Is the New Marvel Ultimate Universe Any Good?

The Covers of Ultimate Black Panther, Ultimate Spider-Man, Ultimate Invasion, Ultimates, Ultimate X-Men and Ultimate Wolverine.

0 comentario

Written by Matheus

Filmmaker by day, Wishlistmaker by night. Kamala Khan’s unofficial PR team since 2014.

'Starting-Again' is super heroes comics in a nutshell. The constant reframing — to know everything can be revised — can bring either a freedom not all media can afford, but also a sort of existential dread if you get too hung up on the (not pointless, but maybe inadvisable) question of “if anything can be redone, what is the point of anything existing at all?

The first Ultimate Universe was a question of translation. How do you keep the characters alive in a new-millennium media landscape, where change happens by the minute? How do you get kids to pay attention to our characters when they have so much information being thrown at them at every stop?

When the Silver Age words don’t have the right words to speak to these kids anymore, you rewrite. When the ’90s capitalized on passion, only to find out later that overwhelming your fans for stock speculation can be very alienating, you definitely need a clean slate. That was 1610. Bendis rewrote Lee and Ditko on Ultimate Spider-Man to later test out the strength of the concept on its borders. The X-Men were punks, and the Fantastic Four dwelled on their fates with much intensity. No time for simplifying.

Here, post-pandemic, the new Ultimate Universe is diving into the question I said was inadvisable. And one step more, they are challenging readers on the “pointless” accusations. They are making an argument for the characters as a canvas for creativity instead of figures condemned to be just one thing. It’s a bit of an editorial self-assessment compared to the first one, which was more a type of editorial challenge. We are not retelling the same stories for a new age; we are using our characters as vessels for topics that can speak to people in this new age.

Ultimate Invasion by Jonathan Hickman and Bryan Hitch

The Illuminati of the Marvel Universe try to catch The Maker, who is holding them off with a force field!

Hickman was not supposed to do Ultimate Invasion. And that’s kind of a perfect description. This whole reboot was planned around Donny Cates initially, as was teased in several of his runs. But unfortunately, Cates suffered a terrible accident that left him with partial memory loss and kept him away from comics for a while (we’re glad that he’s good and back now!).

Hickman was then tasked with this. And he’s the Marvel go-to guy for rebrandings at this point, so it made sense. The story follows the Maker (the turned-evil Reed Richards from the former venture) — one of the two main characters who made the jump to the regular line after their own ended. The Maker finally goes back home. Well, not exactly. He wants home to look like whatever he wants it to look like — and if you’ve ever come home after some time away, you know the trap being laid out here. His wish is to squash most heroes’ origin stories before they happen and to manipulate every single aspect of this new world to spin around him.

So Hickman makes the resistance to the villain exactly that — an editorial resistance against conceptions of what these characters truly are and, more importantly, against preconceptions of where they need to end up to be who they are. He sets the stage for the following ongoing books as a countdown: each issue will happen a month after the last one, mimicking real-time publications (practically a “Marvel way of doing things? Let’s raise it higher!” bet with themselves).

Can we do something meaningful in this time? Can we make an argument for something, even if we fail in the attempt? And if we don’t, what’s left of our characters? Are they still the same?

Hickman mirrors the enterprise in his soldiers, and that’s what’s interesting about this reboot. The characters mirror the challenge because challenging is their nature. And off to the races we go.

Ultimate Spider-Man by Jonathan Hickman and Marco Checchetto

Ultimate Peter Parker is reminding himself of what his Uncle Ben and Mary Jane said and lets a spider inside of a tube bite him on his hand.

Modern Spider-Man comics can be an exhausting discussion between writers, editors, and readers. And it makes sense that every run in the last 20 years has been somewhat controversial — and it’s not coincidental that Bendis’ love letter seems to be one of the few people agree on. It’s too iconic a character. It messes with people’s sense of their childhood, which means it messes with people’s sense of worth in their adulthood. That’s the argument for growth, the argument for how pointless stagnation is to art.

But it’s also too big a brand to ever truly avoid eating itself by the tail with the definition it’s trademarked for. That’s the argument for Peter and MJ never truly being together definitively, having kids, and moving on. I won’t say whether it’s the right one; I’ll move on to what Hickman chose to test here.

Let's Remix the Classic Formula!

