Cataclysm: The Ultimates’ Last Stand #5 – Review

by Brian Michael Bendis (Writer), Mark Bagley, Andrew Hennessy (Artists), Jason Keith (Colorist)

The Story: The plan of Reed Richards and Tony Stark gets going as the fate of the Ultimate universe lays on Kitty Pride and her ability to fight Galactus on her lonesome.

The Review: I have to confess I am a bit relieved. While this series started on the right footing with plenty of destruction and high stakes, the more it progressed, the less it could make me care. While I do have a general appreciation of the Ultimate universe and its characters, there are a great many things I like quite a bit more than this publishing line.

One of those is Galactus. Being a creation of Jack Kirby and Stan Lee along with being an amazing concept, I always do tend to like it when he is included in stories. With his presence, the stakes are always higher, more cosmic and there is always an inherent mix of goofiness and awesome that is brought alongside the character that I enjoy tremendously. However, for some reasons, it seems that this series and its conclusion, despite it featuring heavily the character in question, managed to be a rather unsatisfying affair.

Where it fails, in a way, is in how it is expedient, but also a bit unbelievable. While suspension of disbelief if a concept that is strongly tied to anything that is super heroic, the fact that the manner in which the characters actually defeat the cosmic entity is quite absurd is a tad baffling. While the very thought of someone trading punches with the planet-eater is something that is exciting on paper, the manner in which this very action unfold is quite a stretch considering the very threat and power Galactus represents.

Cataclysm: The Ultimates’ Last Stand #4 – Review

by Brian Michael Bendis (Writer), Mark Bagley, Andrew Hennessy (Artists), Jason Keith (Colorist)

The Story: With Galactus still doing his rather ominous-looking actions, the Ultimates recruits the X-Men to their cause.

The Review: To talk about Brian Michael Bendis is to talk about decompression. While Bendis can be an effective writer when he exploits a situation to its maximum through different angles, he can be somewhat problematic when it comes to pacing. Single issues aren’t his specialty, most of the time, with some particularly great concepts being stretched out in order to maximize his strengths. Unfortunately, it does the very same with his weaknesses as well, which can be overly apparent occasionally.

This issue is an unfortunate showcase of the writer’s weaknesses, which sadly does not make for a very satisfying issue. Being a transition issue for the most part to set things up for the conclusion, the story in itself moves characters from point A to B, explain a few things to its readers and set up many elements for things to arrive at their narrative peak later. Unfortunately, there are several problems in the execution of this approach that makes this much-less exciting than it could be.

The first thing that Bendis does right, yet not in the best of way, is to set up some kind of plan and use the characters in order to move things along. Doing so at a frantic pace, the readers are reintroduced to the X-Men as well as to the potential manner in which the Ultimates might confront Galactus. Presenting many facets of their plans and somehow explaining the gist of it in a rapid manner, there is little to no time given for the possible implications, be they moral, scientific or to show how many of the characters might react or feel about the many possibilities offered by the plot and decisions therein. In its quickness, Bendis unfortunately dazzles through the more interesting tidbits which could have made this story much more exciting, treating most of the characters as set pieces more than actual persons with problems, traits and what-not.

The other problem that the comic face is the fact that nothing really does happen here. There is an explanation and a plan at the beginning, some very few moments for characterization and then a good amount of action, all leading to the same conclusion as the previous issues: they need to do something or their world is screwed. There is a lack of accomplishment or surprising twists that makes this rather slow, but also rather safe, with close to no consequences being actually presented for the readers to enjoy. The sensation of cataclysmic events is well done, but it comes at the sacrifice of the characters and the story in general.

Cataclysm The Ultimates’ Last Stand #3 – Review

by Brian Michael Bendis (Writer), Mark Bagley, Andrew Hennessy (Artists), Jason Keith (Colorist)

The Story: Miles Morales and Reed Richards travel to Earth-616 for help against Galactus.

The Review: Decompression is perhaps one of the plagues of current comics that make readers cringe the most. While slowing things down to perhaps exploit every possible changes and smaller details can work to great effects in most stories, it is a technique that does not always adapt well to certain genres. Some writers can do a slow-build wonderfully, while others don’t seem to be able to actually understand the fine line between progress and stalling. Also known in some circles as ”trade-writing”, it is always a rather disappointing thing to read an issue that is so blatant in its general lack of meaningful progress.

