It’s hard not to just excitedly ramble on and on about Marvel Comics’ Ultimate Invasion #1. Writer Jonathan Hickman and penciller Bryan Hitch dive back into the characters and stories they’ve already left such an indelible mark on — along with inker Andrew Currie, colorist Alex Sinclair, and letterer Joe Caramagna. These creators have played in this sandbox before. They’ve created pure magic and gripping intrigue, and blown readers out of the water. In doing so, they’ve given themselves big shoes to fill with a comic like Ultimate Invasion. Thankfully, they absolutely deliver!
Writing
There are two amazing things at work in Hickman’s script. First, you get the sense that all of this has been years in the making — and that’s because it has. Hickman pulls characters, lore, and details from his runs on Fantastic Four, Avengers/New Avengers, Ultimate Comics: The Ultimates, and X-Men. For each story he references, Ultimate Invasion feels like a natural culmination of those plotlines. But that’s only the half of it.
What makes Hickman’s writing sing is that he balances his high stakes, thoroughly-planned, universe-altering plot with a grounded, personal center. This isn’t about the Ultimate universe. It’s not about dead worlds or clandestine power moves. Ultimate Invasion is about Mr. Fantastic and the Maker — each the Reed Richards of their own earth. The Maker is a dark version of the leader of the Fantastic Four that we all know and love, but he makes some strange, twisted sense. The Maker is inhuman and insane. Or is he? Maybe he’s just a version of Reed Richards that doesn’t care what other people think. Hickman knows that a return back to Earth-1610 might get our minds reeling. But it’s the warring ideologies of these haunted men that gets our hearts involved.
Art
Our introduction to Ultimate Invasion sees a strike team hitting some unknown location. There’s gunfire, explosions, and panic. Hitch and Currie lean into the chaos. Each panel focuses us in too close to see the whole of what’s going on. We see helmeted soldiers aiming at one another, rockets being launched, and explosions that obscure who it is exactly that’s blowing up. We’re often left wondering who is shooting at who, until it’s clarified a panel or two later. Hitch and Currie makes us feel like we’re right there, surrounded by the battle and unable to focus on anything other than dodging bullets and trying to get out alive.
In one particular scene, we see Miles Morales and the Maker have a brief conversation. In the background, the walls are covered in posters, windows, and square furniture. As the two stand in the foreground, the wall behind them looks ever so slightly like a comic book page. They look like characters who have jumped out of the panels and escaped the reality they were supposed to be confined to, which is especially fitting for refugees of a lost world.
Coloring
Sinclair brings so much intensity to the plot through color. Most scenes are cast in an overwhelming hue that changes all the colors in each panel to shades of a single color. When the soldiers enter the location they’re attacking, the alarms turn the entire place red. When they reach their destination, in the lower levels of the building, everything changes to a cool blue. We feel the blood-pumping action of the first scene change to what should be a relaxing aura. Except that Sinclair is playing with us here. We know that whatever these soldiers are after can’t be good, so the blues that are supposed to calm us actually make us lean further forward in our seats. Sinclair is telling us “everything is okay now” just so we can catch him in the lie and worry all the more. It’s a brilliant effect that elicits an incredible amount of dread. Sinclair makes use of this genius technique throughout.
Lettering
Caramagna takes a very grounded and minimalistic approach to lettering in this issue. There are no flourishes in the fonts or the word balloons. Everything is straightforward and downplayed. There aren’t even any sound effects. Bullets fly by silently, bombs go off with no fanfare, and people teleport in and out of places without a sound. The few things in the lettering that do stand out are still quite subtle — with one amazing exception. First, Caramagna draws our attention to the differences between the Maker and those around him. He’s from a different universe, and the font in which he speaks isn’t in all-caps like the rest of 616’s denizens. Elsewhere, a character is speaking as they melt away. Their font looks wobbly and uneven, though only slightly so, and their word balloon remains normal. But in the final moments of Ultimate Invasion #1 we get our first sound effect, written in big, thick, red letters. Caramagna draws our eyes to it to underline its significance and add to the drama with a final, exciting display.
Verdict
Ultimate Invasion has the unique distinction of having to meet big expectations — expectations set by the same people working on this very book. Luckily, Hickman, Hitch, Currie, Sinclair, and Caramagna rise to the occasion — even exceeding expectations — and give us a book that is both exciting and grounded at the same time. This is just the beginning of what I’m sure is going to be a wild ride to remember. Ultimate Invasion #1is out from Marvel Comics at a comic shop near you! Do not miss this unbelievable event, you will regret it.
