Warren Ellis and Steve McNiven on the same title? Sign me up. Of course, I pick up almost everything with the "Ulitmate" label on it, given the strength of the line as a whole. Ellis's story here offers novel new takes on some familiar characters, and once again, he manages to being the meat of the science-fiction ideas here into the realm of the thoroughly plausible by grounding them in actual science. McNiven's design for the new Captain Mar-Vell is striking, but more importantly, he captures the larger-than-life scope of super-hero action, a la Authority, for which Ellis is so well known.
S.H.I.E.L.D. has a lot of secrets, but one of its bigger ones is the Asis project. A group of the most brilliant minds on the planet have gathered and developed a new means to power space travel, and S.H.I.E.L.D. is gearing up for its first test launch. Capt. Carol Danvers is in charge of security for the project, but her training couldn't possible prepare her for the creature that's approaching. Little does everyone at Asis realize that one of its scientists is prepared in a way no one could have predicted.
McNiven's design for the new Captain Mar-Vell is wonderfully detailed and appropriately alien in appearance. The graceful figure reminds me of something we might see from J.H. (Promeathea) Williams III. The inhuman amalgam of machine and alien flesh that serves as the threat in this issue exudes power and is truly chilling in appearance as well. The Asis shuttle boasts a believable, realistic look while incorporating slightly more wondrous elements as well.
You know what it was about this comic book that hooked me? It's not the new Mar-Vell design or the data communication conflict between hero and villain at the end of the issue (though it was novel and, well, cool). It was a single line of dialogue: "Dinner now. You have ten seconds to comply." It's down to earth, it's funny, but it also touches upon the super-secret, high-tech, military tone that dominates this script.
Just as he did on Ultimate Nightmare, Warren Ellis starts things off with a powerful and exciting script, drawing the reader into an intense world and unimaginable crisis. I just hope he doesn't follow the same path as he did in subsequent issues of Nightmare. The second, third and fourth issues of that series were incredibly slow-paced and contributed little to the larger plot. Fortunately, the writer ended that previous limited series on a high note. He's doing well so far on this new series, but I just hope that the Ultimate Galactus trilogy -- this is part two -- doesn't turn out to be a much shorter story that's been padded out to fill three mini-series. 8/10
