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Ultimate Invasion
Ultimate Invasion #1
THE TRANSFORMATION OF THE MARVEL UNIVERSE BEGINS! Superstar creators Jonathan Hickman and Bryan Hitch team up! The Illuminati must form once again to stop the Maker from his plans to destroy - or perhaps rebuild - the universe, with Miles Morales at the center of it all! Bryan's work on THE ULTIMATES helped redefine super hero comics for the 2000s - wait until you see what he and Jonathan have in store for this decade! Including new data pages by Jonathan Hickman - plus exclusive behind-the-scenes material on the world-building that has gone into this project!
- GenresComicsMarvelComics Manga
53 pages, Kindle Edition
Published June 21, 2023
21 people are currently reading
73 people want to read
About the author
Jonathan Hickman
1,228 books2,055 followersJonathan Hickman is an American comic book writer and artist. He is known for creating the Image Comics series The Nightly News, The Manhattan Projects and East of West, as well as working on Marvel Comics' Fantastic Four, FF, and S.H.I.E.L.D. titles. In 2012, Hickman ended his run on the Fantastic Four titles to write The Avengers and The New Avengers, as part the "Marvel NOW!" relaunch. In 2013, Hickman wrote a six-part miniseries, Infinity, plus Avengers tie-ins for Marvel Comics. In 2015, he wrote the crossover event Secret Wars. - Wikipedia
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 36 reviews
June 22, 2023
A whole new universe? This went a different direction than I expected but I'm just as intrigued. So nice to see The Maker back.
June 29, 2023
This is 100% NOT new reader-friendly because I had no idea what was going on from the first page and STILL none by the end.
This issue assumes you know all kinds of things which I don't so I hated it.
It's bland and the artwork is dull and while there's maybe a good story here it was just way too confusing for me as a newbie.
So this one is a pass for me.
This issue assumes you know all kinds of things which I don't so I hated it.
It's bland and the artwork is dull and while there's maybe a good story here it was just way too confusing for me as a newbie.
So this one is a pass for me.
January 1, 2025
first read of 2025. hyped to finally see what the new ultimate universe has to offer
June 29, 2023
Man, I'm excited.
May 19, 2025
the ending with Peter was interesting. the rest was okay
January 26, 2026
The maker is goated🙏
But the rest felt kind of flat and corny idk. The last bit with the maker stealing the spider from Peter’s backstory to never make him spider-man was pretty cool and of course the opening scene with the joker dark knight style breakout
But the rest felt kind of flat and corny idk. The last bit with the maker stealing the spider from Peter’s backstory to never make him spider-man was pretty cool and of course the opening scene with the joker dark knight style breakout
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 4, 2023
I guess I am one of the few genuine Ultimate Universe fans out there, and I gotta say I was reaaaally looking forward to this. And well, this first issue is... intriguing. Putting the Maker as the main character is a great move, and I genuinely want to know how will his Ultimate Universe turn out.
June 24, 2023
The Maker is maybe a top 10 Marvel villain for me, so any story where he’s involved becomes must read stuff. Not a ton happens in this issue, it basically just serves to reintroduce him and show he’s up to something, but I absolutely trust Hickman to take this in a super interesting direction. I’m also excited to see how Miles fits into everything, considering he’s billed as the co-lead of this miniseries.
June 22, 2023
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.
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.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 14, 2024
Reading this as I trail backwards after reading the recent 2024 Ultimate Spider-man #1. That book bugged me because there seemed to be more to Peter’s story than the book would relate. I thought it was a stand alone relaunch of the Ultimate Marvel comics, but it’s apparently directly tied to the previous one by way of this miniseries. And this lies my problem with modern (1994-ish to present) Marvel comics. No book stands alone. Every book need like three or four other titles included to get the full story, and the pieces are hard to read without them. Call me old school, but when I pick up a solo series, I expect a solo series. If all of these stories are going to be so interconnected and dependent on one another, just put them all in the same series and just call it Ultimate Marvel.
As for this book, the pacing was horrible coming from someone whose experience with the Ultimate universe is mainly limited to reading Ultimate Spider-man and the Miles Morales books. This book assumes you have read much if not all of the Ultimate books that preceded it. That’s not a sin on it’s own, the book would just not be for me. But the fact that you need this to understand the new Ultimate Spider-man book is not great. There are so many weird fast forwards in this first issue that rely on knowing things from the past. That is not good writing in my opinion. It might seem complex on the surface. But it’s lazy.
