To be clear, this was not the next book in question, although I’ve now started that book, and it really will be the next book reviewed. It’s just, I still hadn’t found a replacement for my vanished Dresden Files #3, and took the excuse to make a little bit more delay by reading a little bit more Marvel modernity. (And, as I expect to like the next Dresden Files, you can see that I’ve still failed to find it or its replacement copy. Alas, for more reasons than one.)

Anyway, the continuation of the Ultimates, Homeland Security, was every bit as good as the original; what it lacked in characterization (which was not much at all), it more than made up in plot. In brief, the Ultimates (substantially expanded in scope from volume 1) must defend the world from shape-shifting Nazi aliens bent on the destruction of free will. Which I know sounds awesome enough all by itself, but it includes battles between massive military armadas, superb plot twists, semi-cannibalism, and discreet incestuous undertones. Plus, like I said, fantastic characterizations. Quicksilver, only present in a couple of scenes, is worth the price of admission all by himself on that front, and everyone else is well worthwhile. (Except Henry Pym; deeply flawed, I can handle, but he was pretty boring in this one. Still, that is a minor complaint, and about my only one. This is, as the first volume was, a flat-out excellent story.)