Ultimate Impact: Reborn #4: All Bark and No Bite

Steve Rogers is on the case as Hosticulus makes his way through the city at the behest of Boothe. Elsewhere, a young woman named Paulina has her eyes forcibly opened to a world of magic around her thanks to the Origin Box.H owever, before she can fully understand the destiny in store for her, Hosticulus might bring a cataclysm unto the world.

Four issues in and Ultimate Impact feels like it’s trying to justify its own existence. Part of that is due to its unfortunate placement in Marvel’s current release slate. What feels like something that should have been a prequel to Avengers: Armageddon (similar to Wolverine: Weapons of Armageddon), it now feels more like a side story with no real meat on its bones. A lot of what’s happened so far should be bigger than it is, but amounts to nothing so far because nothing is referenced in the stories that have come after it chronologically. Cap’s inclusion at best feels a bit shoe-horned in and Hosticulus’ plan of using a decommissioned Helicarrier in the Negative Zone doesn’t really seem that much of a big deal since he’s going back to his universe.

Chris Condon introduced a lot of these new characters, but hasn’t really done much in the way of making any one of them all that appealing. There is a distinct lack of focus on many of them, with Hosticulus taking a bulk of the screen time to be an evil brute. Vin (AKA the Black Wonder Man) seemed poised to be the breakout character judging by all the promotional material, but the extent of his contributions to this story are…accidentally punching a hole in his front door because he can’t control his powers. The other characters are really nothing to write home about either. It’s less like they are actual characters we should care about and more toys that Condon hopes someone ELSE will flesh out later.

As for the art, there is nothing really that stands out. Stefano Caselli is good as usual and his pencils pair well with David Curiel’s colors.