NB of the Week

-THE DARKER THE NIGHT, THE BRIGHTER THE STARS,

THE DEEPER THE GRIEF, THE CLOSER IS SPOILS-

The Ultimates #27 - Disassembled: Part 3

Written by Joshua Hale Fialkov

Drawn by Carmine Di Giandomenico

-SERIOUSLY, SPOILS AHEAD FOR THOSE THAT MAY WANT TO READ THE ISSUE FIRST-

What a difference a new writer can make. After having cut this title from my list during the last writer's run, I added it back after hearing Fialkov was taking over and I'm loving it. Reed Richards is back and making life Hell for everybody around. He and his team are after the Infinity Gems for the most villainous of reasons: to save the world. That's right. They have to do this in order to better the word and the Ultimates are standing in their way.

In issue 27, we get Reed's explanation for things. He needs the eighth and final Gem from the brain of Tony Stark (did I mention that's where the final Gem was?) in order to save their universe from dying. The multiverse is layered, with each one farther out dying more and faster the farther is reaches and the Gems will stop it. He knows because a version of him has already done it. Unfortunately, that version of him actually became the "eye parking meters" that are know as The Watcher (a pretty nice tie to past stories). After explaining everything to Stark (who has been strapped down with his head wide open as Reed cuts out the Gem), Reed decides Stark has served his purpose and after cutting him off from his heart and lungs, Stark is lost and Reed Richards has killed the Iron Man. Oh and Quicksilver may have killed Thing as well. Maybe.

The Ultimate-verse should be different, that much is obvious, but the line as to how is a hard one to walk. Bendis has done it masterfully for over a decade in Ult Spidey but most other books tend to suffer a bit here-and-there. Ultimates has taken those differences and ran full pace into it's own direction. Assuming Tony is actually dead (and dead means dead for good in the Ultimate-verse), this would be a huge change and bring a lot of opportunities to a title that I was fed up with and going to drop. I know people argue that killing characters is never a way to change the status quo but I would argue that when done well, it's the most effective way to change it and this could force that. Reed as a villain has always been up and down. I get it but I don't get it. Killing Tony to "save" the world would shift him into a character that would make him so much more interesting than he has ever been in the universe. Guess we'll just have to wait and read what happens next and you can bet you baby bopp that I'll be there to find out.