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Ultimate Galactus Trilogy #1-3
Ultimate Galactus Trilogy
Super-scribe Warren Ellis chronicles the coming of Gah Lak Tus! This deluxe hardcover collects the entire Ultimate Galactus trilogy -- Ultimate Nightmare, Ultimate Secret and Ultimate Extinction -- plus extras. In Ultimate Nightmare, world communications systems break down, and the source of the anomaly is revealed as Tanguska, Russia. Nick Fury of S.H.I.E.L.D. leads a force comprised of Captain America, Black Window and Sam Wilson to investigate; simultaneously, Charles Xavier of the X-Men dispatches his own team consisting of Jean Grey, Wolverine and Colossus. What they discover there -- and what happens next -- defies belief! In Ultimate Secret, a hidden alien race is trying desperately to keep man from reaching the stars. Cape Canaveral scientist Philip Lawson, secretly a Kree soldier assigned to a mission on our planet, knows of the hideous plan and will use all his considerable power to stop it... the power of Captain Mahr Vehl! But his sudden betrayal may mean a swift doom for the Earth. And finally, in Ultimate Extinction, it's time for the coming of Gah Lak Tus! And his arrival could mean the end of all life on this planet! Not even the power of S.H.I.E.L.D. or the brilliance of Fantastic Four leader Reed Richards seems able to stop its inexorable march to Earth. What role do the Ultimate X-Men have in this drama? And who on Earth is Misty Knight and how does she know the fate of our world may rest with -- Ultimate Silver Surfer?
Collects Ultimate Nightmare #1-5, Ultimate Secret #1-4, Ultimate Extinction #1-5 and Ultimate Vision #0
Collects Ultimate Nightmare #1-5, Ultimate Secret #1-4, Ultimate Extinction #1-5 and Ultimate Vision #0
344 pages, Hardcover
First published June 13, 2007
11 people are currently reading
253 people want to read
About the author
Warren Ellis
1,972 books5,771 followersWarren Ellis is the award-winning writer of graphic novels like TRANSMETROPOLITAN, FELL, MINISTRY OF SPACE and PLANETARY, and the author of the NYT-bestselling GUN MACHINE and the “underground classic” novel CROOKED LITTLE VEIN, as well as the digital short-story single DEAD PIG COLLECTOR. His newest book is the novella NORMAL, from FSG Originals, listed as one of Amazon’s Best 100 Books Of 2016.
The movie RED is based on his graphic novel of the same name, its sequel having been released in summer 2013. IRON MAN 3 is based on his Marvel Comics graphic novel IRON MAN: EXTREMIS. He is currently developing his graphic novel sequence with Jason Howard, TREES, for television, in concert with HardySonBaker and NBCU, and continues to work as a screenwriter and producer in film and television, represented by Angela Cheng Caplan and Cheng Caplan Company. He is the creator, writer and co-producer of the Netflix series CASTLEVANIA, recently renewed for its third season, and of the recently-announced Netflix series HEAVEN’S FOREST.
He’s written extensively for VICE, WIRED UK and Reuters on technological and cultural matters, and given keynote speeches and lectures at events like dConstruct, ThingsCon, Improving Reality, SxSW, How The Light Gets In, Haunted Machines and Cognitive Cities.
Warren Ellis has recently developed and curated the revival of the Wildstorm creative library for DC Entertainment with the series THE WILD STORM, and is currently working on the serialising of new graphic novel works TREES: THREE FATES and INJECTION at Image Comics, and the serialised graphic novel THE BATMAN’S GRAVE for DC Comics, while working as a Consulting Producer on another television series.
A documentary about his work, CAPTURED GHOSTS, was released in 2012.
Recognitions include the NUIG Literary and Debating Society’s President’s Medal for service to freedom of speech, the EAGLE AWARDS Roll Of Honour for lifetime achievement in the field of comics & graphic novels, the Grand Prix de l’Imaginaire 2010, the Sidewise Award for Alternate History and the International Horror Guild Award for illustrated narrative. He is a Patron of Humanists UK. He holds an honorary doctorate from the University of Essex.
Warren Ellis lives outside London, on the south-east coast of England, in case he needs to make a quick getaway.
The movie RED is based on his graphic novel of the same name, its sequel having been released in summer 2013. IRON MAN 3 is based on his Marvel Comics graphic novel IRON MAN: EXTREMIS. He is currently developing his graphic novel sequence with Jason Howard, TREES, for television, in concert with HardySonBaker and NBCU, and continues to work as a screenwriter and producer in film and television, represented by Angela Cheng Caplan and Cheng Caplan Company. He is the creator, writer and co-producer of the Netflix series CASTLEVANIA, recently renewed for its third season, and of the recently-announced Netflix series HEAVEN’S FOREST.
He’s written extensively for VICE, WIRED UK and Reuters on technological and cultural matters, and given keynote speeches and lectures at events like dConstruct, ThingsCon, Improving Reality, SxSW, How The Light Gets In, Haunted Machines and Cognitive Cities.
Warren Ellis has recently developed and curated the revival of the Wildstorm creative library for DC Entertainment with the series THE WILD STORM, and is currently working on the serialising of new graphic novel works TREES: THREE FATES and INJECTION at Image Comics, and the serialised graphic novel THE BATMAN’S GRAVE for DC Comics, while working as a Consulting Producer on another television series.
A documentary about his work, CAPTURED GHOSTS, was released in 2012.
Recognitions include the NUIG Literary and Debating Society’s President’s Medal for service to freedom of speech, the EAGLE AWARDS Roll Of Honour for lifetime achievement in the field of comics & graphic novels, the Grand Prix de l’Imaginaire 2010, the Sidewise Award for Alternate History and the International Horror Guild Award for illustrated narrative. He is a Patron of Humanists UK. He holds an honorary doctorate from the University of Essex.
Warren Ellis lives outside London, on the south-east coast of England, in case he needs to make a quick getaway.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 61 reviews
July 25, 2022
A interesting take on 'Galactus, world eater' starts with the Ultimates and the Ultimate X-Men investigating the source of a mass psyche warnings of doom from space in Ultimate Galactus, Volume 1: Nightmare, taking both teams to an old Soviet base in deep remote Russian territory. An interesting start where more time seemed to have been spent on atmosphere than actual storytelling! The Ultimate versions of Falcon and Vision debut! 7 out of 12.
Carol Danvers and Captain Marvel debut in Ultimate Galactus, Volume 2: Secret in which the Fury, Ultimates and the Ultimate Fantastic Four work together to get Gah Lak Tus intel from... an alien race! Way too much exposition at the start (although great faux science), and in addition way too much comedic dialogue which was funny, but inexplicable in the context of the glocal crisis... or maybe not? 6 out of 12.
After Mark Millar's Ultimate Vision #0, in which John Romita Jnr expertly draws Vision's visions of Gah Lak Tus's history the series finished off with Ultimate Galactus, Volume 3: Extinction which sees Earth's three premier teams, Fury and SHIELD, Misty Night(!), Captain Marvel and the Falcon unite to try and prevent Earth's extinction. And this is a doozy of rational and thrilling end of time speculative fiction! 8 out of 12.
A series written by Warren Ellis that is truly deserving of remaking the original Galactus trilogy with much better faux-science, a bigger cast, great art, but above all such brilliant concepts of Gah Lak Tus, Silverman, 'Moondragon', the Kree and more. The further along the series you get the better it gets. 7 out of 12 overall. One of the many gems in the Ultimate universe. :)
2022 read; 2017 read; 2011 read
Carol Danvers and Captain Marvel debut in Ultimate Galactus, Volume 2: Secret in which the Fury, Ultimates and the Ultimate Fantastic Four work together to get Gah Lak Tus intel from... an alien race! Way too much exposition at the start (although great faux science), and in addition way too much comedic dialogue which was funny, but inexplicable in the context of the glocal crisis... or maybe not? 6 out of 12.
