RKMBs Forums .::Robegories::. Comic Books View from the Other Side: Ultimates Homeland Security TPB

This tpb followed hot on the heels of the publication of The Ultimates #13, and contains issues #7 -#13.

People will recall that in thr first tpb, the Ultimates took down the Hulk, and then Giant Man committed domestic violence against his wife, the Wasp. This tpb follows along with the consequences of each of these pivotal events.

Millar introduces us to some new members of the team: Black Widow, Scarlet Witch, Quicksilver, and Hawkeye. Of course, we've already seen them in Ultimate War: the Ultimates monthly book is notoriously late in publication. This is plainly obvious in the very different depictions of Hawkeye: in Ultimate War, he is the Olympic show-off described in an early issue of the Ultimates. In this tpb, he is instead a hardbitten black ops soldier. The two versions are hard to reconcile.

We are also introduced to the Ultimate version of the Skrulls, who have evidently been plotting to take over the world since 1777 and were responsible for, amongst other things, WW2.

Millar continues to use contemporary themes in his text. Black Widow and Hawkeye take down two buidlings filled with aliens in a scene very reminscent of the Matrix. One of the issues is called "Persons of Mass Destruction". George W Bush makes another cameo. The Ultimates' programme is called the Superhuman Defence Initiative.

The main plot of the story, the fight with the aliens, borrows heavily from the movie Independence Day. Big spaceships, dogfights with air force fighter planes (as if - no dogfight has happened since the Vietnam War, because of radar advances - fighter planes shoot down their opponents over the horizon), nasty aliens with doomsday weapons. I really disliked that movie: I absolutely hated this theft of one of its worst elements.

The fireworks and celebrations in Independence Day, when American saves the world, was repeated in this story: this was jingoistic rubbish. Cap's patriotism is in contrast fundamental and inspiring. He tells soldiers to disregard their superior officiers (who may be disguised Skrulls) and take up arms because "Your country needs you". This was a great line by a character who lives and breathes love of his country. The I-Day rehash was a disappointing contrast.

The more absorbing plot line was Hank Pym's beating of Janet Pym. This was at the time a subject of great controversy: a founding member of the Avengers has been reworked to be a wife beater. The full extent of Pym's nasty side unfolds: in college, he hit Janet so hard she broke the roof of her mouth. Cap is sickened and he goes after Pym. By way of a spoiler, the aftermath of this is that Pym is alone, and trying to sweet-talk Janet back to him. She tells him to get lost, and overcomes her own securities and fears.

Fury points out that Giant Man was supposed to be an action figure, not a wife beater. Millar has thrown us a neat spin on this. Pym is indeed no role model: Cap takes him out. Pym has in fact, with his wife beating, become just as much a villain as the Skrulls or the Hulk. Millar has taken a topic which has not been at the forefront of comics before - wife-beating - and clearly defined it as unacceptable and despicable behaviour.

I thoroughly approve of this plot line. Villains don't necessarily have to be world conquerors or jewel thieves. They can even be hidden in the ranks of the world's greatest superheroes.

It seems to me that Millar disguises heroism in his characters. Giant Man seems to be a hero, but he is anything but. Heroism is lerss obviously apparent when Tony Stark overcomes his own fears. Iron Man pushes a spacecraft along so it misses a city, and saves thousands of people. Stark almost loses it after the near miss, and only through the trust and need of those ordinary people who look to him as a hero does he overcome his panic and rise to the challenge. Stark is not fearless: he is brave. There is a notable distinction here. Surely the man who overcomes his own fears is more admirable than the man who is fearless. A great scene.

The Hulk also gets another outing and eats one of his opponents. Betsy Ross is clearly aroused at the Hulk's dietary habits. I found this kinkiness very amusing.

Overall 7 out of 10: more if not for the silly I-Day crap.

I loved these issues. I didn't see it as a Independence Day rip off. Supposedly Ultimate War happens after this trade, even though it came out a year ago. Even with the lateness this is one of my favorite series.

I was a bit disappointed by the Skrulls. I guess we actually saw the aftermath of the Kree-Skrull War.

I would have liked to have seen an Ultimate version of that killer robot (Ultrano? can't remember) , the Soviet Super Soldiers, Ghost Rider, or best of all, Loki (he was the Avenger's first fight, after all).

Did you notice what complete and utter wankers the rank and file soldiers serving as part of S.H.I.E.L.D are?

There's that moment where Tony Stark recharges his suit and a young boy standing nearby is grinning and giving him the thumbs-up. In one of the following panels, the soldiers who helped Stark get airbourne casually push the boy over.

I enjoyed the running jokes like Hawkeye's very human inability to talk on the radio and fight at the same time, without getting injured. And creepy brother and sister duo - Quick Silver and Scarlet Witch's insistance that they saved the lives of other members of the team, even though from everyone elses perspective, it looks like they just sit around giggling all the time.

From here on, I'm going to start buying this in comic book format rather than waiting for the trades. Now that the dreary 1602 has finished, It's the only Marvel title I spend money on.

Ultron? Ultimate Ghost Rider. . .hmmm. . .

