Ultimates Avengers 3 #1, #2, #3 and #4 - Marvel

I love the Ultimate Universe . . I think there is a great cast of characters here. I also love the 'break from conformity' that we get with these stories. I just have to keep remembering that the Avengers here are the 'covert' team. And that the Ultimates are the 'main-attraction'. I guess I'm just not used to that paradigm, so I get surprised every time I start reading a new one of these mini-series. Anyways, in this story we find out that there's someone out there who is trying to consolidate all the various factions of the vampire underworld. Plus . . he has aspirations of adding the 'super-hero' element to his consolidated army. In the first few issues it's kind of inferred that the culprit is none other than Tony Stark. He's wearing an older Iron Man shell, and . . his name is Anthony. We also find out that he's only been recently bitten, and is already using his intellect to try to do what the various vampire leaders have been talking about doing for years. In the first few issues things start to look bad for the 'super-heroes' already. First we see a new 'hero' develop, Ray Connor. He's the new Daredevil, and he's already being trained by Stick. However, he's barely on the scene when he and Stick are taken out by a vampire attack. And specifically . . the Nerd Hulk. It appears that Bruce was also recently 'converted', and is eager to prove that he can be more of an asset to this team than he was to his previous one. It isn't long before Anthony uses the Hulk, and his internal tracking device, to lure Nick Fury and his hastily assembled Avengers into a trap. They're lured into the sewers of Manhattan where Cap, Steve Rogers, is the next one bitten. Anyways, while all of this is going on, Blade is also working himself into this story . . from the outside in. He's just going about his normal routine . . killing vampires, when he also gets propositioned by Anthony to join his new Vampire nation. That's when he learns about Anthony trying to 'recruit' some super-hero vampires. He gets involved with the Avengers when they take Cap back to the Triskellion, after he's bitten. I have a feeling that Cap's Super-Soldier-Serum, that's coursing through his veins, will be able to counteract the viral assault. But . . as of these issues we don't see that happening, yet. In fact Cap tries to take a bite out of Blade . . when Blade tries to 'Stake' him. But he's got to know that won't have any affect on him . . seeing as he's already half Vampire. But he uses the distraction to break free, and join up with the rest of the Vampires. That's when Tony, and Gregory Stark get involved. It turns out the Anthony that's running around in Tony's old armor is actually Anthony, 'the greatest Vampire hunter of all time'. He's the one that trained Blade, as well as Stick and Stone and Shaft, and personally recruited Matt Murdock as the original Daredevil. Apparently, about a month ago, one of the Vampires got the drop on him. Anyways, by the end of issue #4, Nerd Hulk decides that he wants to make a play for the leadership role. After antagonizing and challenging Anthony . . he swiftly takes him out. 'Gamma Radiation mixed with Vampire blood? I won this fight before I even showed up, dumbass.' So now the question is, how will this change in leadership alter the Vampire's plans? And . . when will Cap get back to being himself, and go postal on these creatures of the night? Mark Millar is doing a great job with this story. But . . I expected nothing less. I'm also thrilled with Steve Dillon's art. His art is so crisp and clean, it's the perfect antithesis for the dark nature of this story. Plus it looks really good. The covers are by Leinel Yu, Ed McGuinness, Olivier Coipel and Greg Land respectfully. They all look stunning. My only question is . . why are there Vampires everywhere nowadays? They're plaguing the X-Men right now, as well as the Avengers, the small and big screen, and a variety of other places. All of the sudden they've become the chic anti-hero? It's interesting, but . . it's all getting to be a bit to much for me. Vampire stories, for me, are ok every now and again. But right now . . everywhere you turn they're popping up. Kind of like the Marvel Zombies a year or so ago. Anyways, I like this title, as well as this group. I think the Ultimate Universe is putting out some great material. It's interesting, full of fresh ideas, and . . they aren't afraid to shake things up a bit. I've enjoyed every one of their titles.