After Mark Millar's Ultimate Vision #0, in which John Romita Jnr expertly draws Vision's visions of Gah Lak Tus's history the series finished off with Ultimate Galactus, Volume 3: Extinction which sees Earth's three premier teams, Fury and SHIELD, Misty Night(!), Captain Marvel and the Falcon unite to try and prevent Earth's extinction. And this is a doozy of rational and thrilling end of time speculative fiction! 8 out of 12.
A series written by Warren Ellis that is truly deserving of remaking the original Galactus trilogy with much better faux-science, a bigger cast, great art, but above all such brilliant concepts of Gah Lak Tus, Silverman, 'Moondragon', the Kree and more. The further along the series you get the better it gets. 7 out of 12 overall. One of the many gems in the Ultimate universe. :)
2022 read; 2017 read; 2011 read
May 29, 2015
There wasn't a lot of suspense in this one, and the ending was a bit muddled (simplistic even) with some weird plot lines that led no where, but I still liked it. Then again, I generally like anything Ellis writes and have always liked the ultimate universe.
November 12, 2012
When a strange signal begins emitting from the Tunguska wilderness in Russia, broadcasting a message of despair and death, the X-Men set off to find the source of the signal and, separately, so does Nick Fury, Captain America, and Black Widow. But what they find speaks of an unprecedented danger to Earth - an unstoppable force in the universe known only as the world eater, Gah Lak Tus.
Warren Ellis writes what is probably the best Ultimates storyline printed yet. What little I knew of Galactus before reading this - some kind of cosmic giant that eats planets and has a messenger in the form of Silver Surfer - doesn't bring to mind that compelling a story. Will Ellis tell the story from the perspective of Galactus? And how can you defeat something on this scale?
Well, first off Ellis makes the genius choice of keeping Galactus out of the story until the final chapters, making him the primary reason for all of the events of the book while not appearing. It's brilliant.
So over the course of the three books the threat of Galactus is built up superbly. In the first, "Ultimate Nightmare", the X-Men and some of the Ultimates descend under the barren Russian land of Tunguska to discover a series of failed Russian super-soldiers who've become monsters over the years. This was probably the best book of the three as it reads like a claustrophobic horror or an early Ridley Scott film in the vein of "Alien". Artist Trevor Hairsine does a stellar job with the artwork too.
"Ultimate Secret" takes the story further with a kind of "Independence Day" type storyline of an alien race trying to cripple humanity's technological progress and make Earth into a kind of sacrifice for Galactus. Captain Marvel makes an appearance and there are lots of cool action scenes in the desert and space involving the Fantastic Four and the Ultimates, made even better with artist Steve McNiven's always excellent work.
Mark Millar and John Romita Jnr create the one shot issue "Ultimate Vision" which sets up the final book "Ultimate Extinction" nicely, introducing the age old space messenger Vision and explaining Galactus before he begins approaching Earth.
"Ultimate Extinction" is pure superhero awesome-ness. Of course Galactus is stopped but how he's stopped is brilliant, using all of the main Marvel superheroes in a concerted effort to defeat the world eater once and for all. Artist Brandon Peterson draws an incredible two pages of art showing Galactus' downfall that is wonderfully cinematic and magnificent.
I've been a fan of Warren Ellis' for years but he really went the distance with this book, pulling out all the stops to tell the best Ultimates story that's ever been published. He masterfully brings all of the elements over the course of three books and makes the ultimate villain an ultimate plot device for some amazing storytelling and action. Some writers struggle to write decent endings, Ellis effortlessly manages them every time, and this book is no exception. How Xavier and Jean Grey deal with Galactus is genius, as is Nick Fury's final word.
Any superhero comics fan or Ultimates fan needs to read this. It's another feather in the cap for Warren Ellis as well as being one of the best superhero books ever written. Galactically recommended.
Warren Ellis writes what is probably the best Ultimates storyline printed yet. What little I knew of Galactus before reading this - some kind of cosmic giant that eats planets and has a messenger in the form of Silver Surfer - doesn't bring to mind that compelling a story. Will Ellis tell the story from the perspective of Galactus? And how can you defeat something on this scale?
Well, first off Ellis makes the genius choice of keeping Galactus out of the story until the final chapters, making him the primary reason for all of the events of the book while not appearing. It's brilliant.
So over the course of the three books the threat of Galactus is built up superbly. In the first, "Ultimate Nightmare", the X-Men and some of the Ultimates descend under the barren Russian land of Tunguska to discover a series of failed Russian super-soldiers who've become monsters over the years. This was probably the best book of the three as it reads like a claustrophobic horror or an early Ridley Scott film in the vein of "Alien". Artist Trevor Hairsine does a stellar job with the artwork too.
"Ultimate Secret" takes the story further with a kind of "Independence Day" type storyline of an alien race trying to cripple humanity's technological progress and make Earth into a kind of sacrifice for Galactus. Captain Marvel makes an appearance and there are lots of cool action scenes in the desert and space involving the Fantastic Four and the Ultimates, made even better with artist Steve McNiven's always excellent work.
Mark Millar and John Romita Jnr create the one shot issue "Ultimate Vision" which sets up the final book "Ultimate Extinction" nicely, introducing the age old space messenger Vision and explaining Galactus before he begins approaching Earth.
"Ultimate Extinction" is pure superhero awesome-ness. Of course Galactus is stopped but how he's stopped is brilliant, using all of the main Marvel superheroes in a concerted effort to defeat the world eater once and for all. Artist Brandon Peterson draws an incredible two pages of art showing Galactus' downfall that is wonderfully cinematic and magnificent.
I've been a fan of Warren Ellis' for years but he really went the distance with this book, pulling out all the stops to tell the best Ultimates story that's ever been published. He masterfully brings all of the elements over the course of three books and makes the ultimate villain an ultimate plot device for some amazing storytelling and action. Some writers struggle to write decent endings, Ellis effortlessly manages them every time, and this book is no exception. How Xavier and Jean Grey deal with Galactus is genius, as is Nick Fury's final word.
Any superhero comics fan or Ultimates fan needs to read this. It's another feather in the cap for Warren Ellis as well as being one of the best superhero books ever written. Galactically recommended.
July 16, 2017
I really enjoyed this collection by my fav writer "Warren Ellis". You even get one Mark Miller story thrown in - which ends on a depressing note because...he's Mark Miller and hates happiness.
But let's stick to the good. Ellis is typical Ellis with his brilliant ideas and satisfying ending. I am not a big Ultimate's Universe reader so most of these takes on the characters were new to me. It was kind of a fun Elseworld's story to me. What made it fun was to see how characters from Marvel I know and love were reintroduced in weird ways. Some worked great (Sam Wilson/Falcon/Captain Marvel) some were odd but worked in the story (Silver Surfer) and some fell flat and felt forced into the story (Moon Dragon). I liked the Vision character but I didn't like the fact it had to be called Vision so we go "oh! this is the Ultimate version of Vision!", they could have called it anything because the only thing it shared in common with the Marvel version of the Vision was the name and it was a robot. There was a lot of greatness in the story - first thing that comes to mind is how Ellis weaves in the characters together but allows them to retain their personalities - the X-Men are odd outsiders, the Fantastic Four are gifted but have a conscious, and the Avengers are the fighters who don't mind killing to get the job done. The second thing I loved was how Ellis took the time to make Galactus feel real and feel like a menace. And lastly, the conclusion was clever and felt earned. Very cool.
