Salutations, traveler of The Internets! Welcome to William's Bloody Hell, so named after our founder, Sir Bloody William.
He is seen in the likeness above in a rare, 19th century woodcut. This
image was rumoured to have been
commissioned after a bout of unpleasantness
in the White Chapel district of London. Do enjoy your stay and peruse our many, varied offerings, much of which cannot be found elsewhere!
:: The Ultimates by Mark Millar and Bryan Hitch ::
by Thunderdude
For years I've argued with Forest Grump that Captain America was cool, and that
the Avengers were cool. It's a tough argument. I'm a fan of both but even I
always felt they were a little too 'light' at times as far as attitude and such.
I may never be able to convince Grump that Avengers are cool, but the Ultimates
may be an easier sell.
Continuing with Marvel's popular "Ultimate" line, the Ultimates continue
in the same "universe" as Ultimate Spider-man and Ultimate X-men.
The Ultimates are a team of soldiers/superheroes assembled under the command of
General Nick Fury (who is black in this universe), commander of S.H.I.E.L.D.,
the elite US espionage agency. The team is created in response to the many super
powerful threats that have emerged in the other Ultimate titles.
The lineup consists of regular Avengers characters: Captain America, Giant Man,
the Wasp (who is Asian in the Ultimate universe), the Hulk, Thor, Iron Man,
Hawkeye, Quicksilver, the Scarlet Witch and the Black Widow. Certain team
members don't show up 'til later in the 13 issue miniseries. These are not the
characters that Avengers fans know and love however. The only one that comes
close is the Tony Stark/Iron Man character.
And I have absolutely no complaints about these characters at all! Every one is
well rounded with their own little quirks. None of the 'light' bullcrap that I
was in denial of seeing so often. These characters kill as well. Including
Captain America. This is the rough and tough John Wayne type Captain America
I've been waiting for years to see. When one of the bigger stronger characters
decides to beat on his wife, Cap hands the guy a damned good beating, even
goading him into using his powers to make it a fair fight!
Thor doesn't have that (thou bested thy hammer.....) dialogue, instead he's a
self help guru with a small cult of followers. Many think he's just this insane
guy with a big scary hammer, but how does he do all those weird things with the
lightning? Is he really a the Norse Thunder God? The Hulk is a time bomb of
rage, a failed super soldier experiment that ends up giving the Ultimates their
first real battle against one of their own. The first real battle happens over
the Hulk being jealous of Freddie Prinz Jr., just like most 'Buffy' fans.
Without giving too much of the story away, most of it centers around the Captain
America character through his earlier moments toward the end of WWII and his
awakening nearly 60 years later. The team comes together while some unforeseen
enemy looks in the background ready to destroy the world. Won't say anymore
about the plot except that it's pretty good and the battles are freakin' awesome
One fun part about the artwork is how Bryan Hitch makes some of the characters
look like actors, most notably Nick Fury looking like Samuel L. Jackson or Tony
Stark looking like Johnny Depp. He also does a good George W. Bush. Overall
artwork was good. Mark Millar scripts a good story with interesting characters.
This version of the Avengers is leaves me with no doubts of coolness! Marvel's
Ultimate lines have done well, and "The Ultimates" is a good example of
fine comic book storytelling.
Solid A.
