WARNING: The following contains spoilers for "From Rise to Fall" by Kyle Higgins, Mat Groom, Eduardo Ferigato, Marcelo Costa, and VC's Ariana Maher in Ultraman: The Trials of Ultraman #1, on sale now.
So far, Marvel's take on the legendary Ultraman series has featured Shin Hayata fused with an alien Ultra to become the titular hero. Shin's adventures have led him into the deadly world of clandestine organizations and parallel dimensions inhabited almost entirely by terrifying monsters. Now that the Kaiju threat has been brought to the rest of the world in its entirety, Shin and the Ultra are busier than ever before, hunting down and eliminating the beasts before they can do too much damage.
However, Earth isn't the only world to have been plagued by Kaiju, and that revelation has just set up the return of Ultraman's very own precursor in Ultraman: The Trials of Ultraman #1.
"From Rise to Fall" takes place on an alien world somewhere far across the universe from Earth. There, a massive ship has landed, unleashing a ferocious attack of its own along with a horde of Kaiju. The monsters take a woman's sibling that she had sworn to protect, so she undertakes the task of hunting them down, which doesn't take long. Before they can escape, a beam of green light brings with it another large Kaiju. Another beam of light cuts through the tension. This golden energy leaves a sword planted in the ground, the means by which this woman can overcome the threats to herself and her sibling. She slashes her way through the invading monsters before escaping with her kin just in time to see the alien craft leave her world. Once safe, she examines the lightsaber-like weapon, the hilt of which is adorned with a symbol that should be familiar to any longtime Ultraman fan.
This "Q" emblem is a callback to the precursor series to Ultraman's own, as well as the first in the franchise's history, 1966's Ultra Q. Produced in black and white by Tsuburaya Productions, Ultra Q consisted of 28 episodes featuring a team of heroes comprised of scientists, reporters, and aviators. This eclectic group banded together to investigate all manner of paranormal threats from ghosts to aliens and, of course, giant monsters. The latter of these two phenomena would quickly become the most beloved by audiences, and before long they had become the focus of the series. This fascination with those specific subjects and adoration from fans led to the creation of the follow-up series Ultraman.
While Ultra Q and its original premise have long fallen from the limelight of the various entries into the Ultraman franchise, Marvel's take on the series has made some serious strides to bringing back that particular tone. In the first issue of last year's Rise of Ultraman, a backup story title "Ultra Q" by Kyle Higgins, Mat Groom, Michael Cho and VC's Ariana Maher was included. This story featured a team from the titular organization hunting down the Kaiju known as Bemular in the tunnels of 1954 Paris. This mission would eventually lead to the formation of the United Science Patrol itself, even if it was ultimately unsuccessful. It also set up the series running background plot regarding the ominous glowing man that has been seen from time to time. Knowing that Q has touched other worlds in this series is a stunning revelation, one that only leaves readers with more questions than they already had.
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