Ludicrous Speed Reviews 6/25/25 – 7/2/25 | Ultramega, Absolute Martian Manhunter, Assorted Crisis Events, Resurrection Man & MORE!
Ultra-Mega-Sized Ludicrous Speed Reviews!
This week, Mike shares his thoughts on the latest issues of Ultramega, Absolute Martian Manhunter, Assorted Crisis Events, Resurrection Man & MORE! Prepare yourselves, ladies and gentlemen, because Heckatron is a loose cannon that plays by his own rules and, more importantly, his own rating system. LUDICROUS SPEED… GO!!!!!
Be sure to check out our other written reviews for more!
I had to take the previous week off due to a work trip in which I lost my iPad, leaving me with no way to read comics in my usual way. However, last week was so stacked with quality, and this week was so light, it all worked out to allow me to deliver another ultra-mega-sized bundle of reviews.
There were four books last week that could have easily been the pick of the week (probably pick of the month if I’m being honest), and two are just Deniz Camp flexing all over the pages. I may have to invoke a self-ban on giving pick of the week to one of his books, but luckily I didn’t have to make that choice because of the stunning and ridiculous conclusion of Ultramega! We should feel lucky to have so many amazing writers, artists, letterers, and editors in this supposedly dead industry firing on all cylinders. It’s almost too much to keep up with, but man, I’m having a blast tryin’…
COMICS FROM THE WEEK OF 6/25/25!
*HECKATRON’S PICK OF THE WEEK!*
Ultramega #9
Image Comics
Written By: James Harren
Art By: James Harren, Dave Stewart
Solicit: Every Ultramega before Noah has fallen. But will he follow in his father’s footsteps… or blast his own path, covered with the corpses of his enemy? JAMES HARREN’s masterwork comes to a ferocious finish!
Review: I came late to this series, but early enough to experience the agonizing wait for the final issues of this madcap tale of kaiju mayhem. In some ways, the end felt abrupt as Harren introduced some huge ideas in the final two issues, but with the reality of this series being unable to sustain the kind of kinetic wildness as an ongoing, the finale got appropriately big and expectedly ridiculous. I’m glad Harren got a chance to extend the series and leave it all on the field, and I’ll be grabbing whatever he does to follow this up day-one. If you’re not hip to Ultramega, make sure to check it out when the complete collection eventually comes. This is one of those books that feels like a rare gift from the comic book gods and I’m glad to be able to say I was there when…
Rating: 10 goon cubes out of 10
Absolute Martian Manhunter #4
DC Comics
Written By: Deniz Camp
Art By: Javier Rodriguez
Solicit: Hot Martian in the city! It’s a heatwave in Middleton, as tempers and temperatures run hot all over the city! In the white-hot heat, normally minor conflicts between neighbors turn deadly at the drop of a hat! Can John Jones and the Martian cool things down before Middleton erupts into chaos?
Review: I knew from the first few panels this issue was going to bang, and boy did it. Every issue has been phenomenal, but this is the best of the series so far. Camp and Rodriguez move fast and furious through the sun-bleached violence on multiple fronts, and start to ask uncomfortable questions about John’s ability to maintain a normal life in a way that feels very super-hero, but also resonates (painfully) through the lens of mental health struggles. I’m almost tired of telling everyone why this is the book of the year, but if you don’t get it by the end of this magnificent issue, I don’t know if it’s for you. But for my money? This is career defining work.
Rating: 10 angry wives out of 10
Assorted Crisis Events #4
Image Comics
Written By: Deniz Camp
Art By: Eric Zawadzki, Jordie Bellaire
Solicit: URGENT! PLEASE HELP! I have aged 60 years in 6 days! Life is rapidly passing me by, and I can’t make it stop! My mind and body are breaking down, and I’m not sure how much longer I have left! I am in a race against time, and I am losing! If you can help, please call 555-0404. PLEASE, TIME IS RUNNING OUT!
Review: There are a few comics that I know are going to make me feel bad after reading them, and yet the craftsmanship and experimentation keep me coming back. Ice Cream Man is probably the best example of this, where it’s a parade of misery, but feels strangely life-affirming, or at least make the reader take stock of their own life experience. Assorted Crisis Events is, so far, treading similar ground with less shock and awe but it hits just as hard. This issue is a break-neck sprint through a man’s life experiencing one moment after another through the decades until his death, feeling like time is passing without being able to keep pace with the changes, and feeling like decisions are made for him before he even has time to consider, leaving him feeling out of control and gasping for air trying to catch up. Bro, same…
Rating: 9 midlife crises out of 10
Department of Truth #31
Image Comics
Written By: James Tynion IV
Art By: Letizia Cadonici, Jordie Bellaire
Solicit: High school outcast Frank is addicted to finding the darkest corners of the internet. But now those dark corners are reaching through the screen with very long fingers and very sharp teeth. Learn the origin of the Department’s haunted hacker in a two-part Deviation with guest art by LETIZIA CADONICI (House of Slaughter)!
Review: Usually, I am bummed when DoT takes a side trip with a non-Martin Simmonds issue, but Tynion brought his ace House of Slaughter artist, Letizia Cadonici, to fill in to bring the internet urban legend The Hat Man to life in the most Department of Truth-y way. I completely forgot that the cantankerous Frank hasn’t had an origin story, and I almost hope there’s a nod to W0rldtr33 along the way. Excellent setup; can’t wait for the conclusion before we get back to Cole, Ruby, Hawk, and Lee’s existential fight for the Department.
