Ultramega #1

Ultramega #1

Skybound/Image Comics 2021

By James Harren

Colours by Dave Stewart

A cosmic plague has spread, transforming everyday people into violent, monstrous kaiju. Only the Ultramega—three individuals imbued with incredible powers—hold the line against this madness. Their battles level cities and leave untold horror in their wake. Now, the final reckoning approaches for the Ultramega…but is this a war they can even win?

Well I wasn’t sure what to expect from this one that’s for damn sure. I wasn’t even sure I was going to pick this one up but as it turns out a Blank Cover is my kryptonite. I’m kind of glad that I did though because this is one of the strangest most visceral books I have read i quite some time. I’ve always liked the idea of the Kaiju but I haven’t really ever been shown a good way to appreciate it, this is now because when I saw Godzilla as a kid I had no idea what a Kaiju was. This however might be one of my new favourite series that puts the Kaiju front and centre and makes me WANT to know and see more!

I am loving the way that this is being told! How we see the story & plot development through how the sequence of events unfold as well as how the reader learns information is presented exemplary well. How we are introduced to Jason and how he gets himself involved in all this with who or what he is is so much fun to see. Also that he can’t seem to find pants when it all goes down well where’s the full frontal?!? The character development here is utterly fantastic! How we see the characters act and react to the situations and circumstances that they encounter really helps flesh them out into a more relatable person. The pacing is superb and you’d hardly know it’s a huge issue with the way we are guided through the pages.

How we see this being structured with the layers within the story emerging and being guided through the main plot is sensational! The whole idea here is completely and utterly absurd and yet because of how we see this being written it feels almost believable. How we see everything working together to create the story’s ebb & flow is absolutely marvellous! The way we travel through the story is nearly impeccably done.

I find myself loving the interiors here. Normally this style isn’t my thing but it fits the story so perfectly well that you cannot help but love everything about what we see. The linework is crazy good and how the varying weights and techniques are utilised to bring about this level of detail work is stunning to see. That backgrounds play such a huge role and how they are incorporated with the composition of the panels to bring us depth perception, a sense of scale and that overall sense of size and scope to the book is amazing. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels show a remarkably talented eye for storytelling. The creativity and imagination here is off the bloody charts and while we didn’t see Jason full frontal the creatures, the disgustingness of what they become as well as Jason’s overly large head for his body all conspire to showcase the talent that James has. The colour work is inspiring.

Dave is such a master colourist and there are few who understand the nature of how colour works as well as he does. So how we see the various hues and tones within the colours being utilised to create the shading highlights and shadow work is like seeing a master class in colour. Plus that colours you don’t associate with one another are utilised as they are is just brilliantly rendered.

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That James did this on his own with just the assistance of Dave is remarkable in and of itself. This kind of talent is rare and what he’s able to do in terms of engaging the readers’ mind and opening their imagination makes this one of the books that you MUST be reading.