In a rare display of restraint, Jeph “I ruined Ultimates” Loeb actually manages to squeeze a half-decent story out of this annual. It’s not without its flaws, and there’s an utter laundry list of questions you could ask about why, exactly, this tiny continuity gap needed filling at all, but at least it didn’t feel as though it was insulting me as a reader. A definite step up.

But lets not pretend that it’s actually good. For a start, the title of the book is way off-base. This is an Ultimate Black Panther annual in all but name - Cap’s role in the story is fairly minimal, and largely serves to explain how he managed to impersonate the Panther, but not really why - there are a few jumbled reasons, but no single motivating factor. The reworking of the Panther as a Weapon X “graduate” ties well into the general fabric of the Ultimate Universe, but it does make the character feel watered down compared to his Marvel Universe incarnation. At least the relationship established in this series gives the Panther and Cap a good base for future stories, but as a story itself, this series is left somewhat lacking.

There are two artists in this issue - Marko Djurdjevic illustrates the Panther’s solo “origin”, and while he’s one of Marvel’s Cover Artists du jour, it’s usually great to see his interior work. Here, though, it’s incredibly dark and moody to the point of being hard to read. There are some great panels, and the revelation that the Panther has Wolverine-style claws is only made bearable because he’s drawing it. Bizarrely, that doesn’t seem to have featured in Ultimates 3 at all, despite the fact that Stark is specifically shown putting adamantium claws into the gloves of the fake Panther costume for Cap. Ah well, never too late for a good idea, is it? Or, it seems, a bad one.

The second half of the issue - the story that actually features Captain America - is drawn by Rafa Sandoval, who makes a much better stab at storytelling with clear, Brandon Peterson-esque work. The reduction of Ultimates to a generic Avengers-style superhero title is complete under Loeb, but at least Sandoval gives us a good example of that kind of story to look at, even if reading it feels painful. A definite improvement over recent Ultimates fare, but after the depths plumbed with the previous series, it would’ve been hard to go anywhere but up.

Tags: Captain America, Jeph Loeb, Marko Djurdjevic, Rafa Sandoval, Ultimates
Publisher: Marvel