Deniz Camp was far from subtle in the comparisons he was drawing between the struggles of the Ultimate Universe’s premier superhero team and real-world forces of oppression and resistance within the initial half-dozen issues of Ultimates. In the subsequent six issues, there is no change in the confidence behind the series, but its focus becomes a lot tighter and more transparent.
In the first six issues of Ultimate Spider-Man, writer Jonathan Hickman, artist Marco Checchetto, and the team round up the most infamous editorial constraints placed on the character of Peter Parker, and then ignore them.
The war for Africa continues in Bryan Edward Hill’s Ultimate Black Panther Volume 2: Gods and Kings. Picking up where the first six issues left off, readers find Black Panther and the nation of Wakanda engaged in a continent-wide conflict with Lord Ra and Lord Khonshu. The duo of demigods works under The Maker and is determined to subjugate Africa while their leader finds himself locked inside The City following the events of Ultimate Invasion. In response, the nation of Wakanda has emerged from its isolation and is resisting the invading force.
With 2025’s volume two, The Children of the Atom, Momoko does not answer to the naysayers, nor does the book compromise any personality. However, in an underappreciated move, the series incorporates and mirrors more than enough classic X-Men elements to put issues of legacy to bed.
A direct continuation of the events in Ultimate Invasion and the ostensible centerpiece for Marvel’s newest universe, Deniz Camp’s Ultimates is a necessary read for anyone invested in the Ultimate line of comics. The book focuses on an alternate version of Marvel’s headline team, The Avengers, known as the Ultimates.
Sold as a video game manual turned graphic novel, Attaboy by Tony McMillen proves more interesting than its already peculiar conceit. The facade of being an instruction booklet is shed soon after being introduced, and the majority of the comic focuses on completing the game. Stylized as a game reminiscent of Mega-Man, Attaboy is introduced as lost media, a remnant of the past discarded and disregarded to the extent that almost nobody even retains memories of its existence. The comic hurdles forward as the narrator tries to remind the reader of this long forgotten childhood relic, but as the book delves further into the game, memories of more than just video games rise to the surface.
Spider-Man is one of the many comic characters that exist far beyond the limits of their source material. From Superman and Batman, to Wolverine, there are any number of heroes that are well known in pop culture, despite only a fraction of their fans reading the books of their origin. A Spider-Man fan is likely to have never opened a Marvel comic in their life. Broad popularity has the unfortunate ripple effect of locking the characters into a brand, and entrenches specific associated attributes, even when they become detrimental in terms of story. Peter Parker gets the Peter Pan treatment, in part to ensure he has a properly marketable age for his fans’ demographic. Stasis of story and character is one of the most common problems flagged by avid comic fans. It is emblematic of the unbalanced relationship the books and authors find themselves in with their own creative spawn. There is much to laud about Ultimate Spider-Man, but the work’s ability to shake away the ankle weights of expectation is perhaps its most remarkable feat.
The philosophy of the 2024 graphic novel, Mary Tyler MooreHawk can be seen right in the main character's design. Cute and full of personality, the little girl with two buns in her hair is certainly a unique creation. However, she does bear a silhouette that is strikingly similar to a well-known mouse. The overlap of iteration and creation, of trope and mimicry, are at the heart of the story spelled out by author and artist, Dave Baker. A surreal and captivating experience, the work manages to walk the line between excelling and subverting the expectations of its medium.
Part of 2024’s relaunch of Marvel’s Ultimate Universe, a reboot of Black Panther in an alternate universe makes a lot of sense on paper. The hero has become a household name thanks to the 2018 movie, which effectively showcased the strength of the character in a modern context. There is an opportunity to present Black Panther stories from a clean slate, divorced from the Kirby-Lee originated continuity, which many of their other creations would not benefit from as much. Great power and great responsibility are core to classic Marvel books, but applying the motto to modern colonialism is something the originators never quite proved able or willing to tackle.
The Marvel Graphic Novel line of comics started in 1982 and ran until 1993. The oversized, standalone graphic novels were a mixture of familiar company characters and creator owned experiments, presented in a higher quality format than the typical comic of the time. The collection includes at least seventy five titles, with only the first twenty being officially numbered by Marvel. Ranging from beloved, lauded graphic novels to some of the most obscure books put out by the publisher, the collection is one of their most varied in terms of genre, art, and story. This first iteration of our rankings of the MGN books includes the initial twenty titles.
