Ultimate Extinction #2 (5/10)

Writer: Warren Ellis
Art: Brandon Peterson
Marvel, $2.99

Story:
Misty is trying to find her mysterious bald female assailant and it turns out that woman is supposed to have been dead for 24 years. Fury commissions Xavier to build a super-Cerebro that can contact Galactus telepathically. The Silver Surfer turns up in Misty's office. They fight some and Captain America and Falcon are sent to help her.

Evaluation:
This isn't it at all. True, there's some brilliant character moments when Reed Richards fullfills the ultimate nerd dream and stands down Fury, the ultimate bully or when Captain America confronts his inability to do anything about something the scope of Galactus*, but there's just no enough fire in there for something called Ultimate Extinction. Ellis is an fine craftsman and the details (e.g. the creative thinking Misty shows in her fight against the Surfer) are done very well, but for a big event it's just way too slow. The scope of things is implored time and again, but Ellis fails to make us feel it. Which in my opinion is inexcusable given that this event already has two miniseries and the Surfer one-shot leading up to it.
Wake me when stuff starts happening.


* Actually, the lack of momentum invites closer examination and under the microscope this stuff kind of falls apart. Fury is set up as the insensitive bully so he can be taken down a notch (to be fair, everyone using Ult. Fury so far does this to a degree) and Cpt. America fighting cosmic threats has always been a stretch. His role in those has always been a coordinating and inspiring one and there's no reason why he shouldn't be able to fill it here.