Colourist: Federico Blee, Letterer: Travis Lanham
I have been enjoying The Ultimates, but the last couple of issues felt like a slight dip in quality for me. I didn't really vibe with the Guardians story last month, and it felt like the series was changing gear a little. This issue, however, feels like a powerful return to form that I can't help but love. Issue nine does what this series seems to do best, it took a step away from the overall story and focused on a small corner of this new universe and fleshed it out for us, delivering more of the larger revolution against The Maker, whilst also showing us how bad things in 6160 can be.
Issue nine focuses on Luke Cage, who we meet twenty years ago as he's sentenced to one year to life in prison, his crime is never revealed to him, he doesn't get a trial, he's just a fifteen year old boy who realises he's facing the rest of his life in prison. Over a shifting timeline, we see Cage at various points in his life, being abused by a for-profit prison system that wants him as a slave. He's beaten by faceless guards, abused, maligned, and very literally stripped of his status as a human. So when Iron Lad sends him a package that promises to give him power it leads Luke down a path to revolutions.
This issue is a fantastic book, it's the kind of issue where if I've got someone asking if this new Ultimate Universe is any good I'd hand them it to read; because I think this is a perfect way to win people over to it. It captures the tone of The Ultimates perfectly, of an oppressed people leading a movement against a cruel regime to fight for a better tomorrow.
The art for the issue is provided by Chris Allen and Federico Blee, who create a wonderfully oppressive atmosphere. The prison world that we're introduced to feels cold, hard, and unwelcoming, and you're sold on how terrible it is immediately. Luke himself looks great, and it's wonderful to see his gradual change over the years, and if you're not hyped to see him as the super powered saviour of the oppressed, wrapped in the chains used to imprison him I don't know what would win you over. If The Ultimates keeps making issues like this the series is going to become a must read for decades to come.
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