This issue verges for the most part on the worst traits of this particular problem, balancing between being rather slow and uneventful without being absolutely meaningless. While not the most satisfactory issue, it does give readers and those following the Ultimate universe some rather memorable moments while it does its job moving from point A to B decently enough.

Cataclysm: The Ultimates’ Last Stand #2 – Review

by Brian Michael Bendis (Writer), Mark Bagley, Andrew Hennessy (Artists), Jason Keith (Colorist)

The Story: With Galactus destroying everything, the Ultimates are left wondering which options are left against cosmic powered entities.

The Review: The latest issue of this event was rather bombastic. In a lot of ways, the arrival of Galactus proved to be rather exciting, with a certain level of destruction and scope that was rather entertaining to read. Attempts were made to stop him, people were panicking and everything that needed to be said about the cosmic entity had been clearly put on the page. However, how does a writer continues with such a big introduction to his cast and to the conflict at hand?

Unfortunately, Brian Michael Bendis follows this with an issue that slows down the action and sensation of urgency in order to bring people up to speed. While it is always a nice thing to remind readers about some of the specifics and to see the characters obtain information on the current threat, it does not always make for an exciting or enjoyable reading experience.

Simply put, there is quite a lot of exposition and dialogue here, with Bendis mixing things up with his traditional take on conversations in comic books. While some of the quips coming from the character adds some levity to the situation they are in, it quickly becomes too much as most characters ends up either explaining the obvious or their motivations to one another, which leads to pages rather heavy in dialogue.

Cataclysm: The Ultimates’ Last Stand #1 – Review

 

by Brian Michael Bendis (Writer), Mark Bagley, Andrew Hennessy (Artists), Jason Keith (Colorist)

The Story: Galactus hungers for alternate universes. Luckily for him, he actually is in one.

The Review: Readers of super hero stories are usually very open when it comes to concepts and how they are interpreted. A blind man with ninja training acting as a lawyer? Check. A man that turns green and massive when angry? Check. A man from a previous universe that has enormous power and need to feed on planets in order to survive? Double check. There are many ideas in this type of universe that are rather silly, yet the suspension of disbelief of capes enthusiast is usually rather strong.

There are times though were some ideas are perhaps a bit too far-fetched, however, like this series dealing with Galactus, the one from the regular 616 universe being in the Ultimate universe. There is potential here, to be sure, yet there are so many ways this could go wrong. Does Bendis and the rest of the creative team manage to bring out some of the better uses for this idea to the forefront in this opening issue?

For the most part, Bendis opens this up fairly well, using some of most preeminent concepts of both universes to create a good comparison between the two. The use of Galactus as an unstoppable force, one that cannot be bothered by ants is one that has been used many times before, yet it is used competently here as well. The destruction is on par with big action movies, which is commendable for a series that has a rather ominous title like Cataclysm: The Ultimates’ Last Stand.

Cataclysm #0.1 – Review

by Joshua Hale Fialkov (Writer), Mico Suayan, Mirco Pierfederici, Leonard Kirk (Artists), Nolan Woodard (Colorist)

The Story: Getting a load of knowledge about what is happening in the universe, the Vision see the need to stop Galactus by herself.

The Review: After the somewhat disappointing Hunger mini-series, the announcement of an event named Cataclysm: The Last Stand of the Ultimates is currently sending a lot of rumors about the imminent cancellation of the Ultimate line of titles. While Marvel is currently being coy about what this event might lead to, it is dead set on telling this story about the regular Marvel universe (616 for the fans) Galactus stuck in the Ultimate universe. There are plenty of opportunities for rather interesting comparisons along with some good stories being told here, but does Joshua Hale Fialkov bring in a strong entry with this prologue issue?

Bringing in his stronger side, the one that was behind I, Vampire rather than the one behind Hunger, Fialkov is able to not only introduce the finer points of the inevitable conflict, yet also draws some interesting comparison between the regular and the Ultimate universe in the process. Telling a complete story all the while, this issue succeeds far more in taking advantage of the setting and the newer elements than what preceded it.

One of the first noticeable element that is better is the lead character, the female version of Vision that had been introduced in the Ultimate Galactus Trilogy. With her being properly introduced in terms of personality, with her conflict against her more logical and emotional side being evolving during the comic as part of the narrative, she succeeds in being a part of the story without making it all focus around her. She is central, as is her point-of-view, yet she is merely an instrument to the plot, which is then seasoned by how she envision things and how she evaluate her own development. With her development being complete in the 20 pages of this comic, Vision works rather well as the protagonist here as the ominous presence of Galactus dwell.

