I read this entire volume in one sitting while waiting for my car to be serviced. A lot of questions I had about the Order of St. George were answered in this chapter. I like the structure and the make up of the House of Slaughter. As a military service member, lots of things resonate with me. The color schemes, the history of the order, the different units, the specialties by house and all of the symbolism is pretty well thought out. Also, the backstreet of Erica is quite epic. Tynion couldn't have made a more "from rags to glory" narrative than this here. The Black Room is filled with underdogs, quite the hook for the readers. Who doesn't love and underdog? At this stage is pretty clear the Black Bandanas are destined to failed. What I didn't know was that they set up to fail as a family since their specialty is to hunt alone. Can't build a big house with loners, can you? I'm interesting in seeing if Erica changes that for the Black Room. more

Here's the actual conclusion to the first arc. No cliffhanger, no unresolved crisis or anything. What I find refreshing about this series so far, is the structure of the storytelling is designed for speedy reads. The stretching of panels across 2-page spreads is made to burn through pages rather quick. Also, a big chunk of the storytelling is made to be absorbed through the art and not the dialogue. I would recommend this series to anyone, nut in collected issue only. That's how I intend to read it myself. So far, after 15 issues, there's a few elements of this world that have been brought into the light, story wise I mean. There are monsters that kill children, these monsters come from children's imagination. There's a secret organization of people that works in secrecy to combat these monsters. They're called the Order of St. George. The Order is composed of different Houses. As of issue #15 we have only seen 2 of the houses and they are represented by the bandanas worn by the members i.e. the House of Slaughter wear the Black Bandanas. Like Erica Slaughter the leading character. Who by the way, ended up deserting the Order because different of opinions on what should be the priorities. Because the truth is, The Order are not good guys in any meaning of the word. more

21 months since issue #1 came out. That is a lot of time. In July 2024 I spoke to the colorist David Baron about the unfortunate delays. Mr. Baron gave me hope, he said they were still working on this series and that Issue #2 was coming out by the end of 2024 more or less. Specifically, he said the scrip and pencils were done, he was waiting for the inks so he could start coloring the issue. Well, that took even longer than they said. All this to say, comics is an artform. I appreciate the fact that DC did not rush the creators to put this out. They got all the time they needed instead of just cancelling the series which is what I expected to happen. (Remarks Complete)

This issue was pretty fucking amazing, pardon my French! Superman refused to give up on Lex and that took him to lengths beyond even the first issue. I'm talking about the Future to the Legionaries. Wonder Woman in Themyscira. Atlantis, but not to Aquaman. No! No! No! That would've been too easy, this is Mark Waid who we're talking about after all. The DC Comics Scholar, Mark Waid, took us to Tritonis, the home of one Loris Lemaris. A descendant of the people of Atlantis that would evolve into the people of Tritonis, a sect of undersea humans that adapted to have fish-like tail. Yes, that meme'd mermaid Ex-Girlfriend of Superman. Jokes aside, that's some the type of lore nuggets I love reading from my writers.

Everywhere Superman took Luthor, the answers were the same. They didn't know how to cure Lex, nor they knew what was causing his illness. Except Brainiac 5 and the Legionnaires, they knew what happened to Lex, but they refused to disclose the truth. Because, according to Brainiac 5, this would've crushed Superman. My favorite interaction from this issue came from the exchange between Diana and Lex. Leave it to Diana to call out a man's bullshit and projection to his face.

