Ultimates #18 Discussion/Spoilers

[Plawsky]

Sam Humphries and Luke Ross bring their contribution to United We Stand to a close as things heat up between the Ultimates and Modi. How will the Ultimates overcome the mind gem? Will America live to see another day? Find out in Ultimates #18!

spoilers:

-Modi takes over Cap's mind to distract him from the battle at hand. -He sees through the dream and wakes up to a chokehold from Thor. -Thor struggles against Modi's control and Cap breaks Modi's staff, making him lose control of the Mind Gem. -The Hydra agents that were mind controlled wake up and help the Ultimates fight back. -Thor strikes Modi down with lightning, burning his body (but he's not likely dead). -The Ultimates take control back from Hydra. -Triskelion scientists are working on figuring out the Mind Gem, and a face is seen outlined in stars through the portal they have open.

end of spoilers

And so Divided We Fall/United We Stand comes to a close for the Ultimates. Thank goodness. This was a really, really bland event. And this chapter may be the worst offender. This book has truly fallen from greatness over the past few months.

Once again, Humphries seems to have a decent handle on the main characters, but his dialogue is just so weak, and his character development couldn't be more lacking. What should have been a huge moment of confrontation between Thor and Modi ended with a crappy fight scene. Modi is just a diet version of Loki, bringing absolutely nothing new to the table. And I'm still not feeling "President Cap," as they keep calling him (or, even worse, "President Captain America"), though I did enjoy his brief exchange with Peter in his dream. The big problem with the characterization here is that no one else gets any kind of focus. Cassie Lang is still as out of nowhere as she was last issue, and several characters show up, once again, out of the blue to help fight, but say nothing (Spider-woman, Sue Storm, Falcon). There's nothing of substance here. Even in the post-fight team meeting, we learn nothing except that Thor is a bit depressed.

Luke Ross is the one saving grace of this book, but it's not enough to actually save it. His art has really gotten a lot better. I still wouldn't say it's the right fit for the Ultimates, but it works. However, while nothing stands out as bad, but nothing's really stunning, either. His fight scenes aren't particularly dynamic, but I think that has more to do with the poorly scripted fight. Each character, though, looks just fine, and the book at least has a consistent aesthetic.

As for the story, I'm not sure there was one. This is just a bad - and much less exciting - rehash of the battle against Loki in Ultimates 2. Modi even used the same mind trick on Cap that his uncle used on Thor. Neither Humphries or Ross is really suited to this big blockbuster kind of story, but that's what they were going for here. Modi was one of the few elements of Loeb's Ultimates that I really liked, and he was wasted on this dud of a story. Between the weak uses of Hydra, the Mind Gem, Modi, the Wasps, Tony's stupid tumor, Cassie Lang, and the Ultimates themselves, I really can't think of anything that stood out as a good idea in this arc. The only thing that I can single out as a positive is the fact that the Mind Gem will clearly be used again, which means the possibility of the other Gems showing up. Other than that, though, this arc was just boring. Maybe Humphries will do a better job when he's fully on his own - not part of a crossover, and not having to finish Hickman's story.

I still have hope for this book to get better, because I remain a huge fan of the Ultimate Universe. But if this was my first exposure to the team, rather than Millar's Ultimates, I wouldn't still be reading these books. Fortunately, Ultimate Spider-man is getting better, and Wood's X-Men is amazing. Hopefully the Ultimates will follow suit soon. Otherwise, I'm worried for the future of this book.

Ratings:
Writing: 5/10
Story: 3/10
Art: 8/10
Overall: 5/10

Final verdict:

Unless you've really liked the other issues of this crossover, just wait until #18.1 to try it again. This conclusion adds very little to what came before.

[JaggedFel]

Terrible. Problems are simply being solved way to quickly. What is the point of splitting up America like this if it magically gets fixed so quickly.

[Chaos_Alfa]

A broken America was one of the fun parts of the Ultimate Universe. It was something new and exciting

[sage6paths]

So far DWF/UWS for the ultimates has just been a rehash of Ultimates 1 and 2 and Ultimates vs New Ultimates. Jet scene was a homage. Modi = Loki. Lightning corpse homage from UvNU. A real big problem I had is how much ultra-american it is . I'm all for loving your country but this was taken too far. Compared to X-men ending there is no real consequence to the Ultimates ending. Most of the plot points fell flat and a lot of them I really liked. Like Hydra and Modi and Texas seceding. Humphries has a real problem with making endings seem way to contrived. The children vs the ultimates ending was too fast and unsatisfying. The same happened here. It's just too fast. The problem is that the ultimates don't feel like the ultimates anymore. It's just another superhero team that will always get the job done. Ultimates are people that come together to fight evil. They aren't just a team that comes whenever someone yells Ultimates Assemble! They are a team that reluctantly comes together and fights a common enemy. In Ultimates 1 they come together despite there differences and in Ultimates 2 they come together even in the face of hatred. Hickman's Ultimates were really close to getting the point across. The Ultimates have there own lives. SHIELD is the one that has the active job of finding the threat and asking the Ultimates to come together.

