The Ultimates Ultimate Collection #1

Meh. More like "Ultimate Jerks." I understand that this generation of comic book writers has a deep-seated need to do "what if" stories or reboots instead of working in the universe that already exists, but the point of the Ultimate Universe never made much sense to me. Marvel had been doing just fine pretending its superheroes didn't age very fast, ignoring the datedness of itself over the years without the need to relaunch, reboot, or retcon (well, sort of) every four years. Perhaps I am overreacting, since it's not like the Ultimate Universe is pretending to be the "real" Marvel Universe - which is rather a good thing. Even so, the purpose of this universe seems to be "what if the Avengers were really just mean jerks not only to each other all the time but also fairly inconsiderate to the rest of the world?" Having not seen any Marvel movie since X2, I was rather confused by a lot of the Avengers promos (especially Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury, whom I thought looked rather different the last time I read about him), so that makes a bit more sense now - not that the motives for this Universe do to me. The bonus interviews help a little, but they don't quite clear up the need to equate "real people in the 21st century" with "let's always be mean or uncaring or snide." Even with a limited run, going straight for Giant-Man as wife-beater and splitting them up was neither necessary nor impressive - despite Millar's fairly decent writing throughout, it felt rather forced and purposeless. Similarly, Tony Stark's motivation for being a superhero did not seem convincing. Thor as an ex-psychiatric patient has great potential, but there's not enough time in the series to delve into it in much depth, leaving it a dropped bright spot in a "could have been so good" short series. The anti-mutant atmosphere is a good touch, especially with the clever twist on Wasp's character. Nick Fury as a "well, everything's cool I guess" way-out-of-his-depth leader doesn't instill much confidence for the team, though, and having Captain America using "cool" sits about as well as Macbeth wearing Cawdor's clothes. Yes, the creative team did superb research and got a number of interesting details down (Chitauri instead of Skrulls, the right kind of train), but Hawkeye and Black Widow and Quicksilver and Wanda just sort of show up, try to say pithy things, blow things up, and leave us feeling empty and saddened by something that could have been better had it slowed down and not been forced into a limited series. This is the main problem with the series: it wants to be a grand, epic story, but The Iliad does not fit into a haiku. And this is certainly not The Iliad. It has many clever moments, and the artwork is superb, and Millar's writing is generally high-quality - but the total package does not make the Ultimates all that appealing. If you want to read a "what if The Avengers were all self-serving jerks" story, check this out. It certainly "deconstructs" the classic Avengers for 21st century (and comes off about as well as you'd think a plan like that would).