“Yesterday’s” “Comic”> Ultra-Monthly #2

Oh, yeah, we still left this guy on the moon. Get back to it, reading order guide!

ULTRA-Monthly #2

Malibu Comics/Ultraverse (July, 1993)

ULTRA-Monthly is not actually a comic book. It’s a fake newsmagazine following events in the Ultraverse published supposedly within the Ultraverse, a way to help promote the Ultraverse comics to readers. Normally I’d move on, but until I read it I didn’t it wasn’t a comic, and the next item in the reading order guide I’m using is actually a direct-to-video movie we’ll be talking a look at on this week’s Saturday Night Showcase if the post I found is still active, as it leads into the next comic according to the guide.

So that leave me stuck going over this. Does it compliment the comics or is it only worth tracking down for a completist? I won’t go over all the contributors, just the articles.

• Slings & Arrows: It’s the letters page, though why it’s at the front I couldn’t tell you. It’s about what you’d expect for a magazine about the growing superhero population, as people give their opinions about the appearance of Ultras and superheroes.
• It’s A Weird World: Seems to be focusing on the supernatural comics I’m not following.
• Newswatch: Random summaries of events that happened to Hardcase, Choice, the Strangers, Mantra (I think), and The Freex, among the summaries I recognize. Since it’s in-world you have to have read their comics to know the complete story.
• Crossfire: The conservative male writer speaks against registering Ultras and violating their freedom while acknowledging the dangers posed by some Ultras. The liberal lady writer sees those dangers as good enough reason to make them register. From what I can tell, they didn’t try to make one side or the other look bad. Both sides have understandable arguments, and it’s up to the reader–who knows more about what’s going on than both commenters–to decide who’s right or at least made the better point. There’s something you don’t see anymore.
• An interview with Hardcase, asking him about balancing superheroing and movies. It’s actually a fair interview, if only by modern Hollywood standards, and ends when the reporter asks about his alleged involvement with Starburst and growing connection to Choice (nobody tell Atom Bob that) gets Hardcase upset. Fun fact: he wanted to go by Hardbody back in the old days. Lucky for us he couldn’t. Also, the Incredible Hulk show with Bill Bixby and Lou Ferrigno gets namedropped, and Marvel hasn’t bought Malibu yet.
• Devil Take The Hindmost: The only unbiased article in the magazine. Hardcase’s interview was pretty fair by press standards, even in the 1990s where it wasn’t as bad as it is in the 2020s, the letters section was a cross-section of reactions to the latest generation of Ultras, and even the debate section had decent points and paranoia in equal amounts between the conservative and liberal commentators. This, on the other hand, is one dude talking about how superheroes should just do ads like Choice was doing (he doesn’t know about the mind control) instead of fighting supervillains…you know, the bad Ultras that the police and military would have trouble with. The guy even looks like a putz, with a caption by his picture disavowing any sharing of his beliefs but defending his right to say it…again, not like it is in the 2020s. So he’s an ass, but it is interesting to compare to today. Also the title is lame. Yes, I looked up what it meant and it’s still lame.
• Ultra-Focus: The writer here is trying to understand Prime, a man (as far as he knows) who both attacked a gym teacher for perving on the high school girls and helped a convoy in Somalia get food and medicine past murderous thieves, both of which we saw happen in the comics. It’s not leaning one way or the other because he doesn’t know what to make of him, but knowing what we know it’s interesting to read.
• Ultra-Bucks: I wouldn’t be surprised to find out Ultratech would be behind this magazine, given that this final section seems to be about them, with one of the three sections mentioning Choice was officially revealed to be an Ultra by her namesake bosses at Choice Corporation. The other two have Ultratech sponsoring gamers, believing their skills will be important in the future (not entirely long, speaking from the future), and announcing a conference with the new Prototype, with a blurb at the bottom of the page stating that they deny putting a hush order on Bob Campbell, secretly the original Prototype, has anything to do with getting a new one. So it’s the propaganda section.

Now that I know what this magazine is, I probably won’t be reading any further ones. It’s a nice supplement to the comics, or maybe an introduction to them. I couldn’t see a price on the front cover and the scans don’t have a back cover so for all I know this is one of those free promotional things you sometimes see at comic stores, or at least free for the comic store customers but not the comic store. Like I said, I wouldn’t have reviewed if what’s next on the list wasn’t a better fit for Saturday Night Showcase, which we’ll see this Saturday. I will say they did a good job on it, though. It’s just not necessary to my reviews unless they stick the “Essential” tag on a later issue in the reading order.