Ultimate Enemy! Back in the Ultimate line’s glory days, they got Warren Ellis do a trilogy of miniseries that was basically just one long series, each of the 3 sections with a different artist. This ultimately (ha) came to be called the Ultimate Gah-Lak-Tus Trilogy, as Ellis introduced the “grounded” version of Galactus the success of the Ultimates demanded, which was just an evil cloud. It wasn’t terribly well received and was rarely referenced again, though it did introduce Ultimate Sam Wilson and Ultimate Carol Danvers, as I recall. Well, it;s a new era for the ol’ Ultimate line, so it’s time for another trilogy of minis. But this time they’re all by the same creative team, so… why is it not just one series? Who knows, who cares? Your hosts are Bendis in the writer’s slot, with up-and-comer Rafa Sandoval drawing, Roger Bonet inking, and up-and-comer Matthew Wilson coloring. Wilson will go on to color a ton of great runs of comics and be a frequent collaborator of the great Chris Samnee, while Sandoval will steadily improve and experiment, rising through the ranks to end up the artist on, among many other things, DC’s very well received Absolute Superman. It’s all winners for Ultimate Enemy! These things are nearly impossible to place in the timeline and I don’t think it’ll all make sense, but as I recall, it’s a fun series. There was a skip month between each of the three minis, and a skipped month during the first one, also. Each series is 4 issues, so we’re talking 15 months to roll out the whole thing, which began publication alongside USCM 6. So a series that began 2 months before our last issue of USCM runs 12 months after it, and both prominently feature Spider-Man, so… what do you do? I put it here. We’ll see how that works.
Jessica dives in to berate and rescue Roxxon employees for their folly, but none of them seem to know what caused the explosion. The building appears to be home to a rapidly growing spore monster, as Jessica calls it, but the “rapid” part is quickly becoming too much, and…
While that’s going on, we check in with one Reed Richards, who is back to living with his parents and 2 younger sisters, is being a slacker due to his entire world falling apart, and is getting yelled at by his dad. But when someone knocks at the door, a warning on Reed’s computer goes off, but he can’t stop his dad from answering it, and…
This is the kind of event setup Bendis really excels at, just throwing crazy stuff left and right, serving as a spectacle while also ratcheting tension quickly. From there, we’re off to see Sue Storm. Or, more accurately, not see her, as she is invisibly walking to work, internal monologuing to us that she never wanted to be famous, has put her time as a superhero behind her, and is concentrating on science. She still works at the Baxter Building, though, and as she enters for the day, she sees someone she didn’t expect.
In a 2 page sequence, Ben rambles around the issue until he’s able to work himself up to tell Sue he loves her. Her awkward, silent reaction lets him know she was not expecting it. Ben decides to see himself out, but then one of his rocks falls off. He’d started to lose rocks before, as we will recall from such disasters as Ultimate Power #1.
Kinda feels like karma for how badly she handled Ben back there, honestly. She literally didn’t say anything! Ben leaps up the side of the building and is slapped through 2 other skyscrapers on his way to the ground by a giant tentacle of goo.
Ultimate Nick Fury pretending to be a white guy is pretty funny. Well! Explosive start! Everyone’s in trouble. Where’s Spider-Man? What’s happening? Perhaps we’ll learn more next issue! It’s crazy to see Rafa Sandoval’s work in this. He’s developed a much more realistic, sturdy line by the time I write this. Art is a journey.