Hunger #4 – Review

by Joshua Hale Fialkov (Writer), Leonard Kirk (Artist), Jesus Aburtov (Colorist)

The Story: Rick Jones is ready to finally fulfill his destiny as he brings the fight to Galactus.

The Review: With the rumored death of the Ultimate universe looming around, not many expected this mini-series to close with Galactus being defeated. The announcement of Cataclysm: Last stand of the Ultimates cementing that fact, many could potentially wonder what exactly was the point of this mini-series in the larger context of the Ultimate universe. With mini-series having the necessity to be quicker at getting to the point, this issue had the need to show readers how things would end with Rick Jones and his destiny.

As it turns out, it’s a pretty disappointing read, as Joshua Hale Fialkov rushes to his climax and to the conclusion too quickly. There are some nice moments here and there in the confrontation, yet it seems that the final result of this whole story is hand-waved as many of the more interesting elements aren’t even focused upon.

Hunger #3 – Review

by Joshua Hale Fialkov (Writer), Leonard Kirk (Artist), Jesus Aburtov (Colorist)

The Story: Mahr-Vell arrives on the scene as Rick Jones doubts himself even more. Meanwhile, Galactus hungers.

The Review: It has been a while since we have seen the latest issue of this series, has it not? With the fate of the cosmic side of the Ultimate universe in the balance, the latest issue tried to show the threat that the merging of Gah Lak Tus with the regular one as Rick Jones generally whines about his role in the story. While there were some weaker aspects to the story, it was still a generally enjoyable one nonetheless. Does this issue continue this trend or does it shows a better handle on some of its elements?

It’s a strange thing to say, but it maintains the very same strengths and weaknesses, albeit what’s good get better, yet the disappointing aspects also get worse. The elements that actually worked through the story were the cosmic ones, as the presence of Galactus actually felt like a catastrophe in space. The way the Kree acts and the explanation for what Gah Lak Tus actually is do make the comic a bit more heavy on the drama and the action as a result, which does help in selling the actual point of this mini-series.

What also worked is the general approach toward the catastrophe and how it affects some of the key players, like the Silver Surfer and Mahr-Vell, who comes off as rather good point-of-view characters in this issue, bringing in some interesting questions, exposition and action for the readers to enjoy.

Hunger #2 – Review

Joshua Hale Fialkov (Writer), Leonard Kirk (Artist), Jesus Aburtov (Colorist)

The Story: A different surfer arrives to see just who the mighty Galactus might be as the Kree and Chitauri reacts to his presence.

The Review: Mini-series have a rather hard job to do. In a limited amount of pages, they must show a whole story, complete with character arcs, exposition, explanation of the setting and so on in order to create a satisfying experience for the readers. It may not sound so differently from the regular ongoing that needs to do just that as well, yet the much smaller amount of issues do tend to make it so the creative team need to use each pages smartly by preserving a good pacing.

Hunger is one of those, but one that need to make its point in four issues, with this one being the second one, meaning that the story reached its middle point by the issue’s end. While the basic premise of Galactus being in the Ultimate universe is something that is rather silly, yet ingenuous, does it work in creating a story that is both entertaining and that fulfill a purpose?

Hunger #1 – Review

Joshua Hale Fialkov (Writer), Leonard Kirk (Artist) Jesus Aburtov (Colorist)

The Story: Rick Jones is warned multiple time that a huge and devastating event will soon happen. Cue Galactus.

The Review: If I have a certain sub-genre of comics I really love in comics, it would be the space-opera/ sci-fi vibe that some stories like Annihilation and Infinity Gauntlet possessed. The big scales, the problems, the conflict and how the players need to resolve some problems that are way beyond their capacities can lead to great stories. However, this genre is not always well-presented in comics, as many tries to mimic it, only to fail without reaching the height of those cosmic stories. Does Hunger, so far, relate to the former or to the latter?

Judging from the first issue, I’d say we have a big chance that it will be the former, as Joshua Hale Fialkov seems able to deliver on some very key front in terms of cosmic stories, the first of which being the scale. As we see the Chitauri–Kree war develop and how the animosity between those two races develop, we also see the Ultimate answer to Galactus, Gah Lak Tus, the Watcher, the infinite depth of space and more, all being led up toward the arrival of Jack Kirby’s creation himself. The pacing and the exploration of all these elements is done rather well, letting the readers escalate throughout the rapid flow of information and exposition. Fialkov let us know that the cosmic background of the Ultimate universe is different, as he shows it aptly throughout the issue.

