spent in an alternate universe he’d been involved in trying to destroy) and tasked with bringing in a rogue Captain America. Aside from those two the only other established character in the series is Hawkeye. He still sports the strange redesign insisted on by Jeph Loeb (it makes him look more serious, allegedly) but is written well again. He’s no longer the strange suicide-obsessed killing machine he became in Ultimates 3.

The new characters are Codename: Nerd Hulk, a good natured guy with Hulk’s body and Bruce Banner’s mind; Fury’s ex-wife Monica Chang as a new Black Widow; Insect Queen from the villainous Liberators team the Ultimates battled in the Grand Theft America arc, here renamed Red Wasp; Colonel Rhodes, who has the most advanced Iron Man suit on the planet; and Gregory Stark, the tee total, amoral brother of Tony who regards his brother as a feeble-minded disappointment. Written here it just seems like a list of ideas, continuity references and inverted regulars. Millar writes them with humour and makes them as believable as any Marvel character needs to be.

Even though he’s on the run Cap is at the centre of the story. The opening issue shows him discovering that he has a son. And not just any son. A son who is just as physically, mentally and tactically gifted as him. It’s the Red Skull.

Ultimate Red Skull is not a superhuman created during the Third Reich. He’s an American born to Cap’s girlfriend Betty and taken to a US military base as a baby. His escape at the age of seventeen, during which he slaughtered hundreds of employees, is shown, establishing how formidable an opponent Skull is.

The success of the book lies in the way Millar melds his ideas with a compelling plot. His naturalistic dialogue doesn’t hurt either. By the end of issue six you know what everyone’s motivations are and what they hope to gain from their black-ops work. Well, mostly. Gregory Stark is left a distant and shifty enigma. And the Spider-man sitting inside a glass tank inside S.H.I.E.L.D.’s Triskelion HQ is a complete mystery.

Artist Carlos Pacheco is excellent. It’s disappointing he didn’t get to return to work on any of the other three volumes of Ultimate Avengers. His knack for drawing action sequences was a boon for the series. With Next Generation Ultimate Avengers gets off to a strong start and shows that Mark Millar is still the best thing to have happened to Marvel’s Ultimate line. Definitely recommended reading.

Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. is a programme with a lot of potential. Okay, the big name superheroes and villains may be inaccessible because the rights have either been sold to film studios or because Marvel’s holding them in reserve for future projects, but the seventy-year-old fictional universe is a big place. There are dozens of minor characters that could be plucked from obscurity and made into a relevant and enjoyable part of a modern day TV series. How about Wonderman or Mr Immortal or Photon or Tigra?

There are plenty of oddball plots and series that are never going to be converted for the silver screen. Delving into Marvel’s Essential collections would turn up plenty of material. A look at Jim Steranko’s S.H.I.E.L.D. work would be a good idea too. In fact I think the creative types working on the show have a great deal more freedom than those working on Marvel film projects for Fox, Sony or Marvel themselves.

The problem the show has is that this potential has come nowhere close to being lived up to. The show is too serious, too po-faced, too concerned with being seen as gritty and relatable. Everything from the drab stories to the cynically written and-or boring cast of characters demonstrates this. It’s a Joss Whedon show so I understand we’re going to have snarky nerds and Kung Fu lovin’ women but that doesn’t mean that’s all we have to have.

Agent Coulson is possibly the worst offense. Beyond the central mystery of how he was resurrected after death and the clumsy (and frequent) references to his time in Tahiti (mysteries I have no interest in hearing the resolution to by the way) there’s nothing to the character. As a recurring minor character in films he was fine. As a central figure on a TV show he falls apart. His motivations are supposed to be a combination of enigmatic and mysterious, his lines droll, but he’s just tedious and uninteresting. In fairness he’s the one character that had to be included as he provides the link between the films and the show but that’s no reason to make him a chore to watch.

A sense of grittiness and overly-tense characters are things that concern too many drama shows. Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. would make a greater impact if it embraced a sense of fun and tried to impress viewers with a sense of wonder. Grittiness can be seen any drama show. Fun and wonder cannot. S.H.I.E.L.D. is an organisation tasked with protecting the world from aliens, magic, tyrants, and errant superheroes. There’s a lot that could be done with the premise, but those in charge seem reticent to embrace that.

Episode four, Eye Spy, started in the right way. It depicted dozens of grey suit-wearing men marching in unison through public places clutching briefcases, their faces covered in red masks. The reason for it happening, when it was revealed, was boring, but the visual was both something different and compelling. If the show could dream up similarly intriguing images and marry them to plots that deserve them then it would be on the right track.

X-Men: Days of Future Past

I'd open this with a joke about time travel never going out of fashion but I don't know how to structure it. Just imagine I've done it and chuckle to yourself about how clever an observation it was.

Days of Future Past is not only one of the greatest, if grammatically puzzling, titles for a comic story ever it's also a highlight of X-Men canon. Considering the number of stories that are regarded as classics within said canon that's not something I say lightly. It was written by Chris Claremont during his immense decade-plus run on the X-books. During that time he wrote more stories now considered classics than anyone else no named Stan Lee or Jack Kirby has for any other group or character. Days of Future Past is amongst his best.

The basic premise is that the adult consciousness of Kitty Pryde gets sent back in time, from 2013 eerily enough, to inhabit her teenage body in order to avert impending doom at the hands of an army of Sentinels. After the standard exchanges where she convinces the younger earlier incarnations that she is who she says she is, naturally enough featuring Wolverine’s heightened senses, the gang set about stopping an assassination attempt by Mystique's Brotherhood that proved a pivotal moment in history. It may sound basic now but that's because time travel has become so commonplace in TV, movies, fiction and pop culture in general. This story was ahead of its time and, more importantly is better than the average "timey-wimey" fluff that gets churned out today.

