It’s been a good few weeks for depictions of London in comics. First, Grant Morrison gives us a Batman & Robin sequence that proves it doesn’t take much fudging to get superheroes traversing the Big Smoke’s skyline like they’ve been there all their lives. Second, we get this, Ultimate London, and a lovingly faithful recreation of the Thames as Ultimate Iron Man plunges headfirst into it. As a resident of the city in question, I can’t help but feel a little won over by it.

It isn’t long before the action’s back on more generic ground, though, in private jets, bunkers and cocktail bars. Ah well. At least, if Ultimate Human taught us anything, it’s that Warren Ellis writes one hell of an Ultimate Iron Man. And that is more than enough to take over once the initial enthusiasm for the opening scene wanes. Scenes between Stark and Justine Hammer briefly echo his relationship with the Black Widow (it seems Stark does have a type) and there  a level of emotional engagement shown that’s unusual for Stark, despite their brief relationship.

Indeed, it seems that perhaps things are taking their toll on the character. This issue is all a bit Empire Strikes Back. Stark succeeds in getting back his technology, but the cost to the character is a considerable one, and the final, sullen scene demonstrates that Ultimate Stark isn’t completely unaffected by his experiences up to and including this story.

Steve Kurth’s artwork has improved in leaps and bounds even over this series, with his adeptitude in depicting the Iron Man-style suits and technology finally spilling over into his portrayal of normal people. Ellis’ script calls for emotional subtlety, and Kurth can certainly handle it.

If anything lets the book down, it’s the big reveal of who’s behind the plot against Stark, and what he does with that knowledge. Potentially major plot threads seem sliced off and quickly cauterised, while the mechanism that brings about the story’s end, while creepy and inventive, is a bit too convenient at the same time. More than anything, Ultimate Armor Wars feels like a holdover from the “old” Ultimate universe – and it’s probably not a positive thing when I say that I can’t decide whether that’s a good thing or not.

This week, we’re handing out the Second Annual Comics Daily awards – one per day – between Christmas and New Year. Each award has been written up by a member of the Comics Daily team after a consensus was reached, and highlights what we feel have been the best of superhero comics this year.

Best Moment: “You and me and her and him- we’re just getting started.”

This category was one of the most closely debated amongst the three of us, for a somewhat unexpected reason; we couldn’t decide which passage from Planetary #27 should win the award.

Warren Ellis often likes to end his creator-owned enterprises on a positive note, with The Authority and Transmetropolian both concluding with hopes for the future, despite the deaths of the lead characters, but neither piece of closure felt quite so hard-fought. We’ve been watching Elijah Snow’s struggles to create the world he seeks over the course of the last twelve issues of the book, as he strove to keep his temper in check in the face of the darkness which surrounded him. The writer played the question of whether the character was going off the rails as being one of the key elements of the second half of the story, with the supporting cast openly beginning to doubt their friend. The initial event when it becomes clear that the centurion has been right all along is overshadowed by the dialogue itself (“We thought it’d be funnier if I waited”), and it’s on this wonderful last page that the full extent of Snow’s victory sinks in.

Looking away from the broader significance of the moment, it’s still a strikingly well-judged piece of characterisation, with Snow expressing a typically grandiose sentiment through some extremely simple vocabulary. It’s this that stops the speech from appearing mawkish or triumphalist, with the Planetary Foundation’s leader displaying a subtle humility, making a touching contrast with his more typical cranky ranting. Incorporating a perfect combination of plotting, characterisation and tone setting, the conclusion of issue 27 ensures that its readers will look back upon Planetary with warmth, however disjointed the book’s delivery may have been.

Runners-up: “Apology accepted.” [Scott Pilgrim Vs The Universe], “I was with the doughface, on the moon…” [Grandville], “That’s magic enough.” [Phonogram: The Singles Club], The world goes “Pop!” [Umbrella Academy: Dallas]
Previous winners: 2008 – “We just don’t like to make a fuss” [Captain Britain & MI:13]

I wasn’t particularly impressed by the first adventure which Avatar brought us for their dimension-hopping secret agent, but it seemed only fair to give a second crack of the whip to Mercury, given the determination of her creators to firmly establish the character. Sadly, there isn’t a great improvement here. While the book certainly doesn’t lack charm, there isn’t enough weight to engage the reader, and the workmanlike art fails to compensate.

Despite the speed at which her assignment went west, Warren Ellis’s heroine isn’t out of action for long, quickly breaking free of the enemy’s restraints. Her search for the ruling power of her target Earth also proves surprisingly successful, but the arrival of the titular ‘Ultraspacial Dreadnought Vanaheim’ makes clear that Mercury’s assignment will proven more demanding than it initially appears.

As with the first series of Mercury, the core problem here appears to be a lack of detail. Ellis’s stated goal for the series was to create a sense of expansiveness in the action to give scope beyond that of the remainder of the writer’s work. In this sense, he has succeeded, with Mercury clearly moving amongst the movers and shakers of the parallel world she has entered. The difficultly is that there’s too little space in the story to flesh out the location, making it (and hence Mercury’s actions) feel disposable. Despite the gratuitous nature of some of the series’ covers, she’s a likeable enough lead, but not enough to carry the series single-handedly.

