Planet's Secure, Pass the Popcorn!

Book: The Ultimates – Vol 2: Homeland Security
Pen: Mark Millar
Pencil: Bryan Hitch

The origin story is over. We had intros, adjustment issues, management lessons on teamwork, a threat to a big city, an almost happy ending and an unexpected cliffhanger. Now comes the part where we wrap up Season 1. If the first volume of The Ultimates gave an idea which book vaguely inspired The Avengers movie, then The Ultimates Vol 1 – Homeland Security will almost have you calling Joss Whedon a plagiarist! Relax, folks, it’s all in the family!

Super-Human ended with a freak attack, the true story of which never reached the common man. As a result, the Ultimates suddenly became heroes. While New York was grieving for its dead, the Ultimates suddenly had to deal with a rogue element within the team. As I said before, The Ultimates showed Captain America in a new, exciting light. In this volume he has a bigger role and you see how a man who believes in simple things like right and wrong goes about his business. The values he stood for should seem silly and out-of-place in these times. Yet you root for him. It doesn’t hurt that Millar saves some of the best one-liners he has ever written for Captain America.

The second volume brings to the fore two major characters – Hawkeye and Black Widow – and introduces two minor, seemingly useless members – Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch – to the team. In the first mission starring Hawkeye aka Clint Barton and Widow aka Natasha Romanoff, we are introduced to the major villains – the Chitauri. Since we have established that the Ultimates are pretty out-of-this-world, it is only natural that the villains are aliens. Their agenda cupboard may be pretty threadbare, but it certainly needs all the Ultimates to band together to stop them.

The most striking thing about Homeland Security is the way action sequences are captured. Rarely has action seemed so fluid. It is almost like the pictures are moving. I don’t mean there are many panels of the same scene with minute differences. But it is evident that a lot of thought went into these. Millar, as he always does, wisely lets the artist come up front and centre during the violence and mayhem.

A horny Hulk is both hilarious and scary. That was one of the revelations of the first volume and it continues here. Hulk’s personality may suffer a bit here as he is not shown as anything but a big, stupid brute who comes across as being unintentionally funny. But there is lot of sympathy for Banner. Iron Man in the comics is definitely not as prominent as Robert Downey Jr in Avengers. But he does have his moments. Thor continues to be a bit of mystery with his eco-warrior avatar while being an ex-nurse who had spent time in a lunatic asylum. This would have been a good sub-plot were it not for the fact that Thor has publically saved a lot of people, so the fact that he has a lot of powers should not be a matter of question at all.

Homeland Security may not have the deafening impact of Super-Human. But it is a very solid conclusion to the Ultimates saga. We are left with a Samuel L Jacksonesque smirk feeling very satisfied with the read. That is something we cannot say about a lot of comics. I heartily recommend both volumes of The Ultimates. Just don’t expect me to lend them to you!