Shadow and Flame with Magik

Writer Michel Fiffe

Artist Giannis Milonogiannis

Color Artist Jordie Bellaire

Letterer VC’s Clayton Cowles

Manhattan, Undisclosed Location.  Issue opens with a voice directing four new villians.  But not the ones from the cover, as those are four ladies and two of them on the first page are dudes.  They are – Knockout, Whiplash, Bloodlust and Mindblast – boy girl boy girl.

The voice wants them to keep the death toll down as well as to definitely keep the Ultimates alive.  The squad will do their best.

Jessica Drew’s Apartment.  Chelsea, New York City.

Dagger opens the bathroom door and catches Spider-Man as he enters through the window.  Odd how he is the

I really like how Jessica’s costume top works as a cool shirt.  Her shorter hair makes her look even more like Peter, which I get but I’m not sure if I like.

The lack of faces is off setting.

The picture I provided has Dagger and Black Widow’s description boxes in their correct placement but my comic has them swapped which threw me off at first.  I couldn’t figure out who the red head was suppose to be in the chair, as there is no shirt design seen in that panel.

Spider-Man apologizes for getting there early but it seems like everyone else was just there already.  Turns out, everyone is living with Jessica except for Spider-Man and Bombshell.

That bottom panel threw me off at first.  I couldn’t figure out why the panel was faded, I thought it was a coloring error but we are being fancy and have moved the ‘camera’ to just outside the window.  Artsy!

Spider-Man makes a poor taste of a comment about how Jessica has a great view of New Jersey, RIP.  Jessica calls him on it and he starts to say that isn’t how he meant it.  But really, what type of ‘great view’ of a destroyed city, could there be?

Jessica and Spider-Man must be having some under the surface tension as their other exchange seems odd too.  He doesn’t believe he’s been up this far into Chelsea and she tells him he hasn’t.  How does she know what or where he’s been?  Seems off to me.

I like how Spider-Man goes down the list of everything they have accomplished in seven issues.  That’s a fun way to show all of those people who may complain that not much happened in the comic that, yes, a lot has happened.

Dagger is already not wanting to live with Jessica.  She wants some privacy.  Cloak tries to resay it a tad nicer and Dagger doesn’t appriciate that.  I totally get where Cloak is coming from though, one has to treat the host / or whomever is doing you the favor with a certain level of politeness.

Kitty is also ready to move out but her comment about how she feels she has overstayed her welcome seems to hurt Jessica.  It does seem like the harsher way to say what she meant.  I’m starting to realize that these teens may be not the nicest people to each other.  Maybe that is what happens when coworkers start living together, if that scenario even happens.  It seems unlikely or at least, like a sitcom.

Cloak and Dagger may be getting into small fights a lot from how Jessica feels comfortable enough to mutter that what they are doing is super awkward.  There is a realness about this comic that I’m starting to pick up on.

Spider-Man tries to bring the meeting back to why he called it.  Which really, did he call it or did he just go to where everyone was already at and told them to expect him at a certain time?

Kitty jokes that he is going to announce that he is leaving the team.  He finds her hilarious.  I like this Kitty, letting herself have some fun.

Spider-Man mentions the deal J. Jonah Jameson offered both himself and Jessica Drew after they saved his life.  This must have happened in Spider-Man’s title.  It was before Cataclysm, as he states.

Spider-Man assumes that Jonah meant financially, he will do something for him.  Last I knew, and this is prior to Ultimatum, the Bugle was transitioning from being a newspaper to a digital news site as they were losing money hand over fist.

That will have to be an awkward situation to now bring up.  Hey Mr. Jameson, remember that thing you mention a while ago about maybe helping up us.  We were thinking that yes, we would like you to build us a new headquarters.  Thanks!  Oh, I was just going to give you some free press and a dedicated section of the newspaper.  oh, sad face

Dagger is worried about having to answer to Jameson, as if he would all of a sudden start having them fight his battles against rival news websites.  Though I suppose if I started financially backing a superhero team, I would probably start feeling pretty confident and start making all types of enemies or just annoying people with all of the stuff I would push over.

Kitty is pretty much worried that she will have to do press junkets.  She has avoided them as she saved the flipping world from Galactus, so I get why she would not want to be forced into that role.  How long is too long to tell her side of that story?  If not in the first few weeks, she would have to wait until the anniversary of it. People would be confused why she wants to talk about it at the nine month mark.

Jessica likes the idea of talking about as a team first, then speaking with Jameson.  I worry that they are going to have some high expectations then be highly disappointed by what Jameson’s actual intentions were.  Who even knows how sincere he was.  Like Jessica says, it was during a crash and everyone was fighting for their lives.  People say things in heated situations all the time and want to go back on, once everything has settled.

Dagger is mad as she had to live in a filthy abandon (are there pristine abandon ones?) churches when they could have been living in a nicely built complex.

Dagger wants that new building now!

Kitty is noticing that Cloak and Dagger may be spending too much time together.  Which I also get that, as that is how my wife and I met, we worked together.  Which was great but when I was about to get another job elsewhere, those last few weeks were getting a tad angsty, for whatever reason.

Sounds like Bombshell hasn’t been keeping in touch with the team.  She is still dealing with the death of Poey, her boyfriend.

Calvary Cemetery, Queens.  Bombshell is at Poey’s gravesite with some old friends.  Poor Lana missed the funeral. Apparently, it was a nice one.  Poey Ponsor, what a name!

Chelsea.  The team is still listing off demands.  Dagger wants health and dental insurance. Cloak wants maximum security clearance.  Kitty wants a fighter jet.

There is a huge explosion, Spider-Man quickly identifies it as coming from Hell’s Kitchen.  Which I thought all of Chelsea was Hell’s Kitchen but maybe it is just a small part of it.

We learn two things. First, those four villains are all women, so I am a jerk. Second, they are called, Femme Fatales.  The two teams fight.

I like how Kitty isn’t impressed with anyone who can explode a car.  Anyone can do it.

The Ultimates eventually tie everyone up.  They make a joke impression of the police thanking them.

Just then, the Future Foundation show up.  Their members are – Machine Man, Falcon, Iron Man and the Invisible Woman.  Nice that, with their title cancelled, they can show up here.  The Ultimates, minus Kitty (for some reason), appeared in their last issue, so they are repaying the favor.

Iron Man seems surprised that the Ultimates are even there.  They are not sanctioned with the police.  It is implied, or it may be my understanding, that all the Ultimates have to do is fill out some paperwork and the police will be okay with them.  Maybe that is something Jameson can work out.

We get Cloak and Dagger on a rooftop.  Dagger breaks up with Cloak.  She wants them both to stay on the team, Cloak recognizes that will be awkward.  It definitely will be!

Issue ends with someone who looks like Taskmaster watching the team.  From his monitors, it appears he knows a lot about Spider-Man, Black Widow, Cloak and Kitty.  Bombshell and Dagger are a mystery to him.