It’s finally time for monsters in Ultraman #4! by Kyle Higgins, Matt Groom, Francesco Manna, Espen Grundetjern, and VC’s Ariana Maher.

Ritesh Babu: And we’re back for the penultimate issue of the book! Ian, how are you feeling on this one?

Ian Gregory: Ritesh, I am invigorated, I am full of energy, there is a monster this issue, and it is the size of a skyscraper. All is right with the world!

RB: They really made us on this one. Four issues! Four full issues!

IG: This issue does a lot of heavy lifting by breaking down most of the major secrets left in the story. It really feels like they’re trying to clear everything out of the way to set up for the final issue fight. I respect that they’re clearly trying to make space for a nice, big fight, but it also means this is something of a one-track issue.

RB: Yeah. It’s absolutely an issue zero-ing in hard on one big component, as opposed to juggling a multitude. It’s all leading to one big shounen-style splash and spread-heavy kaiju fighting finale. So without further ado, let’s go into…

The Secrets Of The Kaiju Vault

IG: Last issue ended with Kiki getting blasted by a K-Ray, but rather than killing, we learn that K-Rays are transporter beams, that send whatever they hit into the Kaiju Vault (shooting someone with this is still basically murder, to be clear). The implications of the K-Rays transporting, not defeating, Kaiju is that Earth has essentially been putting off a major kaiju catastrophe for decades, allowing them to gain power in the vault until it is full to bursting. The USP claims it has been searching for a more permanent solution, but if they are then they haven’t come up with anything. Sounds a lot like our climate disaster, huh?

RB: Yeeep. Kaijus are, and long have been, powerful metaphors. Symbolic figures to capture that which terrifies us in the moment, so the approach to them as these…elemental forces of calamity conjured up by our own impulses? Certainly works.

IG: Unfortunately, besides the actual scenes in the Kaiju Vault themselves (which are hazy, dream-like, and filled with incongruous items that have been transported alongside the monsters), all of this information comes to us through a series of long discussions on the plane. This is an exposition dump of the highest order, and it’s what gives this issue the sense of “checking off boxes” to get ready for the final fight. I don’t have any problems with the actual reveals, or their implications for the story (I actually think they’re pretty interesting), but it feels a bit like a failure of the medium to get all this info through a straight-up speech.

RB: It does, doesn’t it? It’s a fun issue, certainly, but at the same time it’s frustrating in that sense. That said, absolutely agreed on the revelations being interesting. I love the idea that humanity’s basically been taking away every single manifestation and monstrosity it’s conjured up and been locking it away, to act like none of it’s ever existed. The USP is a failing, futile attempt and gesture at making humanity look beautiful, without actually ever trying to aspire to it.

I love the bit wherein Ichinotani and Yamamoto are arguing, about how they’ve been sitting on this for 30 years. And if this ever got out, given Kaiju are drawn to and powered by Negative Energy, they’d only grow mightier, it’d only get worse, and hell on earth would be unleashed. Humanity’s fear itself would plunge them into their doom, inevitably.

Meaning, obviously, by sheer implication, the only true salvation of humanity, the only hope for humanity, the only way to a future…is to believe in a Higher Idea. A better Idea. A positive idea. Something to repel and exorcise us from our terror, something to grant us freedom from fear. And what else could it ever be but ULTRAMAN?!

IG: All of Ichinotani’s efforts end up being for naught, too. He tried so desperately to keep the existence of Kaiju from coming to light, and here comes Bemular, fifty meters tall and ready to destroy Tokyo Bay. It does seem like the existence of Ultraman is going to be the only thing to keep the world from entering that death spiral you mentioned.

This also helps answer the questions we had about what the status quo would be like going forward for our characters. Ichinotani isn’t evil, just short-sighted. I suspect the goal for our characters will be bringing the USP’s incredible resources to bear on solving problems for mankind more permanently, and refocusing the organization towards positive change, rather than status quo maintenance. I think Ichinotani is a really interesting character in this context, someone who wants the best for the world but has become too preoccupied with his status and preconceptions to really take the crucial next step. Shin, Kiki, and Moroboshi’s youth and idealism is what makes them ideal main characters for an Ultraman series.

RB: The world is absolutely on the precipice of change, and I love the idea of, rather than it just being ‘Monsters, fight!’ there’s almost a cosmic component here, with humanity’s own collective state being so vital. That’s the thing to save and salvage here, not just Kaiju-punching. That’s what Ultraman is really here for. That’s what his battles really represent at their core. Humanity needs something to aspire to, something that can show them the way to a better tomorrow, whilst acknowledging all their messes, darknesses and problems.

