Ultimate Extinction #1
Writer: Warren Ellis
Artist: Brandon Peterson
This is the first issue in the third and final sequence in Warren Ellis “Ultimate Galactus” story. After the rather long-winded ‘Nightmare’ and the frat-boy humour of ‘Secret’, this series opens in a more serious and purposeful way. The first part of the story sees the young Reed Richards set out the problem. This is played out in a show and tell science presentation and like the ‘science bit’ at the start of an SF movie, Ellis & Peterson use ‘fancy graphics’ to tell the story rather than dull talking heads shots. It’s reasonably well handled and probably necessary but, as with much of the earlier series, one can’t help but think it could have been a bit shorter. That said, Ellis writes interesting words and Peterson draws interesting pictures so it’s hard to find any real cause for complaint.
The second part of the story follows super-P.I. Misty Knight as she is called upon to investigate the disappearance of a missing Mrs Schaffer and her possible induction into a religious cult. Misty Knight is portrayed very much as a ‘femme’ Spade complete with cheap office & cheap quips, though there doesn’t appear to be a long suffering secretary and the bionic hand is a potentially new twist. This sequence is nicely balanced, focussing largely on Miss Knight in reflective stakeout mode, but with a burst of action as well. The investigation is far from tangential to the main event and suggests unseen players are at work. It may well also herald the arrival of new character into the Ultimate continuity.
The pacing of the issue is overall about right. The necessary groundwork is laid and the Misty Knight story provides both action and intrigue. Brandon Peterson demonstrates a good grasp of both story-telling through layouts and characterisation through face and movement. The only artistic criticism is the heavy use of diagonal line shading, which appears somewhat computer generated and more importantly works against the colourisation resulting in a slightly flattened look to the finished art in some panels.
Overall though, if the first issue is representative, this looks like being a pretty good read. I’m guessing that the team are aiming at the same tone as good SF action movies like Aliens (serious, but with some light-hearted relief) and is so, I’d say they’ve started out on the right tracks.
Ultimate Extinction #2
Writer: Warren Ellis
Art: Brandon Peterson
Publisher: Marvel
Price: $2.99
The second issue of the series follows the pattern laid down in the first. It opens with Reed Richards and Nick Fury in conference about what should be done. The first half of the book gives further details about the imminent threat and Captain America suffers from existential angst, so while it’s all told with Ellis familiar flair for words and he has an interesting eye for the characters, the pace is still relatively slow.
The second half of the story concentrates on Misty Knight and, once again, Miss Knight is the only one involved in any action. The sequence is well laid out and imaginatively told, demonstrating ably that fight scenes don’t have to be dumb. During the course of the ensuing property destruction, the fight attracts the attention of the Ultimates, so I expect the stories will begin to converge next issue.
As with the previous volume, Peterson’s art is well laid out and the characters are pretty expressive, also the slight over use of line-shading which marred the last issue is less obtrusive in this one. So far, Warren Ellis and Brandon Peterson have provided an interesting take on the Galactus story and it is certainly different. Just as well really, after all in a modern world, who would take a 60’ guy with a bad hat as the ultimate threat to humanity. Ellis has hinted already that the real enemy is nihilism and despair and in Misty Knight and Reed Richards, he has shown us the kind of up-beat, bounce back from anything, heroes that will be crucial to winning the day. The cover is in the fine old Marvel and DC tradition and depicts characters not seen in the story. I guess it’s symbolic rather than representational.
In addition to the main story, the book also contains a ‘Marvel Spotlight’ interview with Warren Ellis in which he explains some of the motivations behind his involvement in the book and the train of thought that lead him to the story of Ultimate Extinction and also touches on his new title Nextwave.
One further treat for Warren Ellis fans is the inclusion of a 3 page teaser for NextWave, like they weren’t going to buy it anyway.
John Davidson Despite working in IT for the last 20 years and collecting comics for even longer, he is married, has two young daughters and lives in Scotland. Ideally he spends his spare time reading and watching movies, but this is curtailed by the calls of child-rearing and part-time study, not to mention the 'call of the internet'.