Ultimate FF 1
Fialkov (w) and Guevara w/ Grummett (p) and Vlasco (i) and Rosenberg (c) and Sabino (l)
CATACLYSM has left behind some scars on the world in the form of transdimensional rifts that need closing. The new premiere science team of the Ultimate Universe set off to try to do just that as Falcon, Iron Man, and Sue Storm, led by Phil Coulson and the new Machine Man, Danny Ketch, look to seal a rift in New Jersey. They're finding it hard to shut down and it's leading to plenty of complications, as they're getting overrun by strange rock-like creatures. Coulson and Machine Man decide to release their secret weapon, a new team member unbeknownst to the rest of the team. They see the package land and immediately believe it to be Reed Richards (who they had been discussing right around that time too) and he manages to shut down the rift, saving them all. Sue approaches the figure only to find that it's not Reed, it's Doctor Doom.
Story
I want to come out first and say that I like this issue a good deal before I rail on the story. I think it moves pretty well and I think it accomplishes just about everything it sets out to do. The story is the sole weak point because it feels rather like the story is entirely a vehicle to introduce Doom. The threat they face is pretty vague and how impossible it is to go up against is tough to understand. So instead, the reveal is the draw of the story and it feels pretty obvious that was the only thing this issue was going to do, story wise. As far as reveals go or as far as devices for reveals go, it's not terrible, it's just jarring.
2/5
Character
There are a number of characters coming together in this book, some of whom have worked together before and some of whom haven't. Team books are tricky to write, particularly number ones of team books. You have to introduce a dynamic, you have to show off each character, you have to have a plot, so on and so forth. It's tough to fit in twenty pages. Fialkov does a solid job letting the comic breathe and letting the characters exist and interact. It's easy to see how the characters will be able to drive this book.
5/5
Writing
Tying together the "story" and "character" sections, I think Fialkov had a decision to make here. He was either going to tell a compelling single-issue story or he was going to create really compelling characters in a single issue. He chose the latter, knowing he had a story already just based around the aftermath of CATACLYSM. It didn't have to be a great story; it had to be enough to get our characters there. He got the characters there and he let them do the work. Like I said at the top, I liked this issue. I tend to be more character focused than plot focused in a lot of ways. With that in mind, I think Fialkov has done a really good job here. We get the humor of the book, the excitement, the characters. It may be a little vague in story terms but frankly, we're not really supposed to care. A means to an end.
4/5
Art
It's not my favorite art in a comic book. I think it's half great and half totally not for me, in fact. I like the tone it creates, the almost lighter art that can go dark at any time. I think that Guevara falls short on the faces a number of times but also totally nails them a couple times. I find the focus on purple as a color very strange in the wake of Galactus; you'd think people would be steering clear of the color for a bit. It's also sometimes hard to follow the action. Certainly not my favorite stuff out there.
2/5
Miscellaneous
Like I said at the top, I like this book. It's well written, it's fun, it characterizes well, and you can see all the directions where Fialkov can go now. Fialkov promises that this book will go places he never thought he would be allowed to go and do things he's shocked he gets to do. There's a lot happening here that can support that. I will also say, the reveal is good but is weakened slightly since this first issue has a little splash page that names the book "DOOMED." Maybe don't add that?
Total score: 4/5
Deadpool vs. Carnage 2
Bunn (w) and Espin (a) and Gandini (c) and Sabino (l)
Deadpool and Carnage fight a bit more but ultimately Carnage and Shriek get away, not believing that it's possible that Deadpool could be the same level of crazy as Carnage and therefore follow him. Deadpool has a weapons cache at a storage facility nearby and goes to get some tools but finds that his storage space was auctioned off. This puts him on a path to find the person who bought it all, a similarly crazed giant man who swears he thinks the same way as the two stars of this book and offers to help Deadpool to find Carnage. Cut to a highway that Carnage and Shriek are driving on only to have Deadpool drop an industrial work machine thing (like a tractor, you guys, just not that, okay? I don't have practical skills like identifying that) on them, knocking Shriek out of the fight as Carnage and Deadpool prepare to recommence.
Story
The idea of Deadpool having the same sort of crazy as Carnage is one that still certainly drives the plot well enough. The addition of the new giant character Doverton does not particularly thrill me and it seems a little more than we need, though time will tell, I suppose. Still, at its heart, this book simply wants to pit Deadpool against Carnage so, I guess, mission accomplished.
4/5
Character
The characters mostly come through in the writing of this one, not so much in their actions. Obviously there's a little to do with their actions and the character stuff works insofar as the story's "they think the same!" does. Still, they're basic boilerplate versions of the character. Deadpool's not going to be particularly deep in this book and he's not really meant to be, just as Carnage isn't really ever going to be particularly deep. Like with the story though, it's mission accomplished here for showing off what Bunn is intending to show off.