The time shifting shenanigans allow for more impactful moments than the average Marvel book, then or now. Claremont is free to kill off as many future incarnations of characters as he pleases, something he embraces. The death toll ratchets up, demonstrating that the future is indeed incredibly bleak and something the X-Men are right to try and avoid. Claremont also employs one of his favourite tricks, featuring reformed Magneto.

It’s a great piece of world building, a demonstration of Claremont’s skill as a writer of comic books. Using established continuity he creates a bleak world with a compelling history that’s both fleshed out and intriguing enough to make you want to explore it more. Unfortunately some people did just that: in the years since Days of Future Past first appeared Marvel have milked the DOFP continuity dry, coming as close as they can to robbing the original of its appeal. Fox are getting in on the act too, with a film adaption due out next year. Thankfully no matter how much inferior nonsense they pump out the original’s standing can’t be diminished.

Squeezed into just two issues Days of Future Past was and is a triumph, one that changed what an X-Men comic could do. It is one of the highest peaks of Claremont's lengthy X-Men career.

Books of Doom

For me one of the greatest characters ever to appear in comics is Doctor Doom. I can't imagine there's anyone reading this who's unaware of him but just in case... Doom is the arch enemy of the Marvel supergroup the Fantastic Four (specifically he is the nemesis of Reed Richards) who has a deliberately obscured and contradictory backstory. He's the monarch of his own nation, Latveria, wears an imposing metal mask (which used to express emotions before Marvel, sadly, grew up), is a master scientists, practices magick, and used to love referring to himself in the third person.

I could write hundreds of words elaborating on all of these points but I won't. The point is that Victor Von Doom is one of the most intriguing, entertaining, and well-rounded characters in the Marvel Universe. As with many of his contemporaries (in fact all well-written bad guys everywhere) Doom has understandable and justifiable motives for his actions. He doesn't see himself as a villain. He sees himself as a genius and a hero.

All of this meant it was completely natural for Marvel to give him a starring role in his own comic. He's actually had several at this point, and Books of Doom is not the first. But it is (probably) the most prominent.

Books of Doom is a four issue mini-series that tells the (perhaps it's more accurate to say "an") origin story for the character. It presents various aspects that have been involved in stories of his early years before, but does contradict takes that have appeared in the pages of Fantastic Four comics. Magick, gypsies, humble beginnings and Tibetan monks are among the things that have played a part in shaping Doom's personality.

The fashioning of these disparate themes and ideas into coherency is left to Ed Brubaker. He does a fine job, getting Doom's focus, motives and speech patterns (yes a comic book character can have speech patterns) exactly right. The plot is less of a triumph, mostly because he's retreading old ground. He's very loyal to what's already been established and manages to put his own spin on things but when so much is already known it's tough to have much of an impact or surprise the audience. He sticks to the Jack Kirby approach of not showing Doom's face after a certain point, which is incredibly pleasing.

On art duty is Pablo Raimondi (which is a great name). He too does a fine job, capturing the sense of imperialistic righteousness that characterises Doctor Doom at his best and ensuring that the supporting cast don't fade into the background, which would have been all too easy with a bombastic creation like Doom in the starring role. A minor complaint regarding the artwork is that a lot of the book is set at night, leading to a lot of purples, browns, greys and blacks. It can make the book a little drab to look at in places.

Books of Doom is an essential read for any fans of Doctor Doom. It's not the greatest comic ever written, it's not even the greatest comic to make use of Doom, but Brubaker and Raimondi do a great job capturing the spirit of the character and do an put an entertaining, fresh spin on his origin tale. For anyone more concerned with plot than Doctor Doom there's a wonderful twist in the closing pages which is a real delight. All-in-all it’s something worth a look at, but not something that’s likely to make anyone’s top reads list.

The Ultimates 3

The first and second series of The Ultimates were both important titles. They helped establish Mark Millar as a major name at ‘The House of Ideas’, effectively setting him up to become one of the biggest writers in comicdom a few years later. They affirmed that Marvel’s Ultimate line was to be considered synonymous with the very best the company had to offer. And they were amongst the finest books turned out in the first decade of the century. A great deal of good was done by Hitch and Millar’s Ultimates books.

Naturally Marvel was keen to keep the title going. Unfortunately, for them and us, Millar was less keen to remain involved. Feeling he’d told all the stories he wanted to with the Ultimates team and wanting to work with different characters, both Marvel properties and his own, Millar declined an invitation to write The Ultimates 3.

The company was tasked with finding a new writer for the series. What they needed was someone familiar with the first two series, and the characters used in them, who was keen to do something new and exciting that followed on from Millar’s work. Ideally they would have given the book to a young writer who’d proven themselves on an expendable title or two who could have used The Ultimates 3 to establish themselves in the same fashion Millar had.

Instead it went to Jeph Loeb.

New ideas are not Loeb’s strong suit. Where Millar gave us a fresh and interesting take on well-worn characters, making them feel new again, Loeb did everything in his power to rework them to be more in line with their traditional portrayals. Which spectacularly missed the point of the Ultimate line, of course. Cap goes from being a man out of time to a generic square-jawed hero, Black Widow becomes a sex kitten double agent, and Thor inexplicably starts chatting like a Shakespeare character, ignoring the eco warrior theme he’d had under Millar. There are other examples. These are simply the worst.

