Comicscape - August 9, 2006

By: KURT AMACKER
Date: Wednesday, August 09, 2006

ULTIMATE AVENGERS 2 hit store shelves and the hot little hands of fan boys yesterday. The film stands as the second in Marvel's campaign of straight-to-DVD animated movies produced by Lion's Gate. And, fortunately for both Marvel and comic fans, this entry outclasses and outguns every facet of the first installment released in February. And, while it offers a few surprisingly mature developments, it still suffers from some of the common shortcomings of American animation,

When Marvel and Lion's Gate released ULTIMATE AVENGERS six months ago, I enjoyed it well enough. However, while it probably stood as Marvel's first decent animated project, it suffered from somewhat mediocre animation, an incredibly condensed take on Mark Millar's series, and the usual resistance to adult themes in American animation. Kid-friendly marketing has long restrained American animation. While BATMAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES never outclassed Frank Miller or anything, Bruce Timm and Paul Dini created the best superhero animation since Max Fleischer's Superman from 1941. Their Batman series offered an unusual amount of character development and slightly more realistic violence. Following that, DC launched a number of successful animated series. Unfortunately, Marvel's animated efforts during the same era never quite matched DC's for quality writing. I'm sorry, but that X-Men cartoon from the '90s just wasn't very good. I don't care if you have a fan site. Regardless, most superhero cartoons BATMAN included have always suffered in the interest of marketing to children. In bucking that trend, Marvel's ULTIMATE AVENGERS movies stand in lonely company with BATMAN: MASK OF THE PHANTASM and BATMAN BEYOND: RETURN OF THE JOKER. ULTIMATE AVENGERS 2 still avoids prime time drama by, for instance, downgrading Hank and Janet Pym's abusive marriage to a troubled one. However, it explores its heroes' personal issues with greater depth than the first film. And, thankfully, it's a lot more violent.


When T'Challa returns to the African nation of Wakanda, the isolationist elders scorn him. His father T'Chaka, the king, felt an education abroad would better prepare him for the throne. When S.S. officer and shape-shifting alien Herr Kleiser returns to Wakanda at the head of a Chitauri invasion, T'Chaka reassumes his mantle as the Black Panther. Unfortunately, he doesn't survive his fight with Kleisser, and T'Challa must ascend to the throne and defend Wakanda as his father did in costume. After the thwarted Chitauri invasion from the first film, the Avengers maintain a tense relationship. Captain America prefers to fight alone, much to the distress of Natalia Romanov the Black Widow and S.H.I.E.L.D.'s General Nick Fury. Bruce Banner remains confined in a transparent prison, where the sadistic Dr. Whaler forces him to repeatedly watch a video of his Hulk rampage. Hank and Jan Pym still fight constantly. Thor largely devoid of comic relief stands at odds with his Asgardian father, Odin, who would see him removed from human affairs. Only, Thor sees macabre visions of the Avengers dead on the battlefield and can't remain neutral. Tony Stark Iron Man remains as cocky as ever, but suffers from a heart condition he conceals from the rest of the team. Nobody's happy in Avengers Land. But, happy characters make for bad stories, so I won't complain.

The sh-t hits the fan when T'Challa seeks out Captain America for advice on fighting Herr Kleiss and the Chitauri. The Wakandan elders don't like outsiders, and the subsequent involvement of the rest of the Avengers brings them to strip T'Challa of his authority. Ultimately, the team has to stop a full-scale invasion that looks very much like WAR OF THE WORLDS. The Chitauri want a secret the Wakandans have harbored for hundreds of years the very thing that fuels their isolationism and lets them fight aliens with spears. I won't spoil the ending because unlike, say, THE FANTASTIC FOUR movie, you might actually want to watch this.

Obviously, the film deviates quite a bit from Mark Millar's ULTIMATES series. Whereas ULTIMATE AVENGERS loosely adapted the first twelve issues, the sequel presents an entirely new story one with little connection to the comic outside of those elements developed from the first film. Obviously, a few stray images Banner's imprisonment, for instance found their way into the film, but this barely qualifies as an adaptation. I can't really compare this to the comic ULTIMATES or its sequel, because they remain fundamentally different stories. Thor's questionable sanity, the Black Widow's betrayal, and the team's involvement in the Middle East are nowhere to be found. If you accept the film as a different story than the comic with some of the same characters, you'll likely enjoy it more.

