Ultimate Comics: Avengers vs New Ultimates: Death of Spider-ManWritten by Mark Millar
Art by Leinil Francis Yu
2011
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It's very tempting to argue that most of the problems with this book can be summed up by the hodgepodge list of other titles that you need to read to understand it [1] (let's see now): The Ultimates (which introduces the whole set-up and is amazing), Ultimate Comics: Avengers Vol 1 - 3 (with this book basically existing as Vol 4) and the whole Ultimate Comics: Death of Spider-Man serial which (no duh - just check out the title of the book) crosses over with this one. Not that it's the worst thing in the world to read something that's part of an on-going story but - I dunno - it does feel like cheating when the book is seemingly presented as a complete story in and of itself (i.e. it really really should have a "Vol 4" on the spine) but then doesn't really make sense without the other books which preceded it.
But anyway: Ultimate Comics: Avengers vs New Ultimates: Death of Spider-Man is Mark Millar's - if the stories are to be believed (see: here) - Marvel swansong and the capstone to a story/line of comics that started with The Ultimates (which - like I said above - is amazing). On the one hand it does feel like he's trying hard: there are some things here that he pushes slightly further than he has before (namely: the politics - however obvious they might be): so that's nice and it's rare to see such a mainstream superhero go to the kind of places that this book ventures into. But as I write this I might be being a little too kind: because on the other hand when I finished the book the feeling I was left with was disappointment. There lots of elements of this book that shamelessly rehashes plot-lines from Millar's previous outings and the end result is like listening to a distant echo of a good pop song played long ago and far away. Part of that may be down to Leinil Francis Yu's art that left me pining for Bryan Hitch (who drew The Ultimates which - did I mention this already? - is amazing) and whose flurry of muscles and action poses sums up all style and no content. And - well - it also doesn't help that the event teased in the title doesn't even happen in this book - instead taking place in the series Ultimate Spider-Man (altho you'll have to read both to get the full picture - which is a move that feels like it's mainly been done for reasons of commerce as to opposed to - I dunno - making things good).
Summing up: Mark Millar writes cheeseball action craziness that mostly manages to leave me feeling satisfied and somehow well nourished: this book unfortunately didn't manage to hit that sweet spot - but (hell) maybe it's worth reading anyway just to get a sense of the current state of the genre: and now that I've managed to lower any hopes you have going in - there's a chance you could be pleasantly surprised. Who knows?
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[1] And seeing how the Ultimate/Ultimate Comics line was sold as an antidote to convoluted storylines and the like when it first launched - it's also kinda damning too. Even if it's kinda understandable for a line of titles that's been going on for over a decade.
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Links: Comic Book Resources Review of #1 / #2 / #6, Multiversity Comics Review of #1 / #5.
Preceded by: The Ultimates, The Ultimates 2, Ultimate Comics: Avengers.
Followed by: Ultimate Comics: Spider-Man: The Death of Spider-Man, Ultimate Comics: The Ultimates.
Further reading: Ultimate Comics: Doomsday, Ultimate Spider-Man, Spider-Man: Down Among The Dead Men / Venomous / The Last Stand, Ultimate Galactus Trilogy, The Authority, Superior.
Profiles: Mark Millar.
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