Along with his complete non-understanding of the title’s original appeal Loeb also failed to provide an interesting storyline. Where Millar had provided fittingly large scale plots involving alien invasion and Nazi criminals (it’s more inventive than it sounds, I promise) Loeb tells the tale of a sex tape and a sentient robot butler. These are not subjects that should be off limits to comics, but they are subjects and storylines that should have been off limits to an incredibly successful action title being produced by Marvel.

He also went overboard with cameos and continuity. This is a trademark of his. We were “treated” to appearances by the likes of Spider-Man, Magneto and Sabretooth, the pointless debut of Hank Pym’s Yellowjacket garb, and the addition of Valkyrie, Wolverine, Black Panther and others to the team so that Loeb can play at writing mysteries (which he seems to think he’s rather good at, which would make him wrong as well as a poor writer). None of it adds anything to the story beyond a cheap thrill. The continuity was worse, mostly because Loeb didn’t have sufficient knowledge of what had gone before. At times it’s as though he thinks he’s writing for Marvel’s regular continuity, which, again, completely misses the point of the Ultimate line.

Adding to the woe was the exit of artist Bryan Hitch alongside Mark Millar. To my knowledge he’s never stated why he left The Ultimates but it would seem safe to assume he wanted fresh work. As good as Millar’s Ultimates scripts were it’s easy to imagine Hitch wanting to draw something else.

Replacing him was Joe Madureira. He’s not a bad artist but his work was so different from Hitch’s that it failed to feel like the same book. And as it was presented as a continuation of what had gone before that was a bit of a problem. His artwork just didn’t gel with the tone people were expecting.

At the time it was clear that The Ultimates 3 was a terrible comic series. Loeb and Madureira were entirely the wrong people for the task of continuing the sterling work of Millar and Hitch and they produced something bad. With hindsight it’s worse than simply being a bad comic. With hindsight The Ultimates 3 is where the entire Ultimate line took a dive in quality that it never recovered from.

Deadpool: Dead Presidents

Deadpool is a character that has appealed to me since the moment I first heard about him. He's also a character that hasn't been written well in any of the comics I've read featuring him. That's a list that includes Suicide Kings and The Circle Chase trade paperbacks as well as various X-Men appearances. The Wolverine: Origins movie didn't do much for him either.

The idea of Deadpool is pretty simple. He's a mercenary with a Wolverine-style knack for healing any wound (and a similar Weapon X origin) but without the nice hair and normal skin. He quips and jokes like Spider-Man, but with far more pop culture references and nods toward the fact that he's a comic book character. He's also one of the few worthwhile Marvel or DC creations to come out of the mostly dreadful 90s.

It was hearing that he knew he’s a comic book character that originally made me think he'd be the greatest Marvel character I’d ever read. Panels I found on Google Image confirmed that the character could be genuinely amusing and had appeared in what looked like well written stories. Unfortunately the ones I picked up (mentioned above) were less than quality stuff. So I decided the character wasn't for me and went back to reading Vertigo books.

A few years later I heard about the character being rebooted through the Marvel NOW! line. The first collected volume shows that the creative team here knows how to make 'The Merc with a Mouth' work. There are two writers, Brian Posehn and Gerry Duggan. Posehn has a background as a writer and comedian while Duggan has a varied writing background that includes everything from Uncnanny Avengers to Simpsons comics.

They make a good team. There's a clear love of comics and pop culture, with everything from Mighty Mouse to Planet of the Apes to Arrested Development being referenced. At one point there's a multi-panel sequence about Deadpool's mental instability which begins when he conspiratorially addresses the readers. I think the book's funny in part because the two writers were able to bounce ideas off of one another and see what worked.

They're joined by artist Tony Moore. His visuals immediately click with the writing and the character and prove a large part of the title's success. He was the original artist on The Walking Dead (something everyone who reviews this Deadpool book points out) which makes him a natural at drawing the large cast of foes (see below for why) and Deadpool's emaciated husk of a body. He provides suitably gory scenes without ever becoming so graphic as to appear unsettling. Considering some of the things he's tasked with drawing that could easily have happened.

The volume collects the first six issues of the series. The title, Dead Presidents, gives you a pretty fair summation of the plot. All of America's deceased Presidents are brought back to life and DP is called upon to dispatch them. That's basically all you need to know. If it's a concept that doesn't appeal you likely won't enjoy the book.

For those that do read the collection there's plenty to like. The wayward SHIELD Necromancer who's misguided actions begin the chain of events is a nicely realised character, as is put upon agent Preston, the one tasked with ridding the US of its former leaders in a quiet fashion. Even the ghost of Ben Franklin pops up as a supporting character. It's introducing this slight cast that helps to make the book work. They're all able to play the straight man to Deadpool's wisecracks, which is the best way of making him work, and also get their own moments of comedy not reliant on the star.

The plot ticks along through a steady stream of set pieces and exposition scenes. It's not the fanciest approach but it works well enough. Nobody’s reading Deadpool (or pretty anything from Marvel or DC) for bold storytelling approaches. The approach actually adds to Deadpool’s character. Perhaps it's because it allows him to go from electrocuting an elephant in a zoo to impersonating Marilyn Monroe and then on to battling Abraham Lincoln in a UFC setting without becoming stupid or dull.

As a standalone volume this works. It also works as the beginning of an ongoing series. The writers seem keen to make the book funny and interesting, and they achieve their goal. The book revels on being just the right amount of silly. If humorous Marvel titles are your bag then this is definitely something for you.

