Jeph Loeb spent the past several years becoming the writer-equivalent of his former artist/business-partner Rob Liefeld as the most detested creator in the industry. In fact, his output since leaving DC's top-selling book, "Superman/Batman" has been pretty bleh if the internet buzz is to be believed. Checklist coming up:
Onslaught Reborn - Teamed with Rob Liefeld, this Loeb miniseries is strictly for 90s fanboys (like yours truly) who enjoyed the hell out of the unreadable crap that was "Heroes Reborn: Captain America" and "Heroes Reborn: Avengers". All other decent folks are advised to stay away from this one like the Ebola virus.
Wolverine: Evolution - Everyone loved Simone Bianchi's art as much as they hated Loeb's writing on this one. This one was supposed to be epic. After all, it featured the death of Sabretooth. I can imagine idiot fanboys slobbering over this one if it had been released in the late 1980s or early 1990s. In some ways, probably not. I mean, Sabretooth was kewl then. That was before the first X-Men movie came and turned him into a slobbering idiot. For several years, Marvel didn't know what to do with the character at all. Enter Loeb and we got a story of how Logan, Sabretooth and Wildchild were all descended from furry animals who hated each other for thousands of years. Then tie this story to what Daniel Way is doing with Romulus and the Muramasa Blade. The result? Sabretooth decapitated and fanboys didn't even care about it.
Fallen Son: The Death of Captain America - This was the miniseries that everyone HAD to read. After all, while the real death of Cap happened over in Ed Brubaker's book, this is the official send-off. Teamed with a bevy of artists, Loeb structured this miniseries according to some 5 stages of grief concept. I think it's some much needed closure for himself after the death of his own son a few years back but I didn't care enough to pick it up. To me (and a billion other readers), the real Cap story was happening in Brubaker's book.
Red Hulk - This one came after Greg Pak's cerebral take on the green goliath in "Planet Hulk" and "World War Hulk". It was such a change in tone and style that people who came in expecting more Pak-goodness were disappointed. Loeb teams up with his friend, Ed McGuiness (along with Frank Cho and Art Adams) to give us a combination of a mystery (Who is the Red Hulk?) and an over-the-top action comic (with scenes such as Rulk, as he's come to be called, punching out the Watcher's lights!). The mystery is not on the level as "Batman: The Long Halloween" and the action is a throwback to the crazy fights Loeb did in "Heroes Reborn: Avengers". My son absolutely loves this series but I have yet to work up enough interest to pick it up.
Ultimate Power, Ultimates 3, Ultimatum - While all the above were not exactly comicbook classics in the vein that Loeb was formerly known for ("Superman For All Seasons", "The Long Halloween", "Dark Victory", "Daredevil: Yellow", etc.), fanboys did not react violently to them. More often than not, people were just ambivalent as to Loeb's output. In other words, they were just not interested enough. Those who did pick up some of the above stuff (like yours truly) just gave a shrug and a sigh, sometimes saying, "Give the guy a break. He's simply taking some time off to work on something light and fun. After all, even Alan Moore did Spawn and WildC.A.T.S. once upon a time!" Then came Loeb's work on Marvel's Ultimate Universe. Then came the fireworks and the venom. Then came the angry fanboys and disgusted faithfuls. Then came the expletives and incest-jokes. Then came the ugliness and cannibalism. Jeph Loeb was given the unenviable task of cleaning up 9 years of "continuity" by unleashing the Ultimatum Wave. Think Noah's flood unleashed by Magneto (you can almost hear Loeb screaming - "It's not my fault! It's all Magneto's fault!"). With these stories (if you can call them that), Loeb's name will forever by linked with that of Chuck Austen - with the two competing on who is Marvel's worst writer of all time. In other words, if they gave out Eisners and Harveys to the best creators, they should probably give out Loebs and Austens for the turkeys (i.e. comic industry's equivalent to the Razzies Awards). Even with Greg Land, David Finch and Joe Madureira on art couldn't save Loeb's books from sinking like the Titanic.
Around this time came the news that Loeb has been booted out of the "Heroes" TV show. By then I had lost all interest in the show and simply contented myself to watching Hayden Panettiere on "I Love You, Beth Cooper"!!! Rumours had it that Tim Kring had enough of the Loeb-effect and simply wanted to regain the creative control that he once had over the franchise.
