The Ultimates #10

Writer: Al Ewing
Artists: Djibril Morissette & Kenneth Rocafort
Colors: Dan Brown
Letters: Joe Sabino
Publisher: Marvel
 

In The Ultimates #10, the conflict that Ewing and Rocafort had been building up towards for the last few months finally comes to a head. The Ultimates find themselves arresting a civilian based off a vision by Ulysses and the differences between the team's members flare up. Meanwhile, Thanos has reached out to the Anti-Man and seems to be plotting his escape to.. do some Thanos shit, I suppose.

Ms. America has a great moment here and Ewing's characterization of her as cold and distant does pay off here, but I'm not super thrilled the direction this has taken. I think pitting the team members against each other is less interesting to me than what we saw from Galactus/Lifebringer or what Ewing had to say about Marvel Time.

But that's just me, and I'm definitely feeling some event fatigue here, Civil War II may not change the story that Al Ewing wants to tell but it definitely throws a wrench into the story that I wanted to read the most. And as this is the final arc before the Ultimates² relaunch (presumably featuring a different team/premise), I think Marvel and Al Ewing have squandered the chance to tell a better story with a very unique team.

Also, although I still like Djibril Morissette's art and I think Glitterbomb looks fantastic, I can't help but feel tha the has been misused here. He's nailed the posing (great Thanos) and the more kinetic scenes so far but his character acting is kind of weird (look at everyone's noses). And he's mostly been used for one-on-one conversations. I don't think Brown's coloring is a good fit with Morrissette's lines either but then again, having the same color palette diminishes the whiplash from the switch between Rocafort and Morrissete. Rocafort and Brown are really good together as per usual. Rocafort's paneling is outstanding during the Anti-Man sequences and there's one panel in particular that directly and effectively hints at Thanos affecting the mind-state of the Ultimates.

All things considered, it's always been hard for me to care about Thanos, I think the versions of him that I've read are too blunt to be interesting. And although Ewing's version is more calculating than say, Hickman's, he still hardly amounts to anything more than cartoonish villainy here. I couldn't be less excited to have yet a Thanos ongoing or another big Thanos event in a few years.

Although Ewing's writing was still effective and Rocafort's art was still great, this issue was a let-down. It is not too different from earlier chapters of this series, which I had loved or at the very least liked a lot but a lot of tiny things add up to make this the least appealing version of The Ultimates to me.