Astonishing X-Men

Long before Joss Whedon gave us the phenomenally successful Avengers movie he wrote for Marvel's other high profile team, the X-Men. It was a risk, for both him and Marvel. Despite the fact that he'd spent much of the previous decade showrunning juggernaut TV hits Buffy and Angel, as well as the decidedly less commercially successful Firefly, Whedon was an unknown quantity in comics.

There was no guarantee that his skills would transfer away from their televisual home. He was also brought in to follow on from Grant Morrison's run as the de facto lead writer of the X-Men, Astonishing replacing Morrison’s popular New X-Men. Whedon was and is a bigger name in the general media than Morrison, but Morrison's name meant more to comic book buyers and there was no guarantee Whedon's fan base would carry over with him.

The decision turned out to be a good one. Whedon’s experience with writing Buffy and Angel, both of which are ensemble pieces despite their misleading titles, meant he knew how to write a team book like X-Men. Under Whedon each character has a distinct voice and understandable motives. Wolverine, for example, is mostly depicted as liking a beer and being very comfortable with his reputation as an intimidating killer. Cyclops, on the other hand, is a boy scout with an inferiority complex. Both could run the risk of being unoriginal but Whedon’s spin ensures that’s not the case thanks to well-timed moments of humour and pathos.

Despite having big name characters like Wolverine, Cyclops and Emma Frost to play with it’s Kitty Pryde at the centre of much of the story. Whedon displays an almost Warren Ellis-level of obsession with the character (read anything featuring her written by Ellis to see what I mean by this). It’s annoying with Ellis because it comes off as fetishisation whereas Whedon seems more interested in doing something new with an established character and her power of phasing.

Whedon also devotes a lot of time, particularly in early issues, to Ord of the Breakworld. He’s an alien villain introduced as one of the central antagonists of the series. Anyone who’s watched Buffy (yes, another reference to that show, sorry) will recognise Ord as a Whedon villain: a big threatening villain who has an understandable motivation for his beef with the X team, who gets shown to be mildly inept after his impressive initial appearance. Whedon’s never afraid to send up his bad guys but he does so with love: Ord is far from a one note villain or a glorified gag.

All of Whedon’s screen output is known for its snappy dialogue. The knack carries over to comics well. If he found it a struggle to limit the amount of dialogue he could give his characters, because he’s limited by the size of the page, it doesn’t show. Everything flows very naturally and his trademark moments of humour are alive and well. He loves the funnies, does Joss.

Of course, John Cassaday’s artwork doesn’t hurt. His clean, crisp line work and instantly recognisable characters make reading the book a joy. Having an artist who’s just as good at action sequences as he is at quiet exposition scenes is of real benefit to a writer like Whedon. Had he been paired up with Ed McGuinness things would have been very different.

On the subject of exposition scenes it’s worth mentioning the use of the danger room and the “thought space” of various psychic characters. Sometimes these are used for sight gags (Emma Frost enduring a particularly bumpy ride through space in a tea room, for example) while other times they’re used to add some colour to what would otherwise be bland infodumping scenes. They’re nice touches.

Sadly all of the witty dialogue, great artwork and solid characterisation is let down by a somewhat disappointing story. Things start off well with a six issue plot detailing the development of a cure for the X gene and continue being enjoyable when the danger room becomes sentient and reveals its plan to kill the X-Men.

The third arc is where things begin to go wrong. At first we’re led to believe the Hellfire Club have returned. That’s revealed to be wrong halfway through volume three, the villain instead being revealed as Cassandra Nova, one of the main antagonists of Morrison’s New X-Men. The fourth and final arc falls apart almost completely, as the background plot from the previous issues takes centre stage and the X-Men head off into outer space alongside SWORD supremo Agent Brand for an intergalactic showdown on the Breakworld.

Personal taste is part of the reason for my dislike of the fourth and final arc: the Marvel universe has a large enough number of concepts as it is without introducing aliens too. This is not Whedon’s fault, aliens have long been a part of the Marvel Universe. It’s just that their inclusion tends to make me lose interest. My feeling is that if people want to write about aliens in comics they should simply set up a creator-owned piece somewhere. There’s plenty of material in Marvel with the various superheroes, fictional countries and the worldwide problem of the X gene. Aliens serve to muddy the waters and on some level just feel a bit lazy.

The final arc lets itself down in other areas too. New characters are introduced at a rapid pace, making it hard to keep track of the plot. And scenes featuring Marvel’s large cast of regulars all crammed into an X book feels a little too self-indulgent for my taste. It’s as though Whedon’s decided that as this may be his only time working for Marvel (he was wrong there) he wants to use everyone he possibly can. All the positives of the early issues remain, but they’re not as prominent as they were.

Whedon and Cassaday’s Astonishing X-Men is a lovely looking piece of work that demonstrates everything you’d expect from both an X-Men book and something written by the man who brought you Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Reading this it’s clear he’s a fan of comics and Marvel in particular. If you can put up with a fudged ending it’s well worth a look. If you’re already a Whedon fan then you won’t even be bothered by the ending: you’ll enjoy the series regardless.

Spiderman Reign

Batman: The Dark Knight Returns was a gritty, dystopian tale of Batman’s return to the streets after a decade of retirement. Spiderman Reign is exactly the same thing. But with Spiderman. And not quite as good.

The trouble Spiderman Reign has is that it is so obviously designed to be Marvel’s answer to Dark Knight. Deliberately setting out to emulate such a successful book is always going to be a dangerous thing to do because anything you get wrong is going to be amplified by the original’s success.

