Ultra

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. A television adaptation was attempted in 2006, but was unsuccessful and 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. Publication history Development 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.