Peter and MJ are married and have kids. What we (almost) all wanted. But here’s the thing: he’s not Spider-Man yet. So we start separating the story from the brand. And then we smash them together to see the shock, with Peter gaining his powers now in his 30s. And the result — the main argument — is simple, to be honest. It’s comics. It’s comics, it’s melodrama, it’s conflicts and ups and downs. Hickman’s answer to the controversy is storytelling, and that in itself is beautiful.

The world seems big, as it always does in his stories, with the readers taking turns between following characters decoding the engines put in place while also breeding wonderful moments of pure, unadulterated happiness in following their favorites. They are all more; they are all destined for more. But they are not just their destiny; they can’t be just their end results. The kids shine and give a sense of wonder to old gimmicks, while MJ, Gwen, Harry, and all the old villains are written in different directions with a stronghold that only confidence in their place in the Marvel economy can give.

You won’t find it strange when people claim, “this should be the main Spidey line,” but naturally, you’ll also realize (gladly) that it doesn’t need to be.

Ultimate X-Men by Peach Momoko

A young girl on a bike is almost hit by a car. But a red force field protects her.

If you’ve ever walked into a bookstore and seen the difference in size between the manga and U.S. comics sections — or even checked out our best-selling lists — you know it’s not even a competition. The battle was won by manga a long time ago, while everybody was distracted with something else.

When people say the American market should look at the Japanese market, this is what we mean — not the “doing Batman but he is manga now” silliness.

Essentially, Peach is doing a teen horror manga with the Marvel logo. But it can also be a mistake to reduce her work to that of a mere translator. Peach is a fully realized artist, using her tools to express herself, with knowledge enough to know that being fully realized can be boring as @$#@. And that was the reason comics got overpowered — not the style of drawings.

Young Mutants in a Refreshing New Take

This is truly a reinvention, not even a retelling. We follow a group of girls led by Hisako Ichiki, a young mutant we know as Armor. She is literally haunted by guilt after her friend’s suicide. And she doesn’t end up in a school with a bald guy telling her to fight. Instead, she meets other people with no answers. She faces misguided interpretations and her own sense of self.

Discovering you are something else means weighing the good and bad, and deciding how it affects you. It also means facing what you can’t choose and what you’ll never be able to choose. And truly, how womanhood — and the quiet horror of realizing how the world treats women — permeates the entire story. It’s a coming-of-age tale about how scary it is to realize your sense of self in a world that tells you different things all the time.

What I love about this book is how culture is incorporated, not overpowered. Why would the existence of mutants overpower traditions, cultures, and religions? It would mix, add doubt, and add reflection. This is what it does. There’s a glossary at the end of each issue, explaining specific elements of Japanese culture. Sometimes they are things you don’t need to know to read the book (to be honest, you really don’t). But they add such a beautiful touch. Worldbuilding can be small as well. In fact, it usually cements its quality and reach in the smallest details. And this book can be exactly that for this new universe.

Even if you hate superhero comics and Marvel, you might like this — a testament to the care and sincerity involved.

Ultimate Black Panther by Bryan Hill and Stefano Caselli

Killmonger announces a storm-based being.

If you loved the first Ultimate Universe and want more in that realm, this is the title to pick. It’s the most conventional one. And this is simply a fact, not a judgment of its quality. Wakanda is fully formed in today’s pop culture imagination (and that’s such a wonderful thing to say). But the comics never quite reach that momentum.

We do have a lot of good Panther books. What we don’t have is something that makes these characters the megastars the movies turned them into. That’s partly because Wakanda’s publishing history has been so specific. It’s hard to walk back or align concepts without sounding reductive to the publisher’s past. Ta-Nehisi Coates made the franchise bigger, reaching for galaxies. Hill is trying to implement that into the veins of its origins and basics.

The Mystic Warriors of the Ultimate Universe Are Clashing!

This T’Challa feels lost in his certainties. Wakanda was built around the cosmic power of vibranium, yet their origins reach further. Something mythical, something he can’t control. And that makes him scared and protective of his country and the people he swore to protect. This is how sci-fi mysticism is incorporated, mixing Moon Knight and Ra. It always treads the line between faith and militarism, protectiveness and gatekeeping. His court and friends circle, trying to bridge gaps between fate, belief, and what is nothing but politics. Ororo and Killmonger, of course, are outsiders and symbols of revolution. A revolution Wakanda both fears and needs.

This is an action book with good ideas. Sometimes they get lost in the trap of delivering both, only to end up showing neither. But it is very competent when it is secure of itself. And it can shine when the stars align properly.