The art was solid throughout and added to the drama/atmosphere of the story because it was more realistic than cartoony.
If I had one complaint, besides the name drop of characters who didn't belong, it would be the first story arc dragged a bit and the payoff was just to get The Vision free from a Russian death camp. Still fun but a little long before we get to the main story of Gah lac tus coming.
Overall - a great re-imagining of Galactus coming to Earth for a modern age. Loved it.
But let's stick to the good. Ellis is typical Ellis with his brilliant ideas and satisfying ending. I am not a big Ultimate's Universe reader so most of these takes on the characters were new to me. It was kind of a fun Elseworld's story to me. What made it fun was to see how characters from Marvel I know and love were reintroduced in weird ways. Some worked great (Sam Wilson/Falcon/Captain Marvel) some were odd but worked in the story (Silver Surfer) and some fell flat and felt forced into the story (Moon Dragon). I liked the Vision character but I didn't like the fact it had to be called Vision so we go "oh! this is the Ultimate version of Vision!", they could have called it anything because the only thing it shared in common with the Marvel version of the Vision was the name and it was a robot. There was a lot of greatness in the story - first thing that comes to mind is how Ellis weaves in the characters together but allows them to retain their personalities - the X-Men are odd outsiders, the Fantastic Four are gifted but have a conscious, and the Avengers are the fighters who don't mind killing to get the job done. The second thing I loved was how Ellis took the time to make Galactus feel real and feel like a menace. And lastly, the conclusion was clever and felt earned. Very cool.
The art was solid throughout and added to the drama/atmosphere of the story because it was more realistic than cartoony.
If I had one complaint, besides the name drop of characters who didn't belong, it would be the first story arc dragged a bit and the payoff was just to get The Vision free from a Russian death camp. Still fun but a little long before we get to the main story of Gah lac tus coming.
Overall - a great re-imagining of Galactus coming to Earth for a modern age. Loved it.
August 31, 2021
Years ago, I found myself at the GlenOak High School that also had the Stark County District Library attached to it. I was at a Speech and Debate Tournament and found myself out a bit earlier than I anticipated. I wandered over to the library, sat down, and found three trade paperbacks, Ultimate Nightmare, Ultimate Secret, and Ultimate Extinction, that formed the Ultimate Galactus Trilogy, which I am reviewing today.
The Ultimate Galactus Trilogy, like other titles in the Ultimate line of books (please see my ridiculous 17-page treatise on the Ultimates) sought to create variants of characters that had existed for decades. At the time these miniseries were published there 3 ongoing series, Ultimate X-Men, Ultimate Fantastic Four, and Ultimate Spider-Man, and the Ultimates limited series. While Ultimate Spider-Man is not featured in this series (a bit too friendly neighborhood for, you know, an extinction-level planet eater) the rest of the characters from the Ultimate series at the time make appearances. I’m not going to go into the differences between the Ultimate X-Men and Ultimate Fantastic Four, as there is no real comparison in the MCU, and I’m not doing a deep dive into the 616. I am going to cover the Ultimate variants of Sam Wilson/Falcon/Captain America, Vision, Misty Knight, Captain Marvel, Silver Surfer, and Galactus.
Ultimate Sam Wilson. He is a pretty stark contrast from what we have in the MCU. Considering this was written about 15+ years ago, Sam Wilson was in a different place in the 616, and Iron Man was probably just some storyboards it’s not surprising that Sam Wilson is so vastly different. Ultimate Falcon used to work for Nick Fury and SHIELD but left as he preferred the adventuring lifestyle. He is great with languages and is savvy in the tech department. There is no Anthony Mackie in this character. Frankly, he’s just ok in this story. I much prefer the new Captain America we have on screen.
The Ultimate Vision is different than the Ship of Theseus loving Vision of the MCU. The Vision of the 616 is a convoluted mess that requires three cups of coffee, each with a shot of bourbon, to understand. The MCU Vision is all the best parts of Tony Stark, given focus through the Mind Stone, and is on the side of life. As messy as his introduction is into the MCU, I very much came to love Vision after his less than satisfying origins (basically the second he picks of Mjolnir in Avengers: Age of Ultron, I am on the Vision train). The Ultimate Vision is a machine intelligence sent to warn civilizations that Galactus is coming. It brings with it visions of what Galactus does to planets to give them time to time to prepare, and hopefully prepare a defense. Also, Ultimate Vision has the body of a woman. So that’s different. It's an interesting take and is different. Personally, Ultimate Vision is the Ultimate universe at its best, taking a concept, turning it on its head, but still having a real connection to the source material. Does it need to be a sexy robot lady in shape? No. Other than that, it’s a fun variant.
For the 10 viewers of the Luke Cage and Defenders Netflix show, and the one true fan, Misty Knight makes an appearance. It is fine. She’s an example of a bad Ultimate variant. She’s too similar to the 616 Misty Knight. If you loved her on the Netflix series, and need more Misty Knight, this is not satisfying.
Captain Marvel is such a mess and requires a quick 616 recap. In the 616, Captain Marvel is a Kree, named Mar-Vell, who goes by the Earth alias Walter Lawson while incognito. The Captain Marvel in our zeitgeist is Carol Danvers, who in her history has been Ms. Marvel, Binary, Warbird, and Captain Marvel. The MCU skipped the Walter Lawson Mar-Vell, gender-swapping them as a Kree scientist working with the Tesseract, and played by Annette Bening, as Wendy Lawson. Brie Larson plays Captain Marvel/Carol Danvers right from the jump, and to many now the original Mar-Vell is a concept from yesteryear. Why is all this explanation necessary? Because Ultimate Captain Marvel is Philip Lawson, an incognito Kree spy/scientist, sent to observe humanity as Galactus approaches to destroy them. This Mar-Vell, excuse me, Mahr Vehl, is certainly not what we are used to in a post-Captain Marvel (2019) world. Don’t worry though Carol Danvers makes an appearance as Mahr Vehl’s handler and girlfriend. Honestly, now it’s a bit lackluster compared to the MCU Captain Marvel we are used to. It wouldn’t be too much of an issue if Mahr Vehl was interesting, but he’s not. He’s also not disintegrating. He serves as an info dump of a character that could have been more. He just boils down to the classic “going native” trope, the natives being humanity.
The Silver Surfer appeared in the best-forgotten Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer movie. He was motion captured by Doug Jones and voiced by Laurence Fishburne. Like his 616 counterparts, the Silver Surfer had “the power cosmic” and was the herald of Galactus, flying ahead to inform plants that they were soon to be destroyed. Naturally, over 60+ years the Silver Surfer’s remit has changed many times. Naturally, there are many complex stories in the 616 and a fairly bland story on screen some years ago. How does this complex character fare in the Ultimate Universe? Totally stripped down to one essential aspect, “herald of Galactus”. The Ultimate Silver Surfer is one of my most perplexing Ultimate variants. I appreciate that in this story the Silver Surfer is effectively an advanced agent of Galactus to sow discord and reduce resistance for the arrival. On the other hand, the Silver Surfer we read is essentially a cult leader, with little to no personality. To add to that, one is killed and a second one takes its place with the same blandness. The Ultimate Silver Surfer does exactly what the story needs it to do and disregards the complexities of its 616 origins and possibilities. I wish there was more, but I’m happy with what I got from it. Looking outside the Ultimate Galactus Trilogy, the Ultimate Fantastic Four series eventually met the Silver Searcher, who claims to have been the template for the Silver Surfers, and that character gets a lot more development.
