Mania Grade: C+

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Info:

• Title: Ultimate Comics New Ultimates #1
• Writer: Jeph Loeb
• Artist: Frank Cho
• Colorist: Jason Keith
• Letters: Richard Starkings & Comicraft’s Albert Deschesne
• Publisher: Marvel Comics
• Publication Date: March 3, 2010
• Price: $3.99
• Series:

ULTIMATE COMICS NEW ULTIMATES #1 Review

ULTIMATE COMICS NEW ULTIMATES #1 Review
© Mania

It’s been eight months since the events of Ultimatum, which left many heroes dead in its wake. The Fantastic Four have disbanded and the X-Men are gone. Tony Stark, no longer able to fund The Ultimates on his own, has placed the team back under the control of S.H.I.E.L.D. While Tony and Hawkeye drown themselves in sorrow and self-pity on the rooftop of The Triskelion, the Defenders show up (amped up with all sorts of newfound power) and steal Thor’s hammer – and with it, the only chance of rescuing Thor. We know this because Valkyrie actually says “They took Mjolnir… and with it my only chance to rescue Thor” as if she were living in some sort of 1970’s superhero comic in which everything is over-explained with gratutious amounts of dialogue and narration.

Anyway, there’s other stuff going on as well. Thor is in Valhalla sitting on a throne made of horse bones and wielding an enormous sword when Hela makes him an offer he can’t refuse so that he might return to Midgard and the waiting arms of Valkyrie. I mean, he could refuse but… come on Thor, what happens in Valhalla stays in Valhalla, right? It’s not like Valkyrie is ever going to find out and man alive, did you see the way Frank Cho drew Hela? Damn.

Back on earth, Tony Stark and Carol Danvers are at odds regarding how the Ultimates should be run while Ka-Zar and Shanna become the hottest celebrity couple since Brangelina. They even get one of those combined names: “Sha-Zar”. Isn’t that adorable? Just like in real life (ugh). Oh, and then Loki shows up in Central Park with like, three dragons, a bunch of trolls and the Enchantress.

Sooo… a lot of people like to bash Jeph Loeb and then there are those who say “Well somebody is buying these books, so he must be doing something right, right?” That’s usually Jeph Loeb saying that. Anyway, I do my best not to be one of those people, mainly because I don’t read Hulk and I’ve avoided most of his recent stuff with the exception of this Ultimate relaunch. So I really don’t have a terribly informed opinion. But I don’t want to be one who just gets caught up in the hate and doesn’t give the guy an honest chance because even though I’ve read some pretty bad stuff from Jeph Loeb, I know he’s capable of good stuff too (or at least, he was at one time). And after being pleased with the first issue of Ultimate X and hearing that Frank Cho would be drawing New Ultimates, I was kind of excited for this book. It’s not half bad… but that means that it’s not half good either.

Cover art to ULTIMATE COMICS NEW ULTIMATES #1 by Frank Cho

The basic concept behind this issue is fine, but everything else gets in the way. There are word balloons on top of word balloons and captions on top of those and an inner monologue from Tony Stark that just doesn’t jive with the story. Loeb uses a good portion of the story as a way to work his son’s struggle with cancer into a motivation for Tony to form the Ultimates (he recounts how an encounter with a dying boy enabled him to find the meaning in life that would allow him to carry on through hard times) and that’s fine. Honestly, if I was in Loeb’s situation, I’d try to find a way to honor my son’s memory as often as I could. But the problem is that all of this monologuing just drones on and on and it dominates and more importantly, distracts from the rest of the story. It’s like reading two comic books at once. To make matters worse, a lot of the dialogue just feels stilted and forced.

On the other hand, there’s the art, which … thank god for Frank Cho. Whether you’re into his buxom babes or massively muscled heroes, Frank Cho draws a damn fine comic book. The action sequences are balls-to-the-wall and the enormous gatefold cover is a beautiful thing to behold. His straightforward and dynamic storytelling save this muddled and confusing book from getting a worse grade.

This issue has a lot of really fun ideas and good concepts, but it’s all lost in the shuffle. I can understand some of you might think giving it a C+ is a bit too generous, but I feel that a lot of credit has to be given to Frank Cho’s talents. You can talk all you want about how a good story is the most important thing in a comic but the art is fully ½ of what makes graphic storytelling work. Cho conveys the story so well, you don’t even have to read it if you don’t want to – the pictures get the message across pretty damn well on their own. Not only does he draw cool, he draws well, capturing the essence and cutting through Loeb’s bullshit to tell a great story. So C+ it is.