Why, oh why then did I pick up "Ultimate X #1" by Jeph Loeb and Art Adams?
The simplest reason I can give is that I'm a sucker. I mean, it's Art Adams doing the art. Never mind that Loeb is writing the thing. Perhaps with this one, Loeb is bringing back the magic that he once did when he paired with Tim Sale?
This title is why Ultimatum was published in the first place. That ugly event allowed the Ultimate Universe to be rebooted and repackaged and restarted with a clean, fresh slate. As a result, the original architects (who were unknowns in 2001 but have since become comicbook deities), Mark Millar and Brian Michael Bendis were brought back to work on newly minted books, "Ultimate Comics: Avengers" and "Ultimate Comics: Spider-Man" respectively. As for Loeb, he took on two books all by himself, "Ultimate X" (teamed with artist extraordinaire Art Adams) and "New Ultimates" (teamed with Frank Cho, of apes and babes fame).
I read it for the first time and said to myself - this is a DC book pretending to be a Marvel one. This is "Superman For All Seasons" repackaged with Art Adams doing even better artwork than Tim Sale did 12 years ago. This is Loeb doing his sensitive, romantic, coming-of-age story with his inimitable internal monologues and Middle-American sensibilities. After all, we have James and Heather Hudson here as Pa and Ma Kent, Jimmy Hudson as Clark Kent, dead Wolverine as Jor-El, Kitty Pryde as Lana Lang, etc. We even got the Kent farmhouse (here it's a boathouse) and Pa and Clark... I mean, James Hudson and Jimmy walking into the horizon at the end of the book talking about father-son stuff. Even the hurricane from "Superman For All Seasons" is a prominent point in James Hudson's monologues!
It's almost like Jeph Loeb is asking himself for the first time since 2006 what it was that people loved about his writing a decade ago and why he's just not delivering the goods anymore. The result could have been something akin to 2010 Loeb trying to do a tribute or swiping 1998 Loeb. In fact, that is what this book is... but I'm not complaining. Nobody does Loeb better than Loeb himself.
I put the book down and reread it late in the evening. Then I handed it to my wife. She gave me a sheepish look and commented, "But it's Jeph Loeb! Are you sure that he can still deliver the goods?" Then she read it.
Aside from the expected praises for Art Adams' jaw-droppingly beautiful artwork, we found ourselves sucked into the story of Jimmy Hudson, son of the now-dead Ultimate Wolverine. In fact, by the end of the day, we both agreed that this is a damn fine comic book.
It's probably too early to say that it's going to be the book that causes a revolution like "The Dark Knight Returns" or "Watchmen" or even the original "Superman For All Seasons". After all, I've only read the first issue. But what a damn fine first issue this one is.
During my first reading, I was distracted because I kept comparing it to "Superman For All Seasons" and the Smallville TV show. Truth be told, the comparisons are inevitable. Upon my second reading, I came to see how Loeb has matured. The work is more polished, more natural. After reading it for the 3rd and 4th times, I started to see how the issue is, in fact, closer in spirit to Stan Lee's 1960s stories - specifically the justly-classic "Amazing Fantasy #15". That is high-praise indeed. Loeb's Jimmy Hudson is a Marvel character for the 21st century - even more than Bendis' Ultimate Spidey, in some ways.
By my 5th reading, I was a 12-year old, slobbering fanboy again! Who is Jimmy's mum? How does he turn his bone claws into adamantium? Are James and Heather really just ordinary folks? What's the untold story of James' and Logan's Iraq War days? Will this book become a new Ultimate X-Men? Will there be a new mutant academy with Jimmy and Kitty leading the charge?
Have I told you yet that I LOVE this book? OK, I love this book. It's just that good. Jeph Loeb can write again. You can all come out from hiding. The guy who gave us the Blob cannibalising the Wasp has rediscovered his inner sensitive soul again. OK, I know I almost spoiled my praise by bringing up the Blob there. We'll probably never forgive him for the Blob. But seriously, "Ultimate X" is some really good stuff. Here's hoping that Loeb keeps up the good work and we finally get the whole thing in a handsome hardcover collection to hand out to the non-True-Believers who question whether Jeph can still deliver the goods.
