As the Ultimate Universe ends this week in two finales, it also lives on in Ultimate Impact: Reborn! That’s because Origin Boxes were gifted to Miles Morales to take back to the 616 universe crafted by The Maker. The problem is that Miles didn’t keep the boxes as safe as they could have been, and now they’re scattered around the globe, giving people powers. New heroes, new villains, and new supervillain Hostilicus continue to evolve in this week’s Ultimate Impact: Reborn #2!
If any comic were a pinball machine, Ultimate Impact: Reborn #2 would be it. Writer Chris Condon bounces around the various new, powered-up characters and Punisher doing his thing with many scenes lasting a single page before a switch. With many of these characters separated, they have little connective tissue, save for one who is in the news. The balance isn’t equal, leaving you wondering about characters like Wonder Man and Miles, who each get one to two pages each.
The main plot seems to fall on Punisher, who enters the story doing his thing, saving lives and killing bad guys. While Condon writes a well-written internal monologue for Frank, it also takes seven or so pages for him to interact with a character that’s part of this series. That seems like rather precious time spent when there are so many new characters to meet and learn about. Eventually, he does run into Hostilicus, which serves as the main fight in the issue. It’s unclear if Punisher will return or not, but he’s used here mostly to set the bar as far as Hostilicus’ power level.
By Miles!
Credit: Marvel
Beyond proving Hostilicus is powerful, Condon and artist Stefano Caselli do pull off some decent setup, like where we’ll pick up with two new heroes when they clacked their bands and changed places with Hostilicus, and what the red gem does for our other new character. I suppose we also know Miles is off getting help, but in a single issue dose, one can surmise this is crumbs and best read in a collected format.
Art by Caselli works well, especially when Punisher is blasting folks. One of the new characters sees monsters, and we get a glimpse of that in a horrifying panel. When Frank goes toe to toe with Hostilicus, you’ll partly believe he has a chance thanks to his speed and lack of fear. That’s all on Caselli’s great use of speed lines and character acting.
Ultimate Impact: Reborn #2 keeps the momentum moving forward with a rapid-fire structure that introduces new developments at nearly every turn. Chris Condon continues to expand the scope of the series, though the large cast stretches the issue thin and leaves certain characters underserved. Caselli’s artwork helps hold everything together with energetic action and strong character work, particularly during the showdown between Punisher and Hostilicus. The issue spends more time setting pieces in motion and giving Punisher the focus than it does delivering major payoffs, but it at least sets up key pieces. The impact is growing, even if the dust hasn’t kicked up yet.
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