The latest Ultimate crossover event was pretty exciting to read, but will I think be hard to review. Every story affected the others, but every story distinctly belonged to its own group and had its own thematic resonance, none of which the other stories were involved in. Which is to say, it was truly a crossover instead of just a big event affecting everyone. I’m not sure the Ultimate universe has done that before, not really.

Also, man, I feel like there are a lot of spoilers down there. I’m trying not to, but it’s basically impossible to say anything useful without a few, especially for events in recent books. Also, this turned more into my thoughts on the state of the universe in general than on the story told in particular, which I guess was inevitable considering the subject matter? Either way, if you’re leery of spoilers, catch up to issue 18 of each line first (or this book, obvs), is the best I can recommend.

I’ll take them in order, mostly because that is the order of scope reduction, and the title is nothing if not sweeping and grandiose. Divided We Fall, United We Stand is both an accurate description of the situation in the United States and a spoiler for how things will turn out (although, in keeping with the darkness that has fallen over the Ultimate universe since Magneto’s Ultimatum, I have not expected things to turn out as happy as all that in quite some time). And the Ultimates’ section of the story, which is mostly focused on the until-recently absent Captain America, is about the big battles in the wake of the country’s collapse. Because, see, the Sentinels have taken over the Southwest on a mutant extermination spree, and several other states have splintered off as they realized that the government was ineffective and also had been nuked. In addition to being big and sweeping, it is also (like Captain America, really) fairly unsubtle, so I will leave him to his explosions and big shocking events and move on to the mutants.

So, Kitty Pryde, right? It’s weird, because she and maybe Rogue are big important characters to me in the Ultimate universe, and yet (as of December, 1978) I still have yet to meet them in mainstream continuity. Therefore, uniquely in this experiment, their new incarnations will impact how I see the originals instead of the other way around. And I’ve got to say, I am a really big fan of Kitty Pryde right now. I can’t say for certain, but I expect this to be an unpopular decision from the other direction. I think it’s mainly that, for all that mutants have been at the core of everything that’s happened in the last few years (well, except the oddness with Reed Richards), almost nobody in the mutant storyline has been the least bit sympathetic. Karen Grant is an enigma, Quicksilver is a puppet, Wolverine Mark 2 hasn’t done anything meaningful yet, and Storm has not evidenced the least bit of agency. So a natural born leader who wants to go out and make a difference, and better still, seems capable of it? Yeah, that’s what this plot has needed for a good long while. The only downside is that her story should have been spread out over a couple more issues instead of being shoehorned into the deadline set by the main plotline over in the Ultimates.

Side note that fits here as well as anywhere: one of the absolutely strangest things about the Ultimate universe is how insignificant the Fantastic Four are. Even back when they were an existing concern, they were bit players outside of the Galactus story, and now that they’ve disbanded, it’s like people don’t even know who they are. When I compare that to mainstream Marvel, and especially the year plus break-up of the team that occurred across 1978 and how each individual was still really popular in the public eye regardless? It’s almost confusing, and certainly indicates how divergent the Ultimate story has become.

And, lastly, Spider-Man. I’m glad to see that Aunt May is still one of the best characters in Ultimate Marveldom, I’m glad to see Mary Jane at all, I want to see more of Jessica Drew now that they seem on the verge of making her interesting again in a way she hasn’t been since she stopped interacting with Peter. None of that really has to do with Miles Morales, of course, but that’s because they were all at the fringes of his story, which I don’t want to get into all that much. I guess the short version of it is this: just like the X-Men, a little more time should have been spent here, because this is the first new take on the death of Ben Parker and the power/responsibility shtick in fifty years, and Bendis did a pretty good job; but I think if he’d had a little more time to spread his wings and a little less necessity to shoehorn that into this crossover, he would have done an amazing job instead.

Okay. That was a lot of words.

I’m about to read a large crossover event in the current greatly-reduced-in-size Ultimate Universe, and it turns out that 3/4 of the current Spider-Man book (cleverly titled “Volume 3“) is also in the crossover book. Why they released a crossover book for the X-Men and Ultimates but then still let Spider-Man be published separately was a mystery to me, and now that I’ve read the opening section that isn’t in said crossover book, the solution to that mystery seems to be “publishing mistake”.

Because, seriously, the two issues I am reviewing are solely about wrapping up the Prowler and Scorpion plotlines from Volume 2. Not only did they belong there thematically, but they also made for one hell of a cliffhanger! It’s hard to review this any better, because it’s so short that I can only get into spoiler territory, so let me just say this: you know how I was intrigued by the “dark uncle” mirror that Miles is facing? I cannot really imagine a more impactful moral resolution to that mirror than the one I was presented with, and I am once again really looking forward to what comes next.

Oh, also, the thing where every time I read one of these books, I’m caught up in missing Peter Parker too much to appreciate Miles’ story for what it is? I guess that has ended! Either it was the year off or Spider-Men bringing the two characters face to face or me reading three different Peter Parker books in 1978 continuity, but whatever it is, I’m settled. So that’s nice!

