Ultimates, New comics

New comics!  I was literally passing out while reading these, but I don’t think that affected my feelings for these issues...

Moon Knight 3

I’m not feeling this so much anymore.  After the intriguing first issue, things have been remarkably uninteresting.  This is nothing more than an extended fight scene.  I might get it one more issue, I might actually cancel now.  Not sure.

Death of Doctor Strange 1

I’ll give this another issue to see where it goes.  Lee Garbett on art certainly merits at least one more month.  

Jupiter’s Legacy: Requiem 4

This isn’t bad, but I don’t know that I need to read this ever again.  Another candidate for immediate cut.  I may have to read the first couple of miniseries to see if that makes me care more for the characters than the zero that I do right now.  

Old Guard: Tales Through Time 6

I got too caught up in the rush of the movie.  This anthology series is seriously not worth the purchase.  It’s not bad, but I certainly wouldn’t buy it again in hindsight.

Batman: The Detective 5

A rare misfire from Tom Taylor.  This is entirely replacement level, nothing that makes it stand out as a Taylor title.  Another “wouldn’t buy again.”

Ultimates 1-13

This was amazing when it first came out - Mark Millar and Bryan Hitch bringing the widescreen blockbuster action of Stormwatch over to the Ultimate universe.  Crazy fun action, quippy heroes saying clever things, the whole package.  

This comic is literally how Sam Jackson got the MCU role.

This was just before Pirates came out.  Thank goodness they went with RDJ...

Buscemi would have been interesting...

I would totally read a Butler Club teamup comic.

Total Matrix ripoff, but the ensuing action scene is pretty sweet.

The classic, defining moment for this comic.

Hitch really can draw a splash page.

But reading it this time around, I’m mostly struck by how cynical and bitter Millar’s take on the premier Marvel team really is.  There are almost no truly likeable characters (Thor is the only one), and most of them have at least one trait that makes them at least annoying, if not worse - Captain America’s stuck with his out-of-date 1940s morals, Hank Pym’s a weak-willed wife beater, Bruce Banner’s a weak-willed suck up, Quicksilver and Wanda have their incestuous relationship going on, Natasha ends up being a traitor, Tony Stark is a drunken fool, Betty Ross is a cruel, calculating phony, and even Jarvis is an unpleasant asshole.  

Takes the original and cranks it up to "way worse."

This is just mean spirited of Millar.

Really?  Still going with gay jokes?

Sure, the action scenes are spectacular, but underneath it all, there’s an unpleasantness to it all that really tainted the experience for me.  

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: Yes

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Good

Ultimates 2 1-13

Ultimates Annual 1

About halfway through volume 2, I realized that The Ultimates is really just Garth Ennis’ The Boys a few years early.  You’ve got your government/corporate-sponsored team of superheroes sent off to do the whims of their master.  Everyone’s despicable to some extent, no one’s really friends with each other, and it’s all vaguely depressing.

I don't mind with Sam Jackson, but Patrick Stewart's likeness completely takes me out of it here.

Such a phony, cynical moment.

Agree with Nat, I actually cheered when he got shot.

I don't get Millar's affections for "[Name], [begging]" moments.

Is it supposed to make the hero more badass?

Because it makes the final blow more pathetic for me.

The team’s so dysfunctional that I stopped caring after a while whether or not this team succeeded or failed.  It stopped being fun. 

And yet, it still gets a much better rating than you’d imagine from the tone of this review.  It’s too ambitious and well drawn to deserve anything less, and I’d still read it again.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: No

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Pretty good

Ultimates Annual 2

A piece of crap about Captain America, Falcon, race, and Arnim Zola.  Incoherently written by Charlie Huston, I had zero patience for this.  

Regret buying: Yes

Would buy again: No

Would read again: No

Rating: Disliked (Cutting)