Ultimate Doom #1 Discussion (SPOILERS)

[Plawsky]

The final miniseries in the Bendis and Sandoval Ultimate trilogy kicks off today, and it's off to a great start. What's up with Reed? You'll have to read to find out...

spoilers:

-Sue confronts Reed about what he's doing, looking for an explanation. -He is really vague, just saying he's super smart and she wouldn't understand, and that the break up was liberating. -She tries to stop him but he utterly dominates her. -Rick Jones finally gets up, says he realizes that this is why the Watchers sent for him. -He proceeds to go all out on Reed, destroying the vortex. -Rick then teleports himself and Sue to the Triskelion; Sue gets rushed to care. -Jessica wakes up at Roxxon, confronted by the Brain Trust. -We see that the person in charge of the Brain Trust was none other than Doctor Otto Octavius! -Back at the Triskelion, Johnny and Ben are trying to get Rick to take them to Reed, but Rick really doesn't understand his powers. -Meanwhile, Sue is flatlining. The issue ends with "No response!!!" To be continued...

end of spoilers

Aside from Ultimate Spider-man, the Enemy Trilogy is what has been keeping the Ultimate Universe moving this year. Though it's decompressed to the point of very slow movement, it feels important, unlike Millar's Avengers. And unlike Loeb's books, it comes out on time and consistently. Really, it's been a fun, interesting book all along, and picking up this book was a huge excitement for me this afternoon. I've really been looking forward to Ultimate Doom since the beginning, and even more since we saw that Reed was the villain in Mystery #4.

Though Bendis helped create Ultimate Fantastic Four, he never really got a chance to tell his own stories with them, and I think that's what he's doing here. He is doing some things that have NEVER been done with Marvel's First Family. He shows us, yet again, that he really is king of all things Ultimate. It's clear that, even though he was only writing Spider-man at the time, he read and knew what was going on in UFF, and he went along with plots from Ultimatum. I love the new Reed Richards he's made. 616 Reed has always been cocky about his intelligence, but Reed is just a dick here. But at the same time, he deserves to be, because he really is the smartest man in the world. It was awesome watching him effortlessly take down Sue, laughing off her attacks. I'm still curious about what he's doing, but we'll get there soon I'm sure.

Sandoval, yet again, delivers a fantastic issue. He is easily one of my favorite new artists, and I really hope this isn't his last Ultimate project. All the characters look fantastic, and the fights were incredible. Making Reed look cool during fights is no easy task, and I've seen it look goofy a ton or times, but Rafa delivers here. Of all the current Ultimate artists, I think I like Sandoval's faces the best. Each character looks completely unique, and his style is really cool.

Doc Ock's reveal was one of the coolest comic moments for me in a while, because I didn't see it coming at all. It makes sense, obviously, I just hadn't even thought about it, and I'm very interested in his motives as well. When was the last time we saw him, was it the Clone Saga? Then there's Rick Jones, who still hasn't found his place in the UU. He goes Super Saiyan here though, and wreaks havoc on whatever Reed was doing. His Nova persona has some great potential to be really cool, even though I'm still not fully sold on the design (his fire-butt is a little awkward, don't you think?). I would also like - and so would he, I'm sure - a definition of his powers sometime, so we can know what the hell he's doing. My only bummer in this issue is that we didn't get to see Captain Marvel anymore; he's so cool in the UU.

I can't wait for the next three issues. If this has even half the impact that Bendis's hype wants us to believe, than it should be great. There's still a lot to address, though, and at this pace, I'm worried about getting a satisfactory conclusion to everything. But as long as Sandoval's art is here, I don't mind the splash pages and decompression.

Also, I've said it before, but I'm reaffirming it. I predict a Bendis/Sandoval Ultimate Fantastic Four (or Three or whatever) book after Doom is over. Which, along with my still standing prediction of Avengers and Ultimates joining into one book (penned by Hickman?), would make for an awesome Ultimate Universe.

Ratings:
Story: 8/10
Writing: 9/10
Art: 9/10
Overall: 8.5/10

Final Verdict:
If you've been reading the trilogy, obviously pick this up. If you haven't been, then read the first two minis and pick this up anyway. It's a great Ultimate story.

[Wolverine12]

The way Sandoval drew Reeds face when Sue expanded her force field in his head made me laugh really freaking hard. Especially what he said after it happend, it was like he and Sue were just having a super powered domestic disturbance which I found funny as hell. (Not that I condone or laugh at that irl, just the ludicrious-ness of it here). This mini just keeps getting better and better with each new "arc". I absolutely cannot wait to see how this ends.

I'm calling it now, Reed wins but makes it so everyone thinks he didn't and then he slips himself back in among the good guys.

[Enjoypolydor]

Trying not to spoil anything. The person in charge of the Brain Trust.