How he does so, however, is quite befitting, as our protagonist, Rick Jones, is presented quite well too. His balance between cosmically aware, yet his utter humanity and his younger years do help us readers absorb the information, either by humor or by juxtaposing our own questions throughout his voice. However, the character isn’t exactly perfect either, as his utter cluelessness about his predicament do lead us to question why he has such powers, something that isn’t helped at all by the vague explanation provided by the Watcher. A good character he may be, his role as our window toward what is happening is a bit less effective due to a certain repetition of his lack of knowledge.

Ultimate Comics Spider-Man #16.1 Review

By: Brian Michael Bendis (Writer), David Marquez (Artist), Justin Ponsor (Colorist), Cory Petit (Letterer)

The Review: At first glance this is kind of a strange move from Ultimate Comics Spider-Man. The book’s technically still in the midst of the Divided We Fall/United We Stand storylinebut has taken the decision to drop a Point.One issue just before the crossover draws to a close. This is most likely down to editorial requirements so that Spider-Man and the Ultimates ship their conclusions to the event in the same month, but no matter; even when this creative team are dealt a logistical curveball they still manage to smash it out of the park.

Essentially this issue follows The Daily Bugle’s Betty Brant, hot on the trail of Spider-Man’s secret identity for an article which she hopes will propel her to stardom. She starts with a close inspection of the footage of Miles’ climactic fight with his Uncle Aaron when she stumbles across five important little words: “You are…just…like me.” Betty recognizes this as one of the most decisive moments in this new Spidey’s mythology and sets out to discover the truth behind the character’s origin. Betty first digs into Uncle Aaron’s history as costumed thief The Prowler, and then uncovers a major find while scouring his abandoned apartment for clues – this in turn leads to some minor revelations regarding Oscorp’s role in how our hero received his powers. Some final snooping on Miles and his family seems to fill in the remaining blanks. At its heart this story is a procedural drama about one journalist’s quest to land the biggest scoop of her career, and even with Spider-Man himself barely making an appearance it’s still a thoroughly engrossing read.

I’m not quite sure how Bendis does it. He’s been writing this title for well over 10 years but still seems to approach each issue like it’s his first, always brimming with energy and enthusiasm. While he’s been known to make a habit of composing his scripts a little on the talk-heavy side, Ultimate Comics Spider-Man benefits the most from this practice with a series of convincing back-and-forth exchanges between Brant and her often-reticent cast of contacts. With the Police she’s sweet and charming while with her source at Roxxon she’s a hard-nosed manipulator who’s quick to resort to blackmail to get the information she needs. The book’s best moments see her butt heads with J Jonah Jameson over the veracity and/or need for this story. Here’s where that decade-plus history on the book really comes into play. Bendis has crafted the Bugle’s Editor-in-Chief into a character whose history with Spider-Man is deep and rich, a man who’s learned the hard way what it means to put the story before the person it affects. In my mind he almost steals the show from Brant, but both are wonderfully handled here.

Ultimate Comics X-Men #18 Review

By: Brian Wood (Writer), Carlo Barberi & Agustin Padilla (Artist), Juan Vlasco (Inker), Marte Gracia (Colorist), Joe Sabino (Letterer)

The Review: A year and a half’s worth of plotting has been building up to this point – a decisive ending that opens up new beginnings. In the short term this is the last part that Ultimate Comics X-Men will play in the Divided We Fall/United We Stand crossover event, but in a wider sense this issue sees the mutant community finally secure some stable ground on which they can begin a process of rebuilding, a peace they’ve longed for since the events of Ultimatum. It’s slightly hurried in its execution, but still manages to produce some thrills amongst all the heavy lifting.

Ultimatum #4 – Review

By Jeph Loeb (writer), David Finch (pencils), Danny Miki (inks), Peter Steigerweld (colors)

Usually it is an ominous sign here at WCBR when we forgo our standard format when writing a review; and in the case of Ultimatium #4, this warning is well warranted. Before I tear into this dreadful piece of literature; this horrendous and hideous production, I want to make a disclaimer: I am not a hater. I don’t hate creators for their past work or their approach to storytelling. You won’t see me railing against a Grant Morrison or Greg Land for their unique styles, even if I don’t like them (BTW, I am a fan of the former). Rather, I do my best to review every comic on its own merit and for what it and of itself brings to the table. Therefore, I am not a Jeph Loeb “hater,” so what I have to say here is objective and directed to the comic at hand. With that said, let me be blunt: this is one of the worst comics I have ever read.

