Lots of this issue is really good. The Captain America going to see Bucky stuff, all great. Brings a tear to my eye. Like Millar watched Fields of Dreams to prep for that one. Then the scene in the cemetery, where it’s like he watched Aliens to go over the dead family.

It’s too bad the ending is a huge stinker. The Captain America shot on the last page is weak and the whole lead-in with the media event is weak. Even Dubya shows up to make things even stupider (and more dated).

Where Millar goes wrong is letting the issue get away from Captain America, turning him into something to be regarded instead of the principal.

There’s some nice other character moments, but lots of foreshadowing too… Janet makes a comment about she and Hank’s marriage and then Banner’s got Hulk envy going.

It’s passable, I suppose, overall.

My favorite thing about Mark Millar, now and forever, will be him thinking Oregon is a city with a downtown. Just the man who should be writing American characters….

Actually, Millar’s geographic ignorance aside (Ultimates will be, I think, forever dated with its Dubya references), the second issue’s a lot of fun. He introduces all the characters and makes them all rather engaging–demonizing Bruce Banner a little bit, the only character Hitch doesn’t draw good-looking.

It’s fun watching Hank and Janet together (shame it goes so south so soon, but mainstream comics rarely have engaging couples… you’d think someone would have seen The Thin Man) and Tony and Nick act like a couple teenagers.

Millar’s usual bombasm and moronic plotting aside, he really does have talent and this issue showcases it. He knows how to make the reader engage in the material.

Pity he does it so rarely.

I forgot how fast these Ultimates comics read. Millar doesn’t seem to recognize a difference between ending with the reader wanting more and ending with the reader feeling ripped off.

This issue’s basically a prologue. It’s a visual rip-off of Saving Private Ryan‘s opening with Captain America added.

What’s so funny on Millar’s take on the World War II era Cap is how, reading this series after Brubaker’s done his revisionist thing, Millar seems quaint and forced. His ideas are unimaginative and derivative and barely there.

I guess Hitch’s artwork is good. It’s all very realistic–does Hitch photo-reference? Probably… Millar likes him–but it’s never exciting. Captain America’s not the biggest jerk in the comic, instead there’s a lame “regular guy” who’s a big jerk. I think he gets his comeuppance and dies.

It’s a pretty weak first issue… certainly doesn’t make me want to read more.