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Ultimates 2 #9
"Grand Theft America"
Review posted: 31 Dec 2005
Writer: Mark Millar
Artist: Bryan Hitch
Letters: Chris Eliopoulos
Ink: Paul Neary, Bryan Hitch
Colors: Laura Martin
Publisher: Marvel Comics
4.50 out of 5 Stars
Reviewed by Matt Yocum
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The auditorium lights dim, the screen brightens, and the adventure begins. That same big-screen movie experience is exactly what I felt when I opened The Ultimates 2 #9 and read through the opening recap, seeing the wide-screen image of an eye, and someone reflected in the eye’s image. The opening promised even greater things to come. Mark Millar and Bryan Hitch delivered on that promise.
This issue is an astounding example of what comics are capable of. It contained a story so grand that its inception began years ago, images so sprawling that you felt you were witnessing the destruction of Manhattan right before your eyes, and an ending that left the readers wanting more.
Anything a writer wishes to do with a comic is
possible, that’s how great and wide and expansive is the medium.
And Millar avails himself of all the possibilities.
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Former writers of movies and television who later worked in comics have claimed they can unleash mentally in ways they never could before due to budgetary reasons. I’ve read J. Michael Straczynski (Amazing Spider-Man and Fantastic Four) and Bryan Singer (upcoming Ultimate X-Men) interviews where they explained that whatever they can think up, they can do in comics, no matter how big. This is not true with television and movies.
Despite this unlimited visual “budget,” few comics writers avail themselves of this opportunity. This is one thing that makes Mark Millar stand out from the rest. I’ve seen it since I first began to read him in WildStorm’s The Authority. Recently I saw it in Millar’s Ultimate Fantastic Four #25 when Namor pounded the Human Torch completely through a Navy ship and into the sea below. In The Ultimates 2 #9 I saw it over and over again: first with dozens of S.H.I.E.L.D. helicarriers crashing into the Ultimates’ base; again with a 2-page splash of the destruction of Manhattan; and later a shot of the toppling of the Statue of Liberty. The severely detailed and realistic renderings of Bryan Hitch and vivid colors of Laura Martin grant Millar the opportunity to explode with creativity, and in this case, destruction.
Now, I will admit that I struggled on the rating of this comic. On one side the art is astounding and the story epic. Divorced from reality, this comic is masterful. But this comic is far from divorced from reality. Millar has so wed his stories to real-world news that they become his running commentary on America’s involvement in world events. We’ve seen in The Ultimates 2 as well as his recent work in Wolverine Millar’s extreme opposition to U.S. involvement throughout the world in the war on terrorism.
The question I’ve debated lately from Millar’s work is whether comics are a forum for one writer to vent his arguments against U.S. policy. Even Wizard magazine #171 pointed out in their section “Year of the Dogs” that Millar’s work in Wolverine #32 showed his “ham-fisted, not-so-subtle comparison between Nazis and the Bush administration.” That particular issue had me especially frustrated at its failure to differentiate between the Holocaust — where six million Jews and five million “undesirables” were murdered — and the current U.S. war in Iraq and elsewhere.
Some of you may know from my review of Marvel’s special New Avengers AAFES 110th Anniversary Issue that I am a military officer. Based on this and my comments on Millar’s stance on the war, please do not presume to know my position. Take a stance, either side, on the war on terrorism and I can argue the opposite, showing there is far more to it than a simplistic, media-fed view. Arguments for or against the war can be sustained from a look at the parties involved (U.S., Iraqi Kurds, Sunnis, or Shiites, general Arab interests, Israeli interests, and so on). Also you can look at it historically, from the first Gulf War, or going back to the Brits who carved up the region with little regard for ethnic or religious lines, or even much earlier. You can also look at it strategically, with regard to future stability in Amercia, the Middle East, the world. As for me, I am a soldier. As I’ve mentioned before, we could debate forever the issues about today’s military operations, but the military is the hammer not the hand.
So, are comics a forum for such opinion as in Millar’s work, or should they merely be escapism? That question is worthy of a book, and a great deal more thought than a small review. Ultimately, comics are everything. Anything a writer wishes to do with a comic is possible, that’s how great and wide and expansive is the medium. And Millar avails himself of all the possibilities.
The Ultimates 2 for me is a little bit of everything. Grand adventure, intricate conspiracies, epic visuals, and simply an amazing comic. Separate from the reality it mirrors, The Ultimates 2 is an example of what comics can do in the hands of a writer and artist unafraid to unleash the limits of their abilities.
Comments about my comments? Feel free to email me at
myocum@comiccritique.com.
—CCdC—
Cover image used without explicit permission in accordance with the "Fair Use" provision of US copyright law.
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