Remember back when Mysterio finally showed up in the Ultimate universe, and Spider-Man (still Peter Parker at the time) did… well, something to defeat him? As you can see, I don’t precisely remember either. Whatever it actually was, Ultimate Mysterio ended up in regular Marvel continuity, just long enough to toss regular, 30-something Peter Parker into the Ultimate universe, where he confronts all kinds of unexpected new realities, such as his own death and its attendant fame, not to mention newcomer Miles Morales.

Then other things happen, but really the premise is enough. I think what I got out of this book, and not only because quite a few of the characters in the book got it too, was catharsis. I have, quite a number of times, complained about what was done in this series a few years ago. Maybe what I’ve really needed to swallow those complaints is a sense of closure. Maybe I’m just finally ready to move on and accept the world as it is. Whatever the case, this was a good bookend on Ultimate Peter Parker’s life, and I’m glad the story got told.

Also, though: it’s time to stop squandering Mary Jane. She should ought to be part of the story again, somehow, if only so that the last time I ever see her (and this is true at least twice over!) isn’t steeped in insurmountable misery, forever. Girl deserves better.

It’s time to admit that I’m a little bit lost on the whole Ultimate universe thing. First, there’s Spider-Man, which is consistently good, and I’ve had nearly a year to not think about it, so I’ll probably get over my ongoing objections. So that’s not so bad. Then there’s the Ultimates, which has amped everything up to 12 or 13, in keeping with the story they’re telling, don’t get me wrong, but since I still don’t think I liked that story, it is making me unfairly feel like the amped-upness of it contains the soullessness of a Michael Bay action piece.

Meanwhile, X-Men has just left me confused. The funny thing is, I didn’t entirely know I was confused during the first book until reflecting back on this one. They’ve done a good job of foreshadowing and playing it coy, and the confusion is not on the part of the writers. (Except for so far as, now that I know I’ve been confused, I’m still confused. But I’m assuming this is an artifact of another recycled regular-Marvel to Ultimate-Marvel storyline; if so, this is not a real complaint.[1]) But between the double- and triple-covert actions taking place, the four completely unrelated storylines that are only finally coming together a little bit, the other shoe of the whole “Mutants were created by the U.S. government while still trying to make that elusive super-soldier formula work right” reveal having taken so damned long to drop, and, let’s be honest, the large span of time since I last read these books[2], yeah. I’m at sea here.

On the bright side, the big “reveal” at the climax of volume 2 leads me to believe we’re in the home stretch toward resolving things and getting on to whatever comes next. Or possibly nothing will come next? My upcoming reading list, at least as portrayed by Amazon, is pretty sparse right now.

[1] Okay, it’s sort of a real complaint. If your big reveal is only a reveal to people who have read 50 years of comics (as opposed to my paltry 16), then yes, you will be leaving your new readers confused as to how that reveal is so momentous. I mean, it answered some of my confusion, it did, but it was also a scene between two characters I do not recognize, and that’s… problematic.
[2] Which are supposed to be monthly, remember. Well, the individual issues, but still, they’re supposed to happen in much closer proximity to each other than I give them even in the best of times.
[3] If I remembered how to diagram sentences, I would diagram a couple of these as punishment to myself for putting you the reader through trying to parse them sensibly, and perhaps I would learn to not do it as often. Pity I can’t remember how to diagram sentences.

I have previously pointed out that the current Ultimates run has been turning the dial to 11, and I think that has been true of the Ultimate series[1] in general since pretty much Magneto’s Ultimatum and on forward. Even the most laid-back of the current storylines, surrounding Spider-Man, has had a major character death in the not-too-distant past. Meanwhile, this particular episode has reached a conclusion of sorts, although not without multiple devastating nuclear strikes and a more-divergent-than-usual final outcome. And I’ll admit, however much I may have complained that the Ultimate line is working a little too hard to achieve the appearance of a full-throttle, all stories have major consequences! approach to things, it is nice to not be familiar with what’s coming next like I used to be during the first decade of that run.

As far as the current conclusion, I’m hopeful that something useful will finally be made of the main villain, whose identity I have been trying to keep quiet over the last few reviews; as things stand currently, all I have is a question mark about whether I’m expected to believe his beef with humanity (and the Ultimates in particular) is as straight-forward as it seems[2] and a smaller question mark as to what precisely occurred in his final scene of the book. Also, Tony Stark? Still cool.

[1] There is a definite downside, Marvel of ten years ago, in having one letter to distinguish between your current world-building / imprint and a team of heroes that reside within that world. I’m a little amazed I haven’t complained about this before.
[2] Because yes, I will be extremely disappointed if the most powerful Ultimate Comics villain since Galactus is only a villain because he was feeling butt-hurt and didn’t get over himself. That right there is a massive character shift with no provided explanation. (Ironically, if this were regular Marvel, I would completely believe it. That guy has always been a dick.)

