This is the final issue in the Galactus mini-series, Hunger, where Marvel 616 Galactus enters the Ultimates Universe after the crazy ending of Age of Ultron, and merges with Ultimate Gah-Lak-Tus to create a super-powerful hybrid Galactus and only Rick Jones and the Silver Surfer can stop him! On the face of it I thought this series was going to be a lot more fun than it turned out to be. A Galactus mini-series, brilliant! But writer Joshua Hale Fialkov hasn't done anything different with the character, besides merge the two versions of Galactus into one, which didn't turn out to be very exciting after all. Instead this is your standard Galactus story he shows up, tries to eat a planet, heroes fight to stop him. Rather than focus on Galactus, this series has really been about Rick Jones whiny, teenage Rick Jones aka Ultimate Captain Marvel. His character is pretty dislikeable, as quite a few of Marvel's teen characters seem to be, and this mini-series has been about him stepping up to become the hero he's destined to be. Yes, really. If that doesn't sound cheesy enough, the story structure even follows the predictable pattern you'd expect. The reluctant hero who doubts himself "why me? Whine whine" who of course overcomes his fear just in time to face the enemy and save the day. Speaking of predictability, do you think Galactus is defeated in the end like he always is? Exactly. Hunger #4 is pretty much one long cosmic battle as Captain Marvel and I did like that it took a Captain Marvel hybrid to defeat a Galactus hybrid with Ro-Nan, Captain Marvel and Silver Surfer doing cosmic-y things to Galactus who swats at them like flies. Leonard Kirk's art is at its best in this issue and he gives the action great energy and colour in several cool-looking scenes. But the ending really annoyed me "to be continued in Cataclysm!" it announces. I really hate when Marvel/DC do this. DC did it at the end of Trinity War and now Marvel have done it with Hunger. If you thought you'd get a complete, well-rounded story with Hunger then Marvel suckered you in again, because you've got the read the forthcoming Ultimate Event Cataclysm to get the whole story! Well, not me, I'm done with this story arc. What happens next to Galactus? I don't care, I'm getting really sick of these cynical marketing ploys and refuse to go along with it. Hunger could've been an interesting mini-series except it didn't have much of a story Galactus shows up, threatens a world, cosmic heroes fight him, save the day. It's practically a template Galactus comic. I was hoping it'd be at least half as good as Warren Ellis' Ultimate Galactus a few years ago but Fialkov isn't as talented and can't do much with the material even when he's given Marvel 616 Galactus, which is really disappointing. The mini-series has been pretty bad overall and Hunger #4 is the predictable finale to a flat story Ultimate fans or fans of Rick Jones might get more out of this, but I felt it was pretty lazy and forgettable storytelling all round.
Published by Marvel, Hunger #4 by Joshua Hale Fialkov and Leonard Kirk is out now