SuperSearnold - Comic Book Reviews

Greetings from your friendly neighborhood Searnold [Shár- Nŭhld]. Welcome to my comic book review blog - thanks for tuning in. Are you interested in a comic book but not sure you want to shell out the cash? Let me know and I’ll review it for you!
Today is Monday, October 20th, 2008.

Today’s Issue:
Ultimate Origins #5. This is the last issue in another mini-series taking place in Marvel’s Ultimate Universe. It was written by Ultimate Universe creator Brian Michael Bendis (Ultimate Spider-Man, Secret Invasion) with art by Butch Guice (X-Factor, Iron Man). Check out my review of the first 4 issues on Wednesday, September 24th, 2008.

Premise:
Ultimate Origins tells us the story of the first super powered individuals in the Ultimate Universe. The story is told in a series of vignettes following such key players as Nick Fury and Magneto. There is also a mini-story happening in present day - The Watchers have made contact with Earth and decided that humanity is coming to an end. They are, of course, referring to the upcoming Ultimatum crossover coming soon to a comic book store near you. In this final issue, we see Nick Fury raid the Weapon X facility, Magneto cripple Professor Xavier, and The Watchers choose a herald.

Awesome Parts:
In the wake of what happened recently in Ultimates 3 #5 (see my review yesterday) it was interesting to figure out that there is a character in this universe named T’Challa. It was great to see who The Watchers chose as their herald - a character new to the Ultimate Universe. Unfortunatelythough, that’s about it. Most of this issue took place in the present and was just a bunch of hype for Ultimatum.

Un-Awesome Parts:
I don’t think the choosing of the herald will be cool or make much sense to anyone not familiar with the corresponding character from the core Marvel Universe. If you don’t already know who he is, then he’s just some guy, and so what? Same thing with the existence of T’Challa. If you don’t know that T’Challa is the Black Panther’s real name, then again - he’s just some guy. On a whole, I don’t like that the series didn’t live up to its hype. None of these origin stories were connected in any way (except for the presence of The Watchers) - and Ultimate Origins was supposed to explain Bruce Banner’s cryptic comment to Spider-Man that “it’s all connected.” We also didn’t see anything from Roxxon or Osborn Industries - two MAJOR players in the super human powers race. Magneto was revealed to be a religious person - believing he was chosen by God to replace mankind. That feels totally out of character. It was related to another “big reveal” (which I won’t mention for fear of spoilers) that I also didn’t think made much sense. There were more questions created by this issue than answered. For example - how did the Weapon X facility go from being destroyed to being a mutant special ops training camp? Overall, while it was nice to see some origins, this series was a dissappointment.

My Recommendation:
I do actually recommend Ultimate Origins. While it failed to live up to its hype, it was still an enjoyable series. And I did enjoy seeing some of these characters’ origins. However, this book was written for people already familiar with the Ultimate Universe and its characters. Don’t try to use this as a jumping on point. There are a lot of references that just don’t make sense if you don’t already know who these characters are.

That’s it for today. As always - thanks for reading - see you tomorrow. And don’t forget to let me know if there’s a comic book you’d like me to review for you!
-Searnold, SuperSearnold@yahoo.com

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