All-New Ultimates vol. 1: Power For Power

So here we are with the latest relaunch of the Ultimate Universe.  It’s most likely going to be the last if the “The End” teaser they’re running for it as part of the upcoming “Secret Wars” event turns out to be the real thing.  Frankly, I’m hoping it is.  While the imprint has resulted in some great stories over the years, these last few years have seen Marvel try to jump-start interest in it with diminishing returns.  Said returns involved a giant-sized Kitty Pryde punching Galactus in the face to stop him from consuming the Earth.  That would’ve been a good point to throw in the towel and call it a day, but Marvel decided to give things one last shot with this latest round of relaunches.

They consist(ed) of the latest volume of “Ultimate Spider-Man” (which I’ve already ordered), “Ultimate FF” (which I won’t be buying because writer Josh Fialkov hasn’t impressed me with his other “Ultimate” work) and this title, “All-New Ultimates.”  Of the three, this is the most interesting since it represents an attempt by Marvel to recapture some of the magic from the imprint’s start by turning the title over to a well-liked but little-known indie creator.  Yes, writer Michael Fiffe is pretty much on the same level as Bendis was when he started on “Ultimate Spider-Man” thanks to his hit indie riff on “Suicide Squad,” “Copra.”  I haven’t read that title, though everything I’ve heard about it makes me want to check it out.  Uh, save for this volume that is.  Reading “All-New Ultimates” shows me that the creators know how to put an okay comic book together, but not much more.

In the wake of “Cataclysm,” a group of superpowered teens answered Tony Stark’s call for a new group of heroes to step up and honor the late Captain America’s legacy.  They are Miles “Spider-Man” Morales, Jessica “Spider-Woman/Black Widow” Drew, Ty “Cloak” Johnson, and Tandy “Dagger” Bowen, and Lana “Bombshell” Baumgartner.  All of them got their powers either intentionally or unintentionally through experimentation by the Roxxon Corporation.  So when they hear that a drug lab that was owned by the company is on the verge of creating a cheap version of the stuff that gave them their powers and selling it on the street, they decide to make stopping it their business.  Problem is that a local street gang known as the Serpent Skulls has also heard about this and  are planning on using the drug to make their mark on the city.

So the All-New Ultimates’ first mission is sorting out a straight-up gang war, of the kind that Spidey used to get involved in all the time back in the day of the Marvel Universe.  Bendis has even done his own riff on it in the pages of “Ultimate Spider-Man”  with the “Warriors” arc.  That was vol. 14 of the series and a whole lot of fun.  I’d recommend reading that over checking out this particular collection.

The problem is that there isn’t a single part of this story that doesn’t feel like it’s simply going through the motions.  We’ve got the Serpent Skulls as antagonists here led by Ultimate versions of Crossbones and Diamondback who register as nothing more than generic thugs.  No time is spent fleshing out their character or motivations beyond the fact that they’re power-hungry gang leaders.  The Ultimates themselves aren’t developed any better with Fiffe sticking pretty closely to the characterizations and histories established by Bendis in his earlier stories.  He has a good handle on Miles Morales, but has mixed results when trying to develop these characters any further.  Finding out about Jessica’s sexual orientation was interesting.  Finding out that Lana is dating a guy named “Poey” is just dumb.

I also want to digress further and say that between this volume and “Cataclysm,” Bendis and Fiffe have done a major disservice to the character of Kitty Pryde in the Ultimate Universe.  Brian Wood took the character on a fascinating journey from average superhero, to freedom fighter, and then leader of a country of mutants.  Then, in the wake of Galactus’ attack, all of that was chucked out the window after she went home to her mom to hide in bed.  It’s a development which is continued here as we’re introduced to her as she’s crashing at Jessica’s place.  This is not how the Kitty I’ve read about in “Ultimate X-Men” would act.  Then again, that Kitty wouldn’t have decided to join a ragtag group of teen superheroes who have their base of operations in a church that smells like diapers.

The more I think about it, this kind of regressive thinking is another reason why it should be time to close the door on the Ultimate Universe.  What originally started out as a way to tell stories about some of the most iconic Marvel characters without being bogged down by years of continuity while also being free to take them in new directions.  Kitty’s arc which also includes being girlfriend and ex-girlfriend to Spider-Man was a great example of this.  Now that’s being chucked out the window so she can go fight a gang war in New York.

I may have ranted about this before but there’s also the fact that the introduction of a familiar character from the Marvel Universe into the Ultimate one used to be a big event.  Remember when Eddie Brock was introduced as Peter Parker’s childhood friend and how their parents had worked together to create the thing that became the Venom suit?  That was great!  Seeing the introductions of Crossbones and Diamondback as generic thugs, with Scourge hanging around the periphery as a bargain-basement Punisher, doesn’t even compare.  Fiffe may have gotten a lot of props for “Copra,” yet I can’t see any reason for that based on what I’ve read here.

Amilcar Pinna provides the art and with a few exceptions it’s fairly unexceptional.  He’s decent with the character designs and overall action, yet his faces all look a little bit funny to me.  They tend to come of as too slim with sometimes larger than normal eyes.  Pinna’s storytelling is sound, though I do wish that we’d see more stylistic experimentation in his work as the series of eight-panel grids from the last few pages of issue #2 provide the most memorable visual moments in the entire.

There’s going to be one more volume for this title as the current relaunch only made it to issue #12.  That’s six more than “Ultimate FF” got, but it’s cold comfort at this point.  While not an outright bad comic, this first volume of “All-New Ultimates” fails hard in capturing the exciting, unpredictably inventive spirit of the best Ultimate comics.  If you’ve never read a comic about Spider-Man being involved in a gang war, or are really jonesing for a comic involving the characters featured here (I know “Cloak & Dagger” have their fans) then you may find this to be more diverting than I did.  In the end, I was left feeling that I’ve seen everything this comic has done before elsewhere and done better at that.