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Hello there! Padawan J here, the resident Star Wars expert from the ODPH! And this week I’m going to be reviewing the 9th issue of The Ultimates from Deniz Camp & Marvel!
Things continue to take shape for our heroes in this issue, as the universe collectively heads towards the inevitable showdown with The Maker! And this issue features the introduction of a very familiar face! So just who is it? Let’s jump into it!
The Ultimates #9 by Deniz Camp (writer), Chris Allen (guest artist), Federico Blee (color artist), VC’s Travis Lanham (letterer) & Taurin Clarke; Inhyuk Lee; Gleeb Melinkov & Edgar Delgad (cover artists) is a very solid introductory issue for a very familiar character. It’s a compelling story that continues to make this universe one of the most interesting things Marvel has done in recent history. The issue is about Iron Lad (who’s still in a coma by the way) righting another wrong The Maker had committed with the universe’s ultimate destiny. And in this issue it’s giving Luke Cage his powers.
The issue starts in 2005, with a young Luke Cage being told by someone who isn’t a lawyer that he’s being sentenced to a prison sentence of 1 to 15 years! What’s worse is he doesn’t even know what he’s been convicted of. On top of that his “friend” (we’re never told who this person is) says they don’t even know the details, but try’s to comfort him by telling him that “it’s just one year. You’ll be out before you know it.”
Obviously that isn’t the case, because the story then bounces between a couple of months over the next TWENTY YEARS where by February 2025 he’s in Gordium Correctional Facility and things aren’t going well for him. Like I said before, it’s a VERY compelling story that had me on the edge of my seat to see how it played out from one panel to the next. And the ending is not at all what I expected. There’s also another interesting interaction with another familiar character, but I’ll leave that reveal for you to read on your own.
The artwork done by Chris Allen who’s a guest artist on the issue this week was particularly exceptional. It felt distinct enough from the other Ultimate universe titles, but still retained some of the familiarity you’ve come to expect.
It almost felt like the differences you’d see between the original Ultimate Spider-Man, Ultimate X-Men & The Ultimates comics back in the early 2000’s. If the powers that be decided to switch up artists at some point along the line, I would HIGHLY recommend Chris Allen as a candidate to step up.
FINAL POINT: Deniz Camp along with Chris Allen crafted a masterful introduction to one of the more well known street level Marvel characters. And they’ve done so at a time where interest in those characters is ramping up. They’ve added another piece to the chess board for the eventual battle between the heroes & The Maker, and it’s going to be VERY interesting to see how the next few issues play out. This is DEFINITELY and issue you’ll want to pick up this week!
Overall Score: 9/10
Thanks for checking out my review on Nerd Initiative. For more of my content, check out ODPHpodcast.com, follow me on Twitter, and check out more of my reviews here on Nerd Initiative: https://nerdinitiative.com/author/padawanj/!