Ultimate Comics - New Ultimates #3 - Marvel

This issue gives us a lot of the background on Barbara Morris . . Valkrie. If that's even her real name. She was wandering around kind of aimlessly in life until one day she came across an ad on the internet for the Defenders. They were looking for new team-mates. They were a super-team in the traditional sense, as they had no powers. Little did they know that this little girl from . . well, somewhere . . would change all that. Somehow, in her longing to have real powers, she garners the attention of Loki. Although, she doesn't knot that's who it is. Anyways, he turns her into a real Valkrie and Thor falls in love with her. But then Thor got banished to Death's realm . . from which he's been trying to get out ever since, and Valkrie has once again been kind of aimless. Mostly because she doesn't feel that the rest of the team respects, or trusts her. And . . she's probably right. They just didn't say anything when Thor was around. Anyways, so now Loki is trying to make a bid to take over New York City, and he and Amora have got Valkrie, Zarda and Carol Danvers under his spell. Although Carol's faking it, which is what helps to turn the tide. All through this book you know that Valkrie is under his spell, but the way she's talking and thinking . . it just seems that she's kind of given up hope, and also doesn't trust her team-mates. It isn't until Hawkeye shoots Amora, loosening her grip, that Valkrie realizes how far off the path she's gotten. She comes after Loki, but he uses her own sword to impale her. However, just as that happens . . Thor shows up. Having witnessed what Loki has done to Valkrie . . he is seriously pissed. Jeph Loeb does a great job with the interaction and dialogue of these characters. I liked the way he had Valkrie thinking about all of this throughout the story, and using her emotions to justify everything that she's doing. Like I said, without realizing how far off the path she had gotten. I thought it was a great issue, and, as always, I loved Frank Cho's art. I can't wait to see how the dynamic changes here, now that Thor is back. And . . what he's going to do to Loki. This is a great book. I love every issue of it.

Ultimate Comics - New Ultimates #2 - Marvel

So, while the Ultimates are fighting a legion . . seemingly from Asgard, Loki is busy manipulating things from behind the scenes. Well, he and the Enchantress. At least that's who I think she is. Right now it seems like all the women on this team are being abused in some way or another. Captain America is giving the Valkyrie the third degree. He wants to know what she's up to, her relationship with these Defenders, and how she got her powers. But she's still mourning over the loss of Thor. So one more person yelling at her isn't helping her mood at all. And she bolts. Zarda is still feeling like she's not getting the appreciation that she deserves. Afterall, on her home world she's a Goddess. And Carol Danvers? Well it seems that Carol is just looking to get burnt. She's in an intimate relationship with Tony right now . . a discreet one, until Clint accidentally walks in on them. But we all know how Tony's relationships end. As I'm sure does Carol. So to be involved like this, she's either mucking about as much as he does, or . . she's looking for a reason to hate Tony even more. Anyways, the Enchantress catches them at these weakest moments and convinces them to turn on their teammates. Valkyrie is especially easy as it seems that Loki is whom actually provided her with powers. I'm sure she feels that if she doesn't do what he asks she'll have to go back to being an average teen-aged 'Barbie'. Anyways, the rest of the team is engaged in battle when these 3 'team-mates' show up and basically catch them with their pants down. Zarda takes out Iron Man, Valkyrie takes out Captain America, and Carol appears to shoot Clint right between the eyes. The issue ends with them standing upon a pile of their fallen 'team-mates' . . the hordes of Asgard behind them. Jeph Loeb did a fantastic job with the story. I thought the characterization and manipulation were perfect. I know Mark Millar is writing the Ultimate Avengers, but it's going to be hard for him to keep up with the level of intensity in this book. I've been a fan of this team ever since the first issue . . of the first series. Some what . . like 4 series ago? Anyways, I really like the approach that they've taken here. And it appears that this incarnation with definitely live up to the previous ones. Especially with Frank Cho on the art this time. I can't wait to see what happens next.