I’m not a big fan of DKR but I can see where its appeal lies. I can also appreciate that it was an interesting idea borne of its time. It was in part a response to the world Frank Miller found himself in in the eighties. It’s grim and dark because Miller was in a world that was grim and dark and, crucially, its success came in part because that simply wasn’t what comics did at the time.

Spiderman Reign was produced in 2006. As far as comics are concerned that places it firmly into the era of retreads, cash-ins, and set-ups for movies. That’s a far cry from the world of originality Miller was writing in.

The story sees Peter Parker return to the streets of New York City as Spidey after a period of inactivity that’s seen him wind up as a florist. How and why he gave up the photography and journalism career he’d juggled with his night job as Spiderman is never adequately addressed and is the first sign that the entire premise hasn’t really been thought through.

In NYC masked criminals are a thing of the past, the town now being under the protection of the powerful, and inevitably corrupt, Reign enforcement team. They answer to an equally corrupt mayor. Parker bumps into a teen that’s found himself on the receiving end of the overzealous law enforcers and gets beaten up by the cops. It’s this trivial occurrence that ultimately prompts him to don the mask again.

From there it’s the standard sequences of Spidey returning to the rooftops and getting one over on the bad guys in a series of Feel Good Moments™. This leads to the mayor unleashing Mysterio, Electro, Kraven, Sandman, Hydro-Man and Scorpion, collectively billed as the Sinner Six, from jail so that they can target New York’s premiere masked vigilante. Cameos are also made by J Jonah Jameson (who should really be dead by this point considering his age) and, for no particular reason, obscure enemy Hypno Hustler.

Despite the uninspired and vaguely confusing plot that dominates proceedings there are some nice ideas dotted throughout Reign’s slender four issue run. Doctor Octopus is shown to be a corpse slumped in the centre of his still functioning metal arms, stalking the city on the dead of night. That provides some nice visuals. There’s a climactic battle with Venom that’s well drawn. In fact the artwork of Kaare Andrews (who also wrote the script) and Jose Villarrubia is far better than the story deserves. It’s very evocative in places. It’s just a pity it doesn’t have anything substantial to work with.

Spiderman Reign is far from a must read. Pick it up and flick through it if you see it. If you like the art you’ll probably enjoy it as a(n expensive) diversion. Equally if you’re nuts about Spiderman then you’ll probably find it enjoyable enough. For anyone who doesn’t fall into either camp it’s probably best to save your money and buy something else instead.

Supreme Power

Supreme Power is an eighteen issue series that tells a confined story. That doesn’t necessarily set the book apart as anything special. There are plenty of series that have a self-contained story across a similar number of issues. The story that’s told is not a particularly memorable one. It has its moments and benefits from some thoroughly inoffensive art courtesy of Gary Frank but there’s nothing in the plot that makes this anything noteworthy.

Yet it is noteworthy. This is Marvel giving us an origin story for DC’s top characters, albeit disguised a bit to keep everyone’s legal departments happy. The original DC creations cropped up gradually over the course of several years, all from the minds of different creative teams. That’s always put them at odds with Marvel’s top names, a large portion of whom were created or reinvented by Stan Lee, Steve Ditko and Jack Kirby.

The stories of who should be credited for creating what are well known, but no matter where the truth lies it’s generally acknowledged that those three men all contributed to sixties Marvel’s popularity surge to a greater or lesser extent. The small team at ‘The House of Ideas’ meant there was a familiar feel to all of the books. The titles didn’t all immediately begin referencing one another but the fact that the same artists were used helped to create a feeling of a single coherent fictional universe, as did the general approach taken: normal people with super powers. That so many new creations debuted around the same time helped too.

Marvel has always felt like it’s designed to be a shared universe. DC often comes across as a collection of characters with nothing in common beyond their names being owned by the same company. The DC Universe often feels like it’s been retrofitted to function as the setting for shared stories. It all stems from those different creative teams.

Obviously the benefit of hindsight plays an important role in Supreme Power. Marvel can jettison what they know won’t work and introduce new elements to the characters. Most of the changes make the familiar cast darker and edgier. It’s the old Marvel trick of making superheroes real people with relatable, or at least understandable, problems. Superman and the gang traditionally have very little to worry about beyond the latest supervillain threat while Marvel has usually gone out of its way to give its heroes things to worry about in their day-to-day lives.

Supreme Power sees Superman become Hyperion, a man raised by government agents posing as a loving married couple. Batman is recast as a night-prowling psychopath who has no problems with killing. Wonder Woman is Zarda the Power Princess, a far less benevolent figure that Double W. Doctor Spectrum replaces Green Lantern and is immediately set up as someone who can rival Hyperion’s power, and as someone who proves far more loyal to the United States to boot.

The only character who isn’t obviously burdened by an overabundance of problems is Blur, the Flash analogue. He’s a rarity in the book, someone who’s mostly happy to have the powers he does.

The idea of Marvel creating their own DC universe is not an original one. Supreme Power has its roots in 70s adversaries to the Avengers, the Squadron Supreme. They were a group of villains based on DC’s Justice League. Marvel had originally wanted to produce a crossover but legal complications meant they had to resort to blatant analogues instead. Later on a second gang using the same name crossed over from an alternate universe, battling the Avengers before they realised they were all good guys and made friends. So Marvel aren’t just borrowing from DC with this book, they’re borrowing from themselves too.

Various mentions of these former teams crop up throughout the Supreme Power series. The various names of the characters, for example. SP also features several touches that had proven popular on Marvel’s Ultimate line. George Bush appears as the President of the United States, and the world we’re shown is presented as contemporary and adult. Childish fripperies are a no-no in Supreme Power.

