Ultramega, Volume 2
Ultramega, Volume 2
Writer / Artist: James Harren
Colorist: Dave Stewart
Publisher: Image Comics
Publication Date: August 2025
Ultramega, the bloody and epic tokusatsu-inspired series written and illustrated by James Harren, finally returns for it’s second volume after years of delays and hiatuses. Following the events of the previous volume, Earth is now a wasteland ruled by the mysterious and powerful Kaiju Queen. With Noah, a new Ultramega, beginning to challenge the Kaiju Queen and her tyrannical rule over the planet, he’s faced by challenges far beyond his own capabilities, and must desperately attempt to either rise to the occasion or lose his life trying. A hyper-violent, huge-in-scale science fiction epic, Ultramega is one of the boldest and most unique comics on the shelves right now, but loses itself somewhat in the mayhem as its scope expands beyond the limits of one volume.
Collecting five double sized issues, the second volume of Ultramega is just as chaotic and ridiculous as the first, significantly expanding the scope of its world. We are introduced to the seemingly peaceful Ultramega society of New Megasis (a loving ode to Jack Kirby‘s Fourth World Saga), in which kaiju and Ultramega live in harmony, as well as a violent, conquering race of Ultramegas who kill without regard in an ever-evolving competition of strength. At the core of this is Noah’s quest to conquer the Kaiju Queen and amend his father’s failure at the very beginning of the series, which is a significant challenge for the young hero. By first hand encountering beings far more powerful and experienced than him, Noah rises to meet his destiny, but it’ll cost him an arm and a leg, or several. This second volume is currently marketed as the conclusion to the series, or at the least Noah’s story, but I’d make a safe bet we haven’t quite seen the last of the Ultramegas just yet. Writer/artist James Harren puts in his all to craft this story, and the effort is clear on the page.
The biggest strength and weakness of the series is simultaneously its huge scope. With five issues left in the book, it reveals several alien cultures and planet-wide sets of characters, significantly expanding the already huge scope of the book to something in the same vein as Star Wars. It works really well, because Harren’s worldbuilding is fantastic and incredibly interesting, uniquely combining a wide palette of inspirations and influences to create something new. It also means that the book is very dense, and this single volume will take quite some time to read, with multiple changes in direction and flow that can be quite alienating and occasionally frustrating. The ending ,for example, is fantastic, but feels a bit anticlimactic after the massive expansion of scope that we see throughout the series. You absolutely need to read the first volume, recently, to fully appreciate this book, as it consistently brings back its own details, so it both makes for a good rapid read and a slightly overwhelming one. Make no mistake, this book is absolutely awesome, using the rule of cool as a biblical guideline, where the story consistently follows what would be the most ridiculous and exciting decision to make at any given time, but for that reason it doesn’t read like anything else on the shelves, for better or worse.
Like with the comics’ overall narrative, Ultramega is tackling a lot ideas at once. Environmental disaster and societal social collapse are essential themes that come with the nature of the post-apocalyptic setting, particularly one directly caused by both human hubris and large scale environmental change in the form of new life (Kaiju) and the impact of the Ultramega corpses left on the planet. Noah, as the son of the previous Ultramega, has to deal with the question of nature and nurture, and whether he can make amends for his father’s failures without having much direct interaction with him to learn how to avoid the same mistakes. This can also be seen in the world of New Megasis and the other space-bound Ultramegas; we see glimpses of both a peaceful, wonderful society uplifted by the power of the Ultramegas, and one that is violent and hellish, an abusive hellscape where only the strong survive. Noah must find his own way, in typical hero’s fashion, to carve something unique from either of those, and it’s his own nature that guides that. in a way however, Ultramega isn’t necessarily a story focused on its themes. They are definitely there, but given the dense nature of the plotting, they often take a back-seat to world-building and action. It’s remarkably un-pretentious, and it wears its influences on its themes, with a ‘take it or leave it’ attitude. You either click with it or you don’t, the series is either for you or it isn’t. Harren, when asked about what he wanted to convey with the series, answered:
The fact that anybody was willing to read it – I’m very grateful for that.
Harren’s dialogue, scripting and worldbuilding is pretty consistently great throughout. He’s got a good knack for getting characterization across quickly and efficiently, making the most of even the smallest moments to give the reader a good grasp of the characters. I also enjoy his love of complexity – our main hero is a teenage boy, who has committed great acts of both accidental and intentional violence, and Harren trusts us to make our own opinion on whether it was necessary for Noah to do so even within the chaos of his world. Some of the minor human characters get the short end of the stick, particularly as the scale of the series expands to planetery levels, and I wish they were utilized or explored more, like Noah’s mother figure. The Kaiju Queen and the violent Ultramega species are great antagonists, where you absolutely love to hate them, and they’re absolutely disgusting in the level of violence they enact on the innocent and those below them. The scripting of the series changes to follow every shift in the narrative, so often a simple page turn can make the book feel completely different, but Harren gives his all to try and make every change work.
James Harren’s artwork is nothing short of incredible. His artwork reminds me of other artists who are brilliant at conveying exciting, intense action like Riley Rossmo and Daniel Warren Johnson, but he has a particular gnarly and violent edge that differentiates him from any of his peers. His action sequences are absolutely brutal, with city-wide destruction that feels like a loving ode to classic Japanese tokusatsu, particularly Ultraman and the more gory Kamen Rider entries. His character designs are simple but unique, consistently memorable across the whole series. Sometimes even the most minor kaiju or character will have a character design so interesting they could carry their own book. The whole thing has an element of beauty to it , aided largely by Dave Stewart‘s incredible color work. There’s a bright, energetic element, using relatively simple colors in the most gorgeous ways possible. When the story choses to stop the mayhem for a second and focus on the most intimate and quiet moments, it absolutely shines, and I would love to see Harren utilize that more in his career going forward. However, that’s not to say the carnage isn’t absolutely brilliant, because it is and then some. The best moments of this book are the moments of earth-shattering, mind-blowing action and violence that are impossible to ignore.
Overall, Ultramega is a flawed but fun time. Its story explodes into numerous directions, all of which are as deeply fascinating as the others, but none of them necessarily get enough time to shine or be properly explored. With the series seemingly concluded, it’s somewhat bittersweet to see it go, because it remains one of the most bold and experimental comics coming from a major publisher. This may not necessarily be the end of the Ultramega world, but if it is, it’ll go down as one of the most vivid and unique settings in comics. Whilst not every swing it takes succeeds, it’s still ultimately incredibly interesting throughout, and it flows far better in a trade paperback where you can see the shifts in the story happen more organically. With utterly exceptional artwork from James Harren, it’s sure to delight genre fans with its explosive action and immense carnage, and those who are willing to let the book take them in any direction it wants are sure to be treated to a fun, exciting and bold comic that’s unlike anything else being published today.
Ultramega Vol. 2 is out this month via Image Comics
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