BB Review Group week 93 - Ultimates Annual #2 (spoilers)

**Thudpucker** · 08-23-2006, 05:01 AM

If you have read the book we are reviewing please feel welcome and join in the reviews and discussions

* fine print at the bottom of post

This week we are reading: Ultimates Annual #2 (Marvel) by Charlie Huston and Mike Deodato Jr

Next weeks book will be determined by vote, to participate please go here. All are welcome, no need to ask

:

http://www.606studios.com/bendisboar...ad.php?t=82541

Our reviewers this week are:

Thudpucker - 6
Ray Goldfield - 6
Billie - 7
Gavin - 4
Mo_Soar - 8
Pat(sadly)NotLoika - 6.5
SteveZegers - 6
PeteL - 7
greg donovan - 8
Adrian B AWESOME - 2
Jono - 4
Jef UK - 6.5
I'm With ItsDLEVY - 2
Bervda - 3
Kirbys corpse - 8.1
JABSEN - 6
Brad Nelson - 9
DrSettleton - 5
Detective THWIP! - 8
JMP - 7.5
Your dorky Snob - 7
The Jack Rabbitt - 5
dEnny! - 7.5

Our Previous 16 weeks of reviews (scores lost during the Image Board crash)

Week 01 - 11/17/04 � Captain America #1
Week 02 - 11/24/04 � Flash #216
Week 03 - 12/01/04 � Darkness Vol. 2 #17 (av grade 3.7)
Week 04 - 12/08/04 � Demo #12
Week 05 - 12/15/04 - Plastic Man #13
Week 06 - 12/22/04 � Goon #10
Week 07 - 12/29/04 - Legion of Super Heroes #1
Week 08 - 01/05/05 � Flaming Carrot #1
Week 09 - 01/12/05 � Majestic #1
Week 10 - 01/19/05 � Human Target #18
Week 11 - 01/26/05 � Conan #12 (av grade 8.3)
Week 12 - 02/02/05 � Black Panther #1
Week 13 - 02/09/05 � Young Avengers #1
Week 14 - 02/16/05 � Ex Machina #8 (av grade 8.4)
Week 15 - 02/23/05 � X-Men #167
Week 16 - 03/02/05 � Ultimate Iron Man #1