As I say, the story that unfolds is not the best. It’s engaging enough but it’s not the most interesting thing the series has to offer. That is very much Marvel’s take on DC’s characters, a bizarre updating of analogues they first introduced three decades earlier. Anyone interested in comic book alternate universes or seeing a more coherent and contemporary origin for DC’s prime players will find plenty to enjoy here.

The Ultimates 2

Ultimates (a review of which can be found here) boasted a pretty impressive creative combo. Mark Millar on scripts and Bryan Hitch on pencils. There was never any question that one or both parties would be switched out for Ultimates 2. It was always theirs to work on if they wanted. Considering the first series had upped both men’s profiles considerably they naturally wanted to write more.

Ultimates 2 is not a radical departure from what made the first book a success. It is essentially more of the same but with new threats and a handful of new characters given a global scale. Part of what had made the first series work was the emphasis placed on character, something that has since become unusual in a Millar work (he prefers to write what could be described as fleshed out caricatures these days). He didn’t drop the habit before Ultimates 2 though.

The regulars of series one return, retaining the healthy modern twists they were given there and staying true to the larger history of their regular Marvel counterparts (Ultimates is set in a separate continuity from regular Marvel tales remember). Character developments are what drives the story forward. Whether it’s Bruce Banner being outed as the Hulk and then being sentenced to death, the rocky marriage of Hank and Janet Pym, or the continued mystery of Thor’s true nature (is he really a god or just a nutter?) the plot spins off of the characters, rather than the other way around.

The first portion of the series is very hard on the regulars, putting them through the grind so that they can make a triumphant comeback in the second half. The Ultimate version of Loki is introduced, and he naturally targets Thor for the first several issues. Once the thunder god’s out of the way Loki introduces his own team of superheroes, who lead a super-powered war against the United States using troops from a variety of anti-US nations.

This group, dubbed the Liberators, are analogues of the regular Ultimates. They’re led by The Colonel, a young boy from the Middle East who has been subjected to a strain of the Super Soldier serum that created Captain America. For some never explained reason he’s equipped with a lightsaber. I imagine it’s simply that Millar thinks Jedi toys are cool.

To my mind the war on the US storyline is the best thing Millar wrote under the Ultimates banner. It’s perfectly plotted and runs on an impressively large scale. The focus was on telling a realistic story using familiar characters, nothing else. Since this series wrapped up in 2007 the Ultimate imprint as a whole has taken a nosedive in quality as other writers have forgotten or overlooked what made the Ultimate line popular in the first place.

I don’t think this is a coincidence. Millar and Hitch were painfully slow when working on the two series they did together but they provided the line with creative leadership. While Millar would do more work in the Ultimate Universe it wasn’t with Hitch, and he had his own creator-owned projects on the go at the same time, which meant he had less time to dedicate to the larger world building that he’d done throughout the first six years of the Ultimate line’s life.

The twenty-six regular issues that make up Ultimates and Ultimates 2 are essentially one long story. They’re broken up with a number partly because of the delays that plagued issue releases. Ultimates 2 cannot be appreciated or made full sense of without having read the first series. I recommend doing so. It’s one of the best superhero comics ever written and is (amazingly) self-contained. More Ultimates comics would come later, but you can easily put down the final issue of Ultimates 2, never pick up any of the follow-ons and remain content.

Super-Villain Team-Up

Back in the 70s Marvel was happy to unleash experimental titles on the world. Unlike today not everything had to be a continuity heavy crossover providing in-depth analysis of a superhero with a film coming out. The company was happy to have writers write things that were fun.

One such title was Super-Villain Team-Up. Instead of focusing on the latern-jawed do-gooders of the Marvel U it put their iniquitous counterparts centre stage. Bad deeds were the order of the day in SVTU, not world saving. Failed attempts at world domination reigned supreme.

The natural choice for the starring role was Doctor Doom. The arch enemy of the Fantastic Four has been one of Marvel’s most well-rounded ne’er-do-wells since his first appearance, part of the reason he is still used frequently to this day and enjoys such popularity with fans. His over the top personality and access to wide range of gadgets and gizmos meant he was a perfect choice to carry such a title and also keep sales high. He referred to himself in the third person far more back then, another bonus.

The Team-Up part was the downside of the book, at least at the start. Doom is such a great character that having him share pages with the likes of Namor and Kazar feels like a wasted opportunity. Things do improve during the Doom and Namor saga (some of which features them battling rather than teaming up), and they really heat up when Magneto becomes a part of the series, playing the party of the hero to save the world from another of Doom’s plots.

The art by Wally Wood, Gene Colan, Herb Trimpe, Jim Shooter and others is textbook mid-70s Marvel. Everyone makes sure that the running gag of Doom’s mask showing emotions is kept alive and well. The lack of colour in the collected edition doesn’t matter a bit such is the care and attention paid to the pencils and inks.

Red Skull pops up too. He starts off being pitted against Doom and ends up becoming the central character of the final team-up of the series, paired with the equally hateful… erm… Hate-Monger. While they’re not the stars the good guys do make appearances, with the Avengers, the Shroud (a Batman take-off that’s fallen by the wayside in recent years), and the Fantastic Four all cropping up for a spot of thwarting.

Doctor Doom is the undeniable star though. Any fans of his have to read this. Practically every issue contains a classic Doom line, be it “Serve me, woman!”, “Doom will be revenged, cur!”, or “Doom needs no one!”, bellowed as the character is flying through the air. The story’s all over the place, thanks mainly to the large number of writers coming and going over a relatively small number of issues, but ultimately it’s a great read. Good fun a fine example of Marvel at their best.

