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Agree my friend. Your taste is exceptional as always.
THE FATE OF THE ULTIMATE FANTASTIC FOUR!
Doom's years of torture at the hands of the Maker finally catch up to him in this secret history of the real Reed Richards! And tensions rise among the Ultimates when Doom might be more fixated on re-creating the life he should have had than the life he's got...
Rated T+
Combining the layers of craft makes this exercise in structure and formal application a compelling read that pushes this into the single best issue of the Ultimate Universe so far. The harmony in which Camp and Noto operate in this issue is beyond fantastic, setting a precedent for formal innovation after the narrative leaps made in the previous issue. The Ultimates #4 is the crowning jewel of the line, and quite possibly the best Marvel comic of the year (and maybe even the decade). Anyone interested in what is possible for Big 2 comics should read this issue and walk away with a compelling story, beautifully haunting art, and a real sense of tragedy that speaks to the fundamental importance of the Fantastic Four to the Marvel Universe. Read Full Review
Camp and Noto craft a tragic, melancholy story in The Ultimates #4. Doom can neither hold onto his past nor grab this lost future. And Doom must decide whether he will try to live up to the Reed Richards he was meant to be or be the Doom that the Maker crafted him to be. I am reminded of Number Six in The Prisoner “I am not a number, I am a free man!” as Doom struggles with his internal chains. Even with the Maker locked up, he still feels trapped and forced to embrace the metal mask of Cain on his forehead. His armor essentially making his body a prisoner. Read Full Review
The Ultimates #4 fully defines Reed Richards' Dr. Doom, revealing the tragedy of the Fantastic Four in this universe and the motivation to defeat The Maker at all costs. This issue strengthens the anticipation of The Maker's return while we gain further insights into the nuance of one of the Ultimates, Dr. Doom. Read Full Review
Seeing the whole truth of what was done to turn this innocent man into Doom is harrowing stuff, made even worse by revealing the fates of the rest of the FF. It's a chilling issue full of literal torture, done very skillfully. Read Full Review
Noto delivers beautiful art throughout the issue. I really enjoyed the brighter visual moments of Dooms past and the darker tone of his present. Read Full Review
Ultimates #4 is a must-read for fans of complex storytelling and compelling character development. The shocking revelation about the Maker and the exploration of Reed Richards' tragic past elevate the series to new heights. Overall, Ultimates #4 is a powerful and thought-provoking installment that solidifies the Ultimates as a must-read series. Read Full Review
Deniz Camp tells a masterful story that takes well established characters that have been around for almost 63 years and turns what you think you know about them on their head. This issue is going to be point you're going to come back to in future issues as a moment to reflect on why Reed/Doom does what he does. And it is going to be incredible to see that play out. Read Full Review
The Ultimates #4 is an excellent origin story for Ultimate Reed Richards. The tragic fate of the Ultimate Fantastic Four makes Reed Richards' Doom one of the most fascinating characters in this Ultimate Universe. Unfortunately that investment in Ultimate Doom is at the cost of the rest of the characters in this series take a backseat in a title that's supposed to be about a team. Hopefully we see Deniz Camp find balance between telling personal stories that also develop the greater team as a whole. Read Full Review
The Ultimates #4 addresses Doom's attempts to recreate the Ultimate Fantastic Four using a unique narrative structure and storytelling flow. The reading experience is certainly unique but in Deniz Camp's quest to do "something different, several plot questions are left unanswered. Likewise, Phil Noto pulls off a minor miracle in making Camp's script work visually, but the visual pop and creativity suffer as a result. Read Full Review
This series is the best thing coming out of this universe, and unlike tradition, it's not because the rest of the Ultimate line is trash. Deniz Camp is fucking killing it.
A masterpiece of story telling. In my list of greatest stories of all time.
Plot
This comic tells the story of Doom, who is actually Reed Richards and how his life was altered by the actions of The Maker, showing how the experiment to analyze the cosmic radiation rain failed and the Fantastic Four are not born, but rather they die and it is all Reed Richards' fault.