Despite, that weird looking page, where Diana looked like she breaks her neck while she is punching Superman, the art in this issue is superb. There's emotion, action and a variety of scenery. more

Imagine that. Batman isn't the only hero with a no-kill rule. Hitch, Nowlan & Baron did an amazing job in this issue. I confess, I read this when it first came out but that was so long ago... I had given up on this series. I happened to have a couple extra dollars on Superman Day and decided to pick issue #2. So, no shit here I am, reading #1 again to refresh my memory of it. This was longer, and better than I remembered. Just as Lex Luthor states in his speech to Superman, the Man of Steel won't let anyone die. Not even Lex Luthor. Pretty interesting way by Mark Waid to corner Superman into helping save Lex Luthor's life while simultaneously earning the hatred and disappointment from the entire world. If this was the real world, Superman would have been crucified all over the internet, why? Because people tend to think they know what gods should and shouldn't do, who they should and shouldn't save. Everyone has an opinion, and they have to be right... When Superman takes Lex to the fortress of solitude there is a couple of things that caught my attention; one being the incredible depiction of the Fortress by Hitch & company. And two, the callous demeanor of Lex didn't change even after realizing the lengths that Superman was willing to go to help him. Especially after broadcasting his decision when he didn't need to force his hand. Lex is written as someone who is beyond redemption, even the scientist from Kandor see it that way. While Superman agrees with this assessment, that Luthor is without absolution for his transgressions, Superman is not without hope. And that is what the Boy Scout should always be about, hope. The end scene with barn on fire was such a gripping cliffhanger. Not because I though Lex was going to burn alive, clearly, he wasn't. He lived to be the Lex Luthor we know. It was a great cliffhanger because Clark as a child was trying to save his "friend" without revealing his secret. Also, screaming I'm sorry? Yeah I needed more. more

I've been meaning to pick this up to see Wanda interact with Tony outside of an Avengers run. Wanda doesn't actually do that much in terms of the plot, besides explaining the risks of using the Monger Armor. Put that 2-page spread of Wanda traveling inside the Magical Broach was amazing. Totally worth picking this up if you're a Scarlet Witch fan. Alex Sinclair's colors elevated the work in this issue. more

I am so excited to see more readers discover Javier Rodriguez through this interpretation of Martian Manhunter. For Javier Rodriguez is easily one of my personal favorites when it comes to comic book storytelling. It is easy to see why Deniz Camp paired up with Rodriguez for this story. Absolute Martian Manhunter needed to be different. Not just because it takes place in the Absolute Universe. No, it needed to have its own look, to match the ridiculous premise of the story. A man, who works as an FBI agent, begins a path of self-discovery, smeared with an identity crisis. Why? Because there's another consciousness inside him. A mind inside his mind. Another presence, along with abilities yet to be understood. Multiple personalities, or split personalities are not a new concept. But a split body with a conscious mind of an alien that can read people's minds? Well, that's the sort of wrinkles you just don't see. Anywhere. This series could have taken many other looks. Could've been grounded even. With Rodriguez at the wheel, however, this is a complete psychedelic experience fill with thought provoking shapes and colors. Jones is literally experiencing voices in color, and when you take in the art interpretation of those statements, you can see why.

Absolute Superman's soul lies in the fight against tyranny and oppression. Absolute Batman turned himself into a wrecking ball, a larger-than-life figure unwilling to give in to the whims of Gotham. Absolute Wonder Woman is about the heart of gold of the last Amazon. A warrior witch who says please, thank you and has the patience of a saint. Absolute Martian Manhunter is this bright and colorful fantastical mystery. Exploring inward into the mind of this character. Exploration with visuals the likes of Jack Kirby's imaginations. Just absolutely insane. more

Thank you everyone who had a hand on this series. I feel inspired by all 'the people destined to die... and still chose to sing into the void." Powerful stuff.

Jaker, Murder Falcon and everyone else metal in this story has my undying love and appreciation!

Everyone should read this comic book!

How is DWJ going to top this issue!?

RIP Hjelmdar!!!

Another member added to the band, Anne, Jake's wife. I gotta say, if you're not crying while reading Anne's moment, are you even human!? Literally had to hold my tears back! (I was reading this at an airport terminal) I was screaming with Anne too (in my mind, can't be randomly screaming in public)

You already know! More of that good stuff from these maestros! Will most definitely recommend! 100/10 more

RIP Whisperwood!!!

Nice ussue here to slow the paste and give me some breathing room from all this epicness. Just when I thought the band was complete, Hjelmdar the survivor seeks Brooticus to ask if he can join them in this metal fight!! Oh you know, more of that good stuff from DWJ and co., would recommend for sure.