New X-Men

The X-Men are generally thought of as a large team. The modern comic book landscape has encouraged this view, with Marvel cashing in on their popular franchise by running half a dozen or more books bearing the X name at any one time (almost all of which feature Wolverine, in a surprisingly varied number of outfits). Some titles are naturally better than others, thanks to the diverse range of authors and artists working on the books and the characters they are permitted to use.

In 2001 Marvel brought lauded writer Grant Morrison on board to revamp their X books. While other titles were still produced during Morrison’s run it was clear that his New X-Men was the “main” one. The one where all the stuff that truly mattered would happen.

Morrison made sweeping changes to the group and the title. He pared the membership of the team right back, presenting us with a six person outfit consisting of Cyclops, Beast, Emma Frost, Jean Grey, Professor Xavier, and, of course, Wolverine. They were joined by debuting peripheral characters Beak, Angel Salvadore, and the Stepford Cuckoos. The first several stories Morrison told concentrated on the existing stars. The newcomers became more prominent over time, allowing readers to get to know them at a natural, unforced pace.

The X-Men were kitted out in new black and yellow outfits, which helped to make them look more like a team and less like a disparate bunch of camp cosplayers, and the book gained itself a snazzy new name and logo. The word New hadn’t been appropriate for an X-Men title for quite a while, and it arguably wasn’t relevant here. Marvel used the name anyway.

Morrison controversially altered the look of Beast, taking him from ape-like to cat-like. Many disliked the change but as Morrison pointed out Hank McCoy had started out as a regular(ish) looking guy with oversized hands and feet. The move to a cat was presented as a progression of the character’s X-gene and formed the basis for Morrison’s final story.

Emma Frost gained a secondary power. In addition to telepathy it was revealed she could turn her body into a diamond-like substance. Useful for a superhero, no?

The book also gave us the first appearances of Fantomex and the ultimately controversial Xorn character. Fantomex has always struck me as a far too powerful character and one created designed to be cool rather than layered or interesting. Most people disagree and cite him as one of Morrison’s greatest achievements while writing New X-Men.

Xorn is another kettle of fish entirely. With him Morrison did manage to create a layered and interesting character, one that fans and critics alike loved. He was vulnerable and different to the rest of the cast. The identity of Xorn is a major event during the run so I shan’t spoil it here, but suffice it to say that when you find out who has been under the mask all along you’ll find yourself checking previous issues. The plan, plot and character reasoning make no sense.

Morrison returned a sense of unpredictability to the X-Men that had been missing for a while. The team had spent much of the 90s being broody in dull, unimaginative stories or retreads of past glories. From early on it’s clear Morrison wants to do things with the team that haven’t been done before, putting them into new situations and surroundings while staying true to their history and maintaining the traits that made them originally appealing.

Chris Claremont was famed for including analogies of racism, gender inequality and various other types of persecution in his X-Men titles. Morrison very much tries to follow suit. For the most part he succeeds.

But in amongst all these changes, new characters, and expanded worlds are there good stories? At the beginning of the run, yes.  Morrison produces some fairly imaginative storylines. An early story sees Professor X seemingly turning evil, for example. That’s a simple idea but one that had never been done before (certainly not in this fashion at any rate).

There’s a problem with the title though. The artists are nowhere near consistent enough. When Frank Quitely is on pencil duty the book is a joy and a triumph. He understands how to put Morrison’s thoughts onto the page better than anybody else. Unfortunately he’s around less and less as Morrison’s creative run goes on, and almost all of the fill-in artists are dreadful. Busy panels, sloppy inking and inconsistent character designs make the book painful on the eye as early as halfway through the first volume (of three).

The series ends on a high with Morrison’s own attempt at a Days of Future Past type plot. It brings together elements, some major, some minor, spanning Morrison’s run. The basic gist is that Beast has gone bad and waged war on the rest of the X-Men, determined to retrieve and revive the Phoenix to rule the world (or something equally nefarious). At points it comes across as an over-the-top apocalypse movie form the 80s but it works well and allows the Morrison era of the book to end on a high. Perhaps Morrison should try an 80s apocalypse movie-style film script at some point?

If you can look past haphazard artwork there’s a lot to enjoy about New X-Men. Sadly that’s far easier said than done.

 

Critical information:

Writer: Grant Morrison

Artist: Various

The Authority

The make-believe worlds of Marvel and DC all too often take the concept of superheroes for granted. There is little sense of wonder or scale. It's the same group of goodies battling the same group of baddies over and over again, with only mild variations on a theme tossed in to keep long-time fans coming back for more. It's a state that has arisen because the two companies have become so big that they have to worry about things like marketing, meaning they can never kill off a character that’s even remotely popular because there's money to be made.

A criticism can be levied against the inhabitants of these fictional worlds too. If they are all-powerful then why have they never escalated their war against the legions of bad beyond the petty skirmish level? Working together these characters could create a utopia yet they choose not to.

The answer that they don't want to interfere doesn't cut it. Firstly they interfere on a daily basis, they just stop short of doing anything beyond maintaining a precarious status quo. Secondly the world they live in is real to them. It's their home. These people are scientists and heroes and gods, exactly the sort of people who should want change for the better.

The reason this never happens is simply that Marvel and DC are too scared of affecting major changes. They like presenting a world comparable to our own, for marketing reasons and ease of writing. To their credit Marvel have over the last year experimented with creating a more advanced planet in their Ultimate line of titles but you get the feeling that's more because sales had dipped and something needed to be tried to turn the ailing line's fortunes rather than because they thought it would be an interesting way of presenting an alternate Marvel universe.

