The Ultimate Universe, "Ends," Tomorrow

 

The current Ultimate Universe, as we know it, ends tomorrow. We will get, "Ultimate Endgame," #5 and a, "Finale," special. I've seen some spoilers that make it abundantly clear how, even if Marvel is concluding the current run of, "Ultimate," books, there are ways it will, "Return," in some fashion. Plus, the latest Ultimate Universe has had an impact on the regular Marvel 616 Universe already, with those little boxes of powers ending up jumping around the multiverse. That said, Marvel is essentially ending the latest iteration of the Ultimate Universe tomorrow (for now), and it does surprise me to a degree they actually went through with it--especially considering that, "Ultimate Spider-Man," was a license to print money for a hot minute. 

The original Ultimate Universe remains a fascinating piece of history (I'd highly recommend Ted Adams book, "The Ultimates (Marvel Age of Comics)," for an in-depth examination) and the success of its pseudo-return/reinvention will go down as pretty intriguing, as well. Between DC's Absolute Universe (and its continued massive success) and this most recent Ultimate Universe, unique takes on seemingly-familiar concepts worked out quite well. I really enjoyed a lot of this Ultimate Universe and while I'll miss a number of the series from it, at least this publishing cycle of an, "Ultimate," Marvel World did not wear out its welcome.

Some of My Favorite Comics This Year--2025 in Review

There were many great comics throughout 2025. When I thought really hard about what stood out in my mind, however, five series released during this year/books published this year stuck out in my mind. Well, it was actually six series, but one was featured last year (more on that in a second), so I disqualified it. Anyway, here are some of my favorite comics/graphic novels/etc. this year.

Ultimates

Full disclosure, this and, "Ultimate Spider-Man," were the two Ultimate titles I adored this year and couldn't wait to read every month from the first issues on back in 2024 to now. That said, I already put USM in this sort of list last year so I cut it this time and thought I would focus on, "Ultimates." For real, however, if you want the main/big book that is key to this latest Ultimate Universe, "Ultimates," is a fantastic read from start to (rapidly approaching) finish. Deniz Camp has consistently written a superb comic about heroes in a broken World who dream of a better tomorrow (with Juan Frigeri generally on art), and I'm here for it.

Orla!

A comic about a woman named Orla with a literal monster inside her that devours bad dates. Yeah, its a horror comedy, but it has some sweet romance elements too when Orla falls for a guy she doesn't want to ingest. An incredibly funny and clever mix of genres, "Orla!" has just concluded as of this month (I need to grab the last issue), and I would encourage everyone to purchase the upcoming trade paperback collection!

Santos Sisters Volume 1

This one is a bit technical, as the first volume of, "Santos Sisters," collects the initial five issues printed before 2025. That said, this book was released in this year, so I say it counts! In my review of the first TPB, I state how it is, "Joyful, undiluted fun." I continue to feel that way about Greg & Fake's superb mix of vintage Archie-esque style with modern and clever jokes. Definitely a book worth picking up.

Absolute Batman

The earlier issues of, "Absolute Batman," were solid, but as we entered 2025, the book started rolling full steam ahead. The mix of crime drama, body horror, and amazing artwork by Nick Dragotta, among others (with superb writing by Scott Snyder) has resulted in what is undoubtedly my favorite Absolute book of the line--although all of them are solid and have charms. It is wild to think that when the Absolute line was first announced how skeptical many of us were. Now, here we are with Absolute books, and, "Absolute Batman," in particular, getting rave reviews and selling lots of copies. The old adage remains true to not judge a book (or comic) by its cover.

Holy Lacrimony

Michael DeForge is a modern master when it comes to making comics. His original graphic novel, "Holy Lacrimony," is a superb read about alien abductions, support groups, and sadness. Quite trippy and a little raunchy at points while also being laugh-out-loud hilarious, I was super-into this book and consider it another masterful entry in DeForge's oeuvre. 2025 clearly had some quality comics, and I'm pleased to have enjoyed these among other stellar reads!

