Posted in: Comics, Marvel Comics | Tagged: al ewing, america chavez, black panther, blue marvel, captain marvel, Ego the Living Planet, galactus, high evolutionary, HRL, logos, Marvel Comics, spectrum, the maker, travel foreman, ultimate reed richards, ultimates, ultimates squared

Ultimates Squared #9 Review: Literal Existential Crisis

With the Eternity Watch united by Galactus. It is time for a showdown with Logos, the unity of Chaos and Order. Logos has met up with the death celestials sent into Eternity by the First Firmament, and they are having a war room meeting within the Superflow. The Maker (Ultimate Reed Richards) and High Evolutionary are watching this on Counter-Earth. They are witnessing this when the Eternity Watch, made up of Galactus the Lifebringer, the Ghost of the Shaper of Worlds, Ego Prime the Living Planet, the Infinaut, and the Psi-Hawk, enter the Superflow to challenge Logos and the death celestials.

Unfortunately, the Maker has dangerous plans that will alter the state of play as well as the fate of the entire friggin' multiverse. Galactus must rely on the Ultimates to stop his machinations.

One thing that is quite fantastic about Ultimates Squared is how it has essentially become about the more existential side of things. These are theoretical concepts throwing down for the fate of the universe. It's fun to try to parcel out the implications of what is happening as well as what is technically happening.

Getting to see the Eternity Watch unite and fight against the forces of the First Firmament is really cool, and Travel Foreman, an artist who has always had style that leans on the existential side, brings it to life nigh-perfectly. Dan Brown has a grainy color style that leans on paler shades that really add to the cosmic and existential aesthetic.

The Maker and the High Evolutionary are great monkey wrenches to throw into this thing. The Maker is a psychotic nihilist with a thirst for knowledge of the unknowable, and the Evolutionary has always thought of himself of a god. Of course they would have a hand in this. The only other two missing are Doom, who is playing at heroism, and Thanos, who is probably already thinking of a way to get in on all of this.

I do suspect that Thanos will make a return when all this is said and done, given that he has grown a love of the void of nothingness, as he has been a part of this series since its earlier issues before the Squared relaunch.

Maker's final plan is grand and hard to comprehend, and it will be interesting how it manifests in the next issue as the Ultimates try to stop him from ending everything as we know it. He also has some new allies that, well, I won't spoil who they are, but it will be an epic smackdown between they and our Ultimates.

What really impresses me is how much happens in Ultimates Squared, and how well it's paced. The plot advances a lot in a single normal-sized comic. However, it explains itself well enough and lets each beat sink in. It really makes you feel like you just went on a grand cosmic adventure without ever letting you feel lost. In an industry full of comics that seem to blow by in the reading, this one really manages to make the most of every panel and page.

Ultimates Squared is a fantastic comic, and this issue is one of the best of the series. It has big ideas, a lot of action, and the art brings it all to life marvelously. Give this one a read. It'll blow your mind.

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