A nice surprise, the public at large can't always be wrong

I was very impressed by the art. I only had a vague recollection of Bryan Hitch's skills, this collection totally made a fan out of me. The WWII bombing opening is quite stunning with details on individual soldiers and backdrops. Similar kickass pages were the double Himalayas spread and the view on Chelsea Pier. Hitch reminds me a lot of Tony Harris (Ex-Machina), he's good at drawing facial details (non costume work) and his females are even better. His only weakness might be the covers, they do not do him justice. His style is semi realistic, maybe that is more a function of Millar's writing

The story is long on setup but has a very cinematic feel to it (there's actually a dvd version but it's just a digital format of the comic). It's like Hulk but done much better (pacing). Speaking of the green fella, I'm not sure I liked the treatment on Bruce Banner, it made him such a sad and bitter character. I do have a small gripe with Millar, he's a bit too wordy

Things go supersonic in issue 5 when the team is finally deployed to face a threat in Manhattan and it's a trip, so sweet

Issue 6 is a bit weird, it does follow events in issue 5 but it doesn't flow that well, it's like off topic. We deal with Ant-Man feeling like a fool over his performance in battle (which is quite original really) and there's a very cool domestic fight between Jan and Hank. If anything this proves that the title works better as an ongoing work (concept of season on television) than a mini-series for its overall plot

They clearly modelled Fury on Samuel L. Jackson, I only wish they didn't make it so obvious with the fun bits on casting themselves in a movie.

The Ultimates have been hyped for a long time, they came to prominence after a very succcessful Millar run on the Authority. The Ultimates and its subsequent "Ultimate" imprint (Spider-Man, X-Men, mini-series and more recently Fantastic Four) sought to revitalize the old Marvel properties, to start fresh without all that continuity (read history) looming over the head of a new fan. Simply put, so comics can be more accessible

I actually checked out Ultimate War a while back and it was good but I had less luck with Ultimate Spider-Man, Ekektra, etc.. The biggest problem with The Ultimates was its schedule. Hitch (and Millar) were notorious for not being able to deliever issues in the 4-6 weeks timeframe. Well now that I'm switched off weeklies, it doesn't matter that much

The collection itself is done quite right, the only complaint I have is the transition page before chapter three, it features Thor when he only shows up in chapter four. Small detail

I can't wait to dig in to individual issues I bought (presumably issues 7-12 or vol. 2 and some issues from Ultimates 2)

A comics that doesn't suck, I can highly recommend The Ultimates

Links
- reviews - Ultimates Vol. 1: Super-Human

Posted	Monday, January 23, 2006 @ 3:27:17 PM (1081 days ago)
Tags	comics
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