4/5
Writing
Strange, slightly off jokes and quips galore as these two go head-to-head. The best stuff comes from the two of them interacting with one another but you do a little bit get the sense that the dialogue is still almost generic, at least as far as these guys go. It sometimes feels like it doesn't matter who they're fighting, that these calls and responses would be placed well against anyone that jumped into the fray. Still though, if you're buying this book it's because you want to see Deadpool fight Carnage and CONGRATULATIONS, here is that book.
3/5
Art
I like Salva Espin's art here a lot. It appears very monstrous and symbiote-like when it needs to, it shows humor off when it needs to, it's gory and horrible when it needs to be. It hits on everything it needs to hit on, is what I'm getting at. There's a nice little feature he draws in a couple of times with Deadpool, mask removed, that has his eyes cartoonishly shrink to just tiny white pupils to show off a particular emotion and I think it works strangely well. Good stuff throughout.
5/5
Miscellaneous
This is a strange book because it's not the best book on the market and I certainly wouldn't really be recommending it to people who weren't interested in the thing that the title promises. If you weren't instantly like "hey, I like Deadpool and I like Carnage, where can I read a book where the two fight each other?" I almost certainly wouldn't even think of this book. But the book's goal is to be the book for people who ask that question and I have to grade this book on that curve and no other. It's a fine comic book, a quick pick-up-and-throw-out sort of read. But it certainly gives what it promises.
Total score: 4/5
What If? Age of Ultron 3
Keatinge (w) and Suayan and Ienco (a) and Beaulieu (c) and Sabino (l)
The newest WHAT IF? AGE OF ULTRON takes us to FEAR ITSELF in a world where the timebreak in AGE OF ULTRON killed that universe's Thor before he was able to take down the Serpent, sacrificing himself in the process. So instead, the Serpent has reigned and taken over and basically destroyed the world in the process. Only a handful of heroes remain, including Nick Fury, Black Widow, Silver Sable, Falcon, Shang Chi, and Microchip. The small team makes their way to the former Castle Doom to restock weapons and the like. They manage the assault and Fury leads them to the place where Thor fell, hoping that someone will be able to lift his fallen hammer and defeat the Serpent. After a tough struggle to get there, Black Widow makes it and manages to lift Mjolnir, transforming her into a goddess and allowing her the chance to take out the serpent. Everyone (save Fury, who managed to live) sacrificed themselves to give Black Widow her chance and it saved the world, as Fury recounts years later.
Story
We continue the strange storytelling of looking in on different universes as different people die from the weird timebreak and peek into an alternate FEAR ITSELF because apparently we didn't have enough of that when it happened. God, the next one will probably be AVX and I'll be just as annoyed. So these WHAT IF? AGE OF ULTRONs continue to be more like WHAT IF? JUST ABOUT WHATEVER. But I guess that's a weak complaint to make. The story of this one is okay, pitting a very random group of heroes against all the forces of fear and not bothering to explain how these guys lived (seriously, why does everyone ALWAYS show Captain America specifically as being dead?). Then not explaining how Natasha was worthy, though I'm not going to argue the point. Okay, look, I said the story was okay but I actually seem to have real issues with it.
2/5
Character
The character who talks the most in this is the least known, as Microchip, former ally of and then villain to Punisher just will not stop talking. He's more or less our audience character, the guy who's going "well I don't know what we're doing here so please explain," leading to the sort of "well, as you know, this is what happened sort of explanation." Still, we don't get a great look into character except from his incessant talking and Natasha's willingness to jump out of planes and sacrifice herself to try to defeat the serpent. Too much to do and too little time for great characterization of a team.
3/5
Writing
I'm rather against the sort of "well, as you know..." then telling people what they ALREADY KNOW writing but I see why it's impossible to do without it here. Keatinge has to build a universe somewhat like our own but with a very distinct difference and then shape how that difference changed the universe, all in one book. You don't have time for subtlety and it would be impossible to understand or care about if he did go more subtle. Still, the writing takes a hit for that but overall, know that
I get it.
3/5
Art
Suayan and Ienco do a pretty great job with the art here though there is a weird focus on Natasha's breasts, just about the only exposed part of flesh on this entire team. Still, the art itself is good and appropriately dark to convey the tone of the writing and of the world they now live in. The Serpent is particularly impressive.
4/5
Miscellaneous
I just cannot wrap my head around this series. I don't know why we need to have a no-holds-barred WHAT IF? mini-series and I still don't understand how the time break is killing off people? Look, no time to explain that, I get it, but it's a weird thing to show off, isn't it?
Total score 3/5