One interpretation of the book is that it’s a primarily art-driven showcase for the talents of co-creator Facundo Percio. If this is the case, then Percio is either rill-served by Avatar’s standard colouring approach or simply isn’t suited to the venture. His work is certainly appealing, at times being reminiscent of Brett Booth’s, but his minimal backgrounds don’t cut the mustard as our only gateway to the world Mercury explores. It’s a point brought home by the book’s climax, which features two double splash pages of the much-trailed arrival of the interstellar Viking dreadnought. Percio is a more than competent artist, but he isn’t Bryan Hitch, and the sequence lacks the power and detail which the writing appears to require of it. There are far worse titles on the market, but it’s hard to recommend as a purchase.

For this edition of the Wednesday slot, something a bit different – as Seb (ordinary text) and Julian (italics) discuss Planetary – its final issue and the series as a whole – in a conversational kind of way.

It’s finally here, then. And while there will be those who’ll angrily claim that the final issue of Planetary deserves little in the way of attention – considering the apparent lack of attention its readers have been granted by it in the last few years – we love it too much to do that. It’s our first and only opportunity to talk about a new issue in the life of this site – and that’s why we’re sharing the responsibility.

Also, the workload. Given how utterly unremarked-upon the first three year gap in the series’ lifespan was, it’s a pleasant surprise to see Warren Ellis working a distinct gap into the narrative, opening with a montage of images which show the Planetary organisation making good on Elijah’s previous boasts about how he would distribute The Four’s treasures to humanity. It may only be a token inclusion of the broader picture in what turns out to be a very character-lead conclusion, but it’s a welcome recognition of the series’ broader picture, and interestingly fits very well with the aborted Grant Morrison-driven direction of the Wildstorm universe. It’s a very atypical issue to close the series on. The absence of the trademark one-off cover designs which have characterised Planetary is initially masked by a spectacular gatefold from John Cassidy, but it soon becomes apparent that it’s a deliberate choice. More than any other issue, this coda is distinctly forward looking, with none of the distillations of twentieth century icons which have taken up the bulk of the stories. Even the Four-focussed issues stayed true to the idea of unearthing the past. Ellis may have not created the time-travel theory he expounds here, but it’s certainly more outward looking that the earlier issues’ high concepts.

The idea that the latter half of the series is, in fact, still true to the series’ original ethos is an interesting one, and not something I’d really considered before; the thing I’ve always said about Planetary is that it can be compared to TV shows like The X-Files, in that when it was focused on individual, standalone stories it was at its best, and the switch to an ongoing arc harmed it. But perhaps it’s not that after all – perhaps it’s just that the Four were never really the compelling threat they were built up to be. Their dispatch was an anticlimax – it’s only with them removed from the board that we see a sense of wonder and awe (and wonder and awe and discovery and joy in the secrets the world has to offer is, of course, what Planetary is all about) restored. The series was always very much about a certain type of adventure, and it’s not one that involves going and smashing up your foes (as elegantly constructed as Elijah’s plans were). Part of what makes #27 strike home a bit more is that it’s an adventure of discovery – unlocking the secret of time travel, venturing into the unknown to try and bring back a lost comrade.

Ah, but doesn’t the very fact that “it’s only with them removed from the board that we see a sense of wonder” support the view that Ellis knew what he was doing all along, and decided to embody his pet theory that Stan Lee’s creation were strangling a much broader cannon of popular fiction? I’d argue that the only real difficultly that the series encountered was Cassidy’s evolution in art style over the course of the issues. Most of the designs he came up with in his earlier pen and heavy inks phase have stood up well, but Elijah has never really looked right in the last third of the stories. Interestingly, Cassidy masks this well in this issue, with a lot more close-ups of the character to minimize use of his overall sillorette. And isn’t that last page just wonderful?

Yes, there’s no doubt that the issue looks as incredible as ever (from a technical point of view, easily far superior to the first few issues if you go back and look at them now). And yet, yes, I think you’re right – Cassaday hasn’t really nailed the true look of the characters, arguably for a while now. It looks more like his Astonishing X-Men than the issues of this series in which he and Laura Martin really hit their stride (for the sake of argument, let’s say that pinnacle was reached with the Batman one-shot). Still, it does seem slightly churlish to complain about the visuals when, after all, there are so few comics in the world that look this objectively good.

You mentioned after you first read the issue the interesting fact that the uniformity of the “visitors” suggests that the Planetary Foundation will not share the time-travel technology with the world. To retreat into fully-fledged fanboy mode for a moment, we never really had a resolution to the fact that Randall Dowling could reproduce himself psychically. Do you think that we’re supposed to conclude that a little of the mad scientist has tainted Elijah?

