Comics / Comic Reviews / Marvel Comics

Ultimate Mystery #2

By Colin Andersen
September 10, 2010 - 17:46

I am really glad that we currently have Ultimate Mystery being published right now. Back when it first started, I was a huge fan of Marvel Comics’ Ultimate Universe. The stories were fresh and there were some really pleasant twists to some very familiar characters. Then, in the build-up to the Ultimatum crossover story, there was a definite dip in quality and after Ultimatum, the universe just was not the same. There were significantly fewer books being published and they just didn’t have the fun they used to. Luckily, with Brian Michael Bendis’ Ultimate Mystery, some of the fun has returned.

 

  This is by no means a perfect book, but I am definitely having a whole lot of fun reading Mystery. This issue revolves largely around the continued fight between Rick Jones and Captain Marvel, though it doesn’t continue the standard two-heroes-meet-and-fight-out-of-confusion that is used so often. Instead a new wrinkle is introduced that only adds to the mystery (no pun intended) of the story. There’s some more screen time devoted to the remainder of the Fantastic Four with some fun little inter-continuity fan service involving Nick Fury’s image inducer. There’s noticeably less focus on Spider-Man and his clone, Spider-Woman, this issue which I think is definitely for the better. Being as big a Fantastic Four fan as I am, I was really glad to see them get some decent panel time and I’m pretty excited for next issue promise of some showcasing of Ben Grimm’s new powers. It’s also really nice to see the criminally underused Ultimate Captain Marvel. He’s a fun character and he is written quite well here; very similarly to how Warren Ellis wrote him in the Ultimate Galactus books a few years back.

    All those plusses aside, there are some definite downsides to the issue as well. Chief among them is that perennial complaint of all of Brian Michael Bendis’ mainstream superhero comics: his excessive use of banter between his characters. While Bendis seems to be improving this in some of his other series (i.e. New Avengers), it is very noticeable in Ultimate Mystery. The two pages where Spider-Man and Spider-Woman suffer the most for this, but the conversation between Captain Marvel and Rick Jones also is hit with this pretty badly. It adds way too many word balloons to the page and sometime I think some shots of double-page spreads specifically to accommodate all the dialogue. I wish I was joking about that. The only other downside is that this issue does not really move the overall story along much. I honestly feel like the entirety of this issue could have been fit into maybe half or even a third of the space. It’s a prime example of Bendis’ “decompressed” writing style that I’ve never much been a fan of, but maybe it won’t bother some readers as much as it does me.

    On the art side of things, Rafa Sandoval only continue to improve. He has some truly dynamic panels in this issue that look really great. The double-page spread at the very end of the book specifically stands out and looks really cool; I almost think it’d make a great poster. Sandoval is still having some trouble making the hair on his women look natural and they still kind of look like clay blobs that blow in non-existent wind, but overall the issue looks good. He certainly knows how to frame some good action scenes and his work in this issue really made me want to see him tackle a regular Marvel Universe book starring Nick Fury. Other than the hair, I’m really glad to have Sandoval on the series. Also, a special mention goes to colorist Matthew Wilson for some great, vibrant colors this issue as well.

    Though some of Mark Millar’s Ultimate Avengers is doing this for some, for me, if you want a nice throwback to pre-Ultiamtum Ultimate comics, then this is the series to go to. It’s not the most revolutionary or deep story ever written, but it isn’t trying to be; it’s just good old fashion fun with some characters that could really use the face time. Some people might not enjoy this as much as books like Ultimate Comics New Ultimates, but, in my opinion, this is the best of the Ultimate crop for the time being.

Rating: 7.5 /10

Last Updated: August 31, 2023 - 08:12