Ultimate Incursion

Miles Morales came from the first Ultimate Universe, but he and his family have acclimated pretty well to the regular (616) Marvel Universe.  The Maker came from there too, which is why he offered this Spider-Man the chance, in the form of a blank card, to come to the new universe he was making.  While Miles turned him down, his 11-month-old sister Billie got her hands on it and, well… the next thing our hero knows is that he’s diving through an interdimensional portal to save her.  It’s not going to be easy, but he’s got all of the best heroes of this Ultimate Universe on his side to help him out.  Too bad the villains want to get their hands on Billie as well since she may be the key to letting The Maker out of his prison early.

Given Miles’ origins, it was inevitable that he’d play a part in the first major crossover between the new Ultimate and 616 Marvel Universes.  However, while “Spider-Men” was a fun bit of fluff that got by on playing up the differences between its two heroes, this one is not.  There’s a bit of that fun in the opening chapter where Miles meets this universe’s Peter and his son Richard, but then it moves on to Wakanda, Hi no Kuni (Ultimate Japan), and other places to have him interact with their respective heroes.  Do we get any meaningful or memorable interactions between him and these characters beyond, “Hey, our universes and their inhabitants are very different, yet also the same?”  No.  No we do not.

(It’s probably worth mentioning that this is the first substantial interaction I’ve seen involving characters from Peach Momoko’s “Ultimate X-Men” with the wider Ultimate Universe.  I’ve talked before about how disconnected that series feels from its fellow Ultimate titles, but that doesn’t wind up being an issue here.  Which brings up another issue.  Though Momoko is credited with a “Special Thanks” in the credits for this volume, Miles’ interactions with Maystorm feel like less of a validation that her takes on these characters can work outside of their title than the superficial nature of all of the meet-and-greets going on in this volume.)

Still, while co-writers Cody Ziglar and Deniz Camp turn in work that’s competent but decidedly unspectacular, with a couple notable plot beats at the end for the futures of the Ultimate and 616 Universes, it’s still a good sight better than the art we get from Jonas Scharf.  He comes off as thoroughly miscast on this material with his dark, spindly art that’s certainly distinctive and feels far better suited to an old-school Vertigo title.  Now, that beloved DC imprint did have artists cross over to mainstream Marvel success – with Chris Bachalo consistently turning out great work – but the story being told here really felt like it needed some superhero flash and doesn’t play well at all to Scharf’s stylized bent.  If this volume succeeds at anything, it’s in reminding me how much better we had it with the Ultimate Universe that Miles came  from.