I can not see one redeeming aspect of this comic and seriously, I don’t say this lightly, but this is a complete waste of a tree. In fact, there is a tree somewhere screaming from its pulpy grave that its life was cut short for the sake of this garbage, vowing vengeance against the editors at Marvel.

The character work here is totally laughable and I have no idea if this is supposed to be a serious comic or if there is meant to be some 4th wall comedy going on here; where the reader and the writer mutually acknowledge that comics take themselves too seriously. Also, the way the heroes and villains are killed off is, well, kinda disrespectful. Not disrespect to the characters, because that would be the proposition of an insane person, but rather, disrespectful to the readers. Marvel has wrapped many readers into the Ultimate Universe for years and these followers have dedicated a lot time and money to buy this line. So to see characters that readers were meant to invest into over these years killed off in such juvenile, silly, and irreverent ways just so that the writer has some shock value to fall back on, is, as I said, disrespectful.

The way this story moved along reminded me of a factory line. Things have to happen for point A to get to point B and that’s it. No drama, no real dialogue, and definitely no logic. In my opinion, the cause of these problems is just laziness. Loeb doesn’t even try to make things click. There is actually a scene where Cyclops addresses a helicopter crew that is hundreds of feet overhead and he just talks to it, telling it to lay off, and somehow the pilot hears him and backs off. I’m not even going to address the return of Nick Fury and that whole scene, as it’s not even worth me firing whatever synapses control my short-term memory has in order to recall how tremendously and pervasively ridiculous it was.

The art also seemed lazy and careless. I think Finch read the script and thought to himself that there was no point in eventrying. There is nothing impressive about anything here and the over-the-top, sloppy, and grotesque death and violence. It all simply forced me to look away from many of the panel.s.

I’m serious when I say, that there is no point in Marvel releasing the conclusion to this mini. It is a waste all-around. Just move on with Bendis and Millar and their new Ultimate Comics projects and pretend this whole sordid affair never happened. I will most likely not be buying the next issue as there is no chance that I’ll ever reread this series again ever, ever, ever…

Grade: F-

– Rob G.

Ultimatum #1 – Review

By Jeph Loeb (Writer), David Finch (Artist), Danny Miki (Inker), and Steve Firchow (Colors)

What’s Going On: Think “The Day After Tomorrow” with super-heroes. We get one page each of the Fantastic Four, the Ultimates, Spider-Man, and the X-Men hanging around before a gigantic tidal wave swamps New York. This is the terrible event presaged in Ultimate Origins, as evidenced by one of those “Watcher” traffic lights hanging around Bruce Banner. At first, Reed Richards thinks it’s Namor’s doing, but a quick fight with the King of Atlantis convinces him otherwise. Doctor Doom appears in this issue, but it’s not him either. In the Ultimate Universe, Doom is a second stringer.

What’s Good: David Finch’s art is, as always, a wonder to behold. The only drawback is he has had to cram so many characters into the first issue that the story flow sometimes suffers, especially when the big wave hits: we never actually see it happen. One panel everyone’s looking up at the rain, the next the streets are under twenty feet of water.

What’s Not So Good: Reality check: What is Bruce Banner, whose alter-ego caused the death of 600 New Yorkers, who is viewed in the Ultimate universe as the moral equivalent of Osama Bin Laden, doing hanging around midtown?

What It All Boils Down To: Ultimatum #1 works pretty well, in a sacrificing-character-for-world-shaking-action sort of way. And that Uru trinket at the villain’s feet on the last page promises to make an interesting twist.

Grade: B+

– Andrew C. Murphy

A Second Opinion

Although a lot of fans don’t like Jeph Loeb’s writing, I tend to in general; feeling that he’s more hit and miss than most. I didn’t read Ultimates 3 but the consensus wasn’t good. Still “the end” of the Ultimate U is an interesting idea in itself. What’s frustrating about the book is that there’s too much setup of the universe and not enough for the story. Most of the book shows the major players and recaps their relationships. That’s fine, but one would have to assume that anyone reading Ultimatum would be up to date with these relationships. If I hadn’t read Ultimate Origins, I’d be clueless to what was going on, and I’m still not so sure. Generally I like to give an arc at least two issues before I decide to pass on it, and it’s a good thing here because it looks like the story won’t start till issue 2 . I agree with Andrew though, this story’s appeal is more on the event than the characters. But now, we have a broad-strokes idea of the world, so hopefully things can get spaced out a little better. That way Finch’s pencils can really shine and Loeb can show the better side of his talents.