Ultimate Comics - New Ultimates #1 - Marvel

I told you I've been cutting back on the variant covers. Well . . that's still true. But . . sometimes when things pop up on e-bay I just can't help myself. That's what happened here. I was perfectly content just to pick up the the cover that came out on this issue. It's the one at the right here. It's a gate-fold cover, and unfolds about 8 times. So it's kind of like getting a poster with your book. I was fine with that. However, after looking around e-bay . . and about $8 later, it ends up that I have all 3 covers. Honest to god . . that wasn't my intention. But for anybody looking . . there's a ton of them listed on e-bay right now. They're pretty easy to find. Anyways, this story picks up 8 months after the Ultimatum. Tony Stark has decided to put the Ultimates back together again, and right now the team consists of Iron Man, Hawkeye, Valkyrie, Zarda and Captain America. Thor is still on the team, but he's stuck in Valhalla right now. Speaking of which . . Hela has decided that she'll let him go, if he provides her with a son. Talk about your cure being worse than the symptoms. Anyways, there's really not much going on other than your usual crime-fighting, until the team is attacked by the Defenders. They're on the side of good, but for some reason they attack the Ultimates so that they can take off with the hammer, Mjolnir. Now Valkyrie has no way of going after Thor. Anyways, the Defenders consist of Black Knight, Hellcat, Nighthawk, Son of Satan and Power Man. They're pictured on the cover to the left here. I'm not sure why they're after the hammer. Or why they had to attack them to get it. But the interesting part, to Tony, is that none of these people had any powers a few weeks ago. Yes they were essentially a team of powerless crime fighters. But then they disappeared off the radar a few weeks ago, and now . . this is how they come back. They've always been admirers of the Ultimates, so . . maybe they made some kind of deal to be like them. I don't know. That's a story for the future. And the Ultimates have some other things to worry about. Later, while T'Challa, Ka-Zar and Shanna are walking through Central Park, they witness the arrival of Loki and Amora with what looks like an army of trolls. So this team has gone from things being relatively quiet in the beginning of this issue, to having things attacking them from all sides in the course of a day. And of course the issue ends with Tony in bed with yet another woman. This time it's Colonel Carol Danvers. Talk about oil and vinegar. This is a relationship just waiting to blow up in their faces. Anyways, I thought this was a terrific opening chapter by Jeph Loeb and Frank Cho. I just hope they got a few issues ahead on Frank's work. You know how he can get behind schedule. I love his work. He's a great artist. But things usually fall behind pretty fast on his books. Here's hoping that they'll have a solution to the problem this time. As usual I have very high hopes for this book. The first 3, or was it 4? . . the first 3 times at this title have been fantastic. I'm hoping for more of the same.

Ultimate Captain America Annual #1 - Marvel

I really like this issue. I thought that Jeph Loeb did a fantastic job with the story. I also really enjoyed Rafa Sandoval and Marko Djurdjevic's artwork. There were some pages that were really incredible. But, going into this, I had to ask myself why there was a Captain America annual happening in the Ultimate Universe. I mean sure he's an important and strong character, and all. But, up until now, he really hasn't played all that important of a role in the Ultimate Universe. Well, except for in the Ultimates . . of course. But now I'm thinking that these annuals have more to do with the March on Ultimatum storyline, than anything else. What this issue does is kind of fills in the gaps on what happened to the Black Panther at the end of the Secret Origins mini series. It also explains why, on the Ultimate team, Cap was a robot and Steve was filling in as the Black Panther. Well . . it doesn't really explain the robot part, but . . we do get an understanding as to why Steve was covering up T'Challa's departure. I assume the robot was all just part of Tony's involvement. But . . I could be wrong. Overall, though . . I thought it was a pretty decent issue. Maybe we do need to explore the Captain America character a little more in the Ultimate Universe. We'll have to see what the future holds.

the Ultimates 3 - #5 - Marvel

The little picture on the right is what the actual fold-out cover looks like. It's 3 panels. But this picture is so small, I wanted to get a better picture so you can see what the actual art looks like. The alternate cover is an image of what actually has taken place in this book. Apparently, through this whole mini-series, we haven't actually been dealing with the actual Ultimates, but rather replacement robots that were built and substituted by Ultron. Hank and Jan have shrunk down and are hiding in Tony's mansion, spying on Ultron, which is how we learn about his whole master plan. Basically, we don't know for sure, but we're assuming that somehow Wanda changed his programming a bit . . he ends up falling in love with her. He was also the one that shot her when he thought that he would never be able to have her because of Pietro. Anyways, long story short, everybody ends up in the Savage Land and that's where the whole plan of Ultron's comes apart . . mostly because of Magneto. He's really pissed because both his kids are dead now. You know how Hawkeye has this death wish? Well Magneto is prattling on and on and he just wants him to shut up. So he shoots him with his cross-bow, but Pietro jumps in front of the arrow to save his father. Unfortunately he may have just brought about the end of the Ultimate Universe because now Magneto has gone off the deep end . . or rather pulled up a chunk of the Earth and has flown off into space . . and is ready to take it all apart. We also find out, on the very last page, that it was actually Doom that was the orchestrator of Hank's monumental #&ck up! I thought Jeph Loeb did a masterful job with this mini-series. The story was fantastic. The feel, and subject matter, was perfect for the Ultimate Universe. And it looks like this book, along with Ultimate Secrets, is going to lead directly into the March on Ultimatum story-line. Of course Joe Madureira's pencils were equally magnificent. It's hard to believe that the Ultimates have been around for what? . . about 8 years now? In that time they've had 3 different series, with a total of . . I think . . 32 books. That's really not a lot . . especially considering the time period. But . . each of those titles has brought something different to this franchise. And each title, I think, was better than it's predecessor. I'm sure everybody has their favorite Ultimate story through this time period, but, for me, it's this last mini-series. Between story and art, I thought it was near-perfect. From what I understand this March on Ultimatum story-line is going to redefine, and redesign, the Ultimate Universe. On the other side of it, hopefully, there will be another Ultimate title. I can't wait to see what that one brings us.

