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If superheroes did exist in our world, how would they interact with our government? It's a subject that is usually sidestepped in comics, but The Ultimates, by writer Mark Millar and artist Bryan Hitch, puts the question in a brand new light: It's a superhero team sponsored by the U.S. military, that carry out their missions with the strength, arrogance and righteousness of a hyperpower America.

In order to effectively combat the threat of evil-doers everywhere, the U.S. has given Colonel Nick Fury a giant budget and carte blanche to protect us from whomever may do us harm. Sound familiar? It's odd timing that this comic has come when the American people can't act fast enough to give votes and cut checks to whomever promises us the most protection against our worst fears. Fury has his choice of superheroes to outfit the new team: the de-thawed Captain America, scientists Bruce Banner and couple Henry and Jan Pym (the former being able to grow to over a hundred feet tall and the latter being able to shrink and fly), industrialist Tony Stark and his Iron Man suit of armor, token left-leaner Thor (using the team to get his political message across), and intelligence spooks Hawkeye and Black Widow.

It's strange to see Millar, who had a healthy contempt for all things military as the scribe of The Authority and Ultimate X-Men, fall in love with the American army. Tony Stark and Nick Fury comment to one another about forming the team to be the good guys for a change, and it is a comforting to think that those writing our foreign policy have such thoughts in mind. Millar is very conscious to play up both the U.S. army angle and the sense that they are working to save the world for a change.

Needless to say, not every comic has approached the subject in this manner. The one-two punch of '80s gritty-realism, Watchmen and The Dark Knight Returns, both assumed that only the psychotic or the weak would be fit for government superhero duty. Watchmen's The Comedian, already a rapist before he went mad in Vietnam, and the inhuman Dr. Manhattan are a perfect fit with the military. A comic fan's stomach turns when he sees Superman treated as a pathetic lapdog of the Reagan administration, gladly doing the bidding of 'anyone with a badge' in A Dark Knight Returns. When Batman beats him silly, it feels more like he is about to commit a mercy killing than anything else.

The creators are at the top of their game in this title. Millar, who can be very sloppy, rushed and uneven in plotting out long storylines, is able to walk a very fine line of keeping the story measured yet entertaining. As opposed to most team books, where several characters sit out on the sidelines, each character is developed in separate storylines. No single superhero dominates the narrative -- a problem for many Marvel titles. Millar juggles each of the individual characters like a pro, moving them in and out of scenes like a musical conductor.

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