Major events need a lot of things, but most importantly, they need a great set-up. A seemingly unbeatable foe with a potentially multiverse-shattering plan? Check? A team starring some of the biggest names in comics with hints of more to come? Check. Cliffhanger ending that immediately makes you want to read issue #2? Check. Ultimate Invasion #1 is an exciting and intriguing kickoff to a storyline that looks to shake up the entire Marvel universe. Read Full Review

With a spotlight on the Maker, Hickman and Hitch consistently toy with the feeling of "Oh God, what is The Maker up to now?" expertly in Ultimate Invasion #1. The grandness of what's to come can be felt throughout The Maker's machinations, even as their purpose remains hidden. Though his success feels like a foregone end, not even The Maker can outplay all that Ultimate Invasion has in store. Read Full Review

Readers, its been a long time since weve seen The Maker vs Reed Richards. Im actually shocked its taken this long. Fans of Secret Wars should be pumped for whats to come from this event comic, especially since there has been very little involving the Maker sprinkled throughout comics since Secret Wars. Truthfully, Hickman does a fantastic job grabbing the audience by the back of the neck and ushering them into this next phase. FF fans, Ultimate fans, and Secret Wars fans need to get in on this now. This looks to be something special! Let me know what you think, have a great week, and God Bless! Read Full Review

Hitch delivers some impressive and beautifully detailed art throughout the issue. The visual style is perfect for this story and the epic arc that is to come within it. Read Full Review

Ultimate Invasion #1 is a flashy sequel to Jonathan Hickman's previous Marvel work that explores nostalgia, deconstruction, and features one dastardly villain. It's not just a trip down memory lane, and with the exception of one poorly paced splash page, is an additive experience with Bryan Hitch showing off his storytelling chops in both quiet conversations as well as big explosions. Ultimate Invasion is definitely a must read for fans of the Hickman epic and Ultimate Universe as well as anyone who loves a bombastic superhero yarn as the days get longer and the weather gets hotter. Read Full Review

Regardless of one's feelings about the Ultimate universe or its upcoming return, Ultimate Invasion #1 makes the case for itself not by promising future series but offering one that is immediately relevant. Read Full Review

Ultimate Invasion #1 delivers a fast-paced, action-packed, intriguing story that could have ramifications that affect the entire universe. The stakes are huge, but the plot is super-simple, and the art is fantastic. That said, Marvel justifies the higher cover price with more pages, but too many pages are BTS sketches and blanks, which makes the comic overpriced for what you get. Read Full Review

This issue is imperfect, but it has a hell of a hook. The cliffhanger makes the entirety of what came before it worthwhile as well. I'm excited to see what's next. Read Full Review

I wasn't sure I wanted 1610 back after all these years. We got to keep Miles, so what more did we need? I think we're about to find out. Read Full Review

Miles Morales has been capturing hearts since his debut in 2011, and he is, without a doubt, one of the most beloved superheroes of all time. His presence in this comic book is the icing on the cake, and every time he graces a page of a comic, you can't help but feel like you're witnessing something truly special. Read Full Review

Ultimately, Ultimate Invasion #1 delivers a solid groundwork for a story that looks to bring a huge threat to the Marvel Universe. Read Full Review

While Earth-616 has more or less absorbed Ultimate Marvel's initial ethos into its own DNA in the years since as well as one Miles Morales, the golden child of that experiment it's still rather fantastical and "unrealistic, which gives Hitch and Co. a lot of potential to do something great with this developing sandbox. In any event, Ultimate Invasion #1 forebodes an exciting new future for one of comics' most enduring initiatives of the past twenty-odd years. Welcome back to the multiverse, Ultimate Marvel! Read Full Review

Ultimate Invasion #1 is a rare swing-and-miss by Jonathan Hickman. The story is taking place at a time that is way past its expiration date. Hickman does all he can to sell The Maker as a big event threat but all attempts fall flat. If it weren't for the epilogue this would be a complete failure of a start to Marvel's latest big event. Read Full Review

There really isn't much hope of this becoming any kind of major event. The summer is already too cluttered with different crossovers and things. And this sort of thing has happened so often before in the past. However, it's possible that there might yet be some original quality to this particular mega-crossover. There might be some flash of brilliance in it. Certainly, everything seems to be placed on the page in a way that could catch the reader's attention if everything goes well. Read Full Review

Hickman has an amazing ability to make everything feel epic, and Bryan Hitch’s art really compliments this story. I was hooked from the beginning and I’m really excited to see how everything unfolds

I am in.!