Ultimates by Deniz Camp and Juan Frigeri

This is the book that gives the thesis to the project. It can be described as digressions on American culture, disguised as a blockbuster Marvel movie. This is the generational book Marvel was looking for. And it gives us the grace of not indulging in the trap of needing to be that book. What I’m trying to say is this: it’s good. Deniz Camp is probably on the way to being in the conversation with the greats of all time. Between this, Absolute Martian Manhunter, and Assorted Crisis Events, all happening at the same time.

Can the Ultimate Universe be Saved?

If I’m arguing this new universe is about resistance to conceptions, this book chronicles the revolutionaries. The heroes. Why they will win, and more importantly, why they will fail. It shows how both things can be unwavering truths and carefully placed lies at the same time. The victory is at the margins, and that is what the true fight is about. Iron Lad (Tony Stark) is a boy tasked with fixing a world designed to be broken. He gives the heroes of 6160 the origins they were stolen from. Doom (Reed Richards) is a man trying to fix something in himself.

But nothing can walk itself back. Even with time travel, the world continues to move forward. They are wonderful parallels to the Maker and his purpose. While the Maker changed at his will, they are tasked to do the same in practice. The question is whether they will resist the same traps, since the Maker was also once a young hero in a broken world.

A world of sci-fi, gadgets, and powers meets a world of broken spirits. And it’s scary to recognize that same broken spirit in our sci-fi-less one. The players are not who you think. They have different origins, tied to very important topics Camp does not shy away from outlining. The She-Hulk and Hawkeye reimaginings are all-timers. America Chavez finally gets a good camp (ha!) to shine. And old stalwarts like Captain America, Ant-Man, and Wasp see their prospects enhanced by this more complex reality.

Connecting the Dots!

Camp is a dynamic writer. Every issue feels different and can stand alone, yet also clearly lead to a big puzzle. A puzzle for us fanatics reading everything everywhere all at once. His biggest quality as a writer is shamelessly rewriting, contradicting, and offering different perspectives to himself in the same book. Yet he still reads as someone sure of what he wants. Weird, right? Good, right? He’s a cut-everything-and-glue-it-all-together-to-make-whatever-you-want guy. And they gave him the Ultimates!

Deniz is also writing early one-shots. The first One Year-In shows the new universe from Nick Fury’s perspective. It is full of Easter eggs and plot twists that will surely surprise you. (I love that so much, but I don’t want to risk spoiling it.) Two Years-In will be published in December, promising Ultimate Guardians of the Galaxy and Ultimate Daredevil. (!!!!!!!)

Ultimate Wolverine by Chris Condon and Alessandro Cappuccio

A shadowy figure is slicing up people. It is Ultimate Wolverine!

Ultimate Wolverine substitutes the Weapon X program with the Winter Soldier. As for Logan’s psychological state, it doesn’t really change much. In fact, the visuals by Cappuccio are the true stars that bring the change to life. The dark, Cold War–like aesthetics match the character very well, giving ample opportunities for visual storytelling. It’s just a stunning book to look at.

The X-Men in this universe are hard to describe. Peach Momoko is not very interested in making them the central part of her book, which is a good thing. So Condon explores that gap. He takes fan favorites like Beast, Kitty Pryde, Gambit, and Abigail Brand, and frames them as revolutionaries with secret underground facilities. It’s like a mutant S.H.I.E.L.D., mixing them with Natasha Romanoff and Red Guardian. So it all feels like something from a Bucky Barnes and Black Widow book, but with mutants. Magik and Colossus being the villains is also very cool. If nothing else, Magik’s visuals employed for darker paths are so fun to see.

Logan is Logan. He is traumatized and can’t handle all the violence they forced him to do in their name. Condon leans into the sadness and the mysterious. Even if it sacrifices a bit of character development initially, it leaves space for payoffs later. The reworked relationship with Sabretooth is my favorite. But again, Cappuccio makes up for the slow burn. He delivers excellent work in the first arc, marrying classic Wolverine with this new Russian air.

Ultimate Wolverine Vol. 1: The Winter Soldier TP

The Present and the Future of the Marvel Ultimate Universe

Happening right now in the Ultimate Universe is Ultimate Spider-Man: Incursion. It’s too early to make a full judgment. In it, Miles Morales also makes the jump back home in a crossover with our new Peter. But he will find a very different place than the one he imagined. A slower place, let’s say.

At the end of the year, the countdown closes with Ultimate Endgame. It features the much-promised return of the Maker by Deniz Camp and Jonas Scharf. (And Scharf will be present at our 5 years anniversary party in September)