If the question I started with was “What do I need to read before getting into Ultimate Spider-man 2024.” And the answer is practically every Ultimate comic published in the last 20 odd years, then I guess they missed the entire point of the Ultimate Universe to begin with.
As for this book, the pacing was horrible coming from someone whose experience with the Ultimate universe is mainly limited to reading Ultimate Spider-man and the Miles Morales books. This book assumes you have read much if not all of the Ultimate books that preceded it. That’s not a sin on it’s own, the book would just not be for me. But the fact that you need this to understand the new Ultimate Spider-man book is not great. There are so many weird fast forwards in this first issue that rely on knowing things from the past. That is not good writing in my opinion. It might seem complex on the surface. But it’s lazy.
If the question I started with was “What do I need to read before getting into Ultimate Spider-man 2024.” And the answer is practically every Ultimate comic published in the last 20 odd years, then I guess they missed the entire point of the Ultimate Universe to begin with.
July 1, 2023
It's not that this issue was bad, per se. It's just that I don't want it to exist.
I started reading comics in 1993. When the Ultimate line of comics popped up, I was confused and offended why anyone would want rehashed versions of long-running comic books, some of which had been going since the 1960s. I had done the work. Started reading random Fantastic Four and X-Men comics in the 90s, didn't understand a lot of the references, but kept working at it until I learned as much comic book history as I possibly could. Why shouldn't others do the same?
But more than that, the Ultimate comics were a perversion. They took classic heroes and classic stories, and tried to have younger, upstart writers try to "improve" upon them. With very mixed results. So, we have preposterous storylines suggesting that Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch were in an incestuous relationship. Or, that Hellstorm is on a team where neither he, nor any other analogues to 616 characters, have any actual powers. Or, characters' basic family relationships are mixed up for no particular reasons, so Havok is inexplicably older than Cyclops, and Xavier is now the father of Proteus.
I didn't actually read any of those comics. I just read summaries of them on Wikipedia, incredulous about all the liberties that were being taken.
Finally, after something like 15 years, the Ultimate universe FINALLY died a few years ago. I was elated. Relieved.
... And now Marvel dares to suggest that they're going to bring it back? Fuck that.
I started reading comics in 1993. When the Ultimate line of comics popped up, I was confused and offended why anyone would want rehashed versions of long-running comic books, some of which had been going since the 1960s. I had done the work. Started reading random Fantastic Four and X-Men comics in the 90s, didn't understand a lot of the references, but kept working at it until I learned as much comic book history as I possibly could. Why shouldn't others do the same?
But more than that, the Ultimate comics were a perversion. They took classic heroes and classic stories, and tried to have younger, upstart writers try to "improve" upon them. With very mixed results. So, we have preposterous storylines suggesting that Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch were in an incestuous relationship. Or, that Hellstorm is on a team where neither he, nor any other analogues to 616 characters, have any actual powers. Or, characters' basic family relationships are mixed up for no particular reasons, so Havok is inexplicably older than Cyclops, and Xavier is now the father of Proteus.
I didn't actually read any of those comics. I just read summaries of them on Wikipedia, incredulous about all the liberties that were being taken.
Finally, after something like 15 years, the Ultimate universe FINALLY died a few years ago. I was elated. Relieved.
... And now Marvel dares to suggest that they're going to bring it back? Fuck that.
June 27, 2023
Nada permanece muerto en el Multiverso Marvel. Y parece que el Universo Ultimate tendrá su segunda vida (o revancha) a manos de El Hacedor. Uno de los dos conocidos supervivientes de ese mundo sacrificado en la última Secret Wars que siempre ha estado disconforme con permanecer en el Universo troncal donde coexiste con su variante totalmente heroica. Este "Reed Richard" quiere algo que sea "suyo". Y aquí vemos cómo se dispone a conseguirlo. Es un número dilatado en exceso para mantener un suspense en todo su conjunto hasta llegar a ese conocido momento de la historia Marvelita donde el Hacedor mete mano (sic.). A la espera de ver cómo Jonathan Hickman encarará toda esta situación.