This was an incredibly intriguing and well-written beginning to this miniseries. Hitch's art is pretty solid throughout and I can't say that I have many complaints about it, but I'm mainly here for the story. The way Hickman writes The Maker is fantastic and I enjoyed reading every word he said. All of the other characters were handled nicely as well, and I particularly enjoyed The Maker's interaction with Miles. This was a strong issue all around and I'm really interested to see where this goes.

This was a very strong start to a very small mini series set up event. The pacing is fantastic, the dialogue flows and while wordy feels perfectly balanced. I know a lot of people have a common criticism of Hickman that his dialogue is too drawn out. While sure he fills a lot of the space with an abundance of words it's not like Stan Lee's where it's just unnecessary word vomit. Hickman knows exactly what he wants to say and while it may seem daunting, absorbing all of it fleshes out the story infinitely better. Gaiman is much the same, or Moore. These heavy handed writers who inject as much prose as they can into their books and give them weight and it works here just as well as it ever did for Moore or Gaiman.
I've never been the biggest Brian Hitch fan but his style fits with this entire cast of characters and compliments Hickman's storytelling immensely. I have really nothing negative to say about this book. Sure it's expensive, but with Hickman and 53 pages AND and "event" comes with a tax. One that I hope doesn't deter people too much as this is a stellar issue. more

Can't lie, it was slow, but really enjoyable.

To preface, I never read into much of or followed the Ultimate Universe. Thankfully, you dont have to here.

I've read a little bit of the Illuminati stuff but only the first few issues.

I have however seen much of the Maker, as he has crossed paths with the likes of Venom in recent history.

Anyways, all that being said, this issue is a pretty epic setup snd I'm not sure where it's going to go but I'm excited to see it. I've always been a fan of Hitches artwork, and hes on top form here, I particularly like how he renders Black Panther here. The story makes quickly but also takes irs time on important details. Its essentially a game of chess beginning between two of the greatest minds in the universe. Given who's writing this, that probably means we're going to get into some crazy stuff down the line but this issue let's you in easy with minimal use of graphs and Diagrams and spreadsheets.

The ending is by far the most intriguing bit, and hints at what's to come in very exciting ways.

My only flaw with this issue is its price is quit ridiculous, but it IS kinda an event so.... I'll allow it. more

At last, a decent comic that reminds me why I read 'em.
Thank you, Jonathan & Bryan!

Ultimate Invasion #1 is the start of a new event from Marvel Comics, written by Jonathan Hickman and illustrated by Bryan Hitch. The issue brings together the Illuminati, a group of Marvel's most powerful superheroes, to stop the Maker, a dark version of Reed Richards from the Ultimate Universe who played a pivotal role in the events leading to the destruction of that universe in the Secret Wars crossover event.

It is a classic Hickman debut issue — little action, but tons of groundwork being laid for the future. We see the Maker break out of a top-secret prison and steal highly powerful weapons from each member of the Illuminati’s domain, causing the often controversial group to reconvene and address the situation.

The Maker pays a visit to Miles Morales, who he asks to join him in returning to a universe of their own. After Miles declines, the Maker leaves to power up his new invention but not before the Illuminati track him down and attempt to stop him. The Maker reveals he’s been goading the group with clues so that they could find him and he could have one final conversation with Earth-616 Reed Richards. He then activates the machine he built and vanishes…

In the issue’s epilogue, we see a familiar scene where a Earth-6160’s Peter Parker is about to be bit by a radioactive spider. Just as the spider is about to bite him and lead to his transformation into Spider-Man, a maskless Maker kills the spider. It’s here we realize that he is out to manipulate timelines and potentially remove superheroes from them altogether.

