Ultimate Fallout #4, written by Brian Michael Bendis, Jonathan Hickman, and Nick Spencer, and art by Sara Pichelli, Salvador Larroca, and Clayton Crain
This issue is the debut of the new Ultimate Spider-Man. Although his name is not explicitly stated in the story, Miles Morales makes a memorable first appearance as Spider-Man. Bendis is so good at writing the wisecracking teenager who probably just bit off more than he can chew, and right out of the starting gate he shows that he can give Miles Morales enough character to carry the series.
This issue opens on a surprisingly cool Ultimate version of The Kangaroo. This Australian flag wearing revamp of one of Spider-Man's lamest antagonists reminded me of the glory days of the Ultimate Universe, when everything old was new and fresh. Miles Morales steps in as Kangaroo beats up a former partner to extract a debt from him with his fists. Miles is wearing an ill fitting Spider-Man costume that looks like it may have come from a Halloween costume store, but his wit is sharp and appropriately Wall Crawlerian. Pichelli illustrates this fight between The Kangaroo and Spider-Man expertly. The acton is fluid and dynamic, and she portrays this Spider-Man fight scene with exactly the right amount of motion and life. Although I don't think I've seen her work before, I'll definitely be paying attention to Pichelli's stuff in the future.
While I thoroughly enjoyed Miles Morales's first outing as Spider-Man, the following scene was baffling. Apparently, Ultimate Reed Richards went crazy and was banished to the negative zone? I admit that I haven't paid much attention to Ultimatum or Jeph Loeb's run on The Ultimates, but I found myself reminded of the failings of the Ultimate Universe when I read this scene depicting a supposedly evil Reed Richards and his attempt to escape the Negative Zone.
I'm loving Miles Morales as the new Ultimate Spider-Man, and this issue gave me faith that Bendis is going to create an entertaining story arc around this new character. Miles Morales gives the reader another chance to see Bendis put an amateur Spider-Man through his paces, and I'm definitely on board. However, the scenes with Ultimate Reed Richards were puzzling to me, and it seemed like an odd choice to show that character when it could potentially confuse the new readers this issue was designed to attract. Overall, the art and writing on this issue were both great, and I would recommend this story arc despite the somewhat strange appearance of an evil Reed Richards.
4 out of 5 pseudo stars
- Flashpoint #4
Flashpoint #4, written by Geoff Johns and art by Andy Kubert
This was another great issue of Flashpoint. It opens on President Obama addressing the nation, which is untraditional for DC. DC usually avoids portraying the real president in favor of a fictional commander in chief.
The president announces that superhumans have failed to contain the continent destroying conflict between the Amazonian and Atlantean empires. We see that the Flashpoint version of the Marvel Family is watching at home and they're debating whether or not they should get involved. Johns introduces an interesting component to his alternate Marvel Family. Much like Captain Planet and his Planeteers, the Flashpoint Marvel Family must shout Shazam as a group in order to collectively transform into Captain Thunder. This necessity to say their magic word together means that they must unanimously agree to change into Captain Thunder. It's a clever conceit that forces Billy Batson, Freddy Freeman, Mary Batson, and three new members of the Marvel Family (or should I say Thunder Family?) , Eugene, Darla, and Pedro to deliberate on their course of action instead of flying off individually. They have to agree as a family before they can do anything.
The president declares that since the superhumans couldn't band together to deal with the Amazonian/Atlantean war, the plain old regular humans will have to step up to the plate. We get a one page scene depicting a Hal Jordan that never became Green Lantern as he gets ready to fly into battle. It's a little bit unnecessary, but Johns shows us here that Hal Jordan would always be fearless, with or without some new fangled power ring to back up his bravado.
The next scene picks up where we left off last issue. The Flash, Batman (Thomas Wayne style), and Cyborg were abandoned by the Superman they just freed from a government facility. The three of them fight armored goons equipped with the firepower necessary to bring down a Kryptonian, and they're helped by the sudden appearance of Element Woman. Meanwhile, The Flash has started to experience lightning infused seizures that are erasing his memory of the "real" DC Universe. It seems there is a time limit on The Flash's recollections of the reality he came from. This ticking clock that counts down as the Flash's memories fade away is another clever addition to the Flashpoint story arc. It forces a sense of urgency to the situation that moves the plot forward and injects some excitement into the story.
We see in the following scene that The Flash and company go to the Marvel Family in an attempt to recruit Captain Thunder. Here, Billy Batson gets a glimpse into the life he lives in the regular DCU as he tries to heal The Flash's degenerating memories. That visual refresher course on the Captain Marvel mythos is followed by the televised reveal that Hal Jordan was killed in combat against an Amazonian fleet of invisible jets. I have to admit that although I know this death doesn't even pretend to be permanent, I still found myself crying out to the heavens "Nooooooo!" when we see on the news that "The first verified casualty is pilot Hal 'High Ball' Jordan". Barry finding out that his best friend just died is another clever way for Johns to force the plot forward as things start to get intolerably out of control in this dystopian Flashpointverse.
The issue culminates with the entire gang flying to Europe in Batman's plane to confront Wonder Woman and Emperor Aquaman. This scene is quite impressive. Kubert gives us an awesome double page spread of this more militant Aquaman fighting a warrior princess Wonder Woman to the death. Kubert's depiction of the Atlantis/Amazon battle is an amazing dystopian vision of two normally majestic and peaceful DC civilizations engaged in a brutal war.
I'll avoid getting too deep into the specifics of plot details and just say that we finally see the Reverse Flash revealed in one of the most fitting and funny lines in supervillain history. After he's erased the entire continuity and replaced it with a backwards, dystopian hell of a DCU, the Reverse Flash points at the scene of superhuman war and says to The Flash, "Look what you did." It's the supervillain equivalent of saying "Stop hitting yourself!" I felt that this taunt perfectly summed up the Reverse Flash's whole crazed, obsessive vendetta against Barry Allen in one hilarious word balloon.
I'm enjoying Flashpoint, and this issue in particular. Yes, it's an alternate universe. Yes, you could make the argument that the plot isn't "real" and might have no lasting ramifications on these characters. However, it's a fun jaunt through a darker and more dystopian DCU. It's not a comic that forces you to think like Final Crisis, but I think a little mindless and engaging superhero fun has its place.
4 out of 5 pseudo stars
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