How do you top the most epic moment of the series so far? (Jim's drum solo from last issue) well, you give the reader an unexpected plot twist with Jake. Damn you DWJ!!! Why are you so eager to pull at my heart strings!? Anywho! Just when I thought Murder Falcon couldn't be more of a badass, he recovers not to his normal form but to a "Megaform" with machine guns and wings!!!! Let's not forget Nate and his magical cowbell (idgaf what it's called in the story, it's a cowbell). To quote that famous SNL skit with Will Ferrel and Christopher Walken: "Give me more cowbell" more

Was this f*cking epic or what!?

So OK, yes! It was absolutely shitty how or rather why the band broke up. But here, years later, with the fate of the world on the line, they were ripe to forgive each other and grow past their issues. Alzheimer's disease is one hell of a motivator to make mistakes, that's all Jim did, a mistake. Water under the bridge. Speaking of water under the bridge, Jim went all "Whiplash" on them when Murder Falcon said:"sometime you gotta let the drummer take a solo" I was having chills reading through those pages! Another huge dump of that good stuff by DWJ, will most definitely recommend! more

Alright I'm hooked! This is going to be a binge read now! Johan is my guy, he let Jake know he was there for him back when Jake left the group and no in this moment when shit hits the fan, through and through a real friend. No judgement nor hard feelings towards Jake! Love that kind of friends.

The brief flashbacks of whatever tragedy Jake went through seems like DWJ is gonna pull on my heart strings once again (Damn you DWJ for writing such heartfelt stuff). Murder Falcon definitely sounds like Stallone in my head I'm not even kidding lol. More of the good stuff here, would recommend! more

It's 2024 and I finally got a chance to read this book. I read Do a Powerbomb by DWJ and this is just as good (at least comparing no.1 to no.1).

But yeah, more of that good stuff from DWJ. Is it me, or does anyone else hears Stallone's voice when reading Murder Falcon's dialogue? Lol

Tons of fun! Would recommend!

I loved how Hickman brought back the story to Aiko and Wyn at the very end.

Yes, there's an ever-expanding universe with cosmic beings, gods, the powers that be and the natural order of things but... there's these 2 Avatars that are mortal and indispensable like you and me. Aiko and Wyn shared a story and love for each other that was interrupted by the immeasurable weight of responsibility put on their shoulders, the responsibility of saving the universe. Wyn long for Aiko all that time, at least he got some reassurance from the Powers that be herself, she could've have picked anyone else to be her Avatar, but they would not have been up to the task like Wyn was.

The war with the In-Betweener should be explore in the future preferably by Hickman but if not, I'll take anyone brave enough to fill in that gap for us. Also, making everyone feel pity for Wyn for the rest of his life was an insane choice for revenge by the In-Betweener. Specially such macabre way to go about it.

I will keep this series in my personal collection to give it another reads in the future and possibly even cover it on my YouTube Channel. (once I'm confident I fully understand it better lol) I highly recommend this series for fans of the cosmic side of Marvel. more

I guess I wasn't the only one wondering: what of Asgard? All we know so far, was that The Maker made a deal with Loki for him to rule instead of Odin and maybe stay away from Midgard. Simple, but Occam's Razor suggests, that maybe in fact it was that simple for the two gods to come to an agreement. Oh, but it anything but simple for the rest of the 9 realms. With Odin out of the way and Thor locked up, Loki had free reign to rule as he saw fit. Unlike its 616 counterparts, this Loki had not had no reservation, no space for goodness, pranks nor any slight of goodness in his icy heart. There is no ambition other than ruling king. For that, what's a few deals and compromises here and there? If Loki's heart was to be fulfilled, deal was to be made and kept.

What we have here is an epic, the poem of Ultimate Asgard. In the same vein Norse mythology was passed down from generation to generation, someone recited the story of Asgard to us the readers. Pretty clever and conceptual might I say. Thor and Sir managed to broker a deal with Brokk and Eitri, the dwarfs from Nidavellir, for an invisible cloak so they could travel the realms undetected. Not to break in and fight necessarily, but to spy and witness what became of the realms under Loki's rule.

