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I randomly ran across Ultra (2004-05) while reading comics online. I saw the cover below, with its parody of celebrity magazines and the caption "The Private Life of a Superheroine" and was intrigued, thinking, "Well, there's probably going to be some sexiness in this." Boy was I right. But it's not the over-the-top fight-'em-all 90s bad girl kind. Ultra is more of a character study meets reality show.
The title character, Ultra, is Hispanic superheroine Pearl Penalosa. She forms a kind of "Sex and the City" superheroine girlfriend group with her friends Jen (Cowgirl) and Liv (Aphrodite). Jen and Pearl work for Heroine, Inc. and Liv works for Olympus, Inc. in a world where all superheroes have agents. Sure, they all do good deeds and save people, but the way they get paid is through their endorsements, and they receive their missions through the agency. Basically it's a world where superheroing is a job, like any other job, down to dressing up in costume in a locker room and taking lunch breaks.
But the difference between their jobs and normal humans' is that they are also mega-celebrities, in the news media all the time. They are relentlessly hounded by paparazzi, and every little detail of their lives, especially relationships, is analyzed. They become role models for their fans. So the comic is about how these heroines handle their mega-stardom. Every issue has "celebrity interviews" in the back, and ads that the heroines appear in. Mind you, this is over a decade before The Wicked and The Divine dealt with almost the exact same subject matter. (I think Powers had some concepts like this around the same time, though: Retro Girl had an agent, I believe). One of the most brilliant ideas is designing each comic cover so it parodies the front of a real pop-culture magazine (see below). I wonder if the artists who did all of those "Justice Magazine" covers (you know, sexy poses of DC & Marvel heroines on a fake magazine cover) were originally inspired by Ultra.
The story plays out a lot like a dramatic television show. Pearl is on a quest to find love, and she has her ups and downs with her friends and her co-worker rivals at the agency.
All the action happens within the course of one week, so the developments are intense.
Yes, there's plenty of combat action as well. And a lesbian subplot. Throughout, the art is fantastic and even, might I say, passionate to the point where it helps you feel the emotions of the characters. In fact, what I'm most sad about is that this only lasted eight issues and the Luna never developed this world further (their other later series at least went for 24 issues). Seems kind of a waste to one-off an idea this great.
So overall I would say this is one of the best superheroine comics I've ever read. I would recommend it unequivocally. And I'm going to try and also check out Girls, The Sword, and the more recent stuff the Luna Bros have done individually or with other creators. If you can still cop the TPB (I'm going to look for it this week) please do.
