Comic Review: Ultimate Nightmare #1

(This is my first formal review. I posted it at AA-T, but I shall put it here as well for my own copy)

Gathered by mutant psychic Professor Charles Xavier, The X-Men are soldiers for his dream of coexistence between normal humans and mutants like them.

Formed by General Nick Fury and led by Captain America, the Ultimates are a small but lethal army created to protect humanity against the new rising threats to the world.



Stan Lee presents: Ultimate Nightmare #1

Writer: Warren Ellis
Pencils: Trevor Hairsine (cover)
Inks: Simon Coleby
Colors: Frank D'Armata
Letters: Chris Eliopoulos
Assistant Editor: Nick Lowe
Editor: Ralph Macchio
Editor in Chief: Joe Quesada
Publisher: Dan Buckley

Based on an idea by Joe Quesada

Synopsis: Writer Warren Ellis teams with hot newcomer Trevor Hairsine to tell a story of international intrigue that shakes every Ultimate book to its core! As world communications systems break down, 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 Widow and Sam Wilson to investigate, while, simultaneously, Charles Xavier of the X-Men dispatches his own team consisting of Jean Grey, Wolverine & Colossus. And what they discover there — and what happens next — defies belief!

Review: The cover is good, it spotlights the key players presumably for this series. The issue starts off in 1904 where two men in the Tungus River Valley are witnesses to a meteor shower that leaves a huge crater. Time jumps ahead 23 years to 1927, where a few soldiers come upon the same site, the first outsiders to walk there since and discover something that isn't revealed. The setting changes to the current era where a girl is complaining to her mother about the cable box being on the fritz, when suddenly a feed comes in, but this feed shows an alien race getting annihilated. The high pitched screams of the species deafening, the feed is shown on all types of communication devices, showing the death, a voice warning "it comes and you are all dead. there is only death for you." causing many presumably weak minded and emotional people to decide to end their lives in various ways.

The scene shifts to The Xavier institute of Learning where Jean Grey is awakened by a dream caused from this event, after some discussion with Xavier, it's decided to send her, Logan and Peter on a rescue mission. However, they won't be alone, as at the same time, Colonel Nick Fury is passionate about putting an end to whoever is producing these signals, and after finding out it's coming from Russia has brought together Captain America and Black Widow as part of a small team to infiltrate the country. When asked where's the other member, Fury says the amazon, and we come to see a well built black man, Sam Wilson, who agrees to join the mission and he jumps off the cliff, because he is the Falcon. That is where the issue ends, but the story has just begun.

Ok, first off, I thought the art in this issue was done very well. This issue covered plenty of locations and events yet each one looked unique and nicely designed. The characters looked as good as ever and the shading during some of the explosions was nice to look at. On the issue itself, the one big problem I had with it was, nothing really happened. I understand that this is the first issue, so of course, back story is needed to set up and get this arc in motion, but still, the actions in present day wasn't that much in this issue. People saw the broadcast/vision, comitted suicide, the x-men got a group together, and Fury and the ultimates are doing the same. This issue just left me a bit empty, I think an issue such as this probably needed to be larger, that way the story can really get rolling. Hopefully this is addressed in the next issue, I shall have to see. Other than that, the issue was well done and this looks to be an interesting mini-series. B+.