Written by Brian Michael Bendis, Jonathan Hickman and Nick Spencer
Illustrated by Mark Bagley, Eric Nguyen and Mitch BreitweiserWhat will become of Captain America? Where have all the X-Men gone? And what is up with the new Spider-Man suit? Don’t miss the final chapters of one of the most talked about Ultimate events ever.
And so it all comes to an end. The Ultimate universe relaunches officially next week, and it’s time to officially say goodbye.
Let’s talk about the send-off after the cut.
After Ultimatum came Requiem, a series of stories that told where all our favorite characters ended up – whether it be in the grave, retired, or starting a new routine somewhere else in the Marvel Universe. Fallout sought to do that in a more contained environment, and it was for the most part much more successful than Requiem was. Telling a series of stories over six issues, Fallout remained disconnected yet intertwined, truly illustrating the fallout of the events of Death of Spider-Man. It was interesting to get a series of teases from the new Ultimate brain trust, but at the end of the day I can’t help but wish the finale had a bit more of a pay-off.
But I’m jumping ahead of myself a bit here. In the final issue of Fallout, Bagley illustrates his final Bendis penned Spider-Man story that sends Aunt May and Gwen overseas, Spencer takes the second half of his new toyset and puts them safely away until he’s ready to use them, and Hickman offers up a very quiet bombshell that has greater repercussions than is discussed (which I will touch on later). The Death of Spider-Man story does have a sort of muted finale in this issue; just about everyone who had important roles in his life finds some sort of “finale” here. Aunt May and Gwen go to Paris, Kitty, Bobby and Johnny find a home, and Nick Fury gives a speech about how much of a failure he feels like. It’s interesting to see how some elements are being “temporarily” “retired”, but it also doesn’t feel like a large emotional impact anymore. Perhaps I’m just exhausted of feeling bad about the death of Peter Parker, but at this point I was more ready for a “it’ll be better tomorrow” type of ending as opposed to the “it’s not really going to get better” ending we were given. I am all for downer endings, but as much as the stories feel like they kind of have an ending, the mini itself doesn’t feel like it can stand alone or as anything other than a bridge.
The only part that feels like it will have an immediate impact is Hickman’s story, however. It’s not a part that’s given a particularly large focus, but – unless I read it wrong – the implication here is that Ultimate Comics Ultimates will (spoiler alert!) have a new Captain America. The scene is both good and bad, however. On the one hand, it’s a completely open ended scene in which something interesting could happen at the very beginning of Hickman’s run, with new characters assumedly being introduced to fill that void. On the other hand, I could be reading the entire scene wrong, and that could’ve just been the biggest, “Oh… really? Uhm, ok, I guess.” moment of the entire series. It is effectively both a high point and a low point at the same time, simply due to the annoying questions I know have to ask myself.
All that being said, this is not by any means a bad issue, nor was it a bad storyline. It may simply be a bridge, but it was a very interesting bridge. Getting tiny teases of what Spencer, Bendis and Hickman have planned has been very entertaining as a longtime fan of the Ultimate Universe. As I mentioned, the book already succeeded where Requiem (outside of Bendis’ Spidey Requiem, which was wonderful but basically a less powerful Fallout) failed, and I am more interested in the Ultimate Universe relaunch than I was after Ultimatum. It has assuredly done it’s job, and I can’t wait to see what comes next.
Continued belowOn top of that, it’s a great looking issue. Bagley getting to begin and end the issue feels thematically appropriate, and it’s amazing to see how much more refined his art is now over when the Ultimate Spider-Man book began. It’s more smoother, with more effective characters now sporting Bagley’s incredibly emotive faces. Eric Nguyen’s portion of the book is also quite nice, despite it’s limited in scope scenery. It essentially thrives on Nguyen’s character designs, all of which makes me wish he had a role somewhere further in the relaunch. And last but certainly not least, Breitweiser comes out of left field for easily the most intriguing part of the book as an artist I’m not familiar with but whose work I would actively like to familiarize myself with, as it’s a wonderful cross between Gabriel Hardman and Francesco Francavilla. By far the underdog of the title for me, but assuredly a name I plan to remember.
Ultimate Fallout was an interesting little way to drum up some excitement for the Ultimate Comics Ultimate Relaunch, and for all intents and purposes I’d call it effective. At least for me. While I can’t imagine that it has created a lot of new potential readers outside of maybe a first issue or two, this certainly feels like the Ultimate Universe felt when it first began. Everything feels fresh and new, exciting and full of opportunity and potential. Ultimate Fallout on it’s own feels like the piece of a puzzle, not something that should’ve ever stood on it’s own; it’s essentially the equivalent of a six-issue trailer for three upcoming films and a TV movie. If you have any interest in buying one of the new Ultimate titles, then Ultimate Fallout has won.
And if not? Read them anyway, because.
Final Verdict: 8.0 – Buy
