Post by goldenfist on Oct 17, 2008 15:59:29 GMT -5
Here is Ultimate Origins #5 Review from Ign.com
I really need books like Ultimate Origins to remind me why the Ultimate Universe is a good thing. I want to be excited for Ultimatum, but books like Ultimates 3 make me want to abandon all hope. Ultimate Origins has almost single-handedly kept my interest in Ultimatum burning, so it's a bit disappointing to see the last issue fizzle out rather than hit a memorable climax.
At times Ultimate Origins has felt like less of a controlled story ad more like a series of interconnected vignettes. Each flashback-heavy issue has focused on a particular group of characters, many of whom have been swept under the rug in subsequent issues. I haven't really minded this haphazard approach so far because, with he exception of issue #2's painfully by-the-books retelling of Captain America's origin, these vignettes have all been fascinating. Many have offered a sense of pieces falling into place. I've enjoyed the revelations dealing with the mutant gene and the Super Soldier Program. I've relished the cases where Brian Michael Bendis has dared venture beyond a character's traditional history and offered something new. Magneto's Ultimatized origin is nothing like what we've seen from the classic version, but he's no less interesting for it.
This issue offers no new origins, necessarily, but it does revisit Nick Fury one last time. Here we see Fury shortly after he assumes his role at S.H.I.E.L.D. His organization has an inevitable showdown with the scientists at Weapon X, and the results are both surprising and a satisfying cap to the series. I'm willing to go out on a limb and say that Bendis has done more to flesh out Ultimate Fury as a character with this book than any writer.
Unfortunately, this issue also leaves many loose threads dangling, a problem that mars both the issue itself and the entire final product. Bendis showed us in issue #1 that the mutant gene was created by Weapon X. However, he never explains how the gene managed to spread into the general population. Aside from Nick Fury, I don't feel that many characters central to the story received proper closure. And while the segment following the Fantastic Four in the present managed to tie the disparate threads together in past issues, it merely leaves readers with the sense that they weren't given a finished product here. The team makes contact with the Watcher drone, a new development happens, and the story ends rather abruptly. Two major characters are inducted into the Ultimate Universe in this issue, yet we catch only the briefest glimpse of each.
The end of this story feels less like an ending and more like an open request for readers to buy more Ultimate books. To see a proper conclusion to this story, I'll likely need to pick up the Ultimate annuals and Ultimatum, as well as whatever other tie-ins Marvel has planned. The sheer fact that I'm willing to do so means Bendis did his job with this one, but that doesn't mean I have to be happy about it.
Review Score: 7.9 Good
I really need books like Ultimate Origins to remind me why the Ultimate Universe is a good thing. I want to be excited for Ultimatum, but books like Ultimates 3 make me want to abandon all hope. Ultimate Origins has almost single-handedly kept my interest in Ultimatum burning, so it's a bit disappointing to see the last issue fizzle out rather than hit a memorable climax.
At times Ultimate Origins has felt like less of a controlled story ad more like a series of interconnected vignettes. Each flashback-heavy issue has focused on a particular group of characters, many of whom have been swept under the rug in subsequent issues. I haven't really minded this haphazard approach so far because, with he exception of issue #2's painfully by-the-books retelling of Captain America's origin, these vignettes have all been fascinating. Many have offered a sense of pieces falling into place. I've enjoyed the revelations dealing with the mutant gene and the Super Soldier Program. I've relished the cases where Brian Michael Bendis has dared venture beyond a character's traditional history and offered something new. Magneto's Ultimatized origin is nothing like what we've seen from the classic version, but he's no less interesting for it.
This issue offers no new origins, necessarily, but it does revisit Nick Fury one last time. Here we see Fury shortly after he assumes his role at S.H.I.E.L.D. His organization has an inevitable showdown with the scientists at Weapon X, and the results are both surprising and a satisfying cap to the series. I'm willing to go out on a limb and say that Bendis has done more to flesh out Ultimate Fury as a character with this book than any writer.
Unfortunately, this issue also leaves many loose threads dangling, a problem that mars both the issue itself and the entire final product. Bendis showed us in issue #1 that the mutant gene was created by Weapon X. However, he never explains how the gene managed to spread into the general population. Aside from Nick Fury, I don't feel that many characters central to the story received proper closure. And while the segment following the Fantastic Four in the present managed to tie the disparate threads together in past issues, it merely leaves readers with the sense that they weren't given a finished product here. The team makes contact with the Watcher drone, a new development happens, and the story ends rather abruptly. Two major characters are inducted into the Ultimate Universe in this issue, yet we catch only the briefest glimpse of each.
The end of this story feels less like an ending and more like an open request for readers to buy more Ultimate books. To see a proper conclusion to this story, I'll likely need to pick up the Ultimate annuals and Ultimatum, as well as whatever other tie-ins Marvel has planned. The sheer fact that I'm willing to do so means Bendis did his job with this one, but that doesn't mean I have to be happy about it.
Review Score: 7.9 Good