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Comic Review: Daredevil Vol. 7 by Brian Michael Bendis and Alex Maleev »

Brian Michael Bendis and Mark Millar somehow write this one together and somehow the excesses of each is cancelled out by working together. The dialogue is stronger than it generally is in a Millar book but not as ridiculously verbose as most Bendis books. The pacing and action scenes are cinematic and Millar-atic, moreso that Bendis books usually offer. In all, this really works and is a great re-introduction to a modern version of the FF.

In "Ultimatizing" the Fantastic Four, they honestly don't change things as much as I thought they would. The big change is the one that had to be made - how they get their powers. Obviously stealing a rocket ship and getting bombarded with cosmic rays wasn't going to cut it in these modern times. However, they still had to find a way for a scientist, his best friend, his girlfriend and her kid brother to be together to accidentally gain superpowers. The solution to that problem still stretches plausability (especially in how they get Ben Grimm to show up) but it worked for me.

Marvel's "Ultimate Universe" roots itself in secret government projects to create super powered beings and it relies a lot on the villains being disgruntled former employees. They do it again here with the Mole Man. I'm not sure how many more times they can use this origin method but it still works and really, it makes a lot of sense.

The next step will be to see how this book handles Dr. Doom. I also hope to see a little more of the "fantastic" element but keeping the realism of the Ultimate Universe. It's going to be a delicate balance to achieve. So far so good.

(B+)

Posted at August 2, 2004 9:23 PM