Ok. The big daddy. Galactus. The devourer of worlds. The Antigod. Unlife. A bad dude with a lot of bad guy names. In the awful Fantastic Four: The Rise of the Silver Surfer, he was a nasty fart cloud moving through space. In the 616, for 60 years he has been a planet-sized man that appears as the same race as the race that he is about to consume. He is fueled by insatiable hunger and is only momentarily satiated by eating a planet. He tries to eat Earth every o couple of years or so and gets turned away. The Ultimate Universe wanted to do something different, so instead of a huge dude floating in space, they made Galactus a swarm intelligence of robots that were created in some unknown, eldritch time, and it simply goes from planet to planet, destroying all life, cracking the planet, consuming the energy from its core, and leaving an uninhabitable husk behind. Also, it's called Gah Lak Tus instead. I really love this iteration of Galactus. Due to decades of explanations, origins, retcons, reboots, Galactus is an over-explained character, instead of the hungering concept it should be. By taking it back to its roots, and putting an air of mystique on it, the faceless Gah Lak Tus swarm is a great way to reinvigorate a classic character with a new spin. Who made these machines? How were they created thousands or millions of years ago? Does it have a purpose other than hunger?
But Adam, you say, exasperated at the extensive armature analysis, what about the story? Well, it is broken down into 4 parts, which I will go over in turn.
First up, the Ultimate Nightmare. This 5 issue series features the Ultimates and the Ultimate X-Men responding to a worldwide mental and technological vision of horrors to come. The Ultimates are responding to a potential threat, while the Ultimate X-Men are the agents of Profession Xavier’s homo superior messiah complex. Ultimate Nightmare is the best of the entire trilogy in my opinion. It is a slow horror reveal as to what’s causing the psychic trauma, which is centered in the Tunguska region of Russia. I especially love that it considers the Tunguska Event from 1908 in the storytelling. The descent into an abandoned Soviet facility adds some great tension, and a tinge of body horror, to the story. Of course, in the fashion of all trilogy, a minor mystery is solved, leading to a grander and more dangerous mystery. The art is haunting, but I think the dark atmosphere covers up some shortcomings. On occasion, some of the character’s faces are a little muddy that in a sunny comic panel would be inexcusable.
The Ultimate Nightmare is followed up by the Ultimate Secret, this time focusing on the Ultimates and the Ultimate Fantastic Four. Some Kree shenanigans are occurring, and Nicky Fury gathers the Ultimates and the Fantastic Four to deal with it. Mahr Vehl is revealed, and eventually explains a lot of stuff about Gah Lak Tus. A lot of invader aliens get killed. It’s a rather rote story in my opinion. It makes sense why this was only 4 issues, while the other miniseries were 5 apiece. The art may be the best in this part of the trilogy, however, with only the occasional odd face in the background.
Trilogy? Then why did I say there are 4 parts? Well, across the Ultimate line of books at the time, several features a little mini-story featuring, and fleshing out the Ultimate Vision. The art is wildly different than the rest of the trilogy and is a welcome change. It dives into the creation and purpose of Vision and is perfectly placed between the Ultimate Secret and the Ultimate Extinction.
After the final gasp that was the Ultimate Vision story, we get the plunge into the aforementioned Ultimate Extinction. The Ultimate gather the Fantastic Four as well as members of the X-Men to fight the encroaching Gah Lak Tus swarm. We also have a plotline introducing Misty Knight in an almost totally superfluous role. She exists in this story only to give context to things other people can punch. What, exactly, can Captain America do against a 10,000mile-long swarm of anti-life? Not much, but he sure can punch a silver dude. How do we introduce the silver dude? Misty Knight is the answer. It's really bad storytelling to include this character in this manner. Other than that, the preparations to defeat Gah Lak Tus are fun to read, and the anguish that Reed Richards feels is palpable and believable. He is essentially forced to recreate the Manhattan Project to the millionth degree. The art is the most inconsistent in Ultimate Extinction. Some curious choices in faces and a very distracting method were used in dark scenes, where instead of shadows on a character’s face or object, parallel lines are used. That parallel line technique was not present in Ultimate Secret, and if it was used in Ultimate Nightmare, it was sparingly enough not to be noticed.
So, what is the overall verdict? This is a fun book, all said and done. Some Ultimate versions of characters could have used a bit more deviation while others were really bold and I really enjoyed. The Ultimate Nightmare portion is an easy 5/5. The tension and setting just work so well. The Ultimate Secret looks beautiful, but the story is really just an action piece and an info dump. It’s a 3/5. Ultimate Extinction, works despite its odd choice to throw Misty Knight in the mix in a book about an eldritch cosmic devouring horror. It’s a 4/5. The Vision side-story is so quick, but I guess it’s a 5/5.
Overall, I immensely enjoyed revisiting this story with an older, more critical eye. It’s a fun read, though many of the characters are different in some major ways from their MCU counterparts and will probably be different than potential future MCU characters. This is a 4/5.
The Ultimate Galactus Trilogy, like other titles in the Ultimate line of books (please see my ridiculous 17-page treatise on the Ultimates) sought to create variants of characters that had existed for decades. At the time these miniseries were published there 3 ongoing series, Ultimate X-Men, Ultimate Fantastic Four, and Ultimate Spider-Man, and the Ultimates limited series. While Ultimate Spider-Man is not featured in this series (a bit too friendly neighborhood for, you know, an extinction-level planet eater) the rest of the characters from the Ultimate series at the time make appearances. I’m not going to go into the differences between the Ultimate X-Men and Ultimate Fantastic Four, as there is no real comparison in the MCU, and I’m not doing a deep dive into the 616. I am going to cover the Ultimate variants of Sam Wilson/Falcon/Captain America, Vision, Misty Knight, Captain Marvel, Silver Surfer, and Galactus.
Ultimate Sam Wilson. He is a pretty stark contrast from what we have in the MCU. Considering this was written about 15+ years ago, Sam Wilson was in a different place in the 616, and Iron Man was probably just some storyboards it’s not surprising that Sam Wilson is so vastly different. Ultimate Falcon used to work for Nick Fury and SHIELD but left as he preferred the adventuring lifestyle. He is great with languages and is savvy in the tech department. There is no Anthony Mackie in this character. Frankly, he’s just ok in this story. I much prefer the new Captain America we have on screen.
The Ultimate Vision is different than the Ship of Theseus loving Vision of the MCU. The Vision of the 616 is a convoluted mess that requires three cups of coffee, each with a shot of bourbon, to understand. The MCU Vision is all the best parts of Tony Stark, given focus through the Mind Stone, and is on the side of life. As messy as his introduction is into the MCU, I very much came to love Vision after his less than satisfying origins (basically the second he picks of Mjolnir in Avengers: Age of Ultron, I am on the Vision train). The Ultimate Vision is a machine intelligence sent to warn civilizations that Galactus is coming. It brings with it visions of what Galactus does to planets to give them time to time to prepare, and hopefully prepare a defense. Also, Ultimate Vision has the body of a woman. So that’s different. It's an interesting take and is different. Personally, Ultimate Vision is the Ultimate universe at its best, taking a concept, turning it on its head, but still having a real connection to the source material. Does it need to be a sexy robot lady in shape? No. Other than that, it’s a fun variant.
For the 10 viewers of the Luke Cage and Defenders Netflix show, and the one true fan, Misty Knight makes an appearance. It is fine. She’s an example of a bad Ultimate variant. She’s too similar to the 616 Misty Knight. If you loved her on the Netflix series, and need more Misty Knight, this is not satisfying.
