About book The Ultimates: Against All Enemies (2007)
With the release of the 'Iron Man 2' movie just around the corner, and with my mailman being harassed by me everyday as I eagerly anticipate my copy of the novel arriving in my mailbox, I figured it would be prudent to review another of Alex Irvine's novels, 'The Ultimates: Against All Enemies'. And what a novel it is.If you're not familiar with the Ultimates they are basically the Avengers (Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, Giant-Man, The Hulk and The Wasp all led by General Nick Fury) only they exist on a parallel universe and go by a different name. Now, I'm not usually one for a storyline that involves parallel universes but for this book an exception just has to be made. You see, the characters that we are familiar with have been completely revamped and made to appeal to a more mature audience. As such you have the following:* Tony Stark (Iron Man) - an alcoholic, womanizing, glory hunter who is obsessed with money, power & sexual conquests.* Thor - an environmental activist who may or may not be schizophrenic depending on your viewpoint.*Captain America - a soldier who preaches American morals but is having an affair with Janet Pym (The Wasp).*Bruce Banner (The Hulk) - injected himself with super-soldier serum and went on a homicidal rampage killing hundreds of innocent people.*Hank Pym (Giant-Man) - wife-beating scientist obsessed with getting his wife, Janet Pym, back and is having a breakdown trying to do so.*Janet Pym (The Wasp) - wants nothing to do with her estranged husband but has to work alongside him for the good of the team all while enjoying the pleasures of Capt America.*Nick Fury - A superspy who is the personification of cool and who is African American (he has always been Caucasian in all other aspects of the Marvel universe) and who constantly struggles to keep the team on the same page.Of course, most of these characters dislike, or are jealous of, each other and that just opens up a whole other layer of drama and angst to the mix. Phew!The story itself involves an invasion by aliens, the Chitauri, that can take on human form and are incredibly difficult to detect. This causes paranoia to the extreme amongst the Ultimates and just adds to their already dysfunctional ways.Alex Irvine has a wonderful grasp of the characters and brings them to life with an ease that has you longing to know what happens next in their lives. Couple this with his great story telling ability and his constantly flowing style of writing and this novel is a winner all the way.Mr Mailman, bring on 'Iron Man 2'!
This book left me wanting. Wanting more action.Good golly gosh, a book about superheroes and they barely get super.Captain America is my favourite superhero, has been for ever and he does next to nothing in this book. The Tony Stark character kind of stole the show in this one. He had all the good lines.in my humble opinion, Irvine gets way too cerebral in this one. Too much life lessons in this one.Find the bad guy, hit the bad guy. I was hoping for some quality kills per minute here and did not get it. Undanted, i will try again. The man with the shield will not be kept down.
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Much more of an exposition of the characters motivations, including the Chitauri. Unfortunately, it was far too difficult to relate to the development of the latter. Fairly good throughout but the third act is unsatisfying. Close readers will note a sorely missed opportunity to explore the cultural etymology of the "The Thing" / "Who goes there?" / "At the mountains of madness", which is particularly profound given that they share the same science fiction trope of doppelgängers of non-earthly origin.
—Splash Champion