Grade: C

-Ben Berger

Ultimate Origins #2 – Review

By Brian Michael Bendis (writer), Butch Guice (art), Justin Ponsor (colors)

I love a good Captain America story, and that’s basically what we get here. After the big opening we received last month, I thought the rest of this series would just go through the motions of connecting the characters of the Ultimate Universe into a big tapestry. We don’t get that with this issue, and to be honest, I was hoping for more answers. However, the retelling of Ultimate Captain America’s origin is, in many ways, a romantic tale. The quiet moments we witness between Steve and Gail are sweet, and reminiscent of the sappy kind of romance you’d see from an old World War 2 movie.

The rest of the story plods through familiar territory, giving us glimpses of what Steve goes through with his injections until he reaches the culmination of Project: Rebirth. From here, we learn the fate of Doctor Erskine, Steve’s new found skill of throwing disc shaped objects, and the appearance of an ancient object that I can only guess is the Ultimate Watcher. I could be wrong, however.

As a whole, the story’s nothing terribly new or noteworthy, but it’s highly entertaining and well-paced by Brian Bendis. Having Butch Guice on the series is an excellent choice, and having him work on a Captain America story after his recent stint on the regular Ed Brubaker Cap series is a stroke of genius. Here, he continues to mimic Steve Epting’s style while injecting some of his own sensibilities. The result is an astonishingly beautiful book. There is one instance where “scrawny” Steve Rogers looks a bit too much like Nicolas Cage and there’s a few tiny panels littered about that just feel out of place, but otherwise this is a great looking book.

I’m wondering if the rest of this series will play out similarly to this issue. If it does, I can’t say I’ll enjoy the format. As a stand alone story, this issue’s quite good, but do we really need a series that just retells everyone’s origins? I’ll let you know when I have the answer. (Grade: B)

– J. Montes

A Second Opinion

While I agree with Jason on most of his points, I can’t possibly give this one the same type of score. The Captain America origin story is well told thanks to some great artwork and fitting writing, but since this is supposed to be part of an event mini-series, I find myself pretty disappointed. Too much of this issue is just a retelling of what is, at this point, an extremely familiar tale. New plot elements are introduced, but not really given enough time to develop properly since so much of the issue is devoted to retelling Cap’s story. While what is here works well enough, the Cap story may have been better off as a one-shot so that the mini-series could focus more on connecting the dots and telling a much larger tale. This is a good read, but disappointing given the context. (Grade: C+)

-Kyle Posluszny

A Third Opinion

I swear, if Brian Bendis takes this “decompression” business any further, I’m going to develop the bends.

Okay, I know that’s not fair. I know that this is probably a good issue, and that when the Ultimate Origins story is read as a whole, these 24 pages will seem well-written and well-paced, but it’s really just a recap of the origin of Captain America, which I’ve read once or twice or fifty times before.

The book opens with the Fantastic Four touring a “Raiders of the Lost Ark” style warehouse inside Project Pegasus. An artifact that looks something like a totem pole, but more like a traffic light, has started to glow, after being inactive for sixty years. We then jump back to 1942, where Steve Rogers is morosely watching a newsreel about action in the European theatre. A woman named Gail shows up with another guy, and it’s apparent from their interaction that at least part of Rogers’ desire to enlist is hormonally motivated. He goes to the recruitment office for the fourth or fifth time and is again rejected, but this time “Dum Dum” Dugan shows up to tell him he’s been selected for a special project. What follows is almost exactly the same as the origin of the regular Captain America.

How is the origin of the “Ultimate” Captain America different from the regular one? The artifact was there. That’s all. Honestly. He was being watched by a stick.

I’m intrigued by the artifact, which I assume is either alien or magical, but it feels like Bendis is coasting a bit here. Similarly, the art is good, but obviously Butch Guice isn’t working quite as hard this issue as he did on the first.

I have faith in Bendis, and I’ve got high hopes for this series, but judged as an individual issue I have to give this a… (Grade: C+)

– Andrew C. Murphy