June 10, 2025
A dense, ambitious start that drops you right into Hickman's signature style: high concept, minimal hand-holding, and big implications. The Maker is front and center, as manipulative and dangerous as ever, and the issue sets the tone for something massive. That said, the pacing is slow, and the exposition-heavy approach can be a little hard to wade through. It’s intriguing, but not instantly gripping—more of a setup issue than a hook.
July 26, 2025
Ultimate Invasion #1
The first issue sets the stage with a shocking escape — The Maker, an evil Reed Richards from the Ultimate Universe, returns with a plan to build a better universe his way. Hickman dives deep into themes of control and destiny, while Hitch delivers cinematic panels. It's a dense start but full of intrigue, teasing a vast multiversal threat that’s more cerebral than action-driven.
The first issue sets the stage with a shocking escape — The Maker, an evil Reed Richards from the Ultimate Universe, returns with a plan to build a better universe his way. Hickman dives deep into themes of control and destiny, while Hitch delivers cinematic panels. It's a dense start but full of intrigue, teasing a vast multiversal threat that’s more cerebral than action-driven.
February 25, 2025
Ultimate Invasion #1 ignites a transformative Marvel era with breathtaking storytelling and art.
Jonathan Hickman and Bryan Hitch deliver a high-stakes narrative as the Illuminati rally once again.
With Miles Morales at the center, the Maker's destructive—or rebuilding—plan looms large.
A must-read debut packed with explosive twists and exclusive world-building insights!
Jonathan Hickman and Bryan Hitch deliver a high-stakes narrative as the Illuminati rally once again.
With Miles Morales at the center, the Maker's destructive—or rebuilding—plan looms large.
A must-read debut packed with explosive twists and exclusive world-building insights!
Read
March 12, 2025I don't know if this is just me, but I've realized that everytime I read of the Illuminati, these characters always feel so empty. Like I cannot feel that there's a Tony Stark inside that suit. None of them feel like people.
I'm reading this as an obligatory first step before getting into the new Ultimates universe that's getting high praises.
I'm reading this as an obligatory first step before getting into the new Ultimates universe that's getting high praises.
June 21, 2023
It was an interesting story but why are they trying to bring back a destroyed universe? It was destroyed for a reason and I don’t think it needs to come back, especially with all the weird characters it had.
November 3, 2023
I am a huge Hickman fan and have read everything that he has done. Once I got word that he was relaunching the Ultimate Universe, I was on board. This first issue set everything up for this long Hickman chess game that he is about to play.
June 23, 2023
Yknow what let The Maker cook I just wanna see what he does
October 30, 2023
Lowkey kinda false advertising as the Maker creates a whole new world rather than just re-make the 1601 universe but other than an exciting start to a new universe.
November 28, 2023
Not enough bang for the buck.
Almost 9 bucks for this ? I get it, it’s “world building”, but sheesh. Hope the next few are worth it.
Almost 9 bucks for this ? I get it, it’s “world building”, but sheesh. Hope the next few are worth it.
February 6, 2024
Good start! I am excited.
March 6, 2024
A solid opening issue, I see the foundation which Hickman is laying here, I really enjoyed this first issue. Bonus points for the sketches and page layouts in the back also.
May 26, 2024
Un buon inizio!
June 30, 2024
4 estrellas.
Curioso, un inicio curioso para lo que parece ser una gran historia, ojalá me termine de sorprender, al menos el final del primer número lo hizo.
Curioso, un inicio curioso para lo que parece ser una gran historia, ojalá me termine de sorprender, al menos el final del primer número lo hizo.
September 6, 2024
“Si tuvieras la oportunidad de borrarme, lo harías?”
“…si”
“Lo tendré en cuenta “
The Maker es mi villano favorito. Que comienzo, sumamente aterrador.
“…si”
“Lo tendré en cuenta “
The Maker es mi villano favorito. Que comienzo, sumamente aterrador.
August 13, 2025
A bit slow since it’s mainly about the Maker and he’s not much of a fighter, loads of lore however and you can tell it’s opening the universe up a lot
August 25, 2025
oh this is gonna be soooo good
Displaying 1 - 30 of 36 reviews