I really liked a lot of the human scenes we see of the characters, such as the scene with Stark you mentioned and the bit after the battle with Cap taking a moment to throw up before addressing the troops. Good, fun stuff, and yeah, Independance Day was shite.

"Do you think this letter on my head stands for FRANCE?!"

Worst....line....ever....

I thought it was pretty funny...cuz, ya know...the French are pussies.

That was the best line ever. The French suck.

Yes, the French do blow balls.

The line itself, and when and how it was used, however, was cheesy, cliched, and trying to be 'kewl'.

You have no sense of humour.

It's Pro, Danny. :P

Midnighter pissing on the Renegade Doctor is funny. Transmetropolitan is funny. Formerly Known as the Justice League is funny. Hank Pym attacking the Wasp with bug-spray is funny. Douglas Adams and Eddie Izzard are funny.

Bashing the French? Old joke, badly executed.

And, no, I have no sense of humor. I am dead inside.

Yeah, that's about as funny as "HULK SMASH FREDDY PRINZE JR".

"Hulk not sissy boy! HULK STRAIGHT!" Is the height of comedy.

LOL

Annie - how many times do I have to tell you - he didn't say "HULK SMASH FREDDIE PRINZE JR!"

And yes, its Ultron, thank you.

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backwards7 said:
Did you notice what complete and utter wankers the rank and file soldiers serving as part of S.H.I.E.L.D are?

There's that moment where Tony Stark recharges his suit and a young boy standing nearby is grinning and giving him the thumbs-up. In one of the following panels, the soldiers who helped Stark get airbourne casually push the boy over.

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I have also noticed that the SHIELD guys are not exactly sweetness and light. In Ultimate War they're very willing to gun down Storm simply because she is a mutant.

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I enjoyed the running jokes like Hawkeye's very human inability to talk on the radio and fight at the same time, without getting injured. And creepy brother and sister duo - Quick Silver and Scarlet Witch's insistance that they saved the lives of other members of the team, even though from everyone elses perspective, it looks like they just sit around giggling all the time.

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I actually wonder about that, and what's going on there. Setting aside the obvious hints of incest, do they really do anything?

As for the France joke, I am very pro-French, but I actually thought that joke was quite funny and very contemporary. People will look back on these issues and see them as a time capsule of the flavour of the times: obsession with terrorism as a replacement for confrontation with the Soviets, anti-France sentiment, a high degree of militarisation and high technology.

Does anyone not like the new-old Cap in Ultimates?

I have to say I would read a monthly Cap book written like this.

Part of the attraction of course is knowing that there is not half a century worth of continuity to worry about.

Oh, sure. There will be eventually. By which time I hope Marvel have enough common sense to reboot again.

But even now the Ultimates line doesn't have the same hang-ups about continuity as the mainstream line. Aside from my example of Hawkeye, I've also been told that Daredevil has been depicted differently in Ultimate Spider-man (as an older man) than in Ultimate Daredevil (still a college student).

I think that would be the best idea for it. Keep it small and just reboot it every decade or so.

If they try to expand it too far or attempt to replace the regular Marvel U with it, then they'll just end up with the same problems they already had.

Even now, they've already got a lot of convulution running around, though nowhere as bad as normal.

There was talk a few years back (detailed in Warren Ellis' book come in Alone) that the Ultmate line would replace mainstream continuity: and that there would actually be an ending.

That would be a surprisingly progressive storytelling move for a major publisher. Unlikely, though, considering that the main purpose of Marvel Comics is to keep franchises alive so that they may be milked for cash in other industries.
It becomes more likely when you think that they're willing to reboot their universe every few years. Which would, in the end, become far too confusing. Think the arguments people have over things that are Pre or Post crisis, times ten.

The problem then was that Pre Crisis wasn't properly separated from Post Crisis. There were too many grey areas (like the histories of the JSA and the JLA) so much of the Pre Crisis stuff was still in continuity in some way or another. If they had just wiped the past clean those problems wouldn't have existed.

All the Skrulls have MBAs in Strategic Leadership from Yale.

The Ultimate line already has many continuity problems, as well as overlapping storylines due to multiple writers and conflicting theories about the universes origin(for a while there were hints being made that Grant Morrison's Marvel Boy was actually the first Ultimate Book). I thought the point of the thing was to avoid all that.

In my opinion, it was a good idea, but poorly employed. Initially, Joe Queseda pitched it as a way to finally draw in a steady stream of young readers. To his credit, the first (openly)Ultimate book, Ultimate Spider Man, was moderately successful in doing that. From that point on, however, the Ultimate universe became darker and darker, thanks to the contributions of a certain Scotsman.

Personally, I've seen better revisionist superhero stuff in fan-fiction. The whole thing was propelled by the popularity of Bendis and Millar, one-trick writers who rely on sensationalism and an overabundance of dialogue(most of which is either boring or so bad it can only be skimmed) to cover up the fact that they really haven't come up with an original storyline or non-stock character in years.

Whereas I quite like the dialogue from Millar and Bendis and welcome new issues of their books. And I would argue your assertion that their characters are all boring stock characters.

You guys say "Does this letter on my head stand for France?" often in the UK?

yes