Week 17 pick - Shining Knight #1 (Morrison & Bianchi) av grade - 7.8
Week 18 pick - Invincible #21 (Kirkman and Ottley) av grade - 6.3
Week 19 pick - Expatriate #1 (Moore and Latour) av grade - 5.4
Week 20 pick - Temporary #2 (Hurd & Smith) av grade - 7.4
Week 21 pick - GLA #1 (Slott and Pelletier) av grade - 6.8
Week 22 pick - Nightwing #107 (Grayson and Hester) av grade - 5.8
Week 23 pick - Iron Ghost #1 (Dixon and Cariello) av grade - 4.9
Week 24 pick - City Of Tomorrow (Howard Chaykin) av grade - 6.2
Week 25 pick - Villains United #1 (Simone and Eaglesham) av grade - 5.7
Week 26 pick - Desolation Jones #1 (Ellis and Williams III) av grade - 8.9
Week 27 pick - Guardian #2 (Morrison and Stewart) av grade - 6.1
Week 28 pick - Adv. Of Superman #640 (Rucka and Kerschl) av - 6.1
Week 29 pick - Son Of Vulcan #1 (Beatty and Grant) av grade - 3.7
Week 30 pick - JLA #115 (Johns, Heinberg, Batista) av grade - 6.9
Week 31 pick - Wildsiderz #0 (Campbell and Hartnell) av grade - 2.9
Week 32 pick - Astro City: The Dark Age #1 av grade - 7.3
Week 33 pick - Albion #1 (Moore and Oakley) av grade - 5.0
Week 34 pick - Gotham Central #33 (Rucka, Brubaker, Kano) av - 8.5
Week 35 pick - Mutopia X (Hine and Medina) av grade - 5.2
Week 36 pick - Athiest #2 (Hester and McCrea) av grade - 6.9
Week 37 pick - JLA: Classified #10 (Ellis and Guise) av grade - 6.9
Week 38 pick - Justice #1 (Ross, Krueger & Braithwaite) av grade 7.9
Week 39 pick - The Winter Men #1 (Lewis and Leon) av grade 5.3
Week 40 pick - Batman: Journey into Knight #1 (Helfer & Huat) av - 4.4
Week 41 pick - Jack Cross #1 (Ellis and Erskine) av grade 6.1
Week 42 pick - Runaways #7 (Vaughan & Miyazawa) av grade 7.8
Week 43 pick - Ghost Rider #1 (Ennis and Crain) av grade 6.4
Week 44 pick - Thor: Blood Oath #1 (Oeming and Kolins) av grade 7.1
Week 45 pick - Wolverine #32 (Millar and Andrews) av grade 8.2
Week 46 pick - Losers #28 (Diggle and Wilson) av grade 7.4
Week 47 pick - FF/I M : Big In Japan #1 (Wells & Fisher) av grade 5.6
Week 48 pick - F N Spider-Man #1 (David and Wieringo) av grade 7.3
Week 49 pick - Fin Fang Four #1 (Langridge & Grey) av grade 8.8
Week 50 pick - Book Of Lost Souls #1 (JMS & Doran) av grade 5.6
Week 51 pick - Hero At Large #2 (Hogan and Treece) av grade 6.3
Week 52 pick - DMZ #1 (Brain Wood) av grade 7.7
Week 53 pick - The Thing #1 (Slott and DiVito) av grade 7.5
Week 54 pick - Walking Dead #24 (Kirkman & Adlard) av grade 8.4
Week 55 pick - Generation M #1 (Jenkins and Bachs) av grade 7.3
Week 56 pick - Marvel Team-Up #15 (Kirkman & Medina) av grade 6.0
Week 57 pick - Amazing Joy Buzzards 2 #3 (Smith and Hipp) av grade 5.1
Week 58 pick - Testament #1 (Rushkoff and Sharp) av grade 7.4
Week 59 pick - New Avengers #14 (Bendis and Cho) av grade 7.6
Week 60 pick - Sable & Fortune #1 (Cahill and Burns) av grade 4.4
Week 61 pick - Ares #1 (Oeming and Foreman) av grade 8.2
Week 62 pick - Sgt. Rock: Prophecy #1 (Joe Kubert) - av grade 7.7
Week 63 pick - Nextwave #1 (Ellis and Immonen) av grade 9.1
Week 64 pick - Betty and Veronica Digest #163 av grade 4.2
Week 65 pick - Fables #46 (Willingham and Fern) av grade 7.5
Week 66 pick - Daredevil #82 (Brubaker and Lark) av grade 9.6
Week 67 pick - Ast. X-Men #13 (Whedon & Cassaday) av grade 8.5
Week 68 pick - Ms. Marvel #1 (Reed and de la Torre) av grade 7.3
Week 69 pick - American Virgin #1 (Seagle & Cloonan) av grade 7.1
Week 70 pick - Annihilation Prologue (Giffen & Kolins) av grade 6.3
Week 71 pick - Hawkgirl #50 (Simonson and Chaykin) av grade 5.0
Week 72 pick - Savage Dragon # 124 (Erik Larson) av grade 7.2
Week 73 pick - Moon Knight #1 (Huston & Finch) av grade 7.4
Week 74 pick - Firestorm #24 (Moore and Igle) av grade 4.6
Week 75 pick - Squadron Supreme #2 (JMS & Frank) av grade 6.3
Week 76 pick - Incredible Hulk #94 (Pak and Pagulayan) av grade 8.9
Week 77 pick - Civil War #1 (Millar and McNiven) av grade 7.4
Week 78 pick - She-Hulk #7 (Slott and Round) av grade 6.6
Week 79 pick - 100 Bullets #72 (Azzarello and Risso) av grade 8.0
Week 80 pick - Secret Six #1 (Simone and Walker) av grade 6.8
Week 81 pick - My Inner Bimbo #1 (Sam Kieth) av grade 8.8
Week 82 pick - Wonder Woman #1 (Heinberg and Dodson's) av grade 7.2
Week 83 pick - Ms Marvel #4 (Reed and De La Torre) av grade 5.8
Week 84 pick - Eternals #1 (Gaiman and JR JR) av grade 7.5
Week 85 pick - DC: Brave New World (various) av grade 4.8
Week 86 pick - The Beyond #1 (McDuffie & Kolins) av grade 5.5
Week 87 pick - The Escapists #1 (BKV, Bond & Barreto) av grade 8.6
Week 88 pick - JLA #0 (Meltzer and various) av grade 6.3
Week 89 pick - Batman #655 (Morrison & Kubert) av grade 7.1
Week 90 pick - Moon Knight #4 (Huston and Finch) av grade 6.8
Week 91 pick - Martian Manhunter #1 (Lieberman & Barrionuevo) A.G. 5.3
Week 92 pick - The Boys #1 (Ennis Robertson) av grade 8.5

Our higest average grade so far was for Daredevil #82 with 9.6
Our lowest average grade so for is Wildsiderz #0 with 2.9

Our Sponsors:

Isotope Comics (SF Bay area)

(If any other retailers would like to sponsor our reviewers in your area, I'd be happy to promote your store in the thread too )

What we do: This is a fanbased review group, open to everybody.

