Griffin’s Picks for the week of 12/31/25 - Last of 2025
1: The Ultimates #19 - Marvel
The Ultimates by Deniz Camp and Juan Frigeri for my money, has been the best series in the Ultimate Universe over at Marvel. The broad strokes of the series are that the Maker has been locked away in what’s essentially a time prison for two years in real time but 2000 years on the inside of the prison – giving the Maker more than enough time to plot a scheme to overthrow the Ultimates when he gets out. And issue #19 marks his release!
Each issue of this series has been focused on a different character within this Ultimate Universe, with this one being all about the Wasp and Ant-Man. I’ll do my best not to spoil anything here but #19 is especially compelling because the Wasp has a major distinction from the other heroes as well as her 616 Universe counterpart that makes her an interesting character to dive deeper into. I feel like I say it every time a new issue comes out, but this was one of the best in the series so far.
This issue and Ultimate: Endgame are what The Ultimates and the Ultimate Universe have been building towards over the past two years so I really wouldn’t call it a beginner friendly read. With that being said, you should go back and pick up the earlier issues in trade paperback format if you haven’t been following along.
2: Ultimate Endgame #1 - Marvel
Apparently, this is the ‘Oops! All Deniz Camp!’ edition of Griffin’s weekly picks but this time with pencils by Jonas Scharf and Terry Dodson. This issue takes place concurrently with Ultimates #19 so see above for a plot rundown.
I read Ultimate Endgame #1 before I read this month’s issue of The Ultimates and I was certain that it was going to be my first overall pick for this week but it ended up just barely being edged out by Ultimates. The best part about this issue is that it turns the Maker into a truly terrifying villain by emphasizing his physical capabilities as much as his intelligence. It opens and ends with two body-horrorish scenes that made my jaw drop.
If you can’t tell already, this week is very heavy on Ultimate Universe content that’s written by Deniz Camp, but in my defense there’s not a whole lot of comics that are coming out this week. DC decided to just not publish anything new this week other than a handful of trade paperbacks and most of the other publishers aren’t putting out much for the last Wednesday of 2025. It’s important to me that I maintain some amount of credibility with my picks so I’m not going to shoe-horn in a third pick if there’s nothing that catches my eye.
But, worry not! To supplement the lack of recommendations by yours truly, Griffin’s Top 10 Comics of 2025 will be coming out later this week! We also have a very special guest pick from Time Warp’s Frankie Tate.
The New Space Age #1—guest review by Frankie
This being the last week of 2025 and a fifth week of the month, many publishers decided to not release new books this week (looking at you DC!) and others released a fewer number of titles than normal. Because he couldn’t come up with a third pick this week, Griffin graciously agreed to let me guest review a new series that I am excited about and hopefully shine a light on a publisher that is producing some compelling titles, much to my surprise!
The New Space Age is a new title (#1 released this month) from Mad Cave Studios (more on them in a minute) written by Kenny Porter and drawn and inked by Mike Becker. I have no previous experience with either of the main creators, so I picked this up solely on the track record of books published by Mad Cave this past year and I am very glad I did!
The series is set 25 years in the future and opens with an action piece that signals the end of government space exploration and one of the protagonists is responsible for its death, at least in the eyes of the government. That protagonist, captain Mark Mitchell, is a low level astronaut and though he acts heroically, he is involved in the incident that ultimately ends the space program. His “reckless” attitude and penchant for disobeying orders plays into why he is blamed for the disaster.
Yes, it’s a main character in the Han Solo vein…this book is filled with clichés and elements taken from other works. However, that fact didn’t annoy me or take me out of the story. They are pieces of an intriguing set up and help show the reader the inspirations for this tale.
We soon discover that Mark Mitchell became an astronaut to find his younger brother, who was abducted by aliens when they were both boys. (Hello X-Files!). Now that the space program is over, he has to find a different way into space to find his brother. We also learn his motivation for recklessness and disobeying orders comes from a noble place…he has dedicated himself to protecting others at all cost as penance for not protecting his brother. From here, the book takes an unexpected turn to the realm of mystical realism as he enlists the help of a childhood friend, Stacy, an illusionist and other main character, who is studying real sorcery. It’s kind of a big leap, but Porter makes it work and it sets up the premise for the title…magic will be the basis of the “New Space Age”. The book ends with the establishment of a male / female partnership that screams classic will they / won’t they a la X-files, Moonlighting, Castle, too many others to mention.
Porter’s script has some pacing problems, but he introduces compelling characters and an intriguing premise among the many references to other works. The artwork is very good…Becker has kind of a Paul Grist sensibility to his work and it is the strength of the book. Also, I feel I must mention colorist Kevin Betou who contributes a gorgeous job in this first issue.
If you are looking for something new and intriguing for the new year, you could do much worse than hopping on board the first issue of The New Space Age. The only problem is that there are none on the rack in the store. Mad Cave, who has been publishing books since 2018 but seems to have turned a corner in 2025 by publishing excellent titles like Flash Gordon, Pale Knight, It Killed Everyone But Me, has struggled to find readers at Time Warp. Therefore, we only order enough copies of their books for pull files with maybe one or two for the shelf. If you’d like a copy of The New Space Age #1. Just let us know next time you are in the store or email us at Wizards@timewarpboulder.com.