Ultimate Fantastic Four #53

April 22, 2008

Quick Rating: Below Average
Rating: A

Final battle with Thanos!

Writer: Mike Carey
Pencils: Tyler Kirkham
Inks: Sal Regla
Colors: Blond
Letters: Rus Wooton
Editor: Bill Rosemann
Cover Art: Gabrielle Dell’Otto
Publisher: Marvel Comics

With New York City trapped in space in a bubble created by the Cosmic Cube, the Ultimates under Thanos’s control and Reed Richard apparently dead (and if you believe that, I’ve got some ultra-rare copies of Youngblood #1 I’d like to talk to you about), the only people left to save the world are Ben Grimm and Thanos’s daughter, Atrea.

You’d think the Thing vs. Thanos would be really exciting, but this issue was frankly pretty dull. The Ultimate versions of Ben Grimm and Thanos are both pretty dull. Ben feels like a misguided attempt at making the hero “cool,” while Thanos is just plain boring. The idea of Atrea having a thing for Ben is an interesting enough idea, but it never goes anywhere. The conclusion is pretty trite as well – I didn’t even read the rest of this story arc, but I still saw it coming.

Tyler Kirkham’s artwork, sadly, isn’t much better. Although I’ve seen good work out of him in the past, this issue looks weak and amateurish, like it was done by one of the countless Rob Liefeld wannabes from the 90s who never learned better.

With books like this one championing the line, is it any wonder that rumors of the destruction of the Ultimate Universe abound?

Rating: 4/10

(2010 Note: The rumors, as it turned out, were only kinda true.)