In Short
Marvel’s popular X-Men comic series has been relaunched in the Ultimate universe with a new spin on the team and continuity. While the series seems to have promise at first, a steady stream of bad dialogue, poorly reimagined ideas, and bizarre situations leads to a confusing and frustrating read for old time fans and those new to the X-Men.The Physical Thing
This 352 page hardcover collects the first year of the comics series for $29.95, making it an average value. The art tends to be of Good quality and fully embraces the superheroic style commonly found in comics. Women have gigantic busts and small waists while men have tree trunk arms and broad shoulders. The paper is slightly glossy and of good quality.Under the Cover
Most readers will be able to easily pick out the core X-Men present in this product. They include Professor X, Cyclops, Marvel Girl, Storm, Iceman, Colossus, and Beast. Many other characters make brief appearances including Nightcrawler and Rogue. Those familiar with past X-Men characterizations presented in comics, cartoons, and movies will likely find these X-Men to be alien. Beast is concerned with how fat he appears (though he seems to be solid muscle) and Storm is presented as little more than a cowardly thief. Iceman’s characterization can only be described as that of a reckless teenager. When Marvel Girl is on panel the focus is mostly on who she is sleeping with, and less on her “character.”These first twelve issues take the reader from the haphazard formation of the team to confronting the Sentinels to their confrontation with Magneto to a raid on the Weapon X facilities in Canada. That’s quite a bit for twelve issues, and those looking for an action packed comic series will enjoy the fast pace of Ultimate X-Men. Unfortunately, action is all there is. Panel after panel of explosions and action sequences are present, but nothing particularly meaningful happens to the characters. That’s probably a blessing because the dialogue is atrocious.
Perhaps the most frustrating thing for me is the expectation that Wolverine will solve all plot problems. The writing is event based, not character based, so most of the story arcs conclude with a solution to the problem at hand. It may be Professor X finally using his powers or some other unimaginative resolution, but often Wolverine solves the dilemma. He also receives at least twice as much screen time to any other character in the comic. This is not terribly surprising given the sheer fan devotion to an extremely overused character, but I didn’t want to buy Ultimate Wolverine and his Super Pals.
The new take on old characters is disappointing at best. Sabertooth has four Wolverine-style claws on each hand, as well as adamantium teeth and finger claws, but this gratuitous upgrade to his “abilities” gets more screen time than anything else about him. Many of the characters known to X-Men fans, such as Rogue and Nightcrawler, are horrifically tortured in the comic by the Weapon X group to use as assassins. This torture makes no sense whatsoever, seems gratuitous, and only appears in the comic for shock value to show how E-V-I-L one of the bad guys is.