Captain Marvel is such a mess and requires a quick 616 recap. In the 616, Captain Marvel is a Kree, named Mar-Vell, who goes by the Earth alias Walter Lawson while incognito. The Captain Marvel in our zeitgeist is Carol Danvers, who in her history has been Ms. Marvel, Binary, Warbird, and Captain Marvel. The MCU skipped the Walter Lawson Mar-Vell, gender-swapping them as a Kree scientist working with the Tesseract, and played by Annette Bening, as Wendy Lawson. Brie Larson plays Captain Marvel/Carol Danvers right from the jump, and to many now the original Mar-Vell is a concept from yesteryear. Why is all this explanation necessary? Because Ultimate Captain Marvel is Philip Lawson, an incognito Kree spy/scientist, sent to observe humanity as Galactus approaches to destroy them. This Mar-Vell, excuse me, Mahr Vehl, is certainly not what we are used to in a post-Captain Marvel (2019) world. Don’t worry though Carol Danvers makes an appearance as Mahr Vehl’s handler and girlfriend. Honestly, now it’s a bit lackluster compared to the MCU Captain Marvel we are used to. It wouldn’t be too much of an issue if Mahr Vehl was interesting, but he’s not. He’s also not disintegrating. He serves as an info dump of a character that could have been more. He just boils down to the classic “going native” trope, the natives being humanity.
The Silver Surfer appeared in the best-forgotten Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer movie. He was motion captured by Doug Jones and voiced by Laurence Fishburne. Like his 616 counterparts, the Silver Surfer had “the power cosmic” and was the herald of Galactus, flying ahead to inform plants that they were soon to be destroyed. Naturally, over 60+ years the Silver Surfer’s remit has changed many times. Naturally, there are many complex stories in the 616 and a fairly bland story on screen some years ago. How does this complex character fare in the Ultimate Universe? Totally stripped down to one essential aspect, “herald of Galactus”. The Ultimate Silver Surfer is one of my most perplexing Ultimate variants. I appreciate that in this story the Silver Surfer is effectively an advanced agent of Galactus to sow discord and reduce resistance for the arrival. On the other hand, the Silver Surfer we read is essentially a cult leader, with little to no personality. To add to that, one is killed and a second one takes its place with the same blandness. The Ultimate Silver Surfer does exactly what the story needs it to do and disregards the complexities of its 616 origins and possibilities. I wish there was more, but I’m happy with what I got from it. Looking outside the Ultimate Galactus Trilogy, the Ultimate Fantastic Four series eventually met the Silver Searcher, who claims to have been the template for the Silver Surfers, and that character gets a lot more development.
Ok. The big daddy. Galactus. The devourer of worlds. The Antigod. Unlife. A bad dude with a lot of bad guy names. In the awful Fantastic Four: The Rise of the Silver Surfer, he was a nasty fart cloud moving through space. In the 616, for 60 years he has been a planet-sized man that appears as the same race as the race that he is about to consume. He is fueled by insatiable hunger and is only momentarily satiated by eating a planet. He tries to eat Earth every o couple of years or so and gets turned away. The Ultimate Universe wanted to do something different, so instead of a huge dude floating in space, they made Galactus a swarm intelligence of robots that were created in some unknown, eldritch time, and it simply goes from planet to planet, destroying all life, cracking the planet, consuming the energy from its core, and leaving an uninhabitable husk behind. Also, it's called Gah Lak Tus instead. I really love this iteration of Galactus. Due to decades of explanations, origins, retcons, reboots, Galactus is an over-explained character, instead of the hungering concept it should be. By taking it back to its roots, and putting an air of mystique on it, the faceless Gah Lak Tus swarm is a great way to reinvigorate a classic character with a new spin. Who made these machines? How were they created thousands or millions of years ago? Does it have a purpose other than hunger?
But Adam, you say, exasperated at the extensive armature analysis, what about the story? Well, it is broken down into 4 parts, which I will go over in turn.
First up, the Ultimate Nightmare. This 5 issue series features the Ultimates and the Ultimate X-Men responding to a worldwide mental and technological vision of horrors to come. The Ultimates are responding to a potential threat, while the Ultimate X-Men are the agents of Profession Xavier’s homo superior messiah complex. Ultimate Nightmare is the best of the entire trilogy in my opinion. It is a slow horror reveal as to what’s causing the psychic trauma, which is centered in the Tunguska region of Russia. I especially love that it considers the Tunguska Event from 1908 in the storytelling. The descent into an abandoned Soviet facility adds some great tension, and a tinge of body horror, to the story. Of course, in the fashion of all trilogy, a minor mystery is solved, leading to a grander and more dangerous mystery. The art is haunting, but I think the dark atmosphere covers up some shortcomings. On occasion, some of the character’s faces are a little muddy that in a sunny comic panel would be inexcusable.
The Ultimate Nightmare is followed up by the Ultimate Secret, this time focusing on the Ultimates and the Ultimate Fantastic Four. Some Kree shenanigans are occurring, and Nicky Fury gathers the Ultimates and the Fantastic Four to deal with it. Mahr Vehl is revealed, and eventually explains a lot of stuff about Gah Lak Tus. A lot of invader aliens get killed. It’s a rather rote story in my opinion. It makes sense why this was only 4 issues, while the other miniseries were 5 apiece. The art may be the best in this part of the trilogy, however, with only the occasional odd face in the background.
Trilogy? Then why did I say there are 4 parts? Well, across the Ultimate line of books at the time, several features a little mini-story featuring, and fleshing out the Ultimate Vision. The art is wildly different than the rest of the trilogy and is a welcome change. It dives into the creation and purpose of Vision and is perfectly placed between the Ultimate Secret and the Ultimate Extinction.
After the final gasp that was the Ultimate Vision story, we get the plunge into the aforementioned Ultimate Extinction. The Ultimate gather the Fantastic Four as well as members of the X-Men to fight the encroaching Gah Lak Tus swarm. We also have a plotline introducing Misty Knight in an almost totally superfluous role. She exists in this story only to give context to things other people can punch. What, exactly, can Captain America do against a 10,000mile-long swarm of anti-life? Not much, but he sure can punch a silver dude. How do we introduce the silver dude? Misty Knight is the answer. It's really bad storytelling to include this character in this manner. Other than that, the preparations to defeat Gah Lak Tus are fun to read, and the anguish that Reed Richards feels is palpable and believable. He is essentially forced to recreate the Manhattan Project to the millionth degree. The art is the most inconsistent in Ultimate Extinction. Some curious choices in faces and a very distracting method were used in dark scenes, where instead of shadows on a character’s face or object, parallel lines are used. That parallel line technique was not present in Ultimate Secret, and if it was used in Ultimate Nightmare, it was sparingly enough not to be noticed.
So, what is the overall verdict? This is a fun book, all said and done. Some Ultimate versions of characters could have used a bit more deviation while others were really bold and I really enjoyed. The Ultimate Nightmare portion is an easy 5/5. The tension and setting just work so well. The Ultimate Secret looks beautiful, but the story is really just an action piece and an info dump. It’s a 3/5. Ultimate Extinction, works despite its odd choice to throw Misty Knight in the mix in a book about an eldritch cosmic devouring horror. It’s a 4/5. The Vision side-story is so quick, but I guess it’s a 5/5.
Overall, I immensely enjoyed revisiting this story with an older, more critical eye. It’s a fun read, though many of the characters are different in some major ways from their MCU counterparts and will probably be different than potential future MCU characters. This is a 4/5.
