I've lost a lot of desire for the Ultimate line over the past few years. When Ultimatum came and killed a ton of major characters, I figured that would be a good place to end the line. But Marvel continued with it. The readers, on the other hand, did not. So Marvel decided to redo the line for a third time, this time killing off Spider-Man, and bringing in a lot of new up-and-coming creators. It still hasn't clicked all that well. I used to get the entire line, but with this third outing, I just stuck with my X-Men. It was an easy call for me since I get anything with an "X" on it, and Nick Spencer is writing it. But even that hasn't helped. It just doesn't hold much interest because these aren't the "real" Marvel characters. There's no "Oh no! So-and-so died!" That's why I didn't understand the huge outcry over the new Spider-Man being of African-American/Latino heritage. It wasn't Peter Parker, so why the fuss? This is the perfect universe to do something like that. It's a just big ol' What If?
But this issue is where everything finally clicked. There's been a big plan all along. One that reaches as far back as Ultimatum. And that right there is where the genius of the new blood creators comes through. They're not the type of writers to just give you all the answers on the first page of the first issue. And they shouldn't. What's the point of reading a story if you know how it ends before it starts? That's why so many prequels get it wrong. This issue finally brings some of that grand arc to light. It's a pretty bold one, too. I didn't see it coming. Maybe I should've, but I was caught off guard by it. It's going to be interesting to see how broad this idea is taken. We've seen a slightly similar story in the main Marvel U, but it can never go so far as it can in the Ultimate U.
So if you've been disappointed in the direction of the current Ultimate Comics line, I think this might be the beginning of some very interesting, and very big, developments. Let's just hope the payoff is worth the long build-up.
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