They visited Asgard, where the citizen's life force was at Loki's mercy. They visited Valhalla, the realm where warriors go to after falling in battle. To everyone's surprise Hella was in charge of this place. When they visited Alfheim, land of the Elves, the birthplace of creativity and art, was now a place of "content creation". A grim place lacking all things fan, creative and life. Surprisingly, when they visited Vanaheim, the realm of the Vanir, this realm and his people had been left alone for the most part. As long as they stay put, quiet and abide by Loki's rule, they were left alone. Sadly, they weren't willing to risk their more privileged arrangement, when in comparison to the other realms.

Thor and Sif, after becoming one, physically and poetically, they had enough of this status quo. Thor broke away in Sif's rest and wreak ultimate judgement on Jotunheim. Sir on her part, visited Loki's throne and freed Idunn and her golden apples from the chains that kept her next to the throne in Loki's court. These, maybe reckless actions, ignited a resistance to unite and gather with Sif and Thor in Niffleheim. In response to these aggressions, Loki assembled his forces, tighten his grip on the realms by amping the oppression on all the realms. The final action by Thor, which is basically a page taken from "Thor Disassembled", he makes a deal with Surtur, bringer of Ragnarök, to burn it all down. The same tactic if you think about it. Asgard and the people from the different realms are beyond saving. So, we'll set it all ablaze, with the hopes that it can be raised anew. If this isn't an epic, I don't know what it is.

Props to Juan Frigeri the artist and Federico Blee. They made this book looked incredibly compelling. more

Well, you already know, just more of that good stuff by Deniz Camp, Juan Frigeri, Federico Blee and Travis Lanham.

I was very happy to see this issue was narrated by Jim Hammond aka the Human Torch. It makes sense why Camp waited so to let us in the mind of the synthezoid. This specific mission could not have been told by anyone else from the roster.

I remember seeing the footage of the Punisher in the first issue and thinking g "Oh! The Punisher ran wild in the 70s in this world." And not give it any more thought. Then finally here, in the cover by Dike Ruan & Neeraj Menon we see the Ultimates going against a gang sporting the Punisher's and I thought "Oh! Frank Castle's endeavors inspire people 50 some years later, that's sort of cool, right?"

Boy was a wrong. Someone mentioned in this issue that symbols don't die. That's very true. However, symbols can also be corrupted, distorted, changed or stolen. Completely bastardize their meaning given the right (or wrong) people and circumstances. Not to spoil anything, but the metaphors here is practically a 1-for-1 representation of what happened with the Punisher's symbol in real life.

Back to Human Torch. He's assessment of the team was spot on and very revealing in the case of Hank Pynk the Ant-Man. It seems Pym can't get over the fact that his counterpart from the 616 was a wife beater. That must be lingering in the back of his head still. Which that would be brought up more instead of just making him the weakest link in the group. Confident wise of course, he's still very capable.

There are 2 major reveals here. Well 3 if you count the fact that Tony is on his way back to recover. But it's been mentioned in passing that Tony gave out those lockboxes to many, who passed on the opportunity to or just refused it all together. Here's an example of one of them folks that got a lockbox and things didn't turn out as planned.

The other and final reveal should've been quite obvious since it was right there on my face. That one for sure will be a problem... more

Theres something to be said about the timing of this issue. You know? With issue no.9 being the Luke Cage issue and its release in Black History Month, I wonder if they missed the mark with this schedule. Not sure if it was the right choice to release this particular issue in this particular month. I digress.

Minor Spoilers

It's Camp's turn to criticize another American institution. This time around, it's the correctional system along with the prison for profit scam that is quite rampant in the good old US of A. If I remember correctly, Luke Cage's original lore spawns from being framed for a murder and also being convicted for said crime. So, to start 6160’s Luke Cage story sort of the same way was okay with me.

