ULTRAMAX #2, from Source Point Press on June 29th, 2022, turns up the prison heat when Holden is met with sycophants, corrupt prison officials, and crime bosses who all want a piece of him. Where can he turn when even his friends may be secret enemies?
The Details
- Written By: Doug Wood, Michael Pickard
- Art By: Michael Pickard
- Colors By: Warnia Sahadewa
- Letters By: Michael Pickard
- Cover Art By: Michael Pickard
- Cover Price: $3.99
- Release Date: June 29, 2022
Was It Good?
ULTRAMAX #2 still holds our attention as an interesting idea about a small-time criminal in prison for killing a famous superhero. However, the premise fights for attention under clunky art and clunkier scene transitions.
The best part of this issue remains its central premise. Holden is now forced to navigate the increasingly dangerous waters of prison life while hiding the fact that he’s set to testify in a federal court. If the word of his pending testimony gets out among the prisoners, their distant admiration will quickly turn into a deadly vendetta reserved for all snitches. The tense sense of danger from multiple directions is palpable on every page. An assortment of gangs and officials have their eyes on Holden for a whole host of reasons, and the tension is palpable.
The down point is the clunky execution. First, we liked the gritty, low-fidelity art in the first issue because it set the right tone for a hardened prison story. Unfortunately, the low-fidelity sinks a little too low in this second issue as the character anatomy anatomies look downright sketchy 9no pun intended), and the fight choreography is simply awkward. It was impossible to tell what happened in one fight involving Holden’s new cellmate.
The clunky art is aggravated by clunkier scene transitions and dialog. There are several scenes where the characters speak in incomplete sentences which, in real life, might be completed with body language or hand gestures, but without the art to finish those thoughts, the dialog reads as incomplete. Reading this comic is like trying to watch a low-budget film that keeps skipping several frames.
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What’s It About?
[SPOILERS AHEAD – Click here if you just want the score without spoilers]
Refresh your peepers on how Holden arrived in prison in our ULTRAMAX #1 review.
We begin with Holden reliving a nightmare surrounding the night he killed Red Hawk. He starts awake to find a new cellmate in the next bunk and a trio of low-tier criminals outside his cell. Holden leaves to make a phone call, and as soon as he’s out of eyeshot, the trio grabs his new cellmate for a visit with the Kingpin.
Holden gets to the phones, but he’s interrupted by, first, the warden who wants to remind Holden who’s in charge, and then, one of Kingpin’s lackeys extending a summons from the Kingpin. Holden complies with the summons to find his new cellmate bruised and battered. The kingpin order Holden to steal an incoming drug shipment or watch his cellmate die.
Later, Holden is approached by insiders and outsiders to threaten him further with the lives of people he cares for outside if he doesn’t follow through with the drug theft. We conclude the issue with a bathroom confrontation, a rescue, and a betrayal.
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Final Thoughts
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ULTRAMAX #2 holds on to its strong, central idea about a henchman in prison for killing a superhero. The kernel of the story is there, and some intrigue involving the warden keeps the curiosity up, but the clunky, awkward art and stuttering scene transitions make the reading experience a chore.
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