By Marc Strom
Every week we'll pick a handful of awesome comics from the thousands available through Marvel Digital Comics Unlimited. From creator spotlights to editor's picks and more, this'll be your spot to find something new and cool.
With the Ultimate Universe's biggest story yet just one short month away, the MARCH ON ULTIMATUM SAGA #1—in stores today—gives you a refresher on all the events leading up to Jeph Loeb and David Finch's Earth-shattering ULTIMATUM limited series.
And to top it all off, we've selected five issues which helped to lay the groundwork for the epic story, so kick back and enjoy these five digital gems on Marvel Digital Comics Unlimited.
ULTIMATE X-MEN #1
As Magneto brings his battle against the Ultimate heroes to the next level, catch up on where it all started! The Master of Magnetism launches his war on humanity as Professor X brings a new team of X-Men together. "The Tomorrow People" kicks off with mutant hunting Sentinels roaming the skies, but when the X-Men start to battle back they quickly discover they must fight a war on two fronts as Magneto's Brotherhood of Evil Mutants makes its play. With all the double-crosses and action-packed battles in store for them, will the X-Men make it out of their first mission in one piece?
ULTIMATES #8
The Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver—whose tragic deaths in the pages of ULTIMATES 3 set the events of ULTIMATUM in motion—officially join the Ultimates in this issue. But that's not all, True Believers, because this issue also introduces Hawkeye and the Black Widow into the fold as they infiltrate an office building full of alien Chitauri agents, setting off an explosion-packed gunfight in the middle of Wall Street that you have to see to believe! Mark Millar and Bryan Hitch crank the action up to 11 as the first volume of the ULTIMATES really kicks into high gear!
ULTIMATE WAR #1
The Ultimates and the X-Men meet for the first time after Magneto blows apart the Brooklyn Bridge…but will they come together as friends or foes? The two premier teams of the Ultimate Universe
must work together if they hope to stop Magneto from finally succeeding in his war against the human race. With gorgeous artwork from Chris Bachalo, this four issue limited-series started making the Ultimate U a much smaller and more dangerous place for our heroes. But with the Ultimatum looming on the horizon, who knows how the alliances formed here will change in the coming months?
ULTIMATE FANTASTIC FOUR #1
When young Reed Richards stumbles upon a mysterious new dimension known as the N-Zone, the origin of the Fantastic Four begins and the world will never be the same! With a story written by Ultimate architects Brian Michael Bendis and Mark Millar, this all-new take on Marvel's First Family brings your favorite quartet of heroes into the 21st century with style to spare!
ULTIMATE POWER #1
Universes collide in this crossover event as the Ultimate heroes go head-to-head with the Squadron Supreme! Still feeling responsibility for the accident which changed Ben Grimm into the rocky and inhuman Thing, Mr. Fantastic proposes a plan which would send probes into parallel dimensions in hopes of finding a way of changing Grimm back. Something goes awry, however, and soon the Squadron make their dramatic entrance by tearing apart the Baxter Building and demanding Reed Richards head! But is Mr. Fantastic really responsible for the chaos that has befallen the Squadron's world? You'll have to read to find out, True Believers!