As people post the reviews, I will add your name and score to a list in the main post and at the end of the week average the scores for an overall grade on the book. We grade on a scale of 0-10.

THERE IS NO OBLIGATION TO PARTICIPATE EVERY WEEK. Please join in as little or as much as you like week to week. If you are uncomfortable giving a grade then just join in the discussions and ask questions.

**Ray G.** · 08-23-2006, 05:04 AM

I'll give in and buy this. Hope there aren't too many spoilers.

It's probably a good thing Supergirl didn't win. With some of the reactions, I doubt it would have gotten a fair shake from Kirby's Corpse.

**Thudpucker** · 08-23-2006, 01:30 PM

and... not so impressed with this one.

Cap is good in a team book but his solo Nazi fighting tales have never been a favorite of mine, and this was no different. Not that it was badly done or anything, it just wasn't anything special. Falcon I just plain don't like, he's a lame character, always has been. There were interesting parts but I was bored thru most of this issue.

The art was very good however, Deodato has gotten alot better since his Wonder Woman days and some of this work was stunning (I loved the panel where the Captains were pulling the Statue of Liberty out of teh Harbor in particular.

I'm thinking 6 on this, it was above average but not one I'll keep.

**Ray G.** · 08-23-2006, 01:38 PM

Meh. Nothing compelling about this issue. Too much heavy-handed politics and "lessons" a villain that made me roll my eyes, and art that stood out like a sore thumb compare to the Hitch standard. Good characterization of Cap and Falcon, but that's about it. A true fill-in, except that where it was supposed to fill in hasn't come out yet.

Not a bad book, just a medioce one. 6/10 seems about right to me.

**Billie** · 08-23-2006, 02:45 PM

Nothing special,but nothing that bad.A great solo Cap tale for sure.The plot was quite muddled with things coming out of nowhere.Some things with the art didn't flow as well.

I'm giving it an 7.

**Gavin** · 08-23-2006, 02:48 PM

Given the quality of Ultimates, this is a real disappointment. The art was fine, but Deodato's done better. The whole story felt out of place with the direction this title has come from. In a way, I wish I'd just taken a pass on this.

4/10

**Mo_Soar** · 08-23-2006, 02:57 PM

Ultimates Annual #2 (Huston/Deodato; Marvel). I've been ready to be annoyed with myself for reading this and spoiling myself for Ultimates #12 and #13 all week, but I'm pleased to say that didn�t really happen. Yeah, there are some minor spoilers about a few characters who survive, but most of the Ultimates aren�t mentioned in any way.

The first half of this comic is beautiful and just about note-perfect. Great scenes (Cap in NY and the rebuilding efforts, the WW2 flashbacks with modern dialog sequenced over the top), great dialog, interesting use of time sequences, great art by Deodato and Sook. The second half� something falls apart somewhere, and I'm not sure where. The "race relation" dialog between Cap and Falcon is fairly good - but in Falcon's little exposition, he's not telling the readers anything we don�t already know and it needed a stronger section of what Cap thought and reacted to. The actions scenes (including the semi "Dukes of Hazzard" scene) weren't nearly as good as some of the "talky bits" and the end of the action sequence seemed a bit too pat.

Story: 7/10
Art: 9/10

**Fake Pat** · 08-23-2006, 03:05 PM

Originally Posted by Billie

Nothing special,but nothing that bad.A great solo Cap tale for sure.The plot was quite muddled with things coming out of nowhere.Some things with the art didn't flow as well.

i completely agree. just a very sloppy issue. this seems to be a common complaint from me on almost anything deodato draws. if the whole issue was the flashback stuff with sook art, it could have easily scored much higher in my book. i loves me some sook.
6.5

god, i sooo badly wish we'd done jla #1 instead. it blew this one away!

**SteveZegers** · 08-24-2006, 04:03 AM

Loved the flashback art (Cap wering the little mask with his dress uniform was awesome!) I'm not sure it's a good sign if that's all that really stood out.

And since this clearly takes place after the Ultimates, why release it now? Was it just to get an Ultimates project on the shelf? I would have liked to read this after finding out how it ends.

The other art was OK, but nothing that really blew my mind.

I'd call this a solid book, nothing all that special.

6?

**PeteL** · 08-24-2006, 04:11 AM

Cap and Sam are a good team, this was an interesting enough issue, but it's not what I've come to expect from Ultimates. Solid writing, solid art, but it just didn't wow me. 7/10.