the Ultimates 3 - #4 - Marvel

This whole story . . actually the rebirth of this series . . started with the killing of Wanda. At least as far as we know . . . she's dead . . or as dead as anyone is in the comic book world. Anyways, somehow she was killed by a 'magic bullet'. And I don't mean the one fired from the grassy knoll. So Magneto, and his Brotherhood, attack the Mansion to retrieve her body, and in the process convinces Quicksilver to come along with him. They then retreat to the Savage Land. The Ultimates do what they do . . and decide to send a team after him. They also decide to leave a team in New York to investigate Wanda's shooting. In the Savage Land, the team is in for a heck of a fight because they also have to deal with Ka-zar, Shanna, and their tribe. Oh yeah . . Sabretooth is there also . . for some reason. But I think the group left in Manhattan may be the bigger problem. Janet and Hank discover that most of the ones that stayed behind at Tony's tower . . including Tony . . are actually robots. I think these may be the Ultimate Universe version of Ultron. Actually that's just a guess, but . . . Hank tells Janet that they whole situation may be his fault because the leader, the one posing as Giant Man . . "He's our son." Anytime Jeph Loeb is at the writing helm you just know it's going to be a good story. He really works all angles of the characters and their stories. He does a great job of pulling the reader in. Also . . the artwork of Joe Madureira . . is incredible. I know he won't be on this book forever. He's just to big of a talent. So enjoy his art on this title while you can. I especially love his women. Shanna and Valkrie look sexy as hell. Anyways next issue is supposedly the conclusion of this story, so it'll also probably be Joe's last issue. That's sad. But . . since he hasn't done anything lately, I'm just happy for the issues that we did get. This is easily one of the best books out there right now. Hands down!

the Ultimates 3 - #3 - Marvel

What an amazing book. I think this may be the best volume yet. But it's early. So . . we'll see. Jeph Loeb and Joe Madureira are at the helm this time. It seems as if Marvel is allowing certain liberties with these characters, and he definitely appears to be taking advantage of the freedom. Of course it's the Ultimate Universe, so new and radical thinking is encouraged. Also Joe's artwork is amazing. He's using more of a painted style in this book, and it's incredible. Page after page of beautiful panels. And the page where Logan meets up with Magda, and apparently she seduces him . . . was really something. Worth the price of admission alone. Right now this book has everything. Especially with the addition of Wolverine. We get some of Logan's back story from the end of WWII. How he first came across the Magneto clan. And how he learned first hand just what the extent of Wanda's powers are. We also have the whole thing with Thor and Valkyrie kind of floating around out there. There's the Clint Barton with the death wish hanging around. And don't forget about the sex-tapes, of Tony Stark's, that are floating around on the internet. Now, with this issue, half of the group has gone off in search of Wanda's body, and they've landed in the Savage Land. "Welcome to our home. I'm Shanna and this is my boyfriend Ka-Zar." The other half is looking in to the "magic" bullet. Wanda has already found out that it was actually made by Stark Industries. But it looks like she's got bigger problems on her hands. This is what the Ultimate Universe is all about. Pushing the boundaries. Looking at things from a different perspective. Being daring. Letting it rip!

the Ultimates 3 - #2 - Marvel

This title has a few things going for it. First . . . it's the Ultimates. And of course that means we're in the Ultimate Universe. Yay! Then . . it's written by Jeph Loeb. And last, but not least, it's drawn by Joe Madureira. There's really not much else this book could do to be near perfect. Unless it was free of course! Ha-ha, just playin'! It really is a great book though. Like I said, this book has everything. It even has Spider-man. He's in a neat little fight with Hawkeye in the beginning. But mostly this issue is about the attack on the Avengers . . whoops . . sorry, the Ultimates, by the Brotherhood of Evil. Last issue the Scarlet Witch was shot down. This issue, Magneto and his team have come to retrieve her body. This team consists of the Blob, Lorelei, Sabretooth, Mystique and Jamie Madrox. They do so, and in the process, take Quicksilver with them also. But after they leave, they find out they have even more problems. Knocking on their door is none other than . . . Wolverine. Nice cliffhanger. The real hot part about this book though is Valkrie. The bio says that 6 weeks ago she was an ordinary groupie that now possess' the power of a goddess. They aren't sure how she got those powers, or how she enthralled Thor so quickly. But she is . . . HOT! Lorelei comes to disable Thor . . you know, take out the big-guns quick . . and Valkrie is jumping around fighting her and Thor. And I'm telling you, this chick is HOT! Meoww! Plus Mystique goes up to try to confuse Tony, by posing as Natasha, and she is equally as hot! So really, in my opinion, this book has everything. Action, intrigue, sex, great characters, great story, and great art. This is the third incarnation of the group, and, in my opinion, the best yet. Now we'll just have to see if they can survive the long run. Let's hope so.

