The beauty of the "Ultimate" line of comics is that it gives the creative team a lot of leeway to take the original Marvel superhero concepts into new, original areas.It's a feature Mark Millar pushed to the limit on the original Ultimates comic, and now he's at it again in the new Ultimate Avengers line.
When it works, it makes for entertaining reading. When it doesn't work... well, you know.
So here we have a story about Captain America encountering a modern-day Red Skull for the first time. He's shocked when the Skull beats him up rather easily and throws him out of a helicopter - but not before revealing a shocking fact - that this Red Skull actually the son of Steve Rogers. (Hmm, what movie does this remind me of?)
Now Cap has gone renegade and is trying to determine the truth. This brings him in conflict with SHIELD, the Avengers and just about everyone else. The issue also provides some other surprises which I'll leave for the reader to discover.
There's no denying the art is outstanding. Carlos Pacheco turns in some powerful and often disturbing images here - some are particularly brutal and not at all suited for young readers.
Millar's return to this comic brings it back to its status quo - namely, there seems to be no difference between the heroes and the villains. Heroes like Hawkeye and Nick Fury are almost gleeful about killing, and even Captain America is portrayed as brutal.
A friend of mine dropped this book early in its run, saying he preferred to read comics that starred heroes. The description still fits.
The art is great, the story is interesting, but I just don't care about the characters involved. Is having one likeable character asking too much?
Grade: B+
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