Comics I Bought: August 27, 2008

I'm back from the comic shop this week and I got one new comic plus two hard cover collections:

Supernatural - Rising Son - 5

Herbie Archives Volume 1

Tales From the Crypt Volume 3

And now for a review of something I've read recently.

The Ultimates Volume 2 by Mark Millar and Bryan Hitch

I think I liked Ultimates Volume 2 better that Volume 1. They kind of have the same strengths and weakness but there seemed to be fewer parts that made me cringe in this volume.

The Ultimates is about the formation of The Avengers in the Ultimate universe. Mark Millar is still using the Warren Ellis "The Authority" formula in this volume. That's when you ratchet up the threat level that the heroes face issue by issue until at the end of the series the whole world is on the brink. Volume 1 was alien invasion and Volume 2 has World War 3. This is also why writers who employ this technique leave the book after a couple of story arcs. It's a tough act to follow so why not let some other writer try it.

The strengths of the Ultimates are the intrigue and ass kicking. I liked the intrigue in this book better than the first as it tackled the international implications of the USA having a team of "Persons of Mass Destruction". Some other parts of the world might get a little pissed off if the USA sent supermen into their countries to "straighten things out". Millar did a nice job of making the reader walk the line of wondering if the Ultimates were a good thing or a bad thing for the country and the world.

Bryan Hitch's art was a good as volume one. He does a nice job with the photo referenced super hero stuff. He draws a good fight scene and even has some subtly in the non fight scenes.

The flaws of the book are the same as the first volume. In the first half of the book there is no one for the Ultimates to fight so they end up fighting each other. This issue where the Ultimates take on Thor was particularly cringe inducing. While well drawn by Hitch it was the notion that Thor wears a belt that gives him his power that made me laugh. The whole fight was the Ultimates trying to take Thor's belt off of him. What? Dumb as dirt. And if I had a belt that gave me the power of Thor I might secure it with a pad lock or something.

And too many issued ended with some Ultimate or another pointing his finger and saying he was going to kick some ass. Please, we've seen that "cliff hanger" a whole lot in this series. Stop it already.

But like I said I liked this volume better than the first. So if you're in the mood for some post-modern super hero adventure check out the Ultimates Volume 2.