ULTIMATES 3 #3 REVIEW

[Scott A. Williams]

Reviewer: Scott Williams, yoda905[at]yahoo.com
Quick Rating: Average

Wolverine and the Ultimates team up to track down Magneto

Written by: Jeph Loeb
Artwork by: Joe Madureira
Colored by: Christian Lichtner
Lettered by: Richard Starkings
Production: Brad Johansen
Assistant Editors: Rosemann & Sankovitch
Editor: Ralph Macchio
Publisher: Marvel Comics

I never made much secret that I wasn’t the world’s hugest fan of Millar & Hitch’s Ultimates. In the end it often seemed like a bait and switch between the promise of intelligent superhero intrigue and average city-smashing action. But I can’t deny that, in the spirit of the Ultimate line, it did indeed fulfill the promise of freeing longstanding characters from their expansive backstories and continuities – and thus their status as unalterable icons – and giving them greater flexibility in the universe they inhabited.

Three issues into Jeph Loeb’s run as the second ever regular writer of this series, and it seems to me that he’d rather be writing Ultimate X-Men. He immediately worked in the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants and Wolverine into a plot that centers on Magneto and Wolverine’s shared Ultimate history, leaving the Ultimates as the sidekicks in their own book.

Loeb has tinkered with the Ultimate versions of the Avengers to varying degrees. Cap and Iron Man often seem very much like their pre-Civil War 616 counterparts (although they weren’t that far removed.) Thor has been brought from a new-age guru, a take I actually really enjoyed, to his standard Shakespearean chainmail hammer-hero. The impetus may have been that, during the period Loeb was writing these comics (the announcement of his upcoming work on this title was something like two years before his first issue,) there was no regular Thor title. Now there is, an a very interesting character has been scaled back to his archetypal beginnings. As a bonus, however, he does get his first overtly (to my recollection) sexual relationship. You’ve gotta figure Thor would be a stud. Valkyrie, as the modern cheerleader babe with a giant sword playing house with the thunder-God, hasn’t made much impact, but acts as nice window-dressing, especially under Joe Mad’s pencil.

I do, however, like Loeb’s commitment to the “nothing-to-lose” anti-hero Hawkeye. Although the original Hawkeye is a classic swashbuckling archer with a devilish side, the Millar take on the character – far darker, brought on by an insanely well-done personal tragedy – resonates better than anything else in this issue, and Loeb works well with it.

The characters, as I mentioned, get mixed up in a seemingly circuitous plot concerning Magneto, his children (Wanda and Pietro, ‘natch,) and Wolverine. I read through it without much interest. To invoke a classic reviewer line: to the degree that I did understand, I didn’t care. Like I said, Loeb seems like he’d rather be writing a different book; maybe Ultimate X-Men or Avengers circa the 90’s.

This might be an unpopular decision – especially in 2008 – but I’ll take Madureira over Hitch any day, really, with all due respects. It’s a question of, would you rather have odd-lookin people with gorgeous backgrounds, or gorgeous-looking figures with only occasional backgrounds? After all, where do the speech balloons come from? Like the writing, this style of art is a total 180 flip from the previous. The hyper-real style has been replaced by a sleek, sometimes overly-stylish look, but one that never gets too exaggerated or carried away.

But the truth seems to be that Loeb & Mad are creating a comic that would’ve been great a decade or so ago, but seems out of step with the current trend. It’s a good superhero story at a time when Marvel superheroes, particularly in the Ultimate universe, are acting less and less like superheroes.

It’s really nothing like the first two volumes of this book: whether that appeals to you depends totally on your tastes alone.

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Buy this comic from X-World and Save!

[Ben Lehnsherr]

Well, we're halfway home and the same old problems are evident, most notably the puzzling characterization Loeb's given a lot of these Ultimates. Most of the characters just plain don't feel right and some of it feels way too close to the 616 universe. Joe Mad, though, is still hitting the ball outta the park on art, especially since the coloring has gotten better. This dynamic art will probably be enough for me to finish this series out, but the book has definitely given me even more doubt about what's happened to Loeb's writing abilities....

[gregorv]

while I didnt really care for issues one and two, I thought three was dowright horrible in writing terms...

I love Joe Mad though, his art is wht getting me to buy this

[Ben Lehnsherr]

Originally Posted by gregorv

I love Joe Mad though, his art is wht getting me to buy this

Yeah. He'll be the reason I finish these two last issues out.....

[jonsnow]

Haha, once again this series gets panned, and once again I really enjoyed it. Art rocks, story is fun for me, oh well only two to go, excited to see what happens

I also am intrigued as to why Cap is dressed up in the Black panther get-up.

[Ryan Broussard]

and it seems to me that he’d rather be writing Ultimate X-Men.

this pretty much sums up my problem with this book....

I am reading ultimates and there is only 5 issues and each issue has had more dealing with an x-man or their villains than any of the ultimates

[Kani]

Originally Posted by jonsnow

Haha, once again this series gets panned, and once again I really enjoyed it. Art rocks, story is fun for me, oh well only two to go, excited to see what happens

I also am intrigued as to why Cap is dressed up in the Black panther get-up.

They that pretty much what it seems like to me, they have yet to be on a page at the same time...Loeb continues to impress

[WhereIsTony]

Originally Posted by jonsnow

Haha, once again this series gets panned, and once again I really enjoyed it. Art rocks, story is fun for me, oh well only two to go, excited to see what happens

I also am intrigued as to why Cap is dressed up in the Black panther get-up.

tHATS NOT

Cap, too obvious

If I had to guess I would say it is

Nick Fury or The Falcon

[Ryan Broussard]

i hope we see Hulk in this volume...Mad's sketches for Hulk that were released early early on were incredible....I would hate for that design to go to waste...

[thtadthtshldntb]

Originally Posted by WhereIsTony

tHATS NOT

Cap, too obvious

If I had to guess I would say it is

Nick Fury or The Falcon

I agree, I also think that it is

Nick Fury. or someone completely new or out of left field.

anyway, I am not enthused by the direction that Loeb is taking most of these characters. I am sort of Meh about this whole Ultimates 3.

And the coloring and inking is horrible, it makes JM's art look smeared on the page or like the comic was soaked in water before you read it.

[Ben Lehnsherr]

Originally Posted by thtadthtshldntb

And the coloring and inking is horrible, it makes JM's art look smeared on the page or like the comic was soaked in water before you read it.

I haven't liked that much either, but to be fair, for me its toned down quite a bit since the first issue.