Review: ULTRAMAN x AVENGERS Issue #2 – This Issue Gave Me Chills!

Welcome back, readers! Ethan is back with another comic book review! Get comfy and enjoy the best The Toku Source’s comic book corner has to offer as we jump into the second instalment of ULTRAMAN x AVENGERS!

This issue was written by Matthew Groom and Kyle Higgins with pencils by Francesco Manna, colours by Matt Milla with lettering by VC’s Ariana Maher. The cover art was done by Dike Ruan & Neeraj Menon

Recap

Picking up from last issue, everyone at Ultra Guard Island decides on the plan of attack. Shin and Carol go deal with the kaiju, Cap, the Spider-Men and Wasp go break into the USP to steal the batteries they need. Tony stays at base and upgrades Jack. 

As they leave, Kiki and Tony talk a little about how she may be able to join the fight, too. Ultraman and Carol make short work of the kaiju, beating them both with a team attack. Meanwhile, the break in goes well, until they face down director Morhime, who battles the heroes with her powers. She is stopped only by an Ironman style armoured Kiki, who explains why they need that batteries, causing Morhime to back off. She may want to destroy Shin and the Ultra Guard but, in her own way, she does care about the Earth.

Everyone quickly learns, upon returning to base, that Galactus is here. They record a short message of Cap giving them all a warning to evacuate. Shin goes to see if he and Ultraman can reason with Galactus, which goes about as well as you would expect.

Returning to base, sure that they have no other option but to fight, they learn Tony just about finished his upgrades to Jack and Cap, and take a moment to officially make the Ultra Guard members of the Avengers – which might not come with any perks but does mean they get to feel included when Cap says this: 

This brings the issue to a close. 

The Bad

Honestly? Nothing. This issue did exactly what it needed to, telling a coherent and compelling story while developing the relationship between characters. No negatives discerned.

The Good

Flat out, this issue is GREAT and fully demonstrates that the first issue which was mostly set up so we can hit the ball rolling here. It really did its job well because now we are sprinting off. So far the pacing of this series is fantastic. On top of the neat foreshadowing with Morhime and Kiki’s power armour (future Ultrawoman mayhaps?), there was some great fanservice, like Carol and Shin’s battle with the kaiju, ending with them doing a combo move to beat them both. Fun stuff.

Speaking of, the visual of Ultraman approaching Galactus goes so hard on its own. I feel lightheaded thinking about the next issue. The final page literally gave me chills – something no other comic book has ever managed. Amazing stuff. 

This does mean that any nerd debate over which is better: Justice League or Avengers, is now a much more one sided argument, as only one of them has any tokusatsu heroes on the team!   

The Conclusion

Now, as we stand on the brink of battle between our heroes and the consumer of worlds, I don’t think you should be surprised to hear that I fully recommend you check this out. Go buy it, especially if you liked all past Ultraman miniseries. If you’ve read issue one, let’s be honest, you probably already have brought issue two and preordered the other two issues and now join me in the torment of having to wait for the next issue to drop, because that’s how time works.

What do you think? Did you enjoy this issue? Have you also made that last page your phone wallpaper? As always, I’ve been Ethan: Writer, reviewer and person hoping Marvel return our calls soon for The Toku Source and, even if they don’t, I’ll see you next time.

*The Toku Source were still not provided a review copy of this ULTRAMAN x AVENGERS Issue and so any recommendation is a paying customer suggesting a paying customer make a purchase. We are seeking a relationship with Marvel in order to better review and promote their Ultraman comic book series but our efforts thus far have been less than fruitful. If anyone from Marvel is reading this, please contact us.