Ultimate Avengers vs. New Ultimates #4

Let me make it clear: I do not enjoy writing bad reviews. This site is dedicated to good comic books and if we can’t find anything nice to say, we won’t say anything at all. However I have committed to covering the Death of Spiderman and I mean to stick it out until the bitter end.

So previously the Ultimate Avengers were having a big fight with the New Ultimates when Spiderman jumped out of nowhere and took a bullet for Captain America. The timing of that moment was brilliant and the possibilities for where the story could go were numerous and tantalizing. That is why I had to read this installment twice in a row and then pinch myself, because that potential has been completely squandered.

The real-time technique that’s being used to dramatic effect in Ultimate Spiderman right now is abandoned half way through this issue and makes the tie-in of these two titles seem pointless. Something like this might not even matter if the heroes weren’t even more unlikeable than usual. A badly wounded Spidey disappears in the middle of the fighting and none of the Ultimates seem to care? No, they’re all sitting around back at Tony Stark’s penthouse (cue Seinfeld theme) and he barely gets a mention.

By the end its clear that Mark Millar is once again going through the motions. The reveal of the villain in the last few pages felt too familiar to be surprising and any impact intended for the shocking last minute ‘death’ is spoilt if you’re able to turn the page and see the cover for the next issue.

The best thing I can say is that this chapter reveals how everyone’s favorite wall-crawler gets from Ultimate Spiderman #157 to #158. Otherwise I recommend that you skip it and read them instead.

Joe Read.

Ultimate Avengers vs. New Ultimates #3

The injection of humour in this chapter makes it a big improvement on the last. Millar’s ‘Balls to the Wall’ style works best when satirizing the kind of Michael Bay blockbusters it appears to imitate. If he forgets to put that tongue in cheek then we get what happened in issue 2. The ridiculously rapid pace of the action here completely disregards any cloak and dagger subtlety that could be explored in the mystery of who the traitor is. However rather than being a hindrance this element helps drive the story towards a brilliant twist, which I will not spoil here.

My gripes with this one are not huge. The jokes about Tony Stark’s alcoholism had worn thin after the first six issues of the Ultimates but Millar insists on flogging that dead horse. It’s a shame to see it after writers like Warren Ellis have proven the character can be developed in interesting ways and not just sidelined for comic relief. While we’re on the subject, why does the Iron Man armour now look just like it does in the movies? It should be the other way around! Then again how can I expect common sense in a comic where Captain Britain and the director of S.H.I.E.L.D. are gushing over David Cameron?

For more on the shocking ending of this issue, stay tuned for my review of Ultimate Spiderman #157, coming soon!

Joe Read.