[sage6paths]

That being said. The story wasn't mind-blowing but it was still o.k. Compared to some stories this whole arc isn't that bad. But it does fall flat.

[pinq09]

yeah, this was terrible. i think humphries needs to leave. he clearly doesn`t get what ultimates are about. i`m willing to give him some leeway, cause DWF was obviously ediorially mandated. however, there is just no excuse for making it this pathetic. DWF would have worked as a status quo for a year or two, not something to be resolved in six issues. plus, the character work and dialogue are just sad. especially, when did cap become a hyper-idealistic, patriotic one-liner throwing 616 cap? just ugh.

with the sales falling steadily, i don`t think UU can survive much more of this. This time next year, we may be talking about UU`s cancelation.

[Balfro]

I knew it, this story was pretty bad. Such wasted potential. Thor gave Mjolnir to Modi and that opened a door to something amazing, and all we got was this. Modi didn't even use Mjolnir, not did Thor take it once he (killed?) his son. Well, let's hope this awful story was the last of the Ultimates being comparable to so much feces.

[pinq09]

yeah, this was terrible. i think humphries needs to leave. he clearly doesn`t get what ultimates are about. i`m willing to give him some leeway, cause DWF was obviously ediorially mandated. however, there is just no excuse for making it this pathetic. DWF would have worked as a status quo for a year or two, not something to be resolved in six issues. plus, the character work and dialogue are just sad. especially, when did cap become a hyper-idealistic, patriotic one-liner throwing 616 cap? just ugh.

with the sales falling steadily, i don`t think UU can survive much more of this. This time next year, we may be talking about UU`s cancelation.

[Balfro]

i don`t think UU can survive much more of this. This time next year, we may be talking about UU`s cancelation.

Unfortunately if these standards keep up I actually wouldn't be all that saddened by it. It's a shame really, but I'd rather have it end than keep throwing my money into it with hopeful enthusiasm that gets shot down every month...

[sage6paths]

I knew it, this story was pretty bad. Such wasted potential. Thor gave Mjolnir to Modi and that opened a door to something amazing, and all we got was this. Modi didn't even use Mjolnir, not did Thor take it once he (killed?) his son. Well, let's hope this awful story was the last of the Ultimates being comparable to so much feces.

Modi was the most unused character and he had the most potential. He had freakin Mjolnir. He was able to teleport that was never explained. He had a heterochromia eyes that was never explained and could have easily been explained by saying that he was in control of the land of the dead. So much wasted potential. There was no way Modi was worthy enough to use Mjolnir after what we have seen.

[sage6paths]

Unfortunately if these standards keep up I actually wouldn't be all that saddened by it. It's a shame really, but I'd rather have it end than keep throwing my money into it with hopeful enthusiasm that gets shot down every month...

Well I would be saddened by the cancellation of X-Men and Spider-Man but I definitely could write Ultimates better. And I have an Ultimate Comics: Hulk idea that I want to use if I ever get into comic writing.

[J/O/J/O]

Wow this was just awful.Worst issue I have read in a while.Jesus,It was so,so bad I'm getting a headache.I may drop all this Ult. s***t.
If they are really grooming Edmonson as an Ultimate writer he may be a good replacment.Heck his first issue of Iron Man was better than the last 3 Ultimates issues.Humpries really dropped the ball here ans it sucks because this will damper my excitment for his X-Force title.

[Balfro]

If they are really grooming Edmonson as an Ultimate writer he may be a good replacment.Heck his first issue of Iron Man was better than the last 3 Ultimates issues.

I hope he becomes the next writer for this book. So far he seems to have a grounded grasp on what characters in the UU are about. So far he writes Utlimate Iron Man very well, and I can for sure see that expanding to the rest of the team.

[Songbird/Diamondback]

Cassie Lang was the best part, because I love Cassie Lang.

[Kurolegacy]

Cassie Lang was the best part, because I love Cassie Lang.

And just think, if she didn't make the saving catch, everybody would have died from the Hellicarrier exploding and their battle would be for nothing. So in a way, she saved the day.