All New Ultimates #7 review by Wolverine12

[Wolverine12]

I don't have anything clever to say

spoilers:

Ultimates are in the sewer looking for Crossbones, they find Vermin instead After a brief battle Vermin stumbles off defeated All the Ultimates comment on how there is poop in a sewer Jump to a police station where "Scourge" is being interrogated. Not sure if is artists depicture or on puprose but Scourge may have facial disfigurement Turns out the cops just think Scourge is a racist crazy man after he talks about how all the Puerto Ricans gang up. He does sound like a racist. back to the sewers the Ultimates run into the cop that got zapped way back in issue one (Det. Schreck). He is completely unrecognizable and has no distinguishing features. Miles immediately recognizes him. Sneak attack by the bald dude from the cover with Vermin as back up Bald dude has tech built into him so Kitty does her thing. Bald guy accidently zaps Vermin so Vermin rips his hand off Black Widow stabs Vermin in the skull, or maybe just zaps him with the Bald dudes weapon, looks like murder Zombie cop now has pychic-ish powers, he picks up the severed hand and can see that Bald dude and Vermin were failed Super Soldier experiments (isn't everyone) from Shield and Roxxon Bald dude confirms story in his dying breath

end of spoilers

I am conflicted with this issue. I didn't dislike it but I didn't love it either and some of it left me feeling confused. I liked the art more than whoever was drawing the book before, that I know for sure. Even with that though the art isn't great, Miles looks like he grew 2 feet taller and is super bulky and Jessica is mostly a blob of black that vaguely has the shape of a female. Kitty looks much better and Cloak and Dagger both look good as well so there's that.

I think the biggest part that left me scratching my head was the Scourge interrogation. Before this issue he seemed to kill equally regardless of race, religion, sex etc but now it sounds like he is just a psychotic racist. That type of person makes for a great bad guy, but it seemed like an odd twist to me, maybe it's because I'm used to only getting my social commentary in X-Men books.

The stuff after the interrogation was interesting and I do want to know more about it but it was all so abrupt. Plus Miles recognizing a person who has no remaining facial feature, different colored skin than when last seen and chunks of flesh falling off of them made me chuckle.

I guess overall I am interested in reading more of this so the story gets a pass but getting there was a bit of chore. The dialogue is bland and fairly cliched which didn't help move the story along, couple that with a the new set of super baddies that just get dropped in our lap and it makes the whole thing feel clunky.

I am curious to see what Fiffe does with the last 5 issues because he promised a lot and so far we're still on the Serpent Skulls. Today seems like a first step to a new path for the Ultimates to follow but Fiffe's run is over half way done and we still don't have much progress on if the Skulls will be defeated or whatever.

If you have been loving this story so far you will probably still love this issue, if you hate this story you will definitely hate this issue, if you're like me and you're still a little bit interested but its not really a must have you should probably read it if you plan to finish the run.

Story: C-
Writing: D
Art: C-
Overall: C-

[wyokid]

I've been ready for this to be over since issue #1. Still am. Such a disappointment.

[Cryptid]

This wasn't a great issue, but this series continues to be very likable even when it skirts mediocrity. The story is relatively standard stuff, with heroes in the sewers stumbling into more combat and backstory than they bargained for, but there are some nice touches along the way. The portrayal of Scourge as a raving O'Reilly-style reactionary was a fresh take on that type of character, the manga flavor of the artwork worked for me, and the zombified detective was a morbidly clever way of tying the two main subplots together at the end. It was also nice that the villains turn out to have just about the same history as the heroes, which in retrospect makes their defeat ring a little hollow. It's a standard plot with just enough idiosyncrasy.

On the other hand, the action and setting seem a bit basic, all the more so because Milonogiannis takes such a sparse and gestural approach to the art. He does some nice things with gesture, so that his figures remain expressive even when he boils them down to simple outlines, but compared to his wonderful pages over on Prophet there's not much here to hold onto. Meanwhile, there are a few storytelling faults here. The moment when the heroes discover a pile of bodies gets too little visual emphasis for its importance to the story, a failed attack by Dagger doesn't really make visual sense with a dialogue fix, and some of the characters seem to evaporate until they're needed.

Given that Crossbones inspired this whole journey through the muck and gloom, it might have been nice to give him a scene or at least a cameo, lurking unseen around a corner. It just seems like the issue needed something more to thicken the soup.

[Apothecary]

The art is a definite improvement. Kitty is suddenly looking a lot like Ellen Page. The art is low in detail but it works for the style. Miles didn't seem any larger than usual. All throughout he looks about the same size as the girls just like in previous issues and covers.

[Drz]

Add a poll!

[Kurolegacy]

Gotta say I'm still not really feeling this plot revolving around the Serpent Skulls but it was kinda nice to see them facing something more akin to what they'd normally be. Gotta say its kinda funny that nothing is putting that poor officer out of his misery considering how good the Ultimate Universe has become at killing things

[Cloudman]

I must be the only person who loves this plot, it's a good bit of fun and Fiffe's done a great job of creating new villains.

The problem as I see it is that this isn't really an Ultimates book, and that rubs people up the wrong way. If this was running under a different name, I think people would be more forgiving to it.

[Wolverine12]

I must be the only person who loves this plot, it's a good bit of fun and Fiffe's done a great job of creating new villains.

The problem as I see it is that this isn't really an Ultimates book, and that rubs people up the wrong way. If this was running under a different name, I think people would be more forgiving to it.

That is definitely something that bothers me. This isn't an Ultimates book at all.

[Park Slope Pixie]

That is definitely something that bothers me. This isn't an Ultimates book at all.

It's far too good to be an Ultimates book.

[wyokid]

That is definitely something that bothers me. This isn't an Ultimates book at all.

I realized this issue that this is not an Ultimates book, it's an X-Men book with people who aren't mutants.

[Mutant God]

I must be the only person who loves this plot, it's a good bit of fun and Fiffe's done a great job of creating new villains.

The problem as I see it is that this isn't really an Ultimates book, and that rubs people up the wrong way. If this was running under a different name, I think people would be more forgiving to it.

I agree they should have stuck with Power Pack

[Magii]

The book is bad. The heroes are ridiculously incompetent for their level. I would say that they are all B+ class(even Bombshell, Cloak and Dagger) and they're barely using their powers.
But it's an ultimate book, It wouldn't make sense to call it anything else. These heroes came together and called themselves the ultimates, being inspired by the group the came before. Regardless of how similar to them they actually were. Power pack? Would anyone on the team agree with that name?

It's far too good to be an Ultimates book.

What do you see in it? cause I can't see it.

[Mutant God]

The book is bad. The heroes are ridiculously incompetent for their level. I would say that they are all B+ class(even Bombshell, Cloak and Dagger) and they're barely using their powers.
But it's an ultimate book, It wouldn't make sense to call it anything else. These heroes came together and called themselves the ultimates, being inspired by the group the came before. Regardless of how similar to them they actually were. Power Pack? Would anyone on the team agree with that name?

They called themselves Power Pack before they got the Ultimates book.

[Wolverine12]

I realized this issue that this is not an Ultimates book, it's an X-Men book with people who aren't mutants.

Kitty Pryde is a mutant. I still say all supers minus Thor are mutants based on the UU's definition of what a mutant is.

[wyokid]

Kitty Pryde is a mutant. I still say all supers minus Thor are mutants based on the UU's definition of what a mutant is.

I like how that's the part you focused on lol