The Ultimates is an attempt to create a new Marvel universe that is consistent and conceptually modern, not tied to previous continuties. This is the first Ultimate story I've read. My reaction to it is mixed.
I like the portrayal of most of the characters, the overall setting works but something is off about the feel of the whole thing. Captain America works as a true fish out of water. He lives in a run down terrible neighborhood because it's where he's always lived and goes out to re-buy his old record collection. Millar emphasizes a little of a good old boy aesthetic, but I don't think he overdoes it. Wasp is a cool asian chick, and is better than most any version of the character. The Wasp is a classic token female character, her treatment at the hands of different writers varies wildly. The original Lee/Kirby was pretty laughable, always swooning over shopping and how hot Thor is.
Giant Man is a straight up a-hole wife beater. If I was a big fan of Henry Pym, this would be upsetting. But I'm not so I just accepted it. Iron Man is largely unchanged as far as I can tell. Thor is a Nord hippy, asking Bush to double the foreign aid budget in exchange for taking on the Hulk. Thor works as a detached critic of the Modern world, as he is a god after all. I suppose you could take this the other way and have him obsessed with wenches and mead, but the cast already has enough d-bags.
Nick Fury looks just like Samuel L. Jackson, and also comments that Samuel L. Jackson should play him if they make a movie of their team. Other than his appearance, Nick Fury is pretty much just Nick Fury.
Anyway, Hulk goes on a rampage and it mentions some 300 people died. This is probably realistic for him going on a rampage in the middle of a crowded city. After they capture him, though, it brings up the morality of the Ultimates keeping him under wraps. No one seems bothered by just tossing him in a cell and hiding him from the public. Shouldn't they do something with him? He did just kill a bunch of people.
After the Hulk storyline, where the Ultimates only accomplishment is defeating one of their own team members had then hiding it from the public, there is the threat of a skrull invasion. We meet Black Widow and Hawkeye, who are old guard S.H.I.E.L.D. operatives. They run through an office building and blast white collar workers by the legion. There is a handwave that these are Skrulls who are infiltrating Earth. The nihilistic glee in mowing down all these unarmed people, bad guys or not, seemed weird to me.
Hawkeye and Widow are basically non-characters, we don't see too much of them. The Skrull Big Bad is a Nazi Cap fought in World War 2, a villain so generic I can't even remember his name. The good guys unleash the Hulk, and then have to take him down again. The idea that they have to release and the re-capture the Hulk makes sense. It still vaguely bothered me that no one really addresses how many people he's killed.
The whole thing feels a little too militarstic and nationalistic for me to be comfortable with. It wants to be this straight up action epic, but also has all these screwed up characters. Does it want to explore that? Or just have alien fleets getting smashed? Millar tries to split the difference. I feel like the concept is solid, but Millar's execution feels uneven.
Rating is 6 out of 10 shapeshifting alien Nazis.
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