Remixing Marvel With "The Ultimates," #1

Back in, "Ultimate Invasion," a twisted version of Reed Richards known as, "The Maker," found a Marvel Universe much like the, "Regular," 616 one and his own original, "Ultimate," version. However, he altered much of the events in that World from the early 20th century on to ensure a place he ruled with little to no challenge. At the end of, "Ultimate Invasion," the Maker was trapped away in his own castle for a period of time, but not before framing the Stark family for attacking New York City (with Howard Stark now trapped too and his teenage son Tony left to try and make sense of how to help the World). Since, "Ultimate Invasion," we've had the launch of other Ultimate titles that range from amazing ("Ultimate Spider-Man,") to enjoyable ("Ultimate Black Panther,") to decent enough ("Ultimate X-Men,")...and now, "The Ultimates," itself has arrived. Oh, and it is good.

The, "Ultimate," line seems to intriguingly enough be advancing somewhat in real-time, with issues mirroring the flow of an actual month (flashbacks aside). Hence, when the characters within, "The Ultimates," observe they jumped six months into the future, it really has been that long since the main Ultimate books kicked off with Spidey. Hence, the observation they have a limited amount of time before The Maker emerges from his temporal jail in 18 months or so rings quite true. Johnathan Hickman has designed much of this new Ultimate Universe but Deniz Camp writes, "The Ultimates," itself and does a fantastic job bringing us a ragtag group of heroes painted as terrorists fighting against the secret evil powers of this World (The Maker had plenty of lackeys now trying to split-up territories around Earth in his absence). Juan Frigeri is the artist and excels at giving us some explosive fight scenes between the Ultimates and powers that would challenge them.

I especially like how this latest Ultimate Universe is not just a reboot, but a World where the heroes are aware they were meant to be different and can choose to try and achieve their destinies or reject them. This leads to a poignant scene with Hank Pym remarking how upon seeing what his 616 counterpart has been like he doesn't know if he actually wants to have powers and be anything like that person with a history that is relatively fraught (from creating Ultron to striking his wife and so forth). Others found this way of approaching Pym interesting too. This latest Ultimate Universe is both its own fascinating beast, but also in a way a reflection of the, "Main," Marvel Universe, commenting on it and tweaking itself to be both similar yet different. It's a little meta, and I always appreciate that kind of thing.

This first issue of, "The Ultimates," continues the tendency of this new line of comics to be full of great reads (and the passable X-Men one). With its real-time setup and a clear timetable for something big on the horizon, little time is wasted in any Ultimate-related issues and this newest series makes a fantastic addition to the relatively tight line-up--something I appreciate in an era where a new hit universe/concept/etc. can get bloated really fast with too many tie-ins or such. Whether you're new to this latest Ultimate Universe or have been following it since the, "Ultimate Invasion," series this debut issue of, "The Ultimates," is worth a read!

5 out of 5 stars.

Al Ewing is a Great Writer, As His, "Contest of Champions," and First Volume of, "Ultimates," Prove

A Talented Guy

If you check my blog for posts that mention Al Ewing you will find I almost always have positive things to say about him. The guy is just quite frankly a great writer, and when he's on a book I at least know I don't have to doubt if it will be entertaining. Two of his more recent works that show this are the sadly short-lived, "Contest of Champions," and a book that actually tied-in a bit with the previous but also is a great series all it's own, his first volume of, "Ultimates." Both are books that when you consider their background have the deck stacked against them, but somehow Ewing takes a potential, "Junk hand," and makes a Royal Flush, if I may use Poker metaphors. Let's discuss his books.

Contest of Champions Issues #1-#10

I was given as a present from my wife a trade paperback containing the first six issues of this series and managed to find the other #7-#10 at a comic shop. I wanted to read this because I heard it was really good and a bit like Marvel's old, "Exiles," series with a twist. You see, in, "Exiles," a bunch of characters from various Marvel dimensions had to travel to assorted worlds, with this book everyone from different worlds is brought to one place: Battleworld. Yes, even though Doctor Doom's Battleworld was thought to be destroyed at the end of the most recent, "Secret Wars," it seems it lived on. That already sounds a bit confusing but here comes the best/worst part--this comic is basically just meant to be a video-game tie-in.

