Ultimate Avengers v3 #6

I’ve enjoyed this series. I said in a recent Shazam! review that I think writers taking on existing characters need to think about what makes them special, what their particular requirements and opportunities are. I know Mark has created most of these, but clearly the Ultimate characters are variations on established stars. In the case of the Avengers, an immensely powerful team, you need a major threat, and there is also a regular requirement in this line to introduce Ultimate versions of the old characters.

Okay, the threat here is vampires: led by Stick – the ninja-type who trained Daredevil – who is now a vampire in an old Iron Man suit, they have converted a Hulk (yes, there are a few of them), a new Daredevil and even Captain America into vampires, and with something like 100,000 other vampires, they have attacked the Avengers’ base – and immediately converted a Giant Man too, and killed the Russian equivalent of Thor, and by this final issue it’s really only Nick Fury and Blade who are still standing.

I love superhero stories where the odds are piled up so immensely against the heroes. Grant Morrison was brilliant at it in the JLA, X-Men and Final Crisis, but he didn’t always have an ending to match the build-up: I wondered if Mark would give us a weak climax, but actually he comes up with a superb and convincing finish, which also shows off Cap at his very best – particularly pleasing after my disappointment with his own first issue recently.

I’ve always liked Steve Dillon, when he puts the effort in, but I’m not sure he was the ideal choice for this. His work is clean and open, even bright, almost like an animation style, and a story of vampires with plenty of night scenes might have been better served by someone who gives us more darkness, atmosphere, moodiness. Lanning’s clean inking doesn’t help with this. Nonetheless, I feel bad saying this, because there is a solidity, force and impact to this artwork, and a clarity to the layouts and action, plus some strong faces, and these are all good qualities we can’t rely on getting in mainstream comics – even with my doubts about the stylistic fit, I like the art on this far better than on the great majority of Marvel or DC comics.

Finally, if what you want from superhero comics is a really strong action story with twists and surprises and intelligence, and you like to see one or two great characters at their very best (particularly Cap) – and you want a real shock final panel that will undoubtedly lead to more big things – this is a really good series to pick up when the trade comes out.