The issue is full of slow-build suspense, and Hickman does a great job of setting up the conflict between the Maker and the Illuminati, especially Earth-616 Reed Richards. Every conversation felt like a drip, drip, drip of information I am going to need to retain. While I can understand how that may not be how some readers want to engage with a comic book, I appreciate how the effect paid off by the end of the issue and, if history is any indication on a Hickman run, it will likely have an even bigger payoff later on.

The artwork by Hitch in this issue is equally as stunning, and he brings the characters to life. There is one full-page image at the end of the main story that I spent a lot of time with as Hitch’s work does an amazing job capturing a wider-range of reactions from individual members of the Illuminati. Black Panther’s eyes specifically still haunt me. It is wonderful to see Hitch back with the Ultimate Universe he helped to create.

Overall, Ultimate Invasion #1 is a great start to the event. It's full of suspense and mystery, and it leaves readers wanting more even though there are no new characters introduced.

Rating: 9/10 more

Wow this issue impressed me and I’m really excited where this goes. I didn’t read much of the Ultimate universe aside from Mike’s and the elements that tied into Hickman’s FF and Avengers run that led into Secret Wars so I wasn’t hyped for this but gave the first issue a chance. Once we see what the maker appears to be up to, I was fascinated to see where this goes..

Enough intrigue to pick up #2. I liked what Hickman did with the X-Men, very curious to see what happens here.

I'm intrigued. It's very interesting and I can't wait to see what happens next.

However, 9 bucks is a lot. So keep that in mind.

The scenes are long, but they go by fast. Still, this doesn't do much more than set up the board and start the game.

The storytelling is tremendously talented, of course, words and art both. But I get the feeling that the creators would like me to be more impressed by the epic-ness of this than I am. I'm engaged and intrigued, but I'm not amazed. This is a good comic, but it's no House of X.

It's an intriguing start.

(We're basically paying an extra buck for copies of penciled pages that I neither wanted nor needed.)

(Cover Date: August, 2023)

I liked it. Maker was treated like a big time threat. It was a little slower, but it made me care and I liked the ending.

Not great but good. Let’s see if Hickman can stick to the landing of an Ultimate Universe as if it were created in 2023.

I would happily pay $10 for a Jonathan Hickman comic before I pay $4 for a Vita Ayala comic.

if people want me to be blunt, Jonathan hickman is not one of my favorite writers. His dialogue and writing can kinda bore me a bit, and he reminds me of Denis Villenueve. Hickman is one of the few writers where I have to take my time with.

I can confidently say that I do enjoy this issue. It's very interesting and engaging where The Maker creates his own Flashpoint. While I dont enjoy the art, the writing and story make up for it.

Definitely interesting, but for $9 and the team who created it, it’s not incredibly epic, either.

I liked this, which is saying something due to the current status of Marvel comics. The Maker is a great villain and he holds the narrative all by himself. What I certainly don't like is the robot-like nature of Hickman's dialogues. Everyone speaks like an android. Also I don't like how Hickman jumps from one scene to another leaving the reader confused, he does that a lot.

The Maker is always fun, and of course Hickman is far too interesting a writer to waste anyone's time with a straight nostalgia piece. But this is only good not great, and for $9 that's just not enough for me

After the hype, this opening issue left me disappointed and my wallet a lot lighter. 9 bucks! It's mostly set-up and takes 40 pages of actual story to not really go anywhere. The Epilogue was intriguing, but felt like too little too late.

Bryan Hitch's art is mostly very good, especially during the action scenes. At times there is too much dialogue and narration, which has some pages coming across as overly wordy. And please abandon those graphic design info pages. They are a waste of story pages.

For 9 bucks I can't recommend this.