Ultimate Power #1-#3
When Greg Land is firing on all cylinders, he is one of the top artists around. His art is realistic, and smooth. Every character he touches comes to life. In the first issue of this nine issue mini-series, Land does an exceptional job of portraying the ultimate Marvel Universe. Brian Bendis (Does he write everything?!) does a good job of setting the table for the next eight issues, and infuses some of his classic humor into the mix as well.
Unfortunately, with issue #2, things take a negative turn. Remember when I said that when Land is at his best, he is one of the best artists around? Well he wasn't at his best in this issue. His characters poses are random, and seem to have no bearing on the story. This was very distracting. However, there wasn't much to be distracted from. The entire issue was nothing more than a brawl between the intruding Squadron Supreme and the ultimate Marvel universe. Bendis is a good writer, but I get the distinct feeling that big brawls aren't his specialty.
The third issue is a bit of an improvement over the second issue. We are privy to the explanation of just how Reed destroyed the Squadron Supreme universe. This comes in the form of a flashback, which is beautifully rendered by Land. To be honest, not much else happens in this issue.
After not very much happening in the first three issues, I think this story could be told in six issues instead of nine, but they decided to decompress the story. Land's art is excellent in most cases, but sometimes it looks a little off. Overall, the first three issues weren't bad, but I was hoping for more. With JMS, and then Jeph Loeb taking over the mini-series for three issues a piece, I think that this story can still be salvaged.
Grade: 6.5/10
Review by Christopher Hoerdemann |
