Ultimate Universe #1 Review

Written by: Jonathan Hickman
Art by: Stefano Caselli
Colors by: David Curiel
Letters by: VC’s Joe Caramagna
Cover art by: Bryan Hitch
Cover price: $6.99
Release date: November 1, 2023

Ultimate Universe #1 begins a new era in the Earth-6160 universe when the Iron Lad and Dr. Doom begin a quest to recreate the heroes the Maker erased from history.

Is Ultimate Universe #1 Good?

Picking up from the Ultimate Invasion mini-series (which ended poorly), Jonathan Hickman moves his recreated Ultimates universe forward into the future in Ultimate Universe #1. Does this issue start as badly as Ultimate Invasion #4 stopped? No, not at all. In fact, Ultimate Universe #1 is a pretty decent start.

When last we left Tony Stark, aka Iron Lad, and Reed Richards, aka Dr. Doom, they narrowly escaped the Maker’s clutches before the Maker, and several of his cohorts were trapped inside the capital city in some kind of stasis bubble… or something. Armed with the knowledge that the Maker denied 6160 its natural order by wiping away the development of any heroes who could oppose him, Tony and Reed used the Maker’s forced absence to find or recreate the heroes before the Maker eventually is freed, starting with Captain America trapped in ice.

Now, Tony and Reed infiltrate Asgard to rescue Thor, who sits in an Asgardian prison for treason under the watchful eye of his warden, Lady Sif. The prison break is successful, and Lady Sif is pulled into the teleport to become an unwilling participant in the hero-building team. With more muscle, the team decides to raid a Latverian storehouse where the Maker kept artifacts responsible for creating heroes, hoping the artifacts would be the key to creating an avenging army strong enough to face the Maker one day.

Unfortunately for Tony, Reed, and the rest, the leadership of the territories, no longer under the Maker’s thumb, aren’t keen on the rise of heroes to challenge their authority either.

On the whole, this is a much cleaner, clearer, focused, and purposeful issue compared to Ultimate Invasion. It’s as if Hickman flipped on a switch in the writing center of his brain and realized, “Oh, yeah. A story has to make sense. Duh!” Regardless of the reason why the clarity is so different, this is a much better read.

What’s great about Ultimate Universe #1? Everything about this setup, from structure, pacing, and dialog work. The promise of the premise in the Ultimates is a new Marvel Universe that doesn’t start over necessarily but sloughs off the complexities of canon with heroes you sort of recognize. Hickman appears to be delivering on that promise.

What’s not so great about Ultimate Universe #1? Due to the haphazard, poorly explained ending of Ultimate Invasion, it’s unclear how the Maker is trapped, what he’s doing, if anything, when he may or may not get out, and the implications of his release. Hickman is setting up a race to assemble the Ultimate Avengers before the Maker gets out, but the goal isn’t clear.

How’s the art? Excellent. In fact, I’d wager more readers would prefer Caselli’s work in this series than Bryan Hitch’s work in Ultimate Invasion. That’s not a slight on Hitch, but Caselli’s style seems to fit 6160 better with fewer exaggerated shadows and sharper lines.

About The Reviewer: Gabriel Hernandez is the Publisher & EIC of ComicalOpinions.com, a comics review site dedicated to indie, small, and mid-sized publishers.

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Bits and Pieces

Ultimate Universe #1 is a significant improvement over Ultimate Invasion in terms of clarity, focus, urgency, and purpose. Hickman is building a new universe that feels familiar but stands apart to tell new stories without the burden of Earth-616 continuity, and the art looks great.