Ultimate Invasion #1 Review
He's Back
SUBSTACK EXCLUSIVE
Writer: Jonathan Hickman
Art: Bryan Hitch
Inks: Andrew Currie
Colors: Alex Sinclair
Letters: VC’s Joe Caramagna
Cover: Bryan Hitch & Alex SInclair
Variant Covers: John Tyler Christopher; Russell Dauterman; Bryan Hitch & Alex Sinclair; Ron Lim & Israel Silva; Ed McGuinness & Laura Martin; Peach Momoko; Sara Pichelli & Matthew Wilson
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Price: 8.99
Release Date: June 21, 2023
The Journey Home
Jonathan Hickman is taking on Marvel’s Ultimate Universe. The writer who helped destroy it years ago with Secret Wars is beginning his next big storyline with a return to that world. It all begins with Ultimate Invasion #1, a fast paced, non stop entry designed to make it impossible for you not to get the next issue.
Ultimate Invasion #1 opens two months in the past and wastes no time before showing a daring rescue operation to liberate the Maker (Ultimate Reed Richards). To hide his escape, the Maker is able to use the organic material of his rescuers to create a copy of himself who will stay behind in the cell. From there the story marches toward the present. Two weeks pass before anyone realizes the Maker is gone. Another week passes before the Illuminati meet to discuss a series of thefts from the Baxter Building, Atlantis, Krakoa, Wakanda, New Arctilan, a Stark storage facility, and Strange’s Sanctum Sanctorum. The day after that meeting, the Maker drops in on Miles Morales before putting his plan in motion. The Illuminati strike at that moment.
Ultimate Invasion #1 is a fast moving, plot focused comic that strives to cover as much ground as it can as quickly as possible. Readers familiar with the Maker and the Ultimate Universe’s end during Secret Wars will have no problem keeping up. This will not necessarily be the case for readers going in blind. Hickman provides virtually no backstory for these events. The issue has enough information to make the plot understandable as the issue goes on, but readers lacking the grounding in the old Ultimate Universe will have to wait for future issues to learn more.
Hickman’s use of the Illuminati is a nice way to build up the Maker’s villain credibility. As noted above, readers who are familiar with the character will know the danger he presents. But for readers who don’t know the character, bringing these heavy hitters together to try and recapture him is an effective shorthand for what the Maker is capable of. It’s a surprising choice to include Charles Xavier, though, given the current status quo with mutants in the Marvel universe (something Hickman himself set in motion several years ago). But Xavier hardly factors into events within this issue, so he can be easily ignored.
The meeting between the Maker and Miles is short and seemingly straightforward, but there is a sense of foreboding for the character when Ultimate Invasion #1 ends.
The Color of Battle
The first look we get at the Maker is of a welcoming, almost friendly individual. Hitch draws someone inviting who belies the danger he presents. The story quickly dispenses with any notion that this man is something other than what he appears, of course. Nevertheless, the Maker’s initial presentation adds a creep factor to the issue's opening.
Hitch and Currie are liberal with their use of heavy lines and shading throughout the issue. This choice contributes to detailed images, especially in the case of characters’ faces and bodies. Characters express subtle emotion, and their movements project power. The art adds a great deal to an issue that is in a dead run from start to finish.
Sinclair’s coloring leans toward a darker color palette for almost the entire issue. Most of Ultimate Invasion #1 takes place in the dark or at night. Everything feels dangerous. But Sinclair goes in the exact opposite direction for the final scene which is the desperate attempt by the Illuminati to stop the Maker from enacting his plan. The fight takes place at either sunrise or sunset, and the yellows and oranges seem to highlight the characters and their actions. Sinclair makes clear that this moment more than any other is what matters in the issue.
Caramagna’s work is limited almost entirely to dialogue here. There are seemingly opportunities for sound effects in the issue, yet none appear. Like so many Marvel books, the lettering is extremely conservative and while it does not detract from the issue, it does nothing to enhance it.
Final Thoughts
Ultimate Invasion #1 is a fun comic. It asks relatively little of its reader and is a straightforward A to Z running plot. As the first chapter of a story it is compelling enough to drive interest for a second issue, but it doesn’t offer much more than that.
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