September 11, 2019
Event miniseries from the prime of the defunct Ultimate Universe which nicely illustrates its strengths and weaknesses. The moody, military-thriller tone works brilliantly in the first miniseries here, with small teams of characters working their way into a Cold War era base, with lots of typically Ellis-y science-horror mixed in. The overall story makes sense, too, which is a rarity for any kind of event.
But the curse of the Ultimate U is that every new storyline also had to introduce “Ultimate versions” of Marvel characters, and over the course of three miniseries that means a lot of baggage, Ultimate Falcon and Ultimate Vision and Ultimate Captain Marvel and Ultimate Misty Knight all running around needing things to do - by the end most of them get siphoned off to a B-Plot involving Ultimate Moondragon (also new), whose only purpose is to manufacture action scenes while the big brains work out what to do about a very Warren Ellis version of the big G. Never bad, but the build up is the best part here - something it *does* have in common with parent universe crossovers.
But the curse of the Ultimate U is that every new storyline also had to introduce “Ultimate versions” of Marvel characters, and over the course of three miniseries that means a lot of baggage, Ultimate Falcon and Ultimate Vision and Ultimate Captain Marvel and Ultimate Misty Knight all running around needing things to do - by the end most of them get siphoned off to a B-Plot involving Ultimate Moondragon (also new), whose only purpose is to manufacture action scenes while the big brains work out what to do about a very Warren Ellis version of the big G. Never bad, but the build up is the best part here - something it *does* have in common with parent universe crossovers.
February 3, 2024
This volume is 344 pages and collects Ultimate Nightmare issues 1-5, Ultimate Secret issues 1-4, Ultimate Vision issue 0, and Ultimate Extinction issues 1-5. This trilogy is fantastic. The Ultimate Universe is a like one giant What If? issue lol. If you like reading familiar characters with a unique spin, then I highly recommend this.
Read
August 15, 2019The original Galactus Trilogy is without question one of the most significant storylines in comics history. Wildly imaginative and epic in scope, it introduced concepts and characters that have influenced superhero comics tremendously to this day. An interdimensional being who eats planets and his surfboard-riding herald are pretty heady ideas, yet Lee and Kirby made it work with forward-thinking storytelling and Marvel’s trademark grounded humanity. The thing is, though, I’ve always felt like Galactus was a one-and-done villain. Any subsequent appearance of Galactus would inevitably be less impactful, because his world-ending threat had already been established and thwarted once. This underscores a problem I have with superhero comics: telling similar stories over and over. Which is why the Ultimate line was such a good idea - it allowed decades-old characters and stories to be retooled in ways that made them feel fresh and exciting. The feeling of sameness could be substituted by creative, new ideas that otherwise wouldn’t fly in the 616 universe.
To that end, Warren Ellis’ Ultimate Galactus Trilogy is a terrific reinvention of that classic story. It bears little resemblance to Lee and Kirby’s saga, except that there’s something called Galactus coming to drain all life on Earth. The three miniseries (plus a one-shot) that make up this story present an all-hands-on deck Marvel mashup of espionage, science fiction, and high octane superheroics. Given the scale of the story and amount of characters, it’s amazing that it reads so fluidly. That it’s so much fun is almost a bonus.
The best part of the book is the sense of impending doom established from the first page. We don’t even see Gah Lak Tus (as he’s called here) until the final issue, and information about him is gradually revealed. In the first mini, “Ultimate Nightmare,” select Ultimates and X-Men separately investigate a grim signal being broadcast from Russia. This is basically a spy story, replete with tense pacing that doesn’t let up until the last issue when we hear that name dropped: “Gah Lak Tus.” It’s a page-turning five issues that sets up the story masterfully.
“Ultimate Secret” is the most fun of the three series. Without giving much away, the Kree and Captain Marvel are introduced here, and the way Ellis ties in their story to Gah Lak Tus is rather brilliant. I like how the Fantastic Four are worked in this section, too; this is where the story becomes all-encompassing, where we learn just what this mysterious entity is all about. I think having the FF, Ultimates, and X-Men involved - rather than just the FF in the original trilogy - makes sense in this universe, and gives the story the grand feeling it needs.
Things come to a head and to a close in “Ultimate Extinction.” Even more characters are introduced here, but these characters feel purposeful, not gratuitous. My only complaint is with the ending, which I think could’ve used another five or ten pages. Still, Ellis delivers a satisfying and - there’s no other word for it - epic finale.
Beyond the bombast, Ellis litters the story with great character moments and fascinating reinventions. We see for the first time Ultimate versions of Falcon, Vision, Carol Danvers, Captain Marvel, Misty Knight, and Silver Surfer. I love these versions of Vision and Silver Surfer especially. They’re quite different from their 616 counterparts, but fit the context of the story. Ellis also squeezes in some great character exchanges. The scenes with Ben, Johnny, and Thor had me cracking up. And seeing the Ultimates and Fantastic Four meet for the first time was a treat, especially Tony and Reed geeking out. I usually don’t care for huge events like this, mainly because characters tend to get lost in convoluted plotting. But Ellis balances everyone beautifully, giving them equal attention while moving the story forward. It's very impressive.
On the art side, I don’t have many complaints. Steve McNiven’s work in “Ultimate Secret” is the high point, but all the artists do good job bringing this gargantuan story to life. Even John Romita Jr., whose style I usually hate, manages some interesting visuals in the “Ultimate Vision” issue.
The Ultimate Galactus Trilogy offers proof that classic comics stories can be reconfigured in new and exciting ways. Bringing the Galactus Trilogy to a modern setting is no easy task. Ellis and co. take the foundation and expand it into something original and invigorating, resulting in arguably the high point of the Ultimate universe. At it’s core, though, is fantastically fun superhero storytelling. Don’t miss it.
To that end, Warren Ellis’ Ultimate Galactus Trilogy is a terrific reinvention of that classic story. It bears little resemblance to Lee and Kirby’s saga, except that there’s something called Galactus coming to drain all life on Earth. The three miniseries (plus a one-shot) that make up this story present an all-hands-on deck Marvel mashup of espionage, science fiction, and high octane superheroics. Given the scale of the story and amount of characters, it’s amazing that it reads so fluidly. That it’s so much fun is almost a bonus.
The best part of the book is the sense of impending doom established from the first page. We don’t even see Gah Lak Tus (as he’s called here) until the final issue, and information about him is gradually revealed. In the first mini, “Ultimate Nightmare,” select Ultimates and X-Men separately investigate a grim signal being broadcast from Russia. This is basically a spy story, replete with tense pacing that doesn’t let up until the last issue when we hear that name dropped: “Gah Lak Tus.” It’s a page-turning five issues that sets up the story masterfully.
“Ultimate Secret” is the most fun of the three series. Without giving much away, the Kree and Captain Marvel are introduced here, and the way Ellis ties in their story to Gah Lak Tus is rather brilliant. I like how the Fantastic Four are worked in this section, too; this is where the story becomes all-encompassing, where we learn just what this mysterious entity is all about. I think having the FF, Ultimates, and X-Men involved - rather than just the FF in the original trilogy - makes sense in this universe, and gives the story the grand feeling it needs.
Things come to a head and to a close in “Ultimate Extinction.” Even more characters are introduced here, but these characters feel purposeful, not gratuitous. My only complaint is with the ending, which I think could’ve used another five or ten pages. Still, Ellis delivers a satisfying and - there’s no other word for it - epic finale.
