Mark MIllar is usually a creator I beg to stay away from many titles; this is not because he is a terrible writer. Not at all, in fact, I think he is a very competent one when given the right tools as is in the case I’m spotlighting today. This is because he is best placed on a leash, as most of the time he either tries to be either a poor imitation of Alan Moore or even fellow Scotsman Grant Morrison, or simply dark and edgy verging on (very) bad taste for its own sake.
This is not the case here.
I have said it before, the Ultimates is an alternate retelling of the Avengers’ origins through a deconstruction akin to the Pirandellian Umorismo – dismantling that thing which makes us feel powerful feelings and showing us why it should not. In this case, it is a dismantling of the hero – specifically, the Avengers. To this end, the concept of each character is ramped up to eleven – Cap is a man grossly out of touch and disillusioned with the times; Thor is considered a madman with delusions of godhood or messiah complex; Iron Man, a genius with an addictive personality – a drunk driving the world’s most complex weapon; Giant Man, a man with inferiority issues spiralling into domestic abuse and the Hulk….I will not comment on…and so forth, all the ingredients why such a team should not exist, should not be looked up to.
And they also come together for the wrong reasons – to correct a mistake the people who organised them did. Even their most glorious moments are marred by their least heroic side – creating an uneven tone that makes you wonder whether you should be rooting for these heroes at all to begin with. #crowcomicreviews