The Maker is Reed Richards from an alternate universe, so he dedicated himself to torturing and making the Reed Richards of this world become Doctor Doom.
Iron Lad listens to part of Doom's tragic story and asks him to calm down, but Doom makes it clear that his experiment with cosmic radiation is not over and when he manages to cure the negative effects on humans, it will be the rebirth of the Fantastic Four, he makes it very clear that for now he will play by the rules of not using the Immortus Engine to travel in time...for now.
Doom has a secret agenda and we don't know how much of a hero he has left in his soul.
This chapter shows how The Maker's evil actions caused Reed Richards to become Doom, how the experiment that created the Fantastic Four failed. With each installment, this reimagining of the Marvel Universe continues to grow and become more and more interesting.
Art
With strong lines that show everything in detail, Noto's art has a unique imprint that respects the classic designs of all the characters.
Summary
The story of Doom is revealed, it is full of tragedy and the evil of The Maker. more
Superb. A fascinating and unsettling look into Doom Reed.
Fantastic. Really enjoyed seeing Doom's backstory in this universe, and it was depicted beautifully by Noto. The panelling was super interesting here, as well. I read it "normally" at first. However, I re-read it immediately afterwards by reading all of the top panels, all of the second panels, and so on. Truly great stuff here, as Camp is, apparently, doing everything he can to try and make this top Jonathan Hickman's Ultimate Spider-Man as my favorite book in the line right now.
Jesus, how terribly grim. Doom is the most interesting character in this series, and there’s a lot of interesting characters in here. I really enjoyed the four timelines on each page, it was a unique storytelling device.
Phenomenal. Fantastic even.
Thank you sir. We're so lucky to get to experience the talent we have right now and I'm glad that we can both appreciate how great the stuff we've both enjoyed has been.
just amazing
Wow.
Leave it to Deniz Camp and Phil Noto to write a tragedy in the middle of the most exciting universe. Since I saw The Maker go out of his way to steal a Mister Fantastic Suit and take it with him to this new universe, I knew it was going to be bad news for this Reed Richard (Read Ultimate Invasion for more). When The Maker revealed that he had a prisoner and he had him wear the suit and the Doom mask, I could just instantly feel bad for him. Who knew the atrocities and tortures 6160 Reed Richards could have been subjected to? Ever since, I've read Doom's words with a heaviness and a sadness even more dark compared to everyone else just because I felt out of all the people's lives that were affected or impacted by The Maker, Doom was probably the worst.
Well, here it is. My suspicions are put to rest. The Maker not only made the Fantastic Four failed their mission, but with the exception of Jhonny Storm who died instantly, The Maker destroyed their lives one by one in a dragged out embarrassing and painful sequence of events until they all passed away. Leaving Doom to survive it all just to live with the haunting thoughts of failure. The Maker is just that vile. What will he do once he is able to leave the Dome?
Phil Noto was definitely the right person to bring this story to life because the subtleness of his pencils and the color palette give this issue a feel of a trip down memory lane to a time of hope that is no longer. more
It's nice when writers can do this. Great job Deniz Camp and NOTO!
Excellent storytelling, good art, this was an epic issue. Very cinematic. Can't wait to see where it goes.
I love Noto's art. I thought this was a well told story with how it was set up and extremely interesting.
A haunting story about how Reed Richards became this universe’s version of Doctor Doom told across 4 timelines.
The very emotional beats of Deniz Camp’s script are held back by equally emotionless visuals from Phil Noto. Noto is an amazing artist, especially for individual covers, but full issue assignments expose the limits to his style. His characters’ facial expressions, or lack thereof, made me think I was looking at mannequins being posed on a set and took away from the overall impact of the issue.
Art: 3.5/5
Story: 3.5/5
Total: 7/10
It's not bad but everything felt too out of order for me.
While the Maker psychologically torturing Reed is definitely something that he would do, I unfortunately felt lost at times with how much the narrative jumped around. Additionally I'm tired of seeing the Fantastic Four being brutalized even though I'm sure
Camp didn't do it with malice. Not a terrible comic, just not one I had a lot of fun reading.
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