Ultimate Avengers vs. New Ultimates #6

After one wild ride it seems a shame to end my coverage of the Death of Spider-Man on a low point. But here it is all the same. After much confusion the Ultimate Avengers and New Ultimates finally team up to take on Gregory Stark and save the world but what should be a bombastic climax completely underwhelms.

I can best compare this series to the bus from Speed. While racing along it can deliver all the thrills and laughs the audience want but if the pace slows down for whatever reason, the weaknesses of the writing becomes so obvious that the whole thing blows up. Or in this case just looks stupid. So once again the attempts to pull drama from characters that haven’t been fleshed out enough, such as the new Black Widow, fall limp. What seemed like an amoral satire tries to grow a conscience at the last minute. I understand that it needed to get in line with the other Ultimate titles in time for the reboot but the way it happens here feels too forced. I wish I didn’t have to resort to clichés but I can’t help that ‘too little, too late’ sums up this issue perfectly.

Bring us the next Superior. Bring us the next Kick-Ass 2. We need to be reminded that Mark Millar is a writer who can push boundaries and still take the time to develop his characters and stories. Otherwise I’ll go and pull out my back issues of Superman: Red Son.

Joe Read.