Beyond the bombast, Ellis litters the story with great character moments and fascinating reinventions. We see for the first time Ultimate versions of Falcon, Vision, Carol Danvers, Captain Marvel, Misty Knight, and Silver Surfer. I love these versions of Vision and Silver Surfer especially. They’re quite different from their 616 counterparts, but fit the context of the story. Ellis also squeezes in some great character exchanges. The scenes with Ben, Johnny, and Thor had me cracking up. And seeing the Ultimates and Fantastic Four meet for the first time was a treat, especially Tony and Reed geeking out. I usually don’t care for huge events like this, mainly because characters tend to get lost in convoluted plotting. But Ellis balances everyone beautifully, giving them equal attention while moving the story forward. It's very impressive.
On the art side, I don’t have many complaints. Steve McNiven’s work in “Ultimate Secret” is the high point, but all the artists do good job bringing this gargantuan story to life. Even John Romita Jr., whose style I usually hate, manages some interesting visuals in the “Ultimate Vision” issue.
The Ultimate Galactus Trilogy offers proof that classic comics stories can be reconfigured in new and exciting ways. Bringing the Galactus Trilogy to a modern setting is no easy task. Ellis and co. take the foundation and expand it into something original and invigorating, resulting in arguably the high point of the Ultimate universe. At it’s core, though, is fantastically fun superhero storytelling. Don’t miss it.
February 29, 2020
Just frickin awesome. The Ultimates series is just the best. Here we get a new spin on Galactus... rather than one super big dude who eats planets he’s a hive mind. Vision and Silver Surfer are also reimagined in cool new ways. The Fantastic Four get in on the action, along with the X-Men and the Ultimate Avengers. It’s a truly epic brouhaha and the stakes couldn’t be higher. Loved it from start to finish.
February 27, 2013
What was the best Marvel story ever told? Was it the death of Gwen Stacy in Amazing Spider Man #121 ? Perhaps the Dark Phoenix saga told in The Uncanny X-Men? Or perhaps it is the story of the day that the planet-eating Galactus came to Earth, a story that began in issue #48 of Fantastic Four...
The Ultimate Galactus Trilogy retells this classic Marvel story and manages to exceed its source material in every way. Ever wondered where the Avengers and X-Men were when Galactus turns up in New York City? Ultimate Galactus addresses this, bringing in not only the Fantastic Four, Avengers (or Ultimates as they are called in this universe) and the X-Men but also the Kree superhero Captain Marvel, Vision, and even, oddly enough, Misty Knight.
The concept of Galactus is brilliantly and frighteningly reimagined here and draws just enough on the iconographic source material to satisfy the old fans while bringing it up to date (that purple suit with the big "G" just had to go!)
It should be noted that the movie version of the Galactus story (Fantastic Four:Rise of the Silver Surfer) takes some influences from Ultimate Galactus but failed to pull it off. Read Ultimate Galactus and find out how it should have been done.
Things to look out for:
Vision does a Starbuck - Vision is now female (most of the time)
Iron Man vs Silver Surfer - You just know someone's going to get hurt
The Ultimate Galactus Trilogy retells this classic Marvel story and manages to exceed its source material in every way. Ever wondered where the Avengers and X-Men were when Galactus turns up in New York City? Ultimate Galactus addresses this, bringing in not only the Fantastic Four, Avengers (or Ultimates as they are called in this universe) and the X-Men but also the Kree superhero Captain Marvel, Vision, and even, oddly enough, Misty Knight.
The concept of Galactus is brilliantly and frighteningly reimagined here and draws just enough on the iconographic source material to satisfy the old fans while bringing it up to date (that purple suit with the big "G" just had to go!)
It should be noted that the movie version of the Galactus story (Fantastic Four:Rise of the Silver Surfer) takes some influences from Ultimate Galactus but failed to pull it off. Read Ultimate Galactus and find out how it should have been done.
Things to look out for:
Vision does a Starbuck - Vision is now female (most of the time)
Iron Man vs Silver Surfer - You just know someone's going to get hurt
February 27, 2023
Me ha encantado. Me ha encantado absolutamente. La historia más desesperada de todas, con una calidad gráfica absolutamente a la altura, y una reimaginación de personajes clásicos como la Visión o Estela Plateada completamente sorprendente.
Lo único en contra es que, como pasa en otros números, la época del cómic se nota. Quiero decir, el argumento de la Visión de "me dieron la capacidad de adoptar la forma de aquella especie a la que debo avisar y ayudar, que es por lo que en todo momento necesito ENORMES MELONES" es un poco bastante rancio. Pero bueno, son cosas de la época, sin más.
Lo único en contra es que, como pasa en otros números, la época del cómic se nota. Quiero decir, el argumento de la Visión de "me dieron la capacidad de adoptar la forma de aquella especie a la que debo avisar y ayudar, que es por lo que en todo momento necesito ENORMES MELONES" es un poco bastante rancio. Pero bueno, son cosas de la época, sin más.
April 2, 2019
Ultimate version of the Galactus trilogy from Fantastic Four. And it's pretty awesome. They changed a lot of the story but it's really good. Instead of 3 issues, it's actually three 5 issue mini-series. Involves everyone, not just the FF. Ultimates, X-Men, Nick Fury, Capt Marvel, etc.
January 27, 2015
If this is the pitched idea for the Fantastic Four reboot film set next year, then I am all up for it. Qyuick, get the MCU and Fox labels to work on this together!
July 22, 2024
Una reinterpretación de Galactus iconoclasta y conseguida pero de ritmo muy lento.
December 17, 2019
I actually missed this one back when it was released. Being a huge nerd I had collected the entirety of the Ultimate universe except for this and a couple other books until 10 or so years ago. Even so, I hadn't taken the time to read it.
With House of X / Powers of X ushered in this year to critical acclaim I felt I should follow the Hickman trail back to collect the story. This lead me to Hickman' Avengers, Secret wars, Ultimate Cataclysm, and then Galactus.
And I was ready.
It had such a promising start. The premise was crawling with tension and offered multiple mysteries to the story that were never touched on in previous books. It connects with Ultimates and the origins of Falcon well and then brings in the big reveal of: Vision.
And this is where it began to falter. Because Vision almost plays the role of the main universe's Silver Surfer, and the surfer doesn't actually get mentioned until the final 3 issues of this run. Like... what? Out of all the problems that arose on the back end of this book this one just made the least sense. You have a book surrounding Galactus and completely ignore the silver surfer for 10 issues? And then you introduce a bunch of random clone assassins and some other garbage to round it out for no reason? And these things are then NEVER mentioned in following titles?
It all concludes in a flat way and without much satisfaction. I had high hopes but, without dragging on, I'll leave it at that. I had missed this one and feel that I didn't need it to enjoy the rest of the Ultimate universe.
2/5 stars.
With House of X / Powers of X ushered in this year to critical acclaim I felt I should follow the Hickman trail back to collect the story. This lead me to Hickman' Avengers, Secret wars, Ultimate Cataclysm, and then Galactus.
And I was ready.
It had such a promising start. The premise was crawling with tension and offered multiple mysteries to the story that were never touched on in previous books. It connects with Ultimates and the origins of Falcon well and then brings in the big reveal of: Vision.
And this is where it began to falter. Because Vision almost plays the role of the main universe's Silver Surfer, and the surfer doesn't actually get mentioned until the final 3 issues of this run. Like... what? Out of all the problems that arose on the back end of this book this one just made the least sense. You have a book surrounding Galactus and completely ignore the silver surfer for 10 issues? And then you introduce a bunch of random clone assassins and some other garbage to round it out for no reason? And these things are then NEVER mentioned in following titles?
It all concludes in a flat way and without much satisfaction. I had high hopes but, without dragging on, I'll leave it at that. I had missed this one and feel that I didn't need it to enjoy the rest of the Ultimate universe.