the Ultimates 3 - #1 - Marvel

What an awesome return for the Ultimate Avengers book. First of all, we have the brilliant scripts of Jeph Loeb. And on this first issue, he settles right in with the characters. He seems to have a handle on every one of them. Next we have the beautiful art of Joe Madureira. We haven't seen him on a regular series of late, so it's especially nice to see him on this book. The artwork is truly breathtaking. Also we have the next incarnation of this awesome team. They've actually been around in the Ultimate universe for, I think, about 4 years now. But, between the first and second incarnation, we've only gotten 25 issues. So I'm hoping, as I'm sure are the rest of you, that with this incarnation maybe we can get back on track as far as publishing. And finally, we have what looks like 2 different covers. But actually its the same cover . . 6 panels . . . but split between 2 books. The one side is all the heroes. The other is all the villains. Fan-frikkin-tastic! My complaint about the Ultimate X-Men was based on lack of originality, and ideas. But this book abounds in them. Just in the first issue we have a sex scandal with Tony Stark and the Black Widow. Actually it's some taped footage of their rendezvous that's been released all across the media spectrum. This upsets Wasp because she's the leader of the team, and also because, I think, she has an "on again, off again" thing going with Tony also. Then we have the relationship between Wanda and Pietro. In this series they're actually in love with each other. Yes they're still brother and sister. But, they're also head over heals in love. About 6 weeks ago, I guess, a 19 year old girl showed up with the powers of the gods. She calls herself Valkyrie. And Thor is head over heals in love with her. Clint Barton is back as Hawkeye. But he's even broodier and self-destructive than he was before. This time he seems to have a real death with. It appears that Henry Pym is a drug addict. And on the final page of this issue, it appears that the Scarlet Witch has been killed. Wow!! That's alot for the first issue. These guys definitely didn't want to ease in to things. What a fantastic book. I'm sure there's going to be a lot of high hopes for this one.

the Ultimates 2 - #13 - Marvel

This one is actually kind of sad . . . in a way. This book wraps up the Ultimates 2. I'm glad they kept Mark Millar and Bryan Hitch on the whole series, to keep it consistent. But, I can guess at their reasoning for letting the book end. I'm thinking that they're going to start over with a new creative team. This one was fantastic, but with each of them having so much on their plates, it was getting hard to get issues out. I mean right from the beginning, we waited 2 or 3 months between issues. Then, as the series moved on, those time frames got lengthier and lengthier. It's been about 8 months, or maybe a little longer, since issue #12 came out. So, I believe, that this particular series was becoming impractical for pretty much everyone involved. And although we all loved it, it's probably better to end it and move on to the next chapter. I'm sure we'll see all these heroes back together again. Actually right now, they're over in the Ultimate Power book. With . . . pretty much everyone else from the Ultimate Universe. Actually, they do give us a nice little parting gift in this book. The centerfold fold out and is actually a nice little 8 page mini poster. When I first saw it, I started unfolding it, and I thought "WOW!". But then I realized that the other side unfolded also. I spread the whole thing out . . . and I was just blown away. I'm also blown away by who they execute at the end. This was a fantastic ending to a fantastic series. Like I said, I just hope that we see an Ultimates 3 coming up sometime in the near future. This is just to good of a team, and a concept, to not have listed somewhere in the upcoming issues. Excelsior!