As expected, The Maker employed the use of another familiar organization to carry on his will. The previous entity we saw was H.A.N.D., and now it's M.I.D.A.S. I find it interesting that Camp can show us how all these organizations can be used for oppression with just a few tweaks. As if we couldn't image how easily power corrupts. In this case, those who borrowed power from The Maker.

Luke Cage is such an inspiring hero, I really hope he does join the Ultimates at some point. But I do appreciate he's an actual liberator of people in this universe, rather than a Hero for Hire. Love that for him.

Allen & Blee did an amazing job with the art. I have nothing to nick pick. more

Leave to Camp to write political commentary through the series but also reach into the cosmology of this new universe!

I know it felt like a lot was thrown into this issue but the gist of it is simple. Then Maker changes the history of this world, as a result the future also changes. The Guardians of the Galaxy managed to escaped erasure by (Insert Comic Book explanation here __________) bringing the smartest minds in the universe. They took everything they could from their 61st century and established outside of time. Literally a traveling century of people. Kinda of cool, no?

That's when they ran into Khan the Conqueror and his army of genetically engineered descendants. I was a little excited to see them not going to lie. Khan and his forces proved to be more than capable once again. Anyways, the guardians did not prevail, and they got scattered across time. The rest you can easily just read.

I'm pleasantly surprised to see some cosmology lore explored in this universe. We got this world's version of the Phoenix, that mind thing from the Kree, Galactus and even the infinity Gauntlet. Way to branch out in one single swing.

The art is still definitely a selling point for this book. more

Not a letdown, just a slowing of the pace!

Kind of glad to see America take the spotlight like this. I do hope she and everyone continue to have their little moments through this series. Which is kind of hard to do in a team book. But so far everyone is getting they screen time if you will.

Was there some foreshadowing there with father Murdock???? About loving the Ultimates???? I mean a priest by night & Daredevil by night sounds good to me.

Feels like the team is splitting instead of rallying together to be honest. more

9 months of work, efforts, recruitment, building a team, etc., to just get spanked by the pacifist villain!? Major L for the Ultimates for sure. I can't imagine how discouraging this is for the heroes. Let alone, is Tony dead? like really dead?

If we are being honest, this was never going to be a fair fight. The Maker's Council have the advantage to know the failures and successes of another world. Hulk was more than prepared, as seen here. He left the Ultimates battered and embarrassed. They need some milk lol but no for real, they need more people, more help, more heroes. I wasn't expecting them to easily defeat the Hulk, but this? Not quite!

Frigeri and Blee continue to outdo themselves in each issue. The art is just masterful, sharp, detailed, actioned pack and emotionally charged. The colors by Blee give this world a sort of silky-smooth tone, very distinctive from other runs, specially runs in Marvel. What are we going to see in that 1 year special? more

Leave it to Deniz Camp and Phil Noto to write a tragedy in the middle of the most exciting universe. Since I saw The Maker go out of his way to steal a Mister Fantastic Suit and take it with him to this new universe, I knew it was going to be bad news for this Reed Richard (Read Ultimate Invasion for more). When The Maker revealed that he had a prisoner and he had him wear the suit and the Doom mask, I could just instantly feel bad for him. Who knew the atrocities and tortures 6160 Reed Richards could have been subjected to? Ever since, I've read Doom's words with a heaviness and a sadness even more dark compared to everyone else just because I felt out of all the people's lives that were affected or impacted by The Maker, Doom was probably the worst.

Well, here it is. My suspicions are put to rest. The Maker not only made the Fantastic Four failed their mission, but with the exception of Jhonny Storm who died instantly, The Maker destroyed their lives one by one in a dragged out embarrassing and painful sequence of events until they all passed away. Leaving Doom to survive it all just to live with the haunting thoughts of failure. The Maker is just that vile. What will he do once he is able to leave the Dome?

Phil Noto was definitely the right person to bring this story to life because the subtleness of his pencils and the color palette give this issue a feel of a trip down memory lane to a time of hope that is no longer. more