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I wasn’t exactly excited to hear that there was already going be a new ultimate Daredevil after the original was killed in Ultimatum. It just seemed almost too soon for Marvel to be hyping a new version and it certainly didn’t help the series for me when it was announced that Steve Dillon was going to be on art. I have never been a fan Dillon’s art style and then when I heard the villains were going to primarily vampires, I was even less interested. Basically, UC Avengers volume 3 had a lot of strikes against it in my book from the get go.
Surprisingly enough then, I enjoyed it well enough. The story this time mainly revolves around a vampire named Anthony trying to take over the superhero community by turning heroes into vampires. The opening scene with Blade is nothing special and pretty much what I expected from the character, but it’s a serviceable entrance to the character. Where the book really shines in once it makes its way to Ray Connor, the boy who will become the new Daredevil. I actually really liked the characterization of this kid, more so than I ever like Ultimate Matt Murdock. I was pleasantly surprised by this, though Ultimate Stick wasn’t quite as interesting. He’s the same tired, gruff mentor you’re sure to have seen a million times. I really didn‘t like the sudden retcon that Daredevils exist for a mission to kill vampires though. As far as I know there was no precedent to even hint at this ever in the UU‘s history; it was too out of left field. The Avengers themselves barely put in an appearance here, though one of them shows up in a rather unexpected way, but not in a way I like for the character. I hope it doesn’t hinder his presence in the Ultimate Universe as he’s one of my favorites of the Ultimate Avengers. The “twist” towards the end of the book also wasn’t all that shocking as solicits had spoiled it months ago. I am definitely intrigued by the two panels that show a seemingly very old Iron Man suit that anyone that knows that character will recognize.
Even though it didn’t bother me as much as I thought it would, I still wasn’t a fan of Dillon’s artwork in this book. All of his characters feel very stiff, which is very bad for characters that are designed to be nimble such as Daredevil and, to a lesser extent, Blade. It made the action scenes quite poor and all of the people looked like stiff cutouts or action figures. His was also quite poor as well. Panels didn’t run from one to another very well. In one panel, Blade jumps out a window and looks like he’s flying and in the next he’s in a chase on car roofs. It all felt disjointed. There were some good moments to be had though. I actually quite enjoyed the training montage, though it only lasted a page, and Dillon rendered the Avengers themselves fairly well at the end of the book. Definitely not the worst I’ve ever seen from Dillon (*cough* Wolverine: Origins *cough*).
In terms of the plot, I’d say that this is easily shaping to be the worst of the first three arcs of Ultimate Avengers. It largely feels very unoriginal and it hasn’t really made me all that interested in seeing where it will go from here. It’s only real saving grace is that it has some strong character work with the new Daredevil. I hope the events of this issue don’t change him too much because he really is the best part here. I’m hoping Millar will have some of his trademark crazy ideas for future issues that will spice this volume up more in the future because otherwise I’m not sure if I’ll stick it out through the whole thing.
Overall: 5.5/10
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