In this column, our resident ‘comics guy’ Fred Azeredo expounds on a single comic book issue every month. Not necessarily the biggest, not necessarily the best, just one he thinks is worth discussing! See if you agree!
I swear I didn’t plan this. Just last month, I was holding up Marvel’s new Ultimate line as a shining example of nostalgia done right. And now, Deniz Camp has delivered an issue that sums up the new imprint’s appeal perfectly. I may be slightly biased, as the superspy Steranko-style Nick Fury this one-shot features is by far my favourite version of the character, but this is really top-tier comics continuity porn. The twist at the end (which I shan’t spoil) is brutal yet consistent with what we know of this pitiless world.
If you haven’t yet made your way to this series, here’s a primer: the new Ultimate Universe is essentially the creation of the Maker, AKA evil Reed Richards from the previous Ultimate Universe (which was, of course, destroyed in Secret Wars). Using time travel, he shapes this timeline into one where he rules supreme and most of the World’s Mightiest Heroes never came into being. After Howard Stark’s rebellion and the Maker’s two-year imprisonment, that begins to change: an older and married Peter Parker finally gains his spider-powers, a very different group of X-Men arises in Japan, and Howard’s son Tony dons his Iron Lad armour and begins assembling a resistance team. In this column, our resident ‘comics guy’ Fred Azeredo expounds on a single comic book issue every month. Not necessarily the biggest, not necessarily the best, just one he thinks is worth discussing! See if you agree!
One Year In, as the title suggests, takes stock of things one year into the Maker’s absence, just after Stark’s Ultimates faced the Hulk—now one of the Maker’s Council, a group of supervillains that rules the world on his behalf—and came away badly beaten. Yet it doesn’t even check in on the heroes, instead focusing entirely on the squabbling of the Council and Fury, their current spymaster. The issue tells a neat self-contained story—exceedingly rare in comics today—as Fury wrestles with the horrific things he’s done to prop up the regime, from perpetrating an Inhuman genocide to executing the Power Pack, then decides to do something about it. It reminds me a little of Garth Ennis’ excellent Fury maxi, which had an aged Fury dictating memoirs of his dirty deeds in the Cold War.
In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if the reference is intentional. Camp clearly loves highly specific nods to Marvel history, like the Seven Immortal Weapons from Fraction and Brubaker’s excellent Immortal Iron Fist that popped up in Ultimates #6. Yet it never gets out of hand (unlike, say, the obsessive retconning of Joshua Williamson’s recent work) because it serves the characters. Fury’s flashbacks to his classic spy exploits are mainly relevant as a motivator for him to take action against the Council, not just an excuse for Jonas Scharf to draw some trippy Steranko art (though it is also that). Pay attention, DC; you might learn some lessons here.