It’s funny. I’ve no doubt that the women Land traced for this cover are all very attractive. I can’t ID any of them myself, but he only traces models and actresses (and porn stars), one can assume they’re all pretty ladies. but rendered into a jumbled mush in the fine Land tradition, they don’t come off that way. A mannequin would have more personality. Can JMS manage to have something of note happen before his tour of duty is up? We’ll see! Various heroes are charging in, including that same picture of Kate Beckinsale, on their way to save Reed. The 2 speedsters immediately face off, and one can only imagine how good this is gonna be, a fight all about speed rendered by a guy who can’t be bothered to actually draw.
How does even the whirlwind look both crapped out and traced? Did he google a hurricane or something?
Also, Thing fights Power Princess for a page, etc. Inside, Reed is trying to get the guy he’s been working with to let him go talk all the interesting characters into stopping their attacks on the boring ones, but he is double crossed and gassed for his efforts. Back on the helicarrier, Scarlet Witch is explaining that she didn’t go fight because one of the enemies is a magic lady.
How you can copy photos and come out with such wildly unnatural looking people is really beyond me. After an underling says they have eyes on everyone but Spider-Man, Nick Fury goes to talk to his mysterious co-conspirator.
Who has double crossed Nick? Why, that’s 2 double crosses in a single issue, JMS is finally putting in some effort. SHIELD goons run in and shoot at the mystery guy, but get zapped by obvious Photoshop lightning just like Nick did (Takes one to know one, in the case of this lightning). Zappy also breaks up the fight between the speedsters and steps on Wasp and Not Captain Atom. I have to run this page for how terrible it is:
What is happening with these women’s bodies??? How does Land just get worse?? It looks like he’s stretching and warping his source photos to make them more buxom and have longer torsos, in the same way he’s stretching photos anytime he needs Reed to stretch, but it looks so awful! And what’s with green lady’s pose there??? Good grief. I don’t even know who she represents in the DC canon. Their Enchantress? Doesn’t seem like a big enough name. Mystery man keeps making his way through the battlefield, with it becoming more and more obvious he’s Dr. Doom, especially when he gets to the Thing and they recognize each other.
I do believe panel 2 there is Land swiping one of the John Byrne Spider-Men Mark Buckingham used to swipe 3 times an issue. That might even be swiped from Bucky. Panel 2 is swiped from a movie promotional image, except for that arm that is hilariously not connected to the shoulder. I’m sure I know the bottom one, too.
Ultimate Dr. Doom was introduced as a goat-legged homeless guy who’s main weapon was an army of robot bugs, in the long string of mistakes that was the early years of Ultimate FF. When Mark Millar and Greg Land took over the title, job one was turning Doom into Doom, albeit most of the drawings were pictures of the same statue. Comically lazy, Greg Land. Well, there he is. We’re 2/3 of the way through, we need something for both sides to team up against, and we got it. Now it’s up to Jeph Loeb to take us home. I’m kinda surprised Strakzynski got the middle bit. Loeb is (I think) the writer on Ultimates at this moment, and Supreme Power is JMS’s baby. Kinda feels like they should get the meaty bits, and the middle is always the least interesting. Ah, well. No hope of this ending in a satisfying manner, but we’re almost there…