Heh, not a bad idea, and indeed the sort of thing that leads to frustration that the series only consists of 27 issues – it’s just so damned short, and feels like so much was left unexplored – such as, for example, never learning who the fictionaut is/was. And yet, now that I say that, it occurs that I’ve always thought of it as a far more deep and involving world than that encountered in series that got twice or three times as long a run. This is why Planetary was so wonderful – even in that short span (of issues, if not publication time) there was just so much to immerse oneself into. I think of issues like “Opak-Re” or “Century” – so much character and world background clearly fully realised in Ellis’ head, and he communicated a lot of it in a very effective and concise manner; but still, one feels, not enough. I want there to still be loads more of this to come – the ending, such as it is, is utterly lovely (and rewarding for the fans), there’s no doubt about that. It just feels – and I’m aware of the irony, given that it’s taken ten years to get here – like it’s come along too soon.

“You’re the Warren Ellis fan” said James & Seb. “You do the Planetary review”. It seemed like a sound plan, and I was half-way through deciding whether to take an overview of the series or focus on the contents of this week’s conclusion when I finally got round to plucking Astonishing from this week’s pile of purchases. And promptly rejigged the review running order. After a three year gap before his final adventure, Elijah Snow can surely wait a couple of days for the Wednesday slot- the sheer excellent of the first part of eXogenetic immediately commands the attention.

With the book’s stable supporting character Abigail Brand in trouble after an off-world combat mission, Cyclops deploys his latest toy to astonish the world’s intelligence agencies once again. There’s a sharp change in storytelling approach here, with the writer using a breakneck rescue mission to reintroduce his characters. Speaking of changes of approach, Phil Jimenez delivers art shockingly at odds with his work with the mutants fro Grant Morrison, delivering pencilling which almost appears to belong in an Image book. His usually tight linework is only present in a minority of panels, with a sketchier approach and increased number of close-ups giving a drastically different feel to the art. It’s not that it’s an unsuccessful approach, with only one likeness a little off (Emma Frost seems to look rather more like Polaris here). It is however, a drastic change which requires some extremely skilful colouring from Frank D’Armata to avoid the frequently-present flames from overpowering the action.

Compared to the high-concepts of Global Frequently, this is a far more traditional riff on the Thunderbirds concept, and highlights the high-tech side of the X-Men set-up frequently ignored since Operation Zero Tolerance removed the team’s extraterrestrial gizmos in the last nineties. Ellis plainly feels that there’s still fun to be had here, however, and the entertainment is compounded by his use of the Brood, Marvel’s Aliens rip-off, in a retread of his own Stormwatch/Aliens epic Final Orbit. The array of influences is frankly joyous, making good on the writer’s threat to be the “blood enemy” of the prevailing ethos of the X-books. The main character moment comes in the closing pages of the issue, with an unexpected reference to events several years ago in a dead second-tier title betraying the fact that the writer pays much closer attention to the rest of the line than he likes to let on. Exhilarating and memorable, Astonishing manages to navigate the departure of its previous artists without a hitch.

The Ultimate relaunch was two-for-two in terms of success after the release of the new Ultimate Spider-Man and Ultimate Avengers comics. The question on everyone’s lips is whether Ultimate Armor Wars will continue that trend. The writer’s previous sojourns in the Ultimate Universe have all fallen somewhere between Uninspired Ellis (Ultimate Fantastic Four, Ultimate Secret) and Textbook Ellis (Ultimate Human), so there’s a sense that we’re still waiting for Ellis’ definitive Ultimate story.

As of the first issue, it’s clear that Ultimate Armor Wars has the potential to be that story. For a start, it contains a brilliant depiction of Tony Stark that meshes perfectly with Millar’s version while still displaying the same savage and ruthless wit as the best Ellis characters. Furthermore, the story is a tried and tested one, so where Ultimate Human spent a lot of time expounding Ellis’ obsession with transhumanism, there’s a little less scope for diversion within the context of this story.

Set very soon after the events of Ultimatum – perhaps slightly prior to the current Ultimate Avengers arc – the story sees Stark returning to one of his facilities to assess the damage – only to find himself confronted – and outmatched – by the Ghost. Although that villain is currently enjoying a fantastic reinvention over in the real Marvel Universe, courtesy of Thunderbolts, it’s good to see him show up in the Ultimate Universe as a credible match for Iron Man.

Artist Steve Kurth, previously seen illustrating the Ellis’ AWOL series, newuniversal: shockfront, displays a previously unseen level of talent. He was never bad – but nor was he this good. The Ultimate books as a line appear to have undergone a visual realignment, and in the same way Pacheco brings the echoes of Hitch’s design work to Ultimate Avengers, so Kurth manages to do so here. There’s still some room for improvement, particularly in the expressions characters display – one suspects the sometimes stilted, awkward facial features might be a result of too much photo-referencing, and an over-reliance on that technique never leads to much good (insert your own Greg Land jokes here.)

Ultimate Armor Wars displays all the promise one could hope for from a post-Loeb Ultimate title, made all the sweeter because Stark himself appears to be largely absent from Ultimate Avengers. Although there’s very little war in this issue, there’s plenty of armor – and as a first act, it will leave you ready for more. If it delivers, it could be the best Ultimate miniseries yet.