That's right, this comic draws from the free-to-play (but full of stuff you can buy) digital game found smart-phones of the same name, "Contest of Champions." Now, comics that relate to video-games are a times good, and possibly even great (the early, "Injustice," comics are awesome), but usually when a comic draws from a game it isn't too much of a stretch to say people probably expect very little. Almost as if Ewing knows people aren't that concerned about his comic, he goes and just gives us something incredibly fun. Ewing makes it so that some multi-dimensional characters are fighting for power and using heroes from various Marvel Universes. This brings us characters from the ,"Regular," Marvel-U as well as known entities (The Punisher from the 2099 comics, Maestro, etc.) and some characters completely made-up for the comic. I'm a sucker for alternate-universe tales so I already am interested, but Ewing just makes things even better.

I always love a good alternate-universe team!

Throughout this series Ewing has some heroes from various dimensions engage in action-packed fights, give us humor, and brings in the latest iteration of The Ultimates as he's doing that book too. We get to see our heroes if they were further corrupted, our villains if they were better people, and then it all suddenly ends with the book's cancellation at issue #10. It's depressing because this title is just so darn fun, but I guess that's the way the cookie/universe crumbles.  At least another one of Ewing's great books is continuing (albeit with a recent relaunch).

Ultimates Volume 1/Issues #1-#6

Having the name, "Ultimates," in a Marvel book carries a surprising amount of baggage. You see, back in the days where Marvel had the ,"Ultimate," Universe that world's version of the Avengers was called, "The Ultimates," and had an incredibly popular comic written by Mark Millar and drawn by Bryan Hitch. After that the name kept getting re-used for other concepts set in the Ultimate Universe, but after it ended during the, "Secret Wars," (there's that event again!) the whole place ceased to exist with the characters that mattered (e.g. Miles Morales) simply being carried-over to the regular Marvel Universe. What to do with the name, "Ultimates," then? How about making a team that handles threats to our dimension in what is both clearly a need for Marvel to keep the, "Ultimates," trademark active, but also a bit of a knowing wink to fans who consider how this team basically saves Universes but inadvertently  draws their name from a team that came from one that no longer exists?

This iteration of, "Ultimates," is still ongoing, but did have a re-launch after, "Civil War II," and now is, "Ultimates²," because somehow adding a, "Squared/²," to your logo makes more sense than simply using a 2. Anyways, after Marvel rebooted everything post, "Secret Wars," a lot of questions about continuity and the Marvel Universe itself were left dangling. The team in the Ultimates aims to address that and basically without Ewing I doubt anyone would have brought back-up how time was broken in, "Age of Ulton," and realities in general are pretty messed-up lately due to Marvel's constant events/how the Universe keeps changing (if we're giving an in-story reason).

Having a team set-out to correct a broken universes and time-lines isn't only deliciously meta, it also results in a great story as Ewing arguably explores the very foundations of the concepts that make-up the Marvel Universe and the characters within it, whilst also turning them on their head, with one incredibly cool example being his taking of the infamous Galactus and having the team change his powers from destructive to restorative--that is, instead of eating planetary energy he now grants planet's life.

The, "Ultimates," that Ewing gives us are fun, smart, and has stuff I love like weird science as well as explosive action (and Kenneth Rocafort's artwork is awesome on the book too). I am eager to pick up the second volume of this first, "Ultimates," series and then pick up, "Ultimates²," even if it has a weird title that is a pain to type because I keep having to remember the ALT-code for it (you hold ALT and type 0178 on the number-pad, in case you're wondering).

Stellar Series

These two titles by Al Ewing both are just plain awesome and I give both titles I've read 5 out of 5 stars with no hesitation. I am excited to see what other works Ewing has in store for us and to read even more of his, "Ultimates." If you haven't read anything by Ewing yet I encourage you to correct that mistake immediately, and perhaps to do so with one of these stellar series!