With the adaptation question laid to rest, praise, thanks, and good will go to Marvel, Boyd Kirkland, Craig Kyle, and Greg Johnson for emphasizing troubling character developments as much as hot, hero-on-alien action. As much as I like watching the Hulk smash Chitauri ships, I only care if I first see Bruce Banner freaking out in his cell because Betty Ross won't speak to him. I like watching Captain America push his friends out of his life because, being so far removed from his own time, he doesn't know anything but war. I also like that Thor doesn't talk like a Viking caricature, as he did in the first film.

However, the film's brevity 73 minutes keeps both the character moments and subplots concise. While the first film practically scrolled through a checklist of defining dramatic moments, its sequel takes a little more time to develop all of the bad blood. For instance, Hank and Jan's marriage gets progressively worse throughout the film. It's a step forward for superhero animation, to be sure. But, we still only see glimpses of a superior film that might've emerged with a longer running time. When the Black Widow and Captain America finally sort things out, we've barely had time to understand their romantic tension. Dr. Whaler maintains a tense, sadistic relationship with the imprisoned Banner, but we only see this briefly. More frustratingly, he refers to Banner's impending trial and Fury's refusal to free him a tantalizing subplot alluded to, but never explored.

ULTIMATE AVENGERS 2 also raises the bar for violence in American superhero animation. Besides the kid-friendly and cartoon-typical destruction of aliens and spacecraft, several of our heroes sustain gunshot wounds, stabbings, and other acts of violence usually reserved for their live action and comic book counterparts. One major character even dies, but I won't spoil the identity. Obviously, the violence never rises to anime levels or to anything found in Ralph Bakshi's films. But, in an era where censorship constantly hampers superhero animation, it raises the bar. And, while the film bears a PG-13 rating, it still shies away from some of the intensity the rating permits particularly given the leniency the MPAA shows animated films. I suppose it's unrealistic of me to expect the spousal abuse, infidelity, and rampant infighting seen in Millar's comics.

The animation shows improvements over the first film. The frame rate looks a bit better, and characters appear less jerky. Many reviewers compared the animation in ULTIMATE AVENGERS to that of Saturday morning cartoons. This sequel shows marked improvement over the original, and succeeds in avoiding the dreaded anime influence that suffuses so many cartoons. The influence of Bruce Timm and Paul Dini's work with DC shows, but the film never jumps from "inspired" to "blatantly copying." Though I like a few anime pretty well, it's nice to see a film with more realistic, Western animation. Yes, otaku boy, I realize that some anime look quite realistic and have long featured superior writing to their American counterparts. I just don't care for some of the hyper-exaggerated animation.

While ULTIMATE AVENGERS 2 improves on its predecessor in almost every way, the constraints of American animation still hamper it. Its short running time and muted character development force me to qualify my recommendation. Instead of being a great movie, it's just a really good cartoon.

The Spinner Rack
By Al Brown, Kurt Amacker

and Dr. Dastardly

I finally got around to making a myspace page for my alter ego,
href="http://myspace.com/doctordastardly">Doctor Dastardly. You can e-friend me if you want. In honor of that momentous occasion, Kurt and I will be joined this week by none other than Doctor Dastardly himself! God, this is exciting.



DARK HORSE COMICS

Amano Tale Of Genji HC Illustrated Novel $24.95

Blade Of The Immortal #116 (MR) $2.99

Conan & The Songs Of The Dead #2 (of 5) $2.99
Dr. Dastardly: Glad to be here, Al and Kurt. I'd like to start off by saying that Conan is tough and I would not like to fight him. If Conan wanted to fight me, I would throw one of my henchmen at him and run off. That, in fact, is my plan for a number of heroes.
Kurt: They have names for boys like you.

Crying Freeman T/s Black $17.99
Al: Yes, this is actually just a t-shirt with a picture of Morgan Freeman lookin' all sad.Kurt: He must've just watched Hard Rain again.

