scans_daily: Ultimate Six: Part 1

cyberghostface (

scans_daily,
@ 2011-05-22 02:15 pm UTC

Entry tags:

char: ant-man/giant man/hank pym, char: captain america/steve rogers, char: dr. octopus/otto octavius, char: electro/max dillon, char: george w. bush, char: green goblin/norman osborn, char: kraven/sergei kravinoff, char: nick fury, char: sandman/flint marko/william baker, char: sharon carter, char: spider-man/peter parker, char: thor odinson/donald blake, char: wasp/giant-girl/janet van dyne, creator: brian michael bendis, creator: trevor hairsine, title: ultimate spiderman

Ultimate Six: Part 1

As requested by

stubbleupdate , this is Ultimate Six, presented in two parts. It was written by Bendis and illustrated by Trevor Hairsine.

So all you need to know at the moment is that the Green Goblin, Doctor Octopus, Sandman and Electro are all in S.H.I.E.L.D. custody.

Ultimate Sandman is, IMO, one of the title's disappointments. His first real appearance was a one-shot issue that came out on the same week as the first issue of Ultimate Six in which he battled Spider-Man and little else. As such he's a fairly flat character and hasn't made any real significant appearances outside of his time with the Six. In comparison, the Shocker (who is the 'joke' of USM in that he often appears and gets his ass kicked) got an issue to himself describing his motivations. IMO, Sandman could have benefitted from at least playing a superpowered heavy to someone bigger like Electro did for an arc or two. It's a shame, as I think Sandy in the 616 universe is one of the more interesting of Spidey's rogues.

Hank Pym (who is the one leading the therapy session) tells Norman he can't do that.

Norman then asks what is the purpose of his collar, which is intended to surpress the prisoner's genetic abilities. As he points out, Otto doesn't have his arms and Norman needs injections of Oz to transform into the Green Goblin. So why does he need them? That's when Nick Fury arrives, who tells them its because he says so.

We later go to Kraven who, as you may know, is a celebrity in the Ultimate universe. When he first appeared, he created a lot of hype about hunting Spider-Man as a part of his reality tv show. When he first battled Spider-Man, however, Spidey quickly punched him out and called him a showbiz phony. Now he's ready to after Spider-Man again, this time with genetic enhancements. Of course, the Ultimates catch quick wind of this and arrest him, taking him into S.H.I.E.L.D. custody with the rest of Spidey's rogues.

The collar ends up zapping Kraven into submission.

There was a lot of speculation at the time of who was going to be the sixth member. Harry was the most popular choice, but a couple of people thought it was Hank Pym(!) who was going through a bit of a rough spot in his own title.

So next issue, Dr. Octopus offers to help Pym and S.H.I.E.L.D. and offer something to society to make up for his crimes.

Nick Fury runs this down to the Ultimates, because if something goes wrong, they will be the ones to clean it up. Captain America asks Fury if any of the prisoners are the way they are because of super soldier experiments that Fury commissioned in an attempt to create the experiment that made him who he is. There's silence, and then Nick Fury says "Yes."

Otto is taken to a research facility with Pym and others. The scientists want to talk to him about his arms.

"Peter makes six."

Dun...dun...duuuun.

#3...

So in the aftermath, the Ultimates examine what has gone on. The escaped villains have killed nearly everyone in the facility (Hank Pym is one of the few survivors) and have now escaped.

Nick Fury says they can't locate them until they power up. Captain America asks why, and Fury responds that if they had the technology to find anyone anywhere his butt wouldn't have sat in a block of ice for fifty years.

Nick Fury then realizes that all of the villains have one thing in common: Peter Parker.

In #4...

Fury is being chewed out by President Dubya. Norman Osborn apparently called the White House to report that Nick Fury kidnapped him and his son, illegally detained his company and stole his research. He wants international amnesty for himself and the others. As you can expect, Dubya is furious, accusing Fury of setting up a "super-villain concentration camp" behind his back.

When Fury leaves, Norman calls him on the phone and asks if he's a priority now.

Later...

The Ultimates arrive at Kraven's television offices looking for Osborn and co. there, only to discover that the entire thing was a set up to distract them. Nick Fury then discovers that Dr. Octopus has hacked into S.H.I.E.L.D.'s computers, causing a massive black out.

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wizardru
2011-05-23 11:54 am UTC (link)

For me, the problem is this: if you create a 'realistic' framework for your story with some big unrealistic elements, you call direct attention to them...or worse, when you create an explanation for ONE issue, you make any non-addressed issues stand out in a GLARING fashion.

To some degree, the problem is that a realistic narrative about superheroes is at direct odds with a story where stuff is resolved with the punchings. For example: how is Doctor Octopus apparently not only a genius at robotics (and he's implying here that maybe he actually ISN'T, but is a mutant) but also apparently a genius computer hacker? I realize being a black-hat computer security hacker isn't exactly the stuff of page-turners, but it bugs me that somehow Doc Ock just can totally compromise the security of a multi-billion dollar government agency effectively in an hour or two and has total access everywhere. It's the classic 'science is all the same' approach to mad science dudes, basically. For that matter, the same applies to Norman Osborn...apparently he's a master of all business-related fields, everywhere...and by extension, he's also a master politician who can out-maneuver lifelong career politicians who are IN POWER. Never mind that SHIELD apparently took their stupid pills when incarcerating these guys and had exactly ZERO countermeasures for them. (I realize I may have missed the scenes where they defeated them...but seriously, if we're supposed to believe that the collars were the only thing they had, that's just DUMB. Hell, turn on the sprinkler system and electro's a liability or out of commission).

I mean, if that was supposed to be Bush, then the writer clearly doesn't understand how Bush would have handled that situation. He would have likely doubled-down, not turtled up. A president who made it through Abu Ghraib, Blackwater scandals and Guantanamo is somehow going to be threatened that teh public finds out that he's holding six psychopathic super-powered felons in jail? REALLY? Hell, I'd expect any president to hold a press conference to BRAG about it, especially in the MU.

Ultimates was supposed to be a reset of the MU in a modern context without the burden of continuity. Now it's just as encumbered and clumsy as the 616 universe, only with more violence and less charm. There IS stuff to like here, but part of it really says to me "either decide to be a crazy superhero book or be a realistic superhero book...but not BOTH."

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baxter2814
2011-05-23 03:19 pm UTC (link)

"... Now it's just as encumbered and clumsy as the 616 universe, only with more violence and less charm."

YES. SO MUCH YES.

And then I realize that the modern 616's disconnect from its past makes it just as charmless as the Ultimate universe, and I cry.

I know I'm probably a rarity, but I actually love huge amounts of complex continuity that I can never know every detail of and can't be reconciled without a sliding timescale, because it ties the modern stories back to the decades and decades for which these characters existed and makes them so much grander and more timeless than the sum of their recent stories.

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	no subject filthysize 2011-05-23 03:28 pm UTC (link)
	To be fair, this story came out in 2003. Considering comic books tend to be written far in advance, at the Bendis wrote it, Abu Ghraib and Blackwater hadn't happened yet, and Guantanamo was only starting to be known to the public. (Reply to this) (Thread from start) (Parent)

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