Wednesday, December 29, 2004

Warren Ellis Reviews

Ultimate Nightmare #4 of 5:

The mini-series is finally picking up after a slow start as members of the Ultimates and X-Men separately search an abandoned Russian facility filled with freakish abominations. This issue explains some of the origins of the base as well as add some healthy doses of action.

This is the best written issue yet by Ellis, adding more horror elements, like the "Anti-Cap," so we can really get into the NIGHTMARE part of the story. I don't know why Trevor Hairsine needed an issue off, but his art seems to have improved since issue 2, thought this may because of the legion of inkers for the issue. B

Ultimate Fantastic Four #14:

I'm really enjoying this new storyline, in which the teenager Reed Richards wants to travel into the Negative Zone (now dubbed the N-Zone) in hopes of finding a cure for Ben and the others. Ellis is getting to the heart of the FF: exploration, not to mention work a little of his own sci-fi stuff into it. I'm anxious to see how Ellis will visualize the N-Zone. There's of course Adam Kubert's art which is flawless as usual. B

Iron Man #2

Tony Stark and Maya go see an old friend and learn that the man infected with the Extremis has massacred the officers in a FBI building in Texas. I somehow don't mind that the Iron Man suit isn't in this issue. Ellis' Stark makes for a very interesting character, since both he and Maya have the ability to literally shape the future given their fields in medicine and technology. But all this plot and talking may put off some of the readers, though there's enough gruesome violence in this issue to satisfy the Authority fans. And is me or does Adi Granov's Stark look a little like Tom Cruise? A-

My favorite series so far is Iron Man. Ultimate Nightmare is interesting, but doesn't have much depth. Ultimate FF can get annoying because they're all teenagers. (The FF is supposed to be a family, not a gang of teens.) I also really enjoy Ellis' sci-fi mini-series Ocean, which I should be writing about.

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