Ultimate Power #2

Story Details

Spider-Man is swinging through NYC with his girlfriend - Ultimate Kitty Pride - clinging on to him. Anyway, her arse is hanging out of her impossibly short X- Men uniform while they wonder what her nickname should be. Spidey's not impressed by any of the suggestions ... but they are distracted when the top of the Baxter Building blows off.

The Squadron Supreme are in a fight with the FF. None of them speak the language, however and Reed calls the Triskelion to ask for help from SHIELD and the Ultimates. Meanwhile, Hyperion wallops Ben – with little effect, before Ben throws him off the building.

Spidey shows up to join in the action, while Blur rushes to catch Hyperion. He overshoots his run and ends up in Indiana, before turning around and ending up running on water in the New York bay before arriving just after Hyperion slammed into the pavement. Back up at the top of the building, Kitty borrows a phone to call the X-Men before Arcanna turns it into flowers.

Gradually the Squadron are beginning to acclimatise and the language is coming back to them. Meanwhile, Hyperion is preparing to take on Ben but, just before he can hit, Thor takes him down with a bolt of lightning as the Ultimates show up. Hyperion recovers and clobbers him back as they get into their own battle before he's hit with another bolt of lightning – this time from Storm as the X- Men appear.

Hyperion holds them off long enough to tell Reed Richards he's under arrest as Nighthawk reveals Reed has destroyed their world. Hyperion holds aloft one of the globes Reed sent into the other dimension.

Spidey watch: Lots more Spider-Man in this issue. He starts off with Kitty on a swing through the city, before getting into the middle of the battle on top of the Baxter Building.

General Comments

Again, it takes 22 (admittedly well-drawn) pages before we get to the anything actually happening. The Squadron showed up right at the end of the last issue, so couldn't Hyperion have told Reed then he was under arrest? Greg Land's art was very nice again - but an overlong battle sequence just didn't really do much for me. The Ultimates and X-Men showed up but, aside from the final reveal, that's pretty much all that happened.

I am also curious how Ben threw Hyperion – the SS's equivalent of Superman – off a building. Wouldn't he just fly?

I did think that Bendis' idea of the Squadron not being able to adapt to the new dimension and not being able to speak was a really intriguing one, however.

Overall Rating

Just like last time, there is some very nice art on show here ... but not much story. Let's get this show on the road, eh?

Footnote

This issue sold approx 76,654 isses - a hefty 37k drop.