Ultimate Invasion #2: Someone Is A Little Petty…

What started with an intriguing premise with endless possibilities has finally revealed its true colors in Ultimate Invasion #2. With some of the characters on these covers finally appearing, Ultimate Invasion #2 delivers on its promise of a universe-spanning tale that revolves around The Maker’s machinations in what many thought would be the Ultimate Universe. Unfortunately, the plot that devolves from this seems slightly muddled in execution, with the reliance on shock value hiding the true genius in the foreground.

Ultimate Invasion #2 begins with The Maker single-handedly wiping out all traces of the heroes of the Marvel universe before or during their origin stories. The issue then has a hard transition to a very unusual and unexpected character, Howard Stark, who has become this universe’s Iron Man due to a butterfly effect surrounding whatever The Maker has done. The choice to make Howard the focal point of much of the issue works in as much as he is the eyes and ears of the fans. He is essentially the ride-along character who shows us the differences in The Maker’s new universe, which makes the narrative easier to grasp.

The story grows a little messy once the setting shifts to Latveria, where The Maker is seemingly unveiling a new part of the city, only for different Marvel heroes from other points in time to arrive to try and take him out. This section transitions to something very meta and complicated, but not before Bryan Hitch and Andrew Currie deliver an excellent action scene. Hitch’s popularized “wide-screen comics” method is on full display here, with each panel moving cohesively like a movie. The decision to make most of the panels wide and blocky gives this issue a cinematic feel more than anything, with Hitch acting as the cinematographer to Hickman’s direction. This allows Hitch to shift the focus between characters in a manner that allows the drama to unfold naturally, requiring little exposition. This marrying of narrative and artwork perfectly here, emphasizing the “show, don’t tell” formula.

Alex Sinclair’s colors shift throughout the issue, with different sections of the story being colored with a specific color in mind. For example, the area where The Maker kills all the people in his chambers is colored yellow, while the section with the Time Machine room is colored blue. While the in-universe reason for these colors can be boiled down to the different lights and machines within these rooms, there seems to be a more significant concept at play here, with the yellow highlighting an uneasy tone right before The Maker does something awful and the blue symbolizing Howard’s reconciliation with everything that just happened. These color tones work well in this context, exploring this complex narrative in a fun way.

Joe Caramagna’s lettering here works best in its simplicity. The section with the massive battle features little to no dialogue in some parts, emphasizing the visual aspects of the storytelling. In contrast, Caramagna can fill the more monotone sections with a conversation to keep the story flowing. This makes the narrative cohesive, especially in the moments that are harder to swallow.

The end of the issue is where things grow a bit complicated, with the reveal that Howard is the key to The Maker’s plans and that The Maker has been gravely injured in a prior, unseen encounter. The Maker’s haphazard explanation of how he can shift around his organs seems to serve as a reminder of how complicated and dangerous Reed’s mind could be if he took a darker path. The main way this becomes so messy is when the question of where this story will go comes up. For a short mini-series, the next issue has to answer many questions about the end goal for a lot of this issue to be justified. The Maker’s explanation about what is going on seems more like something that should have been explored throughout the issue than just an end cap on a story featuring an alternate universe Howard Stark. But it depends on where Hickman and company take this story in the next issue, as history shows that Hickman’s slow-building narratives often work well once the full picture is put into frame.