This review is CLASSIFIED. The contents of the review for Survive #1 lie inside.
SURVIVE #1
Writer: Brian Michael Bendis
Artist: Joe Quinones
Letterer: VC’s Cory Petit
Colorist: Rainier Beredo, Joe Quinones
Editor: Mark Paniccia
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Cover Price: $3.99
Previously in Survive: The Ultimate Universe was almost eaten by Galactus. Captain America and Thor died saving the world and Reed Richards, supposedly a terrorist, stepped up to help.
WHAT, NO LOVE FOR THOR?
I should have listened to my gut and not picked this book up based on the solicitation. Nothing annoys me more than Marvel “classifying” information about a book. Did you read Ultimate Cataclysm? I didn’t, nor did I know that Survive #1 would be continuing on from that story. The majority of the issue takes place at Captain America’s private funeral where Tony Stark gives a eulogy praising the man while also confessing the Ultimates will be no more. He asks for young heroes to step up and Spider-Man, Bombshell, Cloak and Dagger and Female Spider-Man become the Young Ultimates.
The biggest problem with this book, and it’s a large one, is you have to have read not only Ultimate Cataclysm to understand it but also be strongly familiar with the Ultimate Universe. That’s a problem the recap page can’t even fix. I didn’t know Reed Richards is a terrorist, who Ms. Chang is, or any other of the other story beats this issue hits. I had no connection to the story whatsoever, making me care little about it. Bendis does a great job with Spider-Man, as always, and Tony’s dialogue really showed his pain. A lot of it has been done before though. Captain America was great, the greatest, made us great, etc. Thor only gets a mention, so his party must be happening in Asgard but it seemed a little disrespectful not to give him more of a nod. Unfortunately I got next to nothing from this issue and while it’s not horrible it gives nothing to new readers and comes off as boring.
RESEMBLES RUBBERY REED RICHARDS
Joe Quinones’ art didn’t appeal to me much. Many of his character have a rubbery look to their face and features like eyes look off when drawn at angles. He does a wonderful job with Reed Richards and there’s a fun little moment where Reed walks into Sue’s force-field, causing his face and hands to stretch. I also like how Reed isn’t constantly stretching during the scene as it bothers me when artists don’t have him stand like a normal person. Ultimately, there’s not much for him to do as the issue is mainly talking heads and bodies. It’s serviceable but the flaws in features and proportions bothered me too much.
BOTTOM LINE: SKIP IT, ESPECIALLY IF YOU HAVEN’T READ CATACLYSM
Maybe I’m mad at Marvel’s solicitation but I can’t recommend Survive #1 at all, even to those who read Ultimate Cataclysm. Anger aside, this issue is awful for new readers, giving them little information to previous events. If you’re completely unfamiliar with the Ultimate Universe you’ll be even more lost. Maybe fans of Cataclysm will enjoy it, but I find that hard to believe as the issue is pretty boring. Plus, the idea of Young Ultimates seems a bit silly. Shame on me for not doing my research I guess, but live and learn.
3 Comments
If the character actually changed her name to “Female Spider-Man”, I would laugh for an entire day. “She-Hulk” is only slightly less stupid of a name, but we’re all used to it by now.
Anyone else bothered by the cover? Ok Sue (FF) gets a big talkie bit in the book, but I had to go back and search for Storm and Falcon. Took me a couple of looks to spot them in the heroes crowd in front of Stark on page 2. They have their backs to us, didn’t do or say anything, and I couldn’t find them anywhere else in the book.
And yes, even having read Cataclysm (which was just ok) this book was boring, even for a typical “day after” issue.
I didn’t even want to bother mentioning that problem. Actually, my main gripe with the cover is that nowhere oes it say “Ultimate”. That would have saved me $3.99. Again, live and learn (or in my case just live).