And yeah, the USP’s nature and place get clarified much more clearly here. Unless Ichinotani rises to the occasion, Earth could very well collapse. What’s needed is change, evolution, and betterment, for that is what Ultraman asks of us by his very presence, and it’s what we need to accomplish if we are to survive as a species.

The Final Battle Beckons

IG: There’s a lot of other thematic stuff happening here, but there’s also a lot of “Monsters, fight!” and I’m okay with that. Francesco Manna really goes for it on these last few pages, with the double-page spread of the Kaiju Vault and the final splash of Bemular. Remember Bemular, from the very first issue? He’s changed a lot since high school.

After the first issue, if I remember correctly, we predicted that we wouldn’t get a true giant monster fight until the very last issue of this mini, and that seems to be panning out. Do you think this pacing has benefitted the book, or have we delayed too long for the average reader? Or does none of it matter since most people will be reading this in trade?

RB: I think the book is pretty much what it sets out to be, even if it isn’t what we would ideally prefer it to be, so absolutely the latter.

And yes! Manna is terrific, and so strikingly cinematic here. Bemular being the first threat here is, again, super fitting and honors things nicely. I also wanna shout out Ariana Maher’s lettering on this one, especially as the Kaiju arrival hits on that final splash page. RWRR! With the lightning behind it. It’s a big beat, and a moment to which a whole page is dedicated, so of course, the lettering has to also fit with and reflect that. Lovely, striking choice. Her work’s been a lot of fun throughout this book. Ultraman’s red/white balloons are an absolute joy for me, visually.

IG: Manna has not been afraid to have Ultraman really hit some poses, too. It’s often hard to know what separates Ultraman from a classic Marvel superhero, but when I think of Ultraman’s fights I think of his flexibility, wrestling moves, and his stylish poses. Manna has really captured the spirit of that movement in these pages without feeling out of place in a comic book. There’s a truly incredible amount of Kirby-level foreshortening happening in these pages every time Ultraman is doing something, and I really like the classic, heroic feel it gives off. These monsters designs are also great: they’re really close to the classic looks without seeming too rubbery. It helps that they have decades of classic monster design to draw on, but capturing the specific energy of an Ultraman kaiju on a comic book page is a challenge, and one I think Manna meets head-on.

RB: Absolutely. The posing and framing of Ultraman throughout has been fun to see, and I’m glad they’ve managed to keep that aspect, that specific charm of the character, intact in some form for this.

The Mystery Of Dan/Ultraseven

RB: At the end of all this, only one question remains: What truly happened to Dan/Ultraseven and where is he now? The answer seems quite obvious, given the options. From the suggestions and set-ups, it all leads to ‘Dan’s been stuck in The Kaiju Vault’. It gives the character weight as a mentor figure, and gravitas as ‘The First Ultraman, who has spent decades fighting the horrors that haunt humanity’. A powerful foundation to run with.

It all felt so obvious that I was going through page-by-page expecting that to be the big reveal here. The reveal never really came, as they’re still leading people on with teases. I suppose that’s another one we’ll have to wait till the final issue for.

IG: There are still some mysteries left, but if this series is meant to transition into an ongoing, it’s possible that they’re still saving a few for that series. I think the most pressing questions have been answered, and I wouldn’t mind having an ongoing “Search for Moroboshi / Ultraseven” in the background. I’d definitely be interested in an ongoing series that tackles that question, as well as introduces some more standard Ultraman issue-by-issue kaiju fights (there’s actually a lot of flexibility in that format). If the goal of this series was to set up a longer ongoing, then I think it has succeeded, even if it had to sacrifice some pacing to get there. I’d be most interested in seeing how different an ongoing Ultraman would be from Rise in terms of pacing and priorities.

All that’s left for this series, though, is the payoff. We’ve been waiting on this monster fight for months, and it’s finally here. I don’t expect next issue will drastically change my overall evaluation of this series (interesting, but uneven) but I am hoping for a strong ending that hooks into another series coming down the line.

RB: Agreed. All of which is a long way to say…FIGHT ULTRAMAN! FIGHT!

Marvelous Musings

Yamamoto, what a jackass. Truly a mad scientist, indeed.
Shoutout to the excellent colorist Espen Grundetjern, who has brought his A-game to this book every issue.