Ultimate Invasion

Saying “around the turn of the millennium” is something that makes me feel old, but it was when Marvel unleashed their one imprint that genuinely resonated with me:  Ultimate Marvel.  The concept was “What if the Marvel Universe had started today?” and the results took the industry by storm.  “Ultimate X-Men” was a blockbuster right out of the gate, and “Ultimate Spider-Man” grew in sales with each issue and wound up being the longest-lasting of all the imprint’s titles.  Surviving even the death of its Peter Parker to give us Miles Morales and the eventual death of the universe itself.

While the line grew to include versions of the “Avengers” (renamed “Ultimates”), “Fantastic Four” and a host of spinoff miniseries, diminishing returns eventually set in.  Parts of the world were blown up to drum up hype but failed to sustain any long-term interest.  The talent got less spectacular with each relaunch too, with one notable exception.  When Jonathan Hickman took over “Ultimates” his first volume he made the world’s spiral into destruction a compelling read and I was looking forward to seeing what he did with that.  Marvel, however, was less interested as they yanked him off the book so he could go focus his energies on the “Avengers” titles in the main universe.  Which didn’t do this volume of “Ultimates” any favors, but worked out pretty well in the end.

Now, almost a decade later, the writer is back in the thick of the Ultimate Universe, having been given the keys to run it as he sees fit.  This is encouraging as his runs on “Fantastic Four” and the aforementioned “Avengers” and “New Avengers” show that he can do great work when this happens.  Not to knock his “X-Men” work, but I really would’ve liked to have seen how his originally planned storyline would’ve concluded had he not decided to leave after all of the other writers decided they wanted to keep playing in the world he built.

This time around, the Ultimate Universe has a distinct origin that ties it to the mainline one.  It even involves one of the survivors of the original – the villainous version of Reed Richards who goes by the name The Maker.  He’s been imprisoned for a while now, but you can’t contain a universal-level intellect such as his forever.  So he escapes, steals a bunch of things, and taunts a reformed Illuminati into following him as he prepares to depart this universe.  After a brief exchange with our Reed Richards that I’m absolutely certain will have no relevance later on, The Maker leaves and we find out what he wants:  A universe all to himself where he knows the origins of all the superheroes and can mold them to suit his needs.

It’s a prime supervillain move he’s made here and everything seems to be going his way when we catch up with him in this new universe.  Except that he just couldn’t help himself and had to find out whether or not his efforts succeeded.  So he traveled to the end of time and found someone with a grudge waiting for him.  Now The Maker has to rely on someone other than himself to take on this new threat.  Problem is that this person is Howard Stark, and he has his own ideas about how things should be run around here.

“Ultimate Invasion” is clearly designed to set up future stories in this universe and it does that capably enough.  We’re given a good sense of The Maker’s plans, shown what he’s done with the place, and established a few long-term plot threads that are certain to be developed in future “Ultimate” titles.  It’s all handled with Hickman’s ostentatiously dramatic dialogue that I still love and his knack for making big ideas accessible by melding them with genuine human drama.  What the writer does here won’t change anyone’s mind about him, and what’s here is likely going to satisfy established fans of his like me.

However, if there’s one thing that this volume lacks, it’s surprise.  One of the great joys of the previous incarnation of the Ultimate Universe was seeing what character would get the “Ultimate” treatment next.  How would they be reimagined for this new, modern setting?  The revisions we get here don’t quite have the same flair as they once did.  A version of the Hulk which knows inner peace?  Okay.  A version of Doom that appears to have more in common with his nemesis?  Sure.  A Captain Britain who is also French?  That’s a troll move if I ever saw one.

None of these revisions or updates, call them what you like, feel misguided or outright bad.  The way they’re positioned here makes them feel like they’re serving the needs of the story rather than the other way around.  That’s usually not a problem in Hickman’s stories because the ideas he gives us are usually big and compelling.  This time around they don’t feel as game-changing as the ones we got in “House of X/Powers of X” to cite the most recent example.

Do you know who does deliver on the bigness?  Original “Ultimates” artist Bryan Hitch.  While his work on that series was as good as it was slow in coming, he makes a welcome return to this universe where he’s asked to draw as many talking heads as exploding buildings.  It’s quality work that doesn’t skimp on the detail and variety as he’s asked to draw everything from liquified body horror, to heads of state dramatically stating how the world works, to gigantic clashes between time-displaced armies.  Hitch delivers work here that has scope, detail, and emotion to it, which all adds up to a triumphant homecoming for him.

Maybe not so much for Hickman, but the potential is there at least.  I wasn’t expecting to enjoy this on its potential, as I was expecting some payoff to go with the many setups here.  Hickman is sticking around as he’s writing “Ultimate Spider-Man” and certainly running things behind the scenes to make sure it, “Ultimate Black Panther,” “Ultimate X-Men,” and “Ultimates” all form a cohesive whole.  At least, that’s how I hope he’s running things.   I do have faith that this will all lead into a satisfyingly epic story in the end, even if I’m just 80% sold on things so far here.

Is it possible that a little more story could bring the writer’s plans more fully into focus…