The Ultimates 2 - Volume 2

(I suppose I should warn you that while I'm talking about the fourth of
the Ultimates trade collections here, I may be "spoiling" some things
from the first three if you haven't read them. I mean its not like I'm
telling you that Rosebud is a sled or anything, but still, I thought I
should warn you!)

Its about freakin' time this book came out! I've been waiting what seems
like forever to read the ending of the story arc!

Ultimates is the team name for an alternate Marvel earth, but while the
first few titles from the Ultimate Line, Ultimate Spiderman, and
Ultimate X-men seemed to be aimed at a younger reader, the Ultimates,
and the Ultimate Fantastic Four seem to be aimed at an older reader.
Weird...

Okay, actually, the Ultimate FF could be read by a mixed audience, not
so for the Ultimates!. Way back in Ultimates 1, when the Hulk ran amuck
and was trashing the city looking for the Betsy Ross of that world, it
became clear as he smashed building etc, and screamed about what he
planned to do to Betty, that we weren't dealing with a kid's comic
book!

I'll tell you the truth, I can't recall much about the first volume of
Ultimates 2 anymore.

In the Ultimate world, this worlds version of the Avengers is a team put
together by Nick Fury and SHIELD. Fury has the say so with this team,
and has said no to the spousaly abusive Hank Pym, carried out the death
penalty on the Hulk (by placing the murderer of 100's on a ship with an
atomic bomb) and put Thor away for his delusions of being an actual
deity. Wasp is dating Steve Rogers, who in his off time mostly mopes
around longing for the good old days. Natasha, the Black widow is a
former Russian agent who now is dating the drunken, cancer ridden, Tony
stark. Hawkeye is an non-costumed SHIELD operative whose specialty is
weapons and can make weapons out of anything. Both Tony Starks armor
designs, and Hank Pym's giant formula have been used to create squads of
powered soldiers.

As this trade opens(after some catching up with what's going on in their
lives now), the various members of the Ultimates are being attacked
seperately. Its just the first step in a much bigger attack. I wish I
could tell you more but I'm afraid I'd ruin the book for you. I will say
though, while its fun to finally have 3-dimensional super-heroes, it is
a bit disconcerting to find out some of the dark secrets of the
characters. And it is possible that maybe Mr. Millar has gone a bit too
far here. I'm sure there are folks that are going to resent these less
than perfect heroes. Some of them you might even find hard to call
heroes.

This trade comprises issues 7 - 13 of The Ultimates 2. The story is by
Mark Millar, and the art is by Bryan Hitch. Millar is a very good
writer, and Hitch is a very good artist. I've often wondered about
giving books a rating from 1 to 10 like my friend James Harris at the
Comic Book Savant does, and if I did, I think I'd give it a 6.75 (a 6.5
for story,and a 7.0 for art), which is a pretty darn high rating. My
fear though is that others might look at it and think it low... I like
to start a 5 which I would consider anything good, and work up or down
from there, so now at least you can see where I'm coming from. So maybe
we'll call it "Pretty Darn Good" and leave it at that?

Ultimates 2, Volume 2 retails for $19.99, but we al know places that can
save us as much as 30+ percent, so don't pay full price. In fact, if you
can, borrow it from a friend or even the library. That is afterall, what
libraries are for!

check out my latest podcast at:
http://komicskast.libsyn.com
my comics at: http://dutchydigest.tripod.com/
And my blog at: http://rosey462.blogspot.com

Crooked Little Vein by Warren Ellis

This is, as far as I know, the first prose novel from Warren Ellis.
Ellis has, to date written many comic books, many GOOD comic books.

Crooked Little Vein is a short novel (its 280 pages, but the text is
oversized, so it reads quickly) about a private investigator named Mike
McGill. McGill is your basic hardboiled detective, slovenly and sleeping
in his office, hoping for a case so that he can pay the bills. In walks
the Secretary of State, who gives McGill the task of finding an
alternate version of the constitution, written by the same forefathers
who penned the first one, one that would ensure political victory for
the owner. Its gone missing since Richard Nixon gave it away as hush
payment. Since that time its gone through several hands. McGill's job is
to track it down.

We also find out very quickly that McGill has a talent, or maybe an
attraction for deviant (or should we just call them alternate sexual
lifestyles?), by which I mean not that he is into those scenes but
somehow he always seems to come in contact, during his investigations,
with them. And that leads to his assistant, Trix, a young woman writing
a thesis on alternate sexual lifestyles. She has some unusual habits of
her own, and is fascinated by the whole underground of sexual
alternatives.

The book follows McGill and Trix across country in an effort to find the
much sought after tome.

I can't say I don't find the book fascinating, but at the same time I
can't help but hope that much of the detail of the alternatives, are
just figments of the warped mind of Mr. Ellis, but somehow I'm thinking
its not...

I've been told that many folks are comparing Mr. Ellis' writing to Kurt
Vonnegut, and I guess I can see that in the cynicism of the tale. But
me? If I had to do that type of comparrison, I'd have to go with a cross
between Joe R. Lansdale and Neal Stephenson, with a little Larry Flint
(?) thrown into the mix.

Not for the faint of heart, but otherwise a very fun, fast paced read.

check out my latest podcast at:
http://komicskast.libsyn.com
my comics at: http://dutchydigest.tripod.com/
And my blog at: http://rosey462.blogspot.com

Crooked Little Vein by Warren Ellis

This is, as far as I know, the first prose novel from Warren Ellis.
Ellis has, to date written many comic books, many GOOD comic books.

Crooked Little Vein is a short novel (its 280 pages, but the text is
oversized, so it reads quickly) about a private investigator named Mike
McGill. McGill is your basic hardboiled detective, slovenly and sleeping
in his office, hoping for a case so that he can pay the bills. In walks
the Secretary of State, who gives McGill the task of finding an
alternate version of the constitution, written by the same forefathers
who penned the first one, one that would ensure political victory for
the owner. Its gone missing since Richard Nixon gave it away as hush
payment. Since that time its gone through several hands. McGill's job is
to track it down.

We also find out very quickly that McGill has a talent, or maybe an
attraction for deviant (or should we just call them alternate sexual
lifestyles?), by which I mean not that he is into those scenes but
somehow he always seems to come in contact, during his investigations,
with them. And that leads to his assistant, Trix, a young woman writing
a thesis on alternate sexual lifestyles. She has some unusual habits of
her own, and is fascinated by the whole underground of sexual
alternatives.

The book follows McGill and Trix across country in an effort to find the
much sought after tome.

I can't say I don't find the book fascinating, but at the same time I
can't help but hope that much of the detail of the alternatives, are
just figments of the warped mind of Mr. Ellis, but somehow I'm thinking
its not...

I've been told that many folks are comparing Mr. Ellis' writing to Kurt
Vonnegut, and I guess I can see that in the cynicism of the tale. But
me? If I had to do that type of comparrison, I'd have to go with a cross
between Joe R. Lansdale and Neal Stephenson, with a little Larry Flint
(?) thrown into the mix.

Not for the faint of heart, but otherwise a very fun, fast paced read.

check out my latest podcast at:
http://komicskast.libsyn.com
my comics at: http://dutchydigest.tripod.com/
And my blog at: http://rosey462.blogspot.com