Broken Frontier

Love him or leave him, Jeph Loeb is one of the most successful comic book writers today. Everything he touches seems to turn into a sales behemoth, regardless of how a seemingly small group of fans feel. I speak, of course, about all the Loeb haters.

We all may have fallen into this category at one point during his comic writing career, but it should be noted that what Loeb brings to the table are big ideas. His recent work at Marvel has been on titles that can sustain that kind of grandeur (delusional or not).  Even the titles suggest as much, i.e Hulk. After aiding and abetting in the annihilation of the Ultimate Universe, Mr. Loeb adds another seismic sounding title to his resume.

Ultimate Comics: New Ultimates  #1 (that’s a mouthful), with art by Frank Cho, is large, loud, ripped, and surprisingly focused. After sitting out the majority of Loeb’s Ultimates 3, Tony Stark has sobered out of his alcoholic stupor and is our narrator for this particular story. Loeb writes him like a closet optimist. Someone who deep down believes he doesn’t deserve his good fortunes, and not those of the monetary variety. Through well placed dialogue and excellent acting depicted by Cho, Loeb reaches as far back as Ultimates Vol. 1 for some of Tony’s character choices and flaws. Loeb is establishing a consistent motivation between his treatment of these characters and Mark Millar’s version before him. This was a welcome surprise, because this kind of care didn’t seem as evident in Ultimates 3. But then again, maybe he was just pushing through to get to this? 

His handling of Ultimate Stark is so fun that even heavy hitters like Captain America and Thor are relegated to supporting characters, both of which are faced with surprisingly funny carnal offers.  The same kind of jokes that fell flat and hard in the Ultimate Hulk Annual really work here.

The credit goes to Cho’s timing and the facial expressions of his characters. He really earns the emotions on their faces and makes the longer wait between his interiors a little more worth it. Many fans fixate on his action and talent with the female form, but just as much attention and praise should be applied to his acting. 

With this rebuilding of the Ultimate line, the creators responsible haven’t reinvented the wheel, they are merely defining it better. So far, it looks as though Bendis is treating Ultimate Spider-Man as a mash up of all the prominent teen superheroes; Millar is making his Avengers Nick Fury and Cap centric, while Loeb is clearly making the New Ultimates Stark’s team. Many characters bleed between the books, but don’t contradict each others' flavor or tone. Ultimate X even feels removed, but reliant on the events of Ultimatum. Even with that event leaving a bit of a bad taste, one can’t help but be a little excited about these current stories, and New Ultimates is no exception. Bigger may not be better, but in some cases, it sure is more fun.