Comic Book Review: The Ultimate 7: Trilogy Volume 2 written by Robert Wawrzyniak, pencils by Shawn Surface, inks by Scott Shoemaker
In an indefinite future, known space is being taken over by the evil Overlord and his oppressive army led by General Reen. A being of the mysterious Homoagint species has prophesized that a team of seven warriors will be able to overthrow the Overlord, and has set human Jenny Rocket to gather them. The Overlord has also got wind of the prophecy and ordered his troops to prevent the gathering of the warriors by any means necessary.
This twelve-issue limited series was published by Zyo Comics in 2012. As so often happens with comics, I was only able to find the middle volume of the collection. Let’s see how it goes.
It’s issue five, and Jenny is still trying to locate the second member of her team, the lizard man Thrasher. This is made more difficult by the complicated local politics of the swamp planet, where there are three different tribes of lizard people who don’t like each other, but all are opposed to the tyranny of the frog people king. An alliance is formed, but even though Thrasher entrusts matters to a valiant comrade, it’s clear that if and when he returns he will find war again.
Returning to her ship, Jenny meets the third member of the team, the robot Cybra, who was created by the Homoagint to host his memories since he died while Jenny was away.
Then it’s off to the ice planet Gosha to recruit the mammoth-person warrior Mallick, known for his wisdom. It turns out that he’s on a decades-long search for a hidden valley of warmth and more of his people, so that has to be resolved before he can join.
Buccoon, a planet of insect people, is the next destination. Unlike the two “primitive” planets previously visited, this one is a member of the space-faring civilization. It’s a wretched hive of scum and villainy, run by Queen Prockna, who is a vassal of the Overlord. The target this time is General Dargin, a loyal servant to the previous queen who is now the leader of the local resistance. Our heroes rescue him from life as a gladiatorial slave, but are betrayed and forced to fight in the arena themselves.
At last, they’ve succeeded, but at a terrible cost. Will the Ultimate 7 never actually all be assembled?
We also have subplots with Jenny’s sister Laura being rescued before she can be “droned” and joining the resistance on the Overlord’s world, and General Reen’s attempts to catch or destroy the warriors.
Despite the numbers, this is less “Magnificent Seven” and more “Hakkenden” in plot structure. Starting in the middle like this was confusing, especially as the synopsis at the beginning of issue five completely failed to explain who was who in the relatively complicated political situation. The frog-man king spouting villain dialogue made him the clear antagonist by the end, and later issues were better at establishing what was going on.
The single-biome planets, each with a different theme for its alien inhabitants, and the fairly clear-cut good guys vs. bad guys characterization gave me a nostalgic buzz, and allowed the artists to show a range of interesting character designs. (General Reen seemed a little too Nineties villain for my tastes.) The art is complex and has that indie energy.
On the other hand, the old-fashioned sci-fi feel also applies to the villains making stupid or pointless decisions just to be more evil. It’s the sort of situation where you wonder just how the Overlord managed to survive long enough to take over.
Content note: Frequent gory violence, often lethal.
Zyo Comics doesn’t appear to have published anything but The Ultimate 7, or still be in existence, and it may be difficult to find the entire set. Recommended to fans of old-school sci-fi movies.
