It's been a good run with the Ultimate Fantastic Four, but volume seven of the collected series, God War, takes a stumble.

Despite the appearance of writer Mike Carey at the helm, this book suffers from an overabundance of new characters and new situations that leave a reader feeling both overwhelmed and underwhelmed at the same time -- which is a pretty neat trick, when you think about it.

Overwhelming is the sheer number of new characters that are thrown at Our Heroes in an overused plot twist wherein strangers are mistaken as foes and pummeled. Who are these people? Where are they from, and what are their powers? Why is everyone fighting?? By the time the UFF is transported to another dimension and even more potential foes are dumped into the equation, I'd stopped caring -- I was underwhelmed by the lack of real excitement and empathy for these new folks in funny outfits. Sure, it all boils down to the introduction of cosmic archvillain Thanos into the Ultimate world, but by that point I was already yearning for something else to read.

And that, my friends, rarely happens to me when I've got an Ultimate book in my hands. I hope that doesn't happen again.

by Tom Knapp
Rambles.NET
30 June 2007