Review: THE TRIALS OF ULTRAMAN #1 Is a Fun Start
The Trials of Ultraman #1 is out now from Marvel Comics. The series is written by Mat Groom and Kyle Higgins with art by Gurihiru, Eduardo Ferigato, and Francesco Manna and colors by Marcelo Costa and Espen Grundetjern. Marvel was kind enough to provide me with a copy to read, but you can procure one from you local comic shop, the Marvel Comics app, comiXology (affiliate link), or wherever you purchase comics. This is the first of five issues in the miniseries.
Ultraman narrowly averted a catastrophe decades in the making. The world was saved – but, also, forever changed. Now…come the consequences.Much of the populace regard their defenders with suspicion. Enemies hide in plain sight, and even those closest to Shin Hayata don’t necessarily have faith in the Giant of Light. But at last, a long-thought-lost comrade has mysteriously returned! That’s a good thing…right? The RISE is over. The training wheels are off, and the stakes have never been higher. THE TRIALS OF ULTRAMAN begin here!
If you don’t know anything about Ultraman, don’t fret. The Trials of Ultraman has a little information in the title page to help you understand what’s going on. That, and Groom and Higgins do a great job of telling a story so that you don’t need a lot of exposition at the start. In short, Ultraman is a being formed by a human and alien merging. Sadly, the hero, Shin Hayata, can only maintain his Ultraman form for three minutes. Ultraman fights Kaiju and to prevent the interdimensional prison holding the Kaiju from bursting, he has broken it open. Sadly, things aren’t working quite like Ultraman had hoped. That should be a decent primer in case you need it.
Groom and Higgins provide a very good setup in the first issue with some exposition mixed with action and story development. This is all complemented by good artwork with great colors. This series has some great potential for fans of superheroes and Kaiju. There are also some fun little add-ons inside including a stinger that seems to foreshadow some craziness that may happen. Did you like The Trials of Ultraman #1?