Ultimates 2 #12 - Marvel

The Liberators have come to capture America. And they're not afraid of using as much force as possible. So this has brought everyone back together. Including the Hulk, who they tricked the world into believing was killed. But with these guys, they really need all their big guns. The problem is, they caught the Ultimates, and the country, so much by suprise, that they had already gained a lot of ground by the time they could mount any form of counter attack. The great part about this story is the writing. The way Mark Millar has his characters take a different view of things, is just genius. The attitude that the hulk takes when the guy beating up on him start taunting him. "I'm bigger than you, stronger that you and , unlike you, I still have my genius intellect, Doctor Banner. In other words . . . . YOU'RE SCREWED!!". The banter between characters is just more life like. Also, a lot of times, what they say is what you would say if you were in that situation. There's no real hero posturing, it's just down and dirty. Just like real life. And of course Hitch and Neary on pencils and inks, makes each page look like you're watching a movie. The flow between frames is just real smooth and natural. It's taken a long time to get to issue 12. 2 series and 24 books later, and we're finally here. But, I'm not gonna' complain to much, because this is such a fabulous book. I'm just glad it's here now, and I can enjoy it.

the Ultimates Annual #2 - Marvel

Very cool book. This story picks up after the destruction of the city by all the foreign super powered beings. However, there's another mystery unfolding. Alot of the dead bodies are turning up with some kind of white dust. Actually, not all the dead bodies, just the ones that are not of white ethnicity. Which brings up a memory for Steve of someone he fought during WWII. I like the way they did the art in this book. Mike Deodato Jr. does the art for the current scenes, and Ryan Sook does the art for the flashback scenes. It work together very well. Anyways this Arnim Zola was some Nazi scientist that was experimenting on humans during the war. Cap tried to stop him then. And, thought that he had. But, the Secret Service and the O.S.S. kept him alive after the war and brought him over to work on the post war Super-Soldier program. However, he really was dying as he was riddled with tumors. So before he passed, they mapped his brain to create an artificial intellegence. "Didn't want to lose all that crazy intellect." So now Cap, with the help of Falcon, have to bring him down again. They head out to some bunker in the desert and tear him a new one. Well, all they really have to do to him is shut him off. As he's really just a machine with A.I.. The good part of the story though is Falcon filling Cap in on all the stuff he missed while he was gone. And how the world has changed. Actually he was telling him what the people had to go through to bring about the change. Pretty touching stuff, and good bonds between Cap and Falcon. The Ultimates was the second book in the Ultimate line, behind Spiderman. But in my opinion it's one of the, if not the best, written books out there. Just wish it would come out more often.

Ultimates 2 #11 - Marvel

I frakkin' love this book. If Mark Millar and Bryan Hitch don't get some kind of award for this series, then there ain't no justice. To bring you up to speed, the Liberators have taken control of, well, everything. Thor is locked up because Loki has convinced the world that he was a fake. By the way, Loki is the driving force behind the Liberators also. Bruce, Hulk, is in a self imposed exile, because the rest of the world believes he is dead. The Ultimates were supposed to have nuked him for his crimes. Also Steve and Janet are in love. Or at least he is in love, or infatuation, with her. Anyway we start out with Thor praying to Odin, and then somehow dissapearing from his holding tank. Cap and Janet find this out after fighting through an army of guys to get to him. At the Dome in Brussels, Europe is getting ready to send its self made, literally, team in to DC to try to do something to help. The Liberators are starting to feel cocky, always the brick that breaks the wall, because as some of their team bring in the President, in what's left of a shell of Air Force 1, they find out that Thor has escaped and the leader isn't overly concerned. He wants to proceed as normal, and all of the captured hero's will be beheaded and midnight. And on that note, Cap breaks in to the room that the rest are being held, only to find out that they've liberated themselves. But then they're overcome by a swarm of the Schizoid Man's body, whom I assume is there version of Jamie Madrox. Then, we have Iron Man, who with the help of the Govt., I assume, has obtained one of Iron Man's earlier suits and is using it to get to one of Stark's orbital satellites to get him his latest version. Back at the White House, we're just having an all out slug fest between the Liberators and the Ultimates. Both sides are hurting the other, but it looks like pretty much a stalemate. Although neither side will concede. That is until Bruce Banner shows up standing in the path of one of the giant robots. As he's standing there he says, "Sorry gentleman, I'm going nowhere. I didn't travel 5000 miles just to get pushed around the second I got back to my own damn country. I don't need to run away from anyone now that I'm in touch with my nasty inner sociopath. That's the way. Just keep coming if you want to meet him . . . . .", and then he's stepped on. That of course enrages him, and he single handedly, literally, tears apart the robot and we end up with a splash page of a full on Hulk standing in the wreckage shouting, "NOW! BRING IT ON!". If this book isn't the epitome of the super hero team book, I don't know what is. This book doesn't always come out on time, and it's on it's second incarnation. But it is always worth the wait. This series is going to be read and reread for a long time to come.