Ultimate Invasion #1 cover What’s old is new again in Ultimate Invasion #1, wherein Jonathan Hickman begins another Marvel revitalization… this time, an entire universe.

Much has been said about Earth-1610 —the “Ultimate Marvel” universe— wherein classic characters were reinvented and reimagined for a younger, hipper 21st century audience. What began as a novel, exciting idea for longtime readers and newbies alike with great success, however, soon became just as complicated as its predecessor to increasingly diminishing returns, eventually leading to its literal/figurative destruction in the pages of 2015’s Secret Wars. But since nobody (and nothing) stays dead in comics, the Ultimate Universe quickly rebounded as a location within the Marvel multiverse, occasionally popping up in stories to inadvertently remind people of its former glory. But with the help of Jonathan Hickman, who most recently breathed new life into the X-Men line with the Krakoa saga, the Ultimate universe is looking to make a comeback. Kind of.

This isn’t really a spoiler because Marvel have already alluded to it themselves, but the ultimate goal of Ultimate Invasion #1 is not to rebound the existing Earth-1610, but rather, create a whole new one in its image. As we see in the pages of this first issue, an imprisoned Maker (Ultimate Reed Richards; bad) lives up to his name by forging a new Ultimate Universe —dubbed Earth-6160— and putting events into motion so that it can blossom like his original home did and give him ultimate, God-like control. Naturally, the Illuminati of Earth-616 does not like it one bit, and it seems the main thrust of the series will involve them trying to put a stop to this new universe before it becomes a problem for all the others. (Talk about dramatic irony…)

As with any Hickman product, Ultimate Invasion #1 is dense, requiring some amount of knowledge of what came before it to really understand and appreciate what he’s doing. (it’s essentially the House of X / Powers of X of this re-Ultimate project.) I’m not an Ultimate Marvel completist by any means and have only recently begun to plow through the archives of that imprint, but I know enough to follow what’s happening in these pages and have an idea of where it’s leading to. There are lots of great touches here —Maker’s dialogue retaining Ultimate Marvel’s lower case lettering while others don’t, Hickman’s characteristically pedantic info pages, original Ultimates artist Bryan Hitch paying homage to himself with his art— that will likely win the approval of older fans, but possibly also gain newer ones who jumped on the Marvel wagon with House of X and Powers of X. The story and plotting are simultaneously decompressed and plot-heavy in a way that might leave others a bit frustrated or confused, but I know better than to not trust Hickman’s process. Let him cook!

Hickman stated his goal with this new Ultimate universe is to address just how much our world has changed since the original Ultimate era —itself created to do the same in relation to the Earth-616 timeline— and that’s an incredibly intriguing premise. While Earth-616 has more or less absorbed Ultimate Marvel’s initial ethos into its own DNA in the years since —as well as one Miles Morales, the golden child of that experiment— it’s still rather fantastical and “unrealistic,” which gives Hitch and Co. a lot of potential to do something great with this developing sandbox. In any event, Ultimate Invasion #1 forebodes an exciting new future for one of comics’ most enduring initiatives of the past twenty-odd years. Welcome back to the multiverse, Ultimate Marvel! Hope you survive the experience!