Escapists #2 (of 6) $2.99
Al: Shouldn't this be singular? Anyway, the first issue of this book - a sort of sequel to Michael Chabon's brilliant novel The Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, written by Brian Vaughan - was way cool.
Kurt: That was a damned good book. No joke, I really enjoyed it.

Frankenstein Shadow Of Frankenstein Novel $6.99
Dr. Dastardly: Frankenstein-esque monsters are a classic evil plan. You really can't go wrong with this. I was gonna make one of these guys a while ago, but it was too hard to dig the corpses up. You know how long it takes to dig down six feet? Like hours, seriously. And, my henchman was no help at all. She was all, "You're going to do what now? I'm watching 'So You Think You Can Dance.'" I need better henchmen. I'm pretty sure if someone would just dig up the bodies, and stitch them together, and get them to stop smelling so bad, I could do the reanimation part. It's just zapping, right? I'm great at zapping stuff.
Kurt: But Dr. Dastardly, where's the satisfaction of a job well done? I mean, what the hell's a reanimated corpse that you didn't reassemble yourself?

Kickback HC $12.95

Little Lulu Vol 11 April Fools TP $9.95
Dr. Dastardly : Bah! Comics should be about mighty battles between foes! This is just a stupid little girl. I'm almost positive I could take Little Lulu.
Kurt: Not if Al doesn't take her first. Hey, why is Al never around when you show up?

Penny Arcade Vol 2 Legends Magic Sword TP $12.95

Recess Pieces HC (MR) $14.95

Revelations TP $17.95
Kurt: Paul Jenkins Vatican murder story. Humberto Ramos's art just kills here. It's worth a read.

Scarlet Traces The Great Game #2 (of 4) $2.99

DC COMICS

52 Week #14 $2.50

Authority Lobo Holiday Hell TP (MR) $17.99

Batman Legends Of The Dark Knight #209 $2.99

Batman Strikes #24 $2.25
Dr. Dastardly: The villain here: Catwoman. Now, you would think that I would be happy to team up with Catwoman, a well-established villain who...has a really nice costume. But the truth is that Catwoman switches sides a bit too often for me. You never know when she's gonna all of a sudden decide to clock you one just because she wants to sleep with Batman. She's kind of a hussy. I don't trust her.
Kurt: Come on, man. She's hot. How can you not trust her?

Cartoon Network Action Pack #4 $2.25

Elric Making Of A Sorcerer #4 (of 4) $5.99

Fables #52 (MR) $2.99
Dr. Dastardly: Now, the Adversary...there's a villain worth teaming up with. Great name. Call me. We'll talk.
Kurt: Yeah, but he could be your adversary. Did you ever think about that?

Firestorm The Nuclear Man #28 $2.99

Green Arrow #65 $2.99
Dr. Dastardly: A lot of people consider Green Arrow to be a lesser hero, compared to like Green Lantern. Here's the thing with that: Green Lantern always does things like he makes a big green cage to trap you in or whatever, right? And that sucks, yeah, but Green Arrow...I mean, his shtick is he shoots you with an arrow! Have you ever really thought about how much that would hurt? And it would bleed and everything...seriously, how different is that from, like, Green Bullet?

"I'm gonna dress in green and...shoot you!" What the hell is that? I don't think gimmicks should be about deadly weapons. I would fight Green Arrow, but only if he promised only to use those arrows with the boxing gloves on them. No pointy arrows.
Kurt: Green Arrow called. He said he'd use his special Charmin arrows, just for you. He also said he'd give you a head start.

Green Arrow Heading Into The Light TP $12.99

JSA Classified #15 $2.99

Man Called Kev #2 (of 5) (MR) $2.99

Martian Manhunter #1 (of 8) $2.99
Dr. Dastardly: I don't like Martian Manhunter. He's creepy looking. I don't think we should have to fight aliens.
Kurt: Damn, Doc. You've got some trust issues, don't you.