I thought he died at the end of the clone saga?

[Don Yoyo]

I thought he died at the end of the clone saga?

He appeared at the very beginning of
spoilers:

Death of a Goblin , so no. He was just knocked out at the end of the Clone Saga

end of spoilers.

[Don Yoyo]

Double-post, sorry, manipulation error!

[comicboy53]

Trying not to spoil anything. The person in charge of the Brain Trust.

I thought he died at the end of the clone saga?

Yeah like don yoyo said he's still alive. I was actually wondering when we would see him again

[Perfection/Emma 2]

Sue, Rick, and Reed were amazing. The fight scene between those three was badass. However, once Sue was in the hospital, it went down hill. Human Torch sounds so so stupid and seeing Jessica Drew helpless made me kinda say, but I like she used the alias Julia Carpenter. Also where's Iceman? Overall a good read, but hopefully it only gets better.

10/10 for the Sue and Rick versus Reed

6.5/10 for overall story.

[Oddboom]

man you nailed it, as often you do

10/10 for your review!

im also afraid its gonna be hard to resolve all the plot points in mere 3 issues since it took 9 already to get us to the point were in

[comicboy53]

just read it finally, it was a nice setup

[Don Yoyo]

Anybody thinks that there was a mishap with the letter balloons in the scene after the sprinklers were started? "Flame off, kid" seems more like something Danvers would say, especially with the expression she has during that scene (you could feel the frustration ).

Good issue, I especially like that we have a better idea of what Rick's teleportation power looks like : it seems he creates portals between two locations, and gets everyone in it. He may be starting to have a better grasp of his powers now.

Doc Ock reappearing was a shocker, I wonder what kind of role he will play in all of this!

[Daybreak_st]

Ok so technically this belongs in a thread for Ultimate Mystery 4 but i didn't want to start a whole new thread.

Did anyone else get a kick out of seeing Sandoval re-create pages from Ultimate Fantastic 4 #1 almost panel for panel? It was very cool to compare side by side. Hoping to post scans tonight. Awesome tho! He makes a few changes.

As good as Adam Kubert is i think i enjoyed Sandoval's version better. Just felt like it flowed a little smoother from a story telling perspective. Also he does this cool thing where he "animates" a character while keeping the other character static. Notice the page where Reed's dad (such a jerk) thows the blender at him and walks off. When adam drew it was separate panels, but the way Sandoval handles it he uses the same panel but makes him move. You'll just have to see the scans to see what i'm talking about.

Also what do you think they're getting at with referencing all the events in Reed's past? Particularly the scene from Ultimate Power and then when he discusses killing Doom before he becomes Doom? Also did anyone notice the organism that ran rampant in Ultimate Power looks a lot like the final form of the creature that attacked during Ultimate Enemy? I don't think it's a coincidence.

Also i wonder if Ben's transformation was always a plan for the writers. I mean he's been losing pieces since Ultimate Power hinting that something else was going to happen. I'm loving the new Ben! Great decision.

[Daybreak_st]

These are the pictures i mentioned in the post above:



That's a page from UFF4 #1 and recently Ultimate Mystery #4



It's interesting to see how Sandoval reinterprets the story telling w/o deviating too much from the original. I'm not sure if comic storytelling has changed in general but the difference is most apparent in the last page with Reed's dad throwing the device at him. Sandoval's page flows so much smoother than Kubert's. And feels less compartmentalized.

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[horsehead]

Also what do you think they're getting at with referencing all the events in Reed's past? Particularly the scene from Ultimate Power and then when he discusses killing Doom before he becomes Doom? Also did anyone notice the organism that ran rampant in Ultimate Power looks a lot like the final form of the creature that attacked during Ultimate Enemy? I don't think it's a coincidence.

I was thinking the same when Enemy first started, I thought it might even involve Burbank and/or Doom as the villains but the more it has gone on I think this is just coincidence now.

I'd love it to link in someways to Ultimate Power as I loved Supreme Power so much and always like that referenced in the hope that the SS characters get used more but alas I think not in this case.

[BBlueMusiq]

I'm just wondering as to when everybody thinks the ultimate doom trilogy takes place? I personally think it could take place after this superhero training arc in ultimate spider-man, maybe right before the death of spider-man story arc. thoughts?

[Daybreak_st]

I'm just wondering as to when everybody thinks the ultimate doom trilogy takes place? I personally think it could take place after this superhero training arc in ultimate spider-man, maybe right before the death of spider-man story arc. thoughts?

I'm trying to figure that out too. When it begins in Ult Enemy Peter doesnt' have a haircut. In Ult Spidey he gets his haircut around issue 8. When Peter leaves he still hasn't had his hair cut yet i know its pretty flimsy logic but that's the best way for me to pinpoint the timing.