Ultimate Avengers 2 (2010) # 3

Cover Artist: Leinil Francis Yu

Published: Aug. 2010
Original Price: $3.99

Title: "Crime & Punishment", Part 3

Writer: Mark Millar
Artist: Leinil Francis Yu
Inker: Gerry Alanguilan
Letterer: VC's Cory Petit
Colorist: Dave McCaig
Assistant Editor: Sana Amanat
Editor: Mark Paniccia
Editor-In-Chief: Joe Quesada

SYNOPSIS
Nick Fury has assembled his team of Avengers, including the "first Hulk" Tyrone Cash and the Punisher, and is going over the details of their target: a flaming-skulled biker who has graphically murdered a philanthropist, a software billionaire, and an oil magnate. Fury has no idea who the killer is working for but they believe he is a genetically altered mutant, and the White House has issued an execution order. When Frank Castle refuses to participate, Black Widow electrocutes him by triggering a neural implant hidden inside his head. This convinces Castle to stay in line as part of the team.

Later, at the estate of the deceased oil magnate, James Rhodes and Tyrone Cash are investigating the corpse, which has been petrified by the Ghost Rider's Penance Stare. They learn that the only connection between the victims is that all of them were in the White House Biker Corps, an exclusive club where rich guys meet up for a charity bike ride. They also find one survivor at the magnate's house, a personal assistant wearing a holy cross around his neck.

At Chicago O'Hare Airport, a white-haired man is working a crossword puzzle with the descriptions of the murdered victims written in the puzzle spaces. Outside on the airfield, Hawkeye leads a SHIELD squad with the Punisher, waiting for another member of the Biker Corps to arrive, a property tycoon named Mr. Warren. As the plane begins the land, the Ghost Rider drives up the field and jumps his bike through the plane itself, grabbing Warren as he blasts through. The plane explodes while the Rider lands on the ground and speeds off with Warren. Hawkeye pulls out a rocket launcher and fires it at the escaping Ghost Rider, blasting the creature off of his bike. Hawkeye, Punisher, and SHIELD then move in to capture their target.

ANNOTATIONS
Though the cover says "Ultimate Avengers 2 # 3", the indicia labels it as "Ultimate Avengers # 9".

REVIEW
Following his last page appearance in the previous issue, Ultimate Ghost Rider finally makes his presence known three issues into the mini-series. The story is still taking its sweet time, but an absolutely fantastic artistic turn saves the day.

Seriously, Leinil Yu's version of Ghost Rider looks absolutely amazing. I've never really been a huge fan of Yu's work in the past; I've always felt that his art was too stiff and unnatural, his action sequences are difficult to follow, and his sketchy style clashes badly with some of the titles he's worked on. He's not a guy I associate with big, superhero stuff, which is of course why he's spent the better part of this decade drawing stuff like New Avengers and Secret Invasion. It's an ill fit for him, at least in my opinion. Even some of his work on this issue, particularly when its just people standing around talking, looks stiff and awkward. But his Ghost Rider looks great, mainly because this scratchy, unnatural approach works nicely for the character. In particular, he makes the flame look alive instead of just a static image, which is an important thing to get right when drawing Ghost Rider. I even love his design for the Rider's motorcycle, which looks like its been carved out of pieces of jagged metal. Dave McCaig's colors are an important piece of what makes the artwork pop as well, how he makes the Ghost Rider's skull look lit-up through the flames. The eye and nose sockets aren't the traditional deep black, they're back-lit and it looks great.

As for the writing, well, that's another story. I'm honestly surprised that it's taken this long for us to get an Ultimate Ghost Rider story considering what a big fan Mark Millar is of the character. I remember reading interviews with Millar from the early 2000s where he'd frequently name-drop Ghost Rider as one of his dream projects. So while I may have a lot of issues with Millar's work, I can't fault him for being a Ghost Rider fan. I even quite like his interpretation of the character, which I assume is his distilled take on what works for him about GR. The Ultimate universe gives him the opportunity to write HIS version of Ghost Rider without the worries of continuity, and since Millar's use of continuity has never been one of his writing strengths I think this was the best place to let him work. This take on Ghost Rider is handled fairly well as an otherworldly creature that no one can quite believe exists. Fury and SHIELD just assume he's a mutant and act accordingly, while the readers know the real score, letting us see things unfold from a perspective different from the characters.

There are still some problems with the non-Rider parts of the issue, and they're the fairly standard issues I always have with Millar's writing. There's the typical amount of cynicism and paranoid "edginess" to the dialogue (for example, Fury's "...the greatest crime of all...it murdered some rich people") that always grates on my nerves. I'm not against taking a cynical approach to class warfare, but Millar taps into that well WAY too often for it to be shocking anymore. Tyrone Cash is still a walking cliche of an English gangsta and Frank Castle is handled appallingly bad. Seriously, Ultimate Punisher whines and complains like an old woman through most of this issue, and seeing him get punked twice by this new Black Widow is just embarrassing.

So, yeah, this is a Mark Millar comic, so most people will already have their opinion on it whether they've read it or not. But if you're coming into this series just as a Ghost Rider fan, I don't think you'll be too disappointed.

Grade: B-