Musashi #9 Vol 8 $9.99

Next #2 (of 6) $2.99

Omukae Desu Vol 1 $9.99

Secret Six #3 (of 6) $2.99
Dr. Dastardly: See, this is the same problem that Catwoman has. It's not fair how all the coolest villains are constantly changing their minds. Those guys need to pick a team and stay on it. Unless it's Scarlet Witch - she can totally be on my team.
Kurt: Why? So she can alter your reality at random? Man, I can't wait to wake up and realize that I've been married to my cat for the past five years.

Superman #655 $2.99
Dr. Dastardly: Remember the Conan plan? Same plan here. Distract with henchman; run.
Kurt: Grandma Bucket called from the nursing home. Are you going over there to play pinochle this Saturday?

Superman Through The Ages Action Figure Gift Set PI

Will Eisners Spirit Archives Vol 19 HC $49.99

IMAGE COMICS

Bedlam One Shot $4.99
Al: Gawd, they did not just solicit this as "Blade meets the DaVinci Code." Tell me that didn't happen.
Kurt: All right, it didn't. Feel better? Actually, that sounds kind of cool.

Dawn Vol 3 Three Tiers HC (RES) $39.99

Emissary #3 $3.50

Hunter Killer Scriptbook Top Cow ED Sgn $19.99
Kurt: So, we haven't had an issue of this since January, but we can get a signed script book while we wait. Watch me contain myself.

Jae Lee Witchblade Demons Litho $19.99

Joseph Michael Linsner Witchblade #100 Litho $19.99
Dr. Dastardly: You think it's gonna be cool when heroines wear hot costumes like this, but it's actually very distracting. Also, I don't like to hit girls. But girls don't mind hitting me at all. All in all, fighting heroines almost never works out well.
Kurt: They have names for boys like you.

Kitchen Sink Magazine #14 $5.95


Al: I've never read this before, but this issue promises a piece on "strippers for Christ," which I might buy just for the sheer sacrilege.
Kurt: If there really are any strippers for Christ out there, I want to meet them. I have many questions.

Negative Burn #3 $5.99

Task Force One #2 (MR) $3.50

Witchblade Commemorative Issue #100 Poster PI

MARVEL COMICS

Annihilation #1 (of 6) $2.99
Dr. Dastardly: I drew a blueprint for a doomsday weapon called the Annihilation Wave once. It was like a big wave and then I was gonna put a bunch of dynamite in it and when it hit the good guy it would explode, right? But I tried it out in my bathtub and I couldn't get the dynamite to stay lit. Also, I couldn't think of a way to lure a hero into my bathtub.
Kurt: Still trying to lose your virginity there, Darkelf121?

Annihilation Hitch Var #1 Of(6) $2.99

Annihilation The Nova Corp Files $3.99

Beyond #2 (of 6) $2.99
Dr. Dastardly: I don't like Venom. Talks funny. Kindof a lisp. It's on account of all the teeth, I guess.
Kurt: You're just jealous that he gets way more tail down at the villains bar than you do.

Civil War Front Line #5 (of 10) $2.99
Dr. Dastardly: Green Goblin showed up at the end of last issue, a villain I deeply approve of. That little glider thing he has? Fantastic piece of work. I tried it once, but I kept falling off.
Kurt: I'm surprised you can stay inside of a car, let alone on top of a glider.

Fantastic Four First Family #6 (of 6) $2.99
Dr. Dastardly: Fighting cosmically-irradiated monsters! Cosmically-irradiated monsters are an ace weapon. I tried this once, but the best idea I could come up with to get it done was to take my cat outside during an eclipse and throw him up in the air as high as I could. I didn't see him for a few days after that, so I don't know if the effects wore off or what.
Kurt: He showed up at my place. He's told me horrible, horrible things about you. What is it that you do with all those back shavings you collect?

Incredible Hulk #97 $2.99

Marvel Adventures Fantastic Four #15 $2.99
Dr. Dastardly: Against Terminus! That guy is fantastic. He once carved "I claim this world - Terminus" in half-mile-wide letters across the United States! How awesome is that? I wrote that in some wet concrete once, but I guess the concrete guys must have come back and found it before it dried.