Someone over at Marvel HQ should have read the original run of The Authority before they started this Ultimate endeavour. Launched in 1999 by writer Warren Ellis and artist Bryan Hitch it is the story of a group of super-powered beings forming a team with no allegiance to any Earth government and a self-imposed mission to save the world by altering it for the better.

The first three arcs see a realistic depiction of the response such a group would receive, with the media, governments, and the general populace all receiving a voice. The plot concepts are, for the most part, impressively large scale. After a relatively low key opening story in which tyrannical dictator Kaizen Gamorra (a character previously seen during Ellis's run on The Authority's spiritual predecessor Stormwatch) launches assaults on major Earth cities we see the gang tackle meatier opponents in the form of a full scale invasion from an alien-controlled parallel Earth and a gigantic alien that is essentially God.

These tales strike a careful balance between character moments and big fight scenes, the latter of which got the title pegged as the world's first "wide-screen comic." Keeping a sense of danger present is particularly impressive when you consider how powerful Ellis made his characters. Apollo and Midnighter are not only pastiches of Superman and Batman but also the world's strongest super-being and a genetically and technologically altered super assassin respectively. They can defeat any opponent in an instant yet Ellis manages to make them relatable and vulnerable.

Jack Hawksmoor is the ‘God of Cities’, needing to stay in metropolitan areas to survive. It's a moniker that has plenty of scope when it comes to powers and Ellis has plenty of fun tinkering with the concept. Swift is a human-bird hybrid who often felt out of place amongst such a powerful unit but is subtly used as a social conscience. The Engineer and the Doctor are a walking super computer with a mouldable body and Earth's great mage respectively, and team leader Jenny Sparks is a woman who looks twenty but was born in 1900 and can control electricity (and is a Century Baby, something that would become very important in one of Ellis's other Wildstorm titles). Each character is well formed and interesting enough to be able to carry a book in their own right. That Ellis has not only tossed them all into one book but manages to write them all equally well is a tremendous accomplishment.

The original creative team only produced twelve issues before moving on to other projects. They were replaced by Frank Quitely and a pre-Millarworld Mark Millar. They too produced storylines unlike those seen elsewhere in superhero comics, opening with a race between The Authority and a an outfit sponsored by a rogue megalomaniac scientist to find a baby born to be 'The Spirit of the 21^st Century' with a story in which the Authority are dispatched by the world's various governments, replaced by more agreeable members. Millar keeps the plotting as tight as Ellis did and services his cast just as well, while Quitely proves a one of the few men capable of not being overshadowed by Hitch. Unfortunately Quitely didn’t stick around for Millar’s entire run (although it should be noted he doesn't stick around until the end of the run like Millar does).

Disappointing sales and concern at DC’s head offices over the title’s direction caused The Authority to be cancelled at the conclusion of Millar's third arc. Subsequent resurrections of the book have not reached the heady heights of those first 29 issues. The Ellis, Hitch, Millar, and Quitely run is well worth tracking down because of its inventiveness and dedication to shaking up superhero comics. It is a fine example of creative comic book ideas done right.

Critical information:
Writers: Warren Ellis and Mark Millar
Artists: Bryan Hitch and Frank Quitely
ISBNS: 9781840231946, 9781840232796, 9781840233711, 9781840234909

The Ultimates

You wouldn't think it to look at the imprint now but when Marvel first launched its Ultimate line it was considered one of the greatest things the company had done in years. Ultimate Spider-Man launched the line in 2000 and was followed by Ultimate X-Men in 2001. Both titles reimagined their titular characters in a more contemporary, (slightly) more realistic world than the regular Marvel Universe, allowing for origin stories updated to suit the 21^st century.
 
As successful as both books were both pale in comparison to The Ultimates. To this day the original 28 issue (26 regular issues and two annuals) run by Mark Millar and Bryan Hitch remains one of the line's greatest hits. It’s a stylish, exciting comic that helped Ultimate Marvel to flourish.
 
The first thirteen issue series opens with a first instalment flashing back to World War Two to detail the origin of Captain America, after which we're gradually introduced to the rest of the team. Hank and Janet Pym are biologists working on the advancement of superpowers. Tony Stark is the billionaire playboy we've seen emerge in the films.

There are hints of Bruce Banner’s famous alter ego having already made his presence known to the world (specifically New York). Nick Fury is famously redesigned to look like Samuel L Jackson, hence his casting as the S.H.I.E.L.D. boss is Marvel's films, and is written as a more shadowy, slightly sinister individual than his mainstream counterpart.
 
The greatest recreation is Thor. As the story begins he is either the genuine God of Thunder or an environmentalist lunatic with some very special powers. The way this is introduced is superb and answers that are teased across multiple arcs is incredibly rewarding.
 
What makes the series work is Millar's understanding of the characters at his disposal. He knows what tweaks to make and never goes overboard, meaning the cast remains recognisable but still capable of surprising us. The pacing is quick and the balance between action and plot is perfect. Hitch handles everything required of him perfectly.
 
The first twelve issues are split into two stories. The first details the recruitment and formation of the team and a rampaging rogue troubling New York. The second arc shows the Ultimates' clash with the Chitari, an alien race that had been allied with Hitler during the war.
 
The action, pacing and characterisation are all perfect and there's not a bad line of dialogue throughout the entire run. It’s an essential read for anyone who wants a modern take on superheroes done correctly. Millar and Hitch introduce a sense of wonder that mainstream comics, generally speaking, lack today. Very impressive when you consider how well known the characters at their disposal are.