All-New Ultimates #1
Marvel Comics 2014
Written by Michael Fiffe
Art by Amilcar Pinna
Colours by Nolan Woodard
The next generation in Ultimates is here! With the catastrophic events of Cataclysm, the President of the United States, Steve Rogers Captain America is dead and the Ultimates team was disbanded as was SHIELD but at his Steve’s memorial, the kids stepped up to the plate and announced they will carry on the tradition. Led by Spider-Woman, Spider-Man, Bombshell, Cloak & Dagger and Kitty Pryde, they become the All-New Ultimates!
This new team has been coming together in the pages of Ultimate Spider-Man and didn’t really need a set up issue but regardless with all that’s happened, it’s incredibly nice to see. Ganke Lee , whom we last saw in Ultimate Spiderman #200 seems to be walking through the wrong side of town and is attacked when Cloak and Dagger come to the rescue.
The first official meeting of the team Kitty, why I don’t know but apparently Jessica does, takes place where Cloak and Dagger live, the abandoned Church. Right off the bat Michael Fiffe gives you a look at how difficult a team of outlaw teenage super-powered individuals is going to be (more so since two are considered dead). The characterization and dialogue added to their circumstances really manage to flesh out of this series right off the bat and make it far more interesting than I had imagined.
First up is the business of an out of control lab by an ex Roxxon company employee who was/is making illegal cheap drugs that are supposed to simulate our heroes their powers. This discovery of course also leads directly into the opening and the thugs that C&D stopped from harassing Ganke. Its nice that all this ties into their pasts, how they all met and sets them up for heroes of the downtrodden. While i expect we’ll see them face some heavy hitters over the course of time i’m enjoying that they are trying to create their own destiny and set a course for doing what they think is right.
Well we also learn why Kitty wasn’t at the meeting when Jessica arrives home with pizza for the two to share. I liked this and really Kitty isn’t being stupid or silly she’s a smart, sassy kid with a mind and feelings and this whole thing just says you can’t NOT like her!
I love how the pacing of the story moves here too because suddenly while everything separate seems connected, the characterization and the story moves in a synchronous orbit that plays off the interior artwork, which by the way utterly fantastic, the book as a whole becomes so much greater than its sums. Marvel is rapidly producing some intensely good books with talented writers and artists, i’m as surprised as anyone else but not all books are this good that’s for sure. Then again the Ultimate Universe has always been a step ahead.
Overall Score 7.5 out of 10
