Ultimate Mercenary (series)

Ultimate Mercenary is an LNH miniseries written by Jeanne Morningstar starring the eponymous wannabe ninja, beginning in 2003 – and ending in 2012. Oh yes.

It lasted seven issues, each issue getting progressively longer, and expanding from the adventures of one prodigal hero versus evil tomatoes to a dizzying tour of cosmic heights.

Characters

• Ultimate Mercenary
• Masterplan Lad
• Victoria Arden
• Manga Girl II
• the Producers
• the Headhunters
• a mysterious Old Man
• The Crossover Queen
• Penultimate Savior
• Manga Girl III
• Chaos Theory
• Time Crapper IV
• Net.Access

Where to Read

The first five issues, which cross over with Flame Wars VI, can be read here, #6 is here, and #7 (which crosses over with a lot of things) is long enough to be in three parts.

Awards

At the beginning of its run, Ultimate Mercenary won the 2003 RACCie for Favorite New Title, and at the very end, it won the 2012 RACCie for Favorite Miniseries.

Legacy

The ending leads into the in-progress Just Imagine Saxon Brenton and the Writers of RACC in: RACCies the Final! Symphony of Genesis. Afterward, the cast splits up; Ultimate Mercenary himself ends up on Earth-20 in Ultimate Mercenary v20, and The Liminals, a team that grew out of its supporting cast, ends up in Just Another Multi-Writer Cascade That Will Probably Never Have an Ending and The Liminals (series). (There's a lot going on here.) See also Ultimate Mercenary Reading Order.