Ultimates 2, vol. 2: Eternity War

Al Ewing’s “other” superhero team book got off to a great start with its first volume, was waylaid by its “Civil War II” crossover and some dodgy fill-in art for its second volume, and looked to be turning things around in its third.  The last of which I never got around to writing about.  My bad.  That volume ended with the revelation of the series’ big bad:  The First Firmament — the living incarnation of the first iteration of the Marvel Universe.  Now, if you think that turning such a high concept into a workable character and wrapping up this ambitious cosmic saga in the space of four issues (even if one of them is oversized) is an impossible task… then you’re not wrong.  At least this volume still offers some fun stories and ideas to soothe the underlying disappointment.

Mind you, it takes a little while for that to become apparent because the first issue is a tie-in to “Secret Invasion.”  It does make sense for the crossover to be acknowledged here because one of its key players, Carol “Captain Marvel” Danvers, is a  member of the team.  So we get an inside look at her efforts, along with those of Monica “Spectrum” Rambeu and Adam “Blue Marvel” Brashear as they deal with the onslaught of Chitauri drones in space.  As this is going on, America Chavez is trying to track down Galactus, who is still recovering after his ordeal in the previous volume, to help with breaking the shield that’s keeping them off of Earth.

There are some amusing bits in this issue, such as Abigail Brand telling the drones attacking her spacecraft to stop chewing on its wing and Rocket Raccoon ranting about how these humans managed to lock themselves out of their own planet.  It’s also nice to see Ewing try to advance his ongoing plots as much as he can within the context of the crossover.  Yet the whole thing still comes off as a digression from the main story.  A particularly unwanted one given the fact that it takes up precious space that could have been spent developing more important things like the existence of the First Firmament.

This issue does have one thing going in its favor, and that’s the art of Aud Koch.  I’d not seen anything from this artist prior to this issue and her style is definitely not one I’d expect to see in a Marvel comic.  Particularly one so heavy into sci-fi action like this.  Yet it turns out to be a surprisingly effective fit with her loose, expressionistic style recalling the weirdness of artists like Faeryl Dalrymple.  As a result, the characters emote more visibly on the page than I was expecting and certain sequences that would seem to be difficult to convey — such as Spectrum’s trip through the shield — work quite well on the page.

Koch also illustrates the following issue, whose significance to the main plot isn’t quite clear at first but that turns out to be for the best.  It’s mostly focused on a mostly-recovered Galactus as he goes looking for an ally in the upcoming fight.  The ally he has in mind is Ego the Living Planet.  Ego and Galactus are not on good terms with each other as the latter tried to eat the former many times prior to his “Lifebringer” incarnation.

Now Galactus comes in peace and the conversation that results is one of the highlights of Ewing’s run.  The anger, fear, and apprehension that Ego feels at his foe’s sudden appearance is quite believable and even justified to a certain extent.  So when Galactus displays an unexpected vulnerability in his entreaty to Ego, we get to see a side to the Living Planet that we haven’t seen before.  (No, it doesn’t look like Kurt Russell.)  It’s an unexpectedly affecting sequence and it’s followed by an equally impressive one in terms of spectacle as Ego evolves and Galactus’ plan is revealed.

Travel Foreman returns to illustrate the final two issues and there’s a harsher, more sinister aspect to the weirdness in his art compared to Koch’s.  That actually works in the story’s favor for most of its length as things turn grim.  Foreman only lets us down when the story calls for moments of genuine superhero grandeur, like when the original Ultimates return.  His take on the team is considerably uglier than what I’m used to seeing in comics featuring these characters, and that carries over to their inevitable fight with the current team of Ultimates.

As for the actual story in these final issues, the first one features a fun metaphysical fight between a ragtag group of cosmic entities and Logos, the current incarnation of law in this cosmos.  As this is going on, the Maker (the character formerly known as Ultimate Reed Richards) and the High Evolutionary are observing the fight and recording its information to try and evolve the multiverse.  What they don’t realize is that their actions are playing into the hands of the First Firmament.

There’s a lot going on here and Ewing has to bludgeon the reader with exposition in order to convey everything he wants to.  That doesn’t make for an entertaining reading experience even when it’s being delivered by the Maker with his trademark arrogant smarm.  It’s a problem that carries over into the final issue when the writer starts throwing everything left in his bag at the wall.  Some of it works really well, like the unexpected resolution to the Ultimates vs. Ultimates fight and T’Challa’s surprise contribution to the battle of primal concepts.  Most of it, such as how our heroes effectively save the day by firing up a machine that allows them to think their way out of the conflict and the reveal of the “Ultimate Ultimates,” really illustrate the fact that Ewing needed another issue or two to have any hope of pulling it off.

Even if “The Ultimates” didn’t pull off everything it attempted to it still displayed a level of ambition and imagination that’s rare in Marvel comics these days.  This final volume is kind of a failure, but it’s an ambitious one and I have a soft spot for those.  Maybe one day Ewing will finally get to write a series at Marvel (or elsewhere) that allows him to tell the story he wanted to completion and doesn’t get cancelled early.  Until then, series like this and his “Avengers” titles will just have to stand as examples of why he should continue to be given chances to deliver in this industry.