Ultra (comics)

Ultra is an eight-issue comic book limited series created by the Luna Brothers, Jonathan (art and plot) and Joshua (script), and published by Image Comics in 2004 and 2005.

The series' central character is Pearl Penalosa, who is also a superheroine called Ultra. The story deals only peripherally with traditional superhero comics themes, like fighting supervillains, but concentrates mainly on how being a superhero affects Pearl's personal life. One reviewer described the series as "Sex and the City with female heroes". The trade paperback (TPB) is peppered with magazine articles from the world of the comic. These help flesh out the back stories of the three main heroines, and are reminiscent of the “documents” in Alan Moore’s Watchmen. Like the aforementioned predecessor and Rick Veitch's comics, faux articles, ads, covers, and table of contents provide an element of realism.

Plot summary
Ultra follows three heroines and friends with public identities:
 * Ultra (down-to-earth Latina Pearl Penalosa)
 * Aphrodite (model-turned-superhero Olivia Arancina)
 * Cowgirl (trust-fund baby Jennifer Janus)

On Thursday night the three heroines are driving around when they see a poster for a fortune teller whom they decide to visit for fun. The fortune teller claims Pearl Penalosa will find her true love within seven days, Olivia Arancina will suffer a loss within seven days, and Jennifer Janus will receive what she has given within seven days. Later that night a truck driver hits Olivia's car, causing her to suffer a loss: the first of the fortunes has come true.

On Friday morning Ultra stops a bank robbery and fights another super-human. All the news people have one question: "Why are you still single?" Afterwards she meets Aphrodite and Cowgirl for a bit; she also meets Jason, whom she really likes, but she is called away, so he gives her his cell phone number. Aphrodite and Cowgirl ask one question: "True...Love?" Later that night Ultra calls him.

Collected editions
The series has been collected as a single volume:


 * Ultra: Seven Days (232 pages, May 2005, softcover ISBN 1-58240-483-6, hardcover, ISBN 1-58240-484-4)

Television
In 2006, a pilot episode was made for a proposed Ultra television series. The pilot was produced by Barbara Hall. It featured Lena Headey as Ultra (renamed Penny Penalosa) and was directed by Helen Shaver. While CBS and the CW expressed an interest in the series, neither decided to carry it.