I hate finishing the Miles Morales Spider-Man books, because I’m stuck the same place I’ve been for more than a year now, resenting the lack of Peter Parker. Why couldn’t he just have been a new character? And I want to say that the right answer is to just acknowledge it once and for all, take it as something that’s going to color all of my reviews, and consider the matter closed until and unless I change my mood on the topic. But then they write a scene where Aunt May and Gwen Stacy are trying to get on with their lives in Paris and see a newspaper announcing that there’s a new Spider-Man, and how am I supposed to ignore my plausibly unfair reactions when the writer of the story is right there telling me I’m not the only one?

All the same, it is getting old at this point, so I suppose I’ll follow my own initial advice and disclaim right here: I resent these books, so far, for not having Peter Parker in them. I also resent the comics industry in general for training me to believe that this is only a temporary situation, even though the Ultimate Comics line has been, if not perfect, at least very good about leaving dead characters dead. So I keep thinking, “sure, but this time is different”, and that thread of hope also makes it hard for me to commit fully to the stories about Miles the way that I should. The upshot of all this is that it’s an ongoing issue, and I know about it, and I’ll try not to mention it anymore. Just so long as you try to be sure you stay aware of it, because otherwise my potential future hemming and hawing may seem odd.

So, the kid Miles Morales who’s the new Spider-Man? He actually does have a pretty interesting life of his own, what with a criminal uncle who wants to exploit him, and his parents who have mixed feelings on the mutant-in-general and Spider-Man-in-specific phenomena, and his having been provisionally accepted by the official super-hero community, and especially by his being thirteen, which is just ridiculously young to be involved with all of these adults criminals and adult problems.

Of course, the aspect I am the most intrigued by is the mirroring effect, where Miles’ uncle is not only not the driving agent of positivity in his life, but may well turn out to be the agent of destruction instead. Which of course makes me pretty excited for the next book in the series, where that question is likely to come to a head.

It is frustrating to realize that the first volume of the Ultimate X-Men relaunch[1] is set entirely before Ultimate Hawkeye. (It is more frustrating to remember that this is a trend, with Ultimate X having been set before (and released well after) a certain recent Spider-Man storyline as well.) But except for timeline and mild spoiler woes[2], I am in the same position I was last time, grateful for a story that cuts the tension and doesn’t try to be everything. Which, when you consider that the driving force behind the current X-Men is the imprisonment or death of all mutantkind, is saying kind of a lot.

Anyway: in addition to giving me more time with Kitty Pryde, Rogue, and Iceman (and for now at least, Johnny Storm), there were hints that a good number of other folks are still kicking around, waiting to be re-introduced. And there were hints that this is a long haul story that will continue to focus on human interactions instead of that spate of “Look, this is big! And important! And explodey!” that I was just complaining about from the Ultimates yesterday. And since I know I can trust Bendis to keep doing right by Spidey, that means I should expect to like two-thirds of the current Ultimate storylines. I accept!

(Plus, despite my annoyance, the Ultimates are following a character I really want to see the next few steps from, so at least they have my interest, if not yet my entertainedness.)

[1] I cannot bring myself to say reboot because this is in no way a jettisoning of any continuity.
[2] And honestly, they may have each been written after the other events in the first place. I have no way (short of exhaustive and uninteresting research) to tell!

I think it is clear by now that I’m not going to be as timely with my updates as I used to be. It’s been maybe two weeks since I read the first volume of the new Ultimates series? And yet here I am, only now finally remembering that I ought to have reviewed it. (And I think I didn’t see a movie since then? I know I haven’t finished a book, but the lack of certainty is a very sad thing. Man, I miss the normalcy of just reviewing everything right away.) (But in the subsequent week or two since I wrote the rest of this paragraph, I have seen a movie and finished at least (and hopefully at most) two books. So you can see that this is really not going according to my master plan.)

But, so anyway, those Ultimates guys. They are having bad times, which I suppose is pretty much always the way, since they are Nick Fury’s protectors of Earth, like, the whole planet, rather than just fighting random supercriminals like Spider-Man does. In addition to the really crappy turn of events surrounding Hawkeye’s run-in with the latest batch of mutants and Captain America’s recent retirement into shame and seclusion, now it’s time to face a society in an impenetrable fortress who has come from nowhere with the agenda of smacking Earth’s mightiest superheros around like piñatas. To give you an idea of just how bad things are, the first thing that happens is an overwhelming assault on Asgard. You know, the one where all the gods that Thor pals around with come from.

If you’re not entirely clear on when everyone decided to accept that Thor’s divinity is real and not just a matter of cool tech and personal insanity, well, you’re not alone. But why should that stand in the way of amping everything up to 9,000? I, uh, I maybe miss the way the Ultimate universe was being written in 2004, it turns out. Except for Bendis, it looks like any hint of subtlety or human stories is well out the window under the Ultimate Comics imprint. But then again, maybe the first X-Men volume will surprise me?