2/5 stars.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 21, 2018
Book Info: This collection contains
Ultimate Nightmare
issues #1-5,
Ultimate Secret
issues #1-4, and
Ultimate Extinction
issues #1-5.
OVERALL RATING:
ABSOLUTE RATING: {4/5 stars}
STANDARDIZED RATING: <4/5 stars>
------------------------------------------------
ABSOLUTE RATING: {3.5+/5 stars}
STANDARDIZED RATING: <4/5 stars>
Review for Ultimate Galactus, Vol. 1: Nightmare
ABSOLUTE RATING: {3.5+/5 stars}
STANDARDIZED RATING: <4/5 stars>
Review for Ultimate Galactus, Vol. 2: Secret
ABSOLUTE RATING: {4+/5 stars}
STANDARDIZED RATING: <5/5 stars>
Review for Ultimate Galactus, Vol. 3: Extinction
OVERALL RATING:
ABSOLUTE RATING: {4/5 stars}
STANDARDIZED RATING: <4/5 stars>
------------------------------------------------
ABSOLUTE RATING: {3.5+/5 stars}
STANDARDIZED RATING: <4/5 stars>
Review for Ultimate Galactus, Vol. 1: Nightmare
ABSOLUTE RATING: {3.5+/5 stars}
STANDARDIZED RATING: <4/5 stars>
Review for Ultimate Galactus, Vol. 2: Secret
ABSOLUTE RATING: {4+/5 stars}
STANDARDIZED RATING: <5/5 stars>
Review for Ultimate Galactus, Vol. 3: Extinction
October 30, 2021
Vuelta de tuerca a la historia de Galactus, 4F, pratrulla-X y toda la cuchipandi. A resaltar: una grafía impresionante, muy cuidada a lo largo de todo el comic, siendo lo largo que es! Además de este punto fuerte, la trama engancha bastante. Está contada como una película de superhéroes, cosa curiosa, la influencia de los comics en el cine y ahora al revés. Hay algunos personajes con algún giro de guion (el propio Galactus y también estela plateada) y otros giros secundarios, que se desvían ligeramente de las historias contadas ad-infinitum. En el lado oscuro está pues... los superhéroes americanos, adictivos a la vez que peñazos, sale el 'capi' luchando contra su némesis rusa y tratando de volver a distinguir lo blanco de lo negro. Esas aguas subterráneas en las historias de superhéroes, esa clara diferenciación meridiana de lo que está bien y lo que está mal, es lo que suele restar puntos a este tipo de comics. Por lo demás, para los fans, una delicia. Eso sí, tragar sin pensar qué nos están metiendo grasas saturadas y haciendo paté el cerebrito.
July 18, 2024
The Ultimate universe take on Galactus is...weird. and I see how it influenced some of the movies as it was popular to use the Universe stories as a template for things.
The three-act structure felt a little long-winded as the whole first arc boiled down to looking for the source of the mysterious transmissions, which turned out to be a very different version of the Vision. And that led to the big warning of a greater threat - this being Gah Lak Tus, the hive mind swarm that has been consuming planet after planet, which I suppose is more realistic than a giant man dressed in purple. It's a very real threat and it takes everyone working together to figure out a way to survive things. There was a chance for the Ultimates/Avengers, the Fantastic Four, and the X-Men to shine in different ways, plus a lot of Nick Fury getting mad about things.
The three-act structure felt a little long-winded as the whole first arc boiled down to looking for the source of the mysterious transmissions, which turned out to be a very different version of the Vision. And that led to the big warning of a greater threat - this being Gah Lak Tus, the hive mind swarm that has been consuming planet after planet, which I suppose is more realistic than a giant man dressed in purple. It's a very real threat and it takes everyone working together to figure out a way to survive things. There was a chance for the Ultimates/Avengers, the Fantastic Four, and the X-Men to shine in different ways, plus a lot of Nick Fury getting mad about things.
August 21, 2017
I read this story when it was released years ago, in single comics. Included in the trilogy was Ultimate Nightmare, Ultimate Secret and Ultimate Extinction. Warren Ellis wrote the entire series but several different arts were involved.
Ultimate Nightmare was my favorite because of how dark that it was. Dark in tone and colors. Two different sets of super heroes with the same objective, unbeknownst to one another. A very good start to the trilogy.
The other two just didn't live up to the start. The ending was very abrupt and left many questions unresolved. Still, looking back it was enjoyable and worth the cost. I read it all digitally from Amazon for less than $6 It's hard to beat that price.
Ultimate Nightmare was my favorite because of how dark that it was. Dark in tone and colors. Two different sets of super heroes with the same objective, unbeknownst to one another. A very good start to the trilogy.
The other two just didn't live up to the start. The ending was very abrupt and left many questions unresolved. Still, looking back it was enjoyable and worth the cost. I read it all digitally from Amazon for less than $6 It's hard to beat that price.
June 11, 2018
This was a Frakenstein's Monster project . Initially conceived by Mark Millar (who had to bow out due to illness and workload), Warren was brought on to recover it. So, the story went from a crossover to trilogy and Warren Ellis reused the plot from one of his cancelled comics (concerning the apocalypse) as fill-in.
It's much better than the original Galactus Trilogy (by Stan Lee and Kirby) and it's quite chilling at times. Yet, it's clearly Warren Ellis on autopilot. That being said, there's his trademark wit and pithiness throughout. And phenomenal character moments, such as Captain America feeling outclassed next to Reed Richards and Tony Stark regarding intelligence.
It's much better than the original Galactus Trilogy (by Stan Lee and Kirby) and it's quite chilling at times. Yet, it's clearly Warren Ellis on autopilot. That being said, there's his trademark wit and pithiness throughout. And phenomenal character moments, such as Captain America feeling outclassed next to Reed Richards and Tony Stark regarding intelligence.
January 27, 2025
I read this before over a decade ago when the original trades came out and decided to give it another whirl with the whole thing collected together. The first thing I'll say is that you also get Vision #0 in here which isn't in the individual trades. It's a cool take on Galactus. The three miniseries work very well on their own building up the story and the threat, along with bringing in the Ultimates, Fantastic Four and The X-Men as the story calls for it. We also get new and very different Ultimate versions of characters like the Silver Surfer and Moon Dragon. Also Galactus is completely different other than being a planet destroyer. It's good stuff but then all of the early days of the original Ultimate universe is.
July 15, 2024
I'm not quite sure what to make of this, the first volume of the three is absolutely brilliant, but the final volume is toe-curlingly wretched. With, I swear to god, some of the most cringe flirting you will ever read.
March 24, 2017
It was fine, but could've used more actual Galactus.
June 21, 2017
Not what I was expecting but enjoyable regardless. The threat of the all consuming Galactus has been given an adequate enough level of greatness without him ever making an appearance in the book.
September 30, 2018
Great first and second act. Horrible third.
May 13, 2019
Nice tale from the early days of the Ultimates comics line. This storyline had a major impact on the FF:Rise of the Silver Surfer movie, which is a bigger complement than it sounds.
October 29, 2019
Vaguely remember there being a cool idea or two.
But ultimately nothing lives up to the legacy of the original. And I don't remember liking that Carol Danvers. Felt like a lot of steps backwards.
But ultimately nothing lives up to the legacy of the original. And I don't remember liking that Carol Danvers. Felt like a lot of steps backwards.
March 15, 2022
The first third was the best part. Middle felt pretty pointless and the final third was too drawn out until the final issue and then it was rushed.
March 17, 2022
4.5
Great stuff
Great stuff
April 3, 2022
I gradually began to hate the Ultimates.
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