Rating: 7 bottles of cough syrup out of 10
News from the Fallout #1
Image Comics
Written By: Chris Condon
Art By: Jeffrey Alan Love
Solicit: Writer CHRIS CONDON (THAT TEXAS BLOOD, Ultimate Wolverine) teams with visionary artist JEFFREY ALAN LOVE (The Last Battle at the End of the World, The Thousand Demon Tree) for a thrillingly dark sci-fi horror story unlike any you’ve seen before! In 1962 Nevada, a nuclear bomb test goes horribly awry and unleashes a contaminate into the atmosphere that turns people rotten. Otis Fallows, a private in the U.S. Army who is present for the test and is the only known survivor, flees the secret army base in search of a safe haven — but does such a place exist?
Review: Chris Condon works best for my money when he plays in a western sandbox, but I’ll take a paranoid, cold-war-coded sci-fi horror story, sure. The monochromatic silhouette art by Jeffrey Alan Love totally works for me, creating a detached, but still spooky, way of retelling Fallow’s story, but I want to see if Condon is walking us into a broader supernatural wasteland or if this is going to stay small in scope. I’m in either way.
Rating: 8 spooky silhouettes out of 10
Out of Alcatraz #4
Oni Press
Written By: Christopher Cantwell
Art By: Tyler Crook
Solicit: Freedom comes with terrible price as Eisner Award nominees Christopher Cantwell (Iron Man) and Tyler Crook (Harrow County) bring the year’s MUST-READ comic event barreling down on America’s most infamous fugitives…Frank, Clarence, and their handler flee with their new hostage to the abandoned settlement of Whiskeytown in Northern California. As the federal manhunt draws closer, and with new crimes hanging around their necks, freedom feels further than ever from the trio — and old troubles are about to resurface…
Review: I am begging you to read this book. The dialog, the subtle character work, and the tension are off the charts. The book is destined to get scooped up and turned into a film or a miniseries so get in on the ground floor so you, too, can complain it’s not as good as the comic.
Rating: 9 impeccable flat tops out of 10
Ultimate Spider-Man #18
Marvel Comics
Written By: Jonathan Hickman
Art By: Marco Checchetto, Erick Arciniega
Solicit: War rages on in New York City! Black Cat enlists Richard Parker’s aid in the Sinister Six turf war… and Spider-Man gains a surprising ally!
Review: Is this series really working? Like, REALLY? So many good ideas at play here, so completely hamstrung by their time-per-issue conceit. I have been vocal that I don’t think it’s working (as has Hickman himself), and I think it’s hitting Ultimate Spider-Man the hardest. Despite my backseat-driving, it’s still a pretty good book, even if I close every issue annoyed about how good it COULD be.
Rating: 6 families sitting in the desert for weeks at a time wondering what the fuck is going on out of 10
COMICS FROM THE WEEK OF 7/2/25!
*HECKATRON’S PICK OF THE WEEK!*
Resurrection Man: Quantum Karma # 4
DC Comics/Black Label
Written By: Ram V
Art By: Anand RK, Jackson “Butch” Guice, Mike Spicer
Solicit: TIME IS RUNNING OUT! As the wheel of death and rebirth keeps spinning, Resurrection Man’s clock to stop Gashadokuro starts to run out. Luckily, with the fractal Microverse in hand and with the help of a new friend with a target on his back, hope seems on the horizon. But will Mitch Shelley finally be able to defeat the evil that looms over the universe, or is the real evil found within himself?
Review: I am not nearly high enough to read this, but Ram V is trying some big, bold things here, even if it’s teetering on the precipice of devolving into impenetrably pretentious nonsense.
Rating: 9 lives out of 10
Absolute Green Lantern # 4
DC Comics
Written By: Al Ewing
Art By: Jahnoy Lindsay
Solicit: JO AND HAL VERSUS ABIN SUR! Jo and Hal hatch a plan to strike back at Abin Sur and free Evergreen. But is their understanding of Abin Sur and his plans for Evergreen correct, or will they just create a bigger disaster in the process?
Review: We’re four issues in and this mystery of what the Lanterns are in this universe, why they’re now on earth, and why the usual suspects are all being “judged” is moving at a snail’s pace. This and Absolute flash are battling for the bottom of the Absolute tier list – which isn’t to say they are bad books, they just have exceptional books they’re sharing space with – but I am comfortable recommending both as “wait for the trade” titles.
Rating: 5 extremely slow steps out of 10
Captain America #1
Marvel Comics
Written By: Chip Zdarsky
Art By: Valerio Shiti
Solicit: While Captain America slumbered in ice, the world changed — for better and for worse. Steve Rogers awakens to a reality where battles are fought in the shadows through secrets and subterfuge, and villains aren’t so easy to identify. When a fledgling dictator named Victor Von Doom conquers Latveria, Steve faces a critical decision: adapt to a new kind of warfare, or forge his own path? And what will the choice he makes in the past mean for his future? Experience the untold tale of Captain America’s first encounter with Doctor Doom as Chip Zdarsky and Valerio Schiti team up for a game-changing new era of CAPTAIN AMERICA!
Review: I’m so excited for this Captain America: Year One type of story with Chip Zdarsky at the helm. Cap, like Superman, is the easiest and hardest character to write, but Zdarsky seems to want to explore him as a man out-of-time, getting his feet under him in a new, strange future (using Marvel’s sliding time scale puts this in the 2010’s according to artist Valereo Schiti, making your Uncle Heckatron feel extremely old). Schiti’s art is phenomenal, and he looks to be as good a partner for Zdarsky’s script as Marco Checcetto was on his incredible Daredevil run. The one thing giving me pause is the tease of a new fake-cap antagonist, a concept as old-hat as Spider-Man fighting another Goblin-themed villain. Let’s be real, the Marvel Universe is lousy with super-soldiers, but I’m not throwing a flag on the field yet.
Rating: 8 Stark Phones out of 10
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