Civil War II: Ulysses #1 Review and *SPOILERS* - Marvel Monday

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Written By: Al Ewing
Art By: Karl Kesel, Jefte Palo, Nick Filardi
Cover Price: $4.99
Release Date: August 24, 2016
Publisher: Marvel

*Non Spoilers and Score At The Bottom*

Since June, fans of Marvel have most likely been dealing with Civil War II in most of the books they read. So far, the crossover event has focused upon a new Inhuman named Ulysses. However, despite getting a few scenes here and there, we don’t really know a whole lot about Ulysses. Don’t get me wrong, what I have seen of Ulysses has made me like him. He just wants to do the right thing and help people and he’s not sure how to do that. That said, we still didn’t know a whole lot about him as a character which is why I was excited about getting into this miniseries. I haven’t been too thrilled about everything happening in the Civil War II crossover, but I never disliked Ulysses and I am hoping to get something I’m excited about from this series. Will I get it? Let’s find out.

The issue begins with Ulysses being led to the Tower of Wisdom (home to Karnak) by Medusa, Iso and Flint. Ulysses complains and wonders why they couldn’t just teleport with Lockjaw but apparently the journey to the Tower itself is something of a tradition. In this place, Karnak is referred to as the Magister and he meets them outside of his tower. Karnak immediately starts taking a look at Flint and Iso, insulting them and pushing the very buttons that they don’t want pushed. This is, of course, Karnak’s power. He can see the weaknesses in everything, including people. Flint becomes very angry and attacks Karnak, however Karnak is easily able to thwart his attack. Iso jumps in to defend her friend and begins using her powers in order to put incredible pressure on Karnak’s head. Karnak doesn’t respond to the attack but a bit of blood does trickle from his nose. Iso stops thinking that she has won but Karnak only sees that she was unwilling to kill him.

Karnak then turns his attention on to Ulysses. Medusa explains the power that Ulysses holds and talks about it as a gift that could bring peace. Karnak simply states that it can also bring ruin. Karnak accepts Ulysses into the Tower of Wisdom and leaves the other three outside. Once inside, Ulysses runs into various different beings, most being Inhuman who have all seemed to become physically mangled or disturbed. He sees their bodies as grotesque and sickening but keeps following Karnak. Eventually, Ulysses has had enough and becomes overwhelmed. He doesn’t want to become like the others in the Tower to which Karnak takes offense and threatens Ulysses.

Karnak then leads Ulysses to his room (or in this case a cell) and Ulysses once again becomes very overwhelmed. He claims that Karnak is a psycho to which Karnak responds that if he were in a television show, he would be considered a hero and someone that got stuff done. Karnak then reaches out at Ulysses and tells him that he will touch him but not to worry cause it won’t be fatal. This leads Ulysses to freak out and it triggers a vision Once again, Ulysses has a vision filled with death. This is where the issue leaves us.

Ultimately this issue didn’t exactly give me what I wanted. First off, it is more of a Karnak book than it is a Ulysses book at this point. Karnak was more heavily focused on and he simply had more to do. That said, while the book didn’t give me more about Ulysses like I wanted, it was still really enjoyable to read. Karnak remarks that if he were in a television show, he would be considered a hero and a badass. Guess what. It may be a different artistic medium, but Karnak certainly is all of those things. In addition, the art of this book is really something special. I’m not too familiar with the art team but they’ve done some amazing work and Al Ewing once again gives us a story that is intriguing. It wasn’t what I wanted, but I certainly didn’t care.

Bits and Pieces:

The book about Ulysses ultimately ends up focusing on Karnak far more. It’s hard not to as Karnak is one of the most interesting of the Inhumans but it was a bit disappointing to not have any more insight into Ulysses than what I had before. In the end though, the beautiful art and amazing storytelling really won me over and I’m looking forward to the next issue.

9.0/10