I read the previous volume, and I have to say this one is getting better. These anthologies collect annuals of various comics in Marvel's Ultimate series. For casual readers like me, they are pretty good because they allow a reader to sample a bit of everything. Definitely a good read. ( )

I tend to enjoy the Ultimate Universe, but most of these annuals just fell flat.

The best of bunch, at least in my opinion, was the Ultimate X-Men annual, although I didn't think that it was amazing. Apparently, Nightcrawler is having some sort of mental breakdown. Or he's just a creepy mutant. I don't think this is giving anything away, since it's pretty obvious from the first couple of panels what is going on there.

Second best was Ultimate Spider-Man. Spider-Man is being used by a dirty cop (also mentioned in the first few panels). Ultimate Daredevil, Punisher, Kingpin, and Kangaroo all make appearances.

The Ultimates and Ultimate Fantastic Four were about equal. In the Ultimates annual, Captain America and Falcon help clean up the United States after some attack. I'm not sure when this annual was written, but it definitely seemed to tie-in with the real-life happenings of Katrina and the aftermath.

The Ultimate Fantastic Four annual has the return of the Mole Man. He somehow manages to abduct the Think Tank and its genius children. It's pretty yawn-worthy. ( )