One Crow, Medium Rare Please!
Ahem.
Let it never be said that Chris Holly is so opinionated and entrenched in his moral and aesthetic values that he is not capable of re-evaluating his opinions of certain pieces of work he has disparaged in the past or certain authors whom he professes to have much disdain for.
I just read Ultimates 2 #12.
Ultimates 2 #12 is exactly 4,354,887 kinds of awesome.
I couldn't figure out where to begin, so we'll just list a few of my favorite moments from this comic.
1. The Hulk punching through Abomination's throat telling him "You think too much".
2. Quicksilver running someone into a melted pile of goo.
3. Iron Man Six blasting the living bejesus out of the baddies.
4. Hank Pym's army of Ultrons.
5. Wasp going all Giant-sized and squooshing the enemy.
6. The two-page splash of the rest of the Ultimate Universe fighting (although it didn't look much like Ultimate Spidey).
7. Scarlet Witch "increas[ing] the probability that someone shows up to kick your ass".
8. Thor representin'.
Was it a perfect comic? No. Does this mean that I liked Ultimates 2 overall? No. But this issue was the fight we've been waiting a year for, and despite a few eye-rollers (the speechifying about prisoner treatment, Cap killing Lightsaber Man --- it would have been ten times more powerful to see him NOT kill the dude, I think, especially as Ultimate Cap), it was big, loud, and total superhero fight porn.
And I'm OK with that.
In fact, Hawkeye comes dangerously close to being written in character, as he gets a few jackassic lines that seem a perfect fit even for the 616 version.
Look, maybe it's just because Millar is botching Civil War so badly and this is just a case of comparative relief (Civil War makes Ultimates 2 seem subtle and nuanced), but I'm not afraid to give praise where praise is due --- Ultimates 2 #12 was massive amounts of fun and very, very well done. I had more out-and-out fun and laughs during this comic than any in recent memory.
(How sick is that?)
Well played, Millar and Hitch. Well played.
8 Comments:
Loved the scene where Loki is all
Loki: "Puny human your powers do not effect me"
Scarlet Witch: "Yeah but I can increase the odds of someone showing up who can"
and from there you just knew where it was gonna go, I was like F*^% YEAH.
I took a glance through the issue and laughed out loud a few times at all of the excess. Millar reminds me of those little kids that tell those outlandish, exaggerated stories who actually think they're enthralling the nearby grown-ups (all humoring the kid).
Funny too that it's the exact same ending (and writer!) as CW#3, but so much better.
But what happened to Evil Russian Thor between #11 and #12?
I'm going to pick this up on your recommedation, Chris.
You know, I'm going to vehemently disagree here. Ultimates # 12 was a confusing mess of rushed artwork that severly lacked in panel-to-panel continuity. Millar and Hitch's inability to hold back on the large than life panels resulted in an oversized issue that wasn't finished completely. It was Infinite Crisis # 7 all over again. If this wasn't the 2nd to last issue, I'd drop it. Hate to say it, but maybe Hitch should reel it in a bit and stop worrying about the big splash pages and worry more about making his sequential storytelling make more sense. Add that to the umpteenth time Millar has biten Warren Ellis's Authority(which was kind of why I liked Ultimates in the first place) and I'm all yawns and zzzzzs.
Now Godland..... that's a fucking a comic book if I ever saw one.
Nick: Yep. My thoughts exactly.
Mark: And I think that's why I was so enthralled by the issue. It spoke to the 10-year old in me.
Kelvin: Good point. I'm assuming we'll see Evil Russian Thor v. Real Thor next issue.
Ragnell: Good!
(Unless you hate it, in which case I'll claim that this review was the product of a Reed Richards-manufactured Chris Clone with no conscience.)
Spencer: Couldn't agree with you more about Godland, but I didn't mind the chaotic art (and you're right, it was muddy at times in terms of storytelling) as it added to the craziness all around.
I liked Ultimates 2 #12 better the first time when it was called Ultimates 2 #11. Nothing happened in this issue that justified me having to wait another 3 months and pay another 3 dollars to get the end of the story.
Fin Fang beat me to it. Asshole.
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