(Monkeybrain Comics, 2013)
Review by Brad Gischia
Story – Benjamin Bailey and Joey Esposito
Pencils and Inks – Boy Akkerman
Colors – Ed Ryzowski
Letters and Production – Adam O. Pruett
Look! Up in the sky…it’s a bird…it’s a plane…it has a fantastic moustache! Captain Ultimate swoops in to save the day again, his facial hair buffeted by the wind as he takes the bad guys out. Issue 2 of Captain Ultimate is on the stands now, and promises to be more exciting that the first.
We jump in immediately after the events of Issue 1. Milo has become publicly associated with the Captain and is feeling the effects of being close to a hero. Those kids that bullied him in the first issue have made him their idol, asking him to sign comic books on the bus. (Don’t we all wish for that?)
Captain Ultimate has made some enemies upon he return, because he made the Super Revenging Society look so bad vs. the Giant Alien Robot. They have vowed to take him out. Meanwhile, Dr. Destruction has come onto the scene as has targeted Milo because of his affiliation with Captain Ultimate. The battle rages, and later Milo is officially asked to be a sidekick.
There are a couple of character introductions in this issue, an expansion of the universe, with Ulti-Mutt and Ricki Ratcliffe among the enrollees.
The main thing I’ve noticed throughout the two issues is the writers’ love of the classic superhero. The homage to Superman is veiled only in a busy moustache, using an alliterative name for the “spunky female reporter” and having her face off with a brash and short-tempered editor. This type of storytelling can work for a short time, but I’m sure Bailey and Esposito have more in store for us. They’ve hinted that there are things in Captain Ultimate’s past that are not entirely above board. We’ll have to wait for issue three to find out what those things are.
Boy Akkerman’s art is solid again in the second issue, a cartoonists style that never gets old, and mixed with bright colors by Ed Rzowski, this book looks like something I would watch on Saturday morning with a bowl of Lucky Charms perched on my lap.
Also released is a short story about Captain Ultimate called “Captain Ultimate in Appetite for Destruction”, a nice little addendum to the comic in that it has been released with a wonderfully retro cover by Taylor Stauft. I won’t spoil the story here, but it reads like a Max Fleischer Superman cartoon, and is a totally enjoyable way to expand on the Ultimate universe.
Keep your eyes open and fixed on Captain Ultimate. His moustache is bristling, and he’s got his eye on you.
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