Ultimate Fantastic Four #33

Written by Mike Carey

Pencils & Cover by Pasqual Ferry

 

If Mark Millar’s run was marked by a less than ideal incorporation of science fiction into Ultimate Fantastic Four then Carey’s run looks to be a full fledged embrace of the genre. Not to mention he introduces a new cast of characters not taken from the ‘616’ universe, a point Millar was loathe to do with his plethora of ‘ultimatized’ and ‘Millar-ized’ villains—which were all good in their own right.

 

Keeping in line with the Warren Ellis established idea that the universes are stacked one on top of the other (something he’s used for the Ultimate Universe in both explaining the Negative Zone and the idea behind Reed’s weapon in Ultimate Extinction), Carey has a group of futuristic humanoids land in our universe on the run from a foe we have yet to meet. They talk of how our race of humanity is more advanced than usual for our relative historical youth and yet we are still leagues from reaching the level of technology this new group possesses.

 

The story is set for a confrontation of the Four and this new group over what else, but a little mix up—they left a sentient crystal (Seed) and their living vehicle (Sky-Eater) behind, but there are hints that Seed wanted to be found and interact with Reed. It does, and the result of that interaction is unclear for now, but it had Reed in putty mode.

 

This new group is a bunch of fledging warriors (just like the Four) and so I can imagine we’ll have a team-up by the end of this story arc as their pursuers, named as the Ravens, shows up. The story arc is titled ‘God Wars,’ bringing to mind the Superman villains Darkseid and the New Gods, but is most likely a nod to the concept that this new group will prove to be so advanced as to be Gods.

 

Pasqual Ferry is perfectly cast for this book, having already proven he works well with Carey on the Ultimate X4 two part mini-series, which got Carey the job in the first place. Ferry’s pencils are full of grace and electricity, a fitting word with all the wonderful lighting and coloring by the very talented Dave McCaig and Justin Ponsor. And where the last artist, Greg Land, had Johnny Storm looking like one of the members of NSYNC or had every female looking exactly alike, it’s nice to see some more variation from Ferry. I swear Land had Storm drawn with the exact same facial expression and pose in every single comic, used every time he needed a close-up. Ferry is able to achieve a much higher degree of variation that leaves Sue strikingly gorgeous compared to everyone else and Johnny looking more X-Games than Backstreet Boys.

 

Even the jargon for the universe hoppers is sufficiently crafted to achieve the desired effect of sounding alien without sounding corny, not an easy feat. Carey is helming two series right now and while both feature a new cast of mysterious characters, this book’s are decidedly more vivid and rich, and that’s with only one issue out!

 

His small attempts at keeping us engaged with the Four is also welcome, even if I did have to look up both of the perfume brand names used in the opening scene. Hey, I know female purse brands (having spent enough time with my girlfriend in the mall, ok) and had no idea who Marc Jacobs was. The scene is absurdly cryptic without knowing what those brand names are, and I can hardly imagine that a lot of the readers (who are mostly male) would know them either. A small concern for such a great issue though.

 

Rating - 8