Marvel Adventures Ff Vol 3 Worlds Greatest Digest TP $6.99

Marvel Adventures Flip Magazine #15 $4.99

Marvel Heroes Flip Magazine #15 $4.99

Marvel Zombies HC $19.99
Al: Pretty much everyone already knows about this book, but in case you don't: Great stuff. Really.

Ms Marvel #6 Cw $2.99

New X-Men #29 $2.99
Dr. Dastardly: Versus Nimrod. I have a tough time with Nimrod, because on the one hand, super robot from the future! That's great! But on the other hand, his name is Nimrod. He needs a name that doesn't mean "stupid." Anyway, I left a microwave oven in some toxic waste a while back so that over millions of years it would slowly mutate into a super robot, which would then be from the future. I don't know if it's gonna work or not. It probably will.
Kurt: And that bucket of chum I left in your fridge will eventually grow into a giant, bloody fish creature.

She-Hulk 2 #10 $2.99


Spider-Girl Presents Avengers Next Vol 1 Digest TP $7.99

Spider-Man Family Featuring Amazing Friends $4.99

Squadron Supreme #6 $2.99
Al: Finally, Nighthawk shows up. By far the most interesting character in this book.
Dr. Dastardly: Yeah but you know his nemesis, Clown Guy or whatever? You know how his mouth got cut? Yeah...any time your main bad guy is a dude who got messed up that bad in jail, you can't be that tough. That's just icky.
Kurt: You just don't like White Face because he hurts children.

Ultimate Galactus Book 3 Extinction TP $12.99
Dr. Dastardly: Galactus! Now there's an awesome villain. He's so cool he gets his own herald. Just a dude who goes around in front of him, like, "Look out! Galactus is coming!" I tried this once - I had my henchman go around hollering "Heads up! Here comes Doctor Dastardly," but what happened is all the heroes came running over because they heard where I was. I think in order to pull off a herald, you kinda gotta be big enough to eat a planet. Not to say that I'm a slouch or something - I'm pretty dastardly - just that I don't really run the kind of operation where you wanna be announcing your presence all the time.
Kurt: Yes, the children in the schoolyard nearby may run to the fence and point and laugh.

Ultimate Spider-Man Annual #2 $3.99
Dr. Dastardly: Ultimate Kangaroo! Now, guys like this get a lot of flak - people are like Ha ha, whatever, you're dressed like a kangaroo - but really, it's all about the gimmick. Sure, you might laugh at first, but you'll remember him - and that's at least half the battle when you're a villain. You never want to be in a situation where you give your big speech like "Avast, Spider-Man! It is I, Whatever-Man, back to face you again," and Spider-Man goes, "Who? I don't even remember you." You want him to say, "Crap, not you again!" I have nothing but love for Ultimate Kangaroo. A lot of people don't know this, but I briefly considered changing my name to Komodo Dragon Man back in college. I decided against it because mainly what komodo dragons do is they bite guys and then sit around and wait for them to die of an infection, because komodo dragons have all kinds of nasty bacteria in their mouths. (No, seriously,
href="http://www.isidore-of-seville.com/komodo/">that's what they do.) The only way I could think of to get my superpowers was to hook up with this chick who everybody knew had herpes, and I hit on her once at a party but she went home with somebody else. But I was really close for a while. I had the costume and everything.
Kurt: Who? I don't even remember you.

Ultimate X-Men #73 $2.99

Wolverine Origins #5 $2.99

Wolverine Origins Quesada Sketch Var #5 (PP #724) $2.99

Women Of Marvel TP $24.99
Al: Debut appearances of Dazzler, Ms. Marvel, Shanna the She-Devil, Hellcat, Black Widow and the White Queen. The fanboy in me kinda wants this.
Dr. Dastardly: More villains who switched sides! All the hot ones end up good guys. Screw you, Emma. ...Can I borrow this when you're done?
Kurt: If you can peel the pages apart. I learned not to borrow comics from him years ago.

X-Statix Presents Dead Girl TP $13.99
Kurt: Hey Doc, your date's here. See everyone next week.

Questions? Comments? Let us know what you think at

comicscape@cinescape.com.

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