Ultra (comics)
| Ultra | |
|---|---|
Cover to the first printing of the collected edition of Ultra, art by Jonathan Luna
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| Publication information | |
| Publisher | Image Comics |
| Schedule | Monthly |
| Format | Limited series |
| Genre | |
| Publication date | August 2004 – March 2005 |
| No. of issues | 8 |
| Creative team | |
| Created by | Luna Brothers |
| Written by | Joshua Luna |
| Artist(s) | Jonathan Luna |
| Collected editions | |
| Soft cover | ISBN |
| Hard cover | ISBN |
Ultra is the first American comic book created by Jonathan and Joshua Luna. Image Comics originally published it as an eight-issue limited series between August 2004 and March 2005 before releasing it as a single volume in both hardcover and softcover formats. The series received mostly positive reviews for both the artwork and the story. An unsuccessful television adaptation was attempted in 2006, but the brothers remain in talks to try again.
The main character is Pearl Penalosa, a Latina superhero in Spring City. The plot follows her and two superhero friends as they deal with celebrity and seek happy love lives after receiving predictions from a fortune teller. Traditional superhero themes such as fighting crime are treated as a background setting instead of a primary focus. Critics often drew comparisons to the television show Sex and the City.
After graduating from the Savannah College of Art and Design with Bachelor of Fine Arts degrees, the Luna Brothers were inspired to create comics in mature genres by Garth Ennis's Preacher and other publications from Vertigo Comics. Jonathan had the original idea for a story about three guys and their dating life. Joshua changed the characters to women instead and added superhero and corporate aspects. Because they wanted to keep the story accessible to readers who did not grow up reading comic books, they used the superhero genre as a setting instead of a primary plot element. One theme the Luna Brothers explored was how absurd the media can be. They cited Chuck Palahniuk's Invisible Monsters as an influence.
After developing a loose plot together, Joshua wrote the full scripts and suggested layouts.Ultra was the first comic book Joshua wrote. From there, Jonathan did the pencils by hand with a mechanical pencil and inks with a Micron pen. After scanning the inked artwork and editing it where needed on a Wacom tablet, he would add the colors and letters. He worked at an average rate of one page per day. They were able to make one full issue every four weeks. The Lunas described the creation of Ultra as "organic", admitting they had a plan but saying they "figured out a lot of things as [they] were doing them". A plot synopsis and a five-page sample of the comic was submitted blindly to and accepted by Image Comics publisher Erik Larsen.
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