My pull list for this week left me with just one new book – JLA #124. Since that’s already been spoken for but I need to write something, we turn to the fifth hardcover collection of ULTIMATE X-MEN. This collects the first three arcs of Brian K. Vaughan’s stint on the title, “The Tempest”, “Cry Wolf” and “The Most Dangerous Game”. Since I’m a huge fan of Vaughan’s other books it goes without saying that I’ve been chomping at the bit to read his spin on the Ultimate version of the X-Men for quite some time. Collecting all the Ultimate Marvel titles in HC form is great for bookshelf aesthetics but not so good for patience.
The main reason for reviewing this collection, however, is to take a look at the ULTIMATE X-MEN title itself. The regular Marvel Universe X-books have of course been getting all of the attention from the Marvel publicity department lately, what with HOUSE OF M changing something or other that may or may not be made any clearer in DECIMATION before we wind up in a CIVIL WAR that Professor Xavier is set to play a major role in causing. In addition to all of that we have the impending return of ASTONISHING X-MEN, which the aforementioned publicity dogs will drool all over as they proudly announce to the world that, yes, the bloke that made that mediocre sci-fi movie that hardly anybody went to see last summer has again deemed comic books worthy of his attention. Furthermore, there’s the launch of the superfluous WOLVERINE: ORIGINS at some point later this year. Oh, and the small matter of Storm and The Black Panther getting married. How can ULTIMATE X-MEN hope to keep up with all of this in the marketplace?
Frankly, all of the Ultimate Marvel titles are in a general malaise at the moment. ULTIMATES has remained a sales juggernaut, yet the long-term security of the title is uncertain considering a vastly different creative team will be tackling the third volume. ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN and ULTIMATE FANTASTIC FOUR are continuing to produce good stories (or starting to in the latter’s case) but sales have been drifting steadily downwards over the past year or so. ULTIMATE X-MEN is more or less in the same boat as those two titles. At times it feels like Marvel is taking it for granted until the fabled Bryan Singer storyline finally sees the light of day. It is somewhat telling that the only substantial publicity given to the Ultimate line lately has been for ULTIMATE HULK/WOLVERINE and even that boiled down to “written by some bloke from Lost”.
Of course, the main task of the Ultimate line is for the titles to get their collected editions released as quickly as possible and then clean house in the TPB market. By all accounts they continue to do that rather well. Perhaps some of the lowered sales figures could be attributed to more readers deciding to just wait for the trade instead, even though the general stagnation of the titles still plays a major factor. Certainly by this point, nearly six years after the line began, the very same continuity headaches that they sought to escape in the first place are in danger of returning. If that’s the case, why bother to continue with it at all? Has Marvel reached the stage of continuing to churn out the Ultimate books due to financial habit, or are they simply incapable of promoting them better and offering the same periodic revamps that helped the likes of UNCANNY X-MEN survive? More importantly, is there any direction to ULTIMATE X-MEN more substantial than “different continuity”?
Well, let’s see what’s happened so far…
2000 – The book launches in December under the creative control of Mark Millar and is thus hindered from the start. The general goodwill shown towards the Ultimate line at this point was enough to make it a successful debut, but in comparison to the more widely-appealing, ‘classic-school’ approach that Brian Michael Bendis took with ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN, Millar’s X-Men were hardly the refreshing change of pace that the world was waiting for.
#1 – The X-Men (Cyclops, Jean Grey, Beast, Colossus, Storm) are recruited by Xavier and subsequently rescue Iceman from being squished by some Sentinels, which the government has recently set free to kill mutants.
2001 – The abovementioned refreshment factor did turn up in the X-Men – except it was in Grant Morrison’s NEW X-MEN. Had Marvel switched the creative teams on their two premiere mutant books then perhaps things would have worked out better. Morrison’s early NEW X-MEN stories bring words like ‘hope’, ‘change’, ‘youthful’, ‘rebellious’ and ‘progressive’ to mind. On the other hand “The Tomorrow People” and “Return To Weapon X”, the first two arcs of ULTIMATE X-MEN, only lead to words like ‘smug’, ‘cynical’, ‘hollow’, ‘superficial’ and ‘dour’. Millar’s patented action quotient was fulfilled and those scenes worked rather well, but the moments in between were lacking heart.
#2 – Magneto sends Wolverine to sort out the X-Men.
#3 – The X-Men rescue Wolverine, who has been captured by the government.
#4 – Though the Sentinel program has been scrapped, Beast is in a coma and so the angst-filled Cyclops leaves.
#5 – Cyclops meets Magneto in the Savage Land and hangs out with the Brotherhood, while the government sends the Sentinels (big metal robots) to hunt down Magneto.
#6 – Magneto acts like a bad ass by making George Bush run around naked. Uh-huh.
#7 – The Weapon X program is introduced, along with Rogue and Nightcrawler (who is bafflingly seen shooting people to death).
#8 – As before, only extended.
#9 – Nick Fury turns up.
#10 – The Weapon X people act dumb.
#11 – Wolverine saves the day and plays nice with Fury.
#12 – Wolverine. Sabretooth. Fight. Xavier. Deus. Ex. Machina.
#13 – Gambit is introduced as a homeless card trickster in NYC.
2002 – The year started with a fill-in issue by Chuck Austen that failed to improve matters. Millar, to his credit, did. Slightly. Maybe the launch of THE ULTIMATES let him get most of the crash-bang-wallop-hey-I-wrote-The-Authority out of his system. Whatever happened, he started to tone down the action in order to take a closer look at the core themes of the title. Issue #20, which focuses on Xavier having second thoughts about the X-Men and discussing them with a brainwashed Magneto that he is controlling, is one of the best stories Millar has ever written. The introduction of the Hellfire Club and the Phoenix was skimmed over but interesting nonetheless, and by the end of the year we were ready for more crash-bang with “Return Of The King”. Unfortunately, while the writing showed improvement there were a fair few fill-in artists used for Adam Kubert. Since the book is catered towards the TPB, simply delaying it is probably the more preferable option.
#14 – Gambit refuses to join the X-Men.
#15 – Xavier is revealed to have been keeping a mind-wiped Magneto in captivity.
#16 – The team goes on a publicity tour while Proteus turns up.
#17 – Proteus turns out to be the child of Xavier and Moira MacTaggart, who is Xavier’s ex-wife.
#18 – The fight goes to Germany. Colossus feels blue.
#19 – Colossus kills Proteus. People begin to mistrust Xavier.
#20 – See above. Also, Scott and Jean get closer.
#21 – Kitty Pryde comes to the school.
#22 – Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch lead the new Brotherhood, which is mainly revamped Ani-Men. Wolverine. Cyclops. Fight.
#23 – Beast has cybersex with Blob. Uh-huh.
#24 – Wolverine and Cyclops bugger off to the Savage Land, while the Hellfire Club continues to play the rest of the team.
#25 – The Hellfire Club tries to bring back their worshipped Phoneix through Jean but Xavier sorts ’em out.
2003 – Millar and Kubert wrapped up the crash-bang but failed to bring the wallop as “Return Of The King” petered out. Then the new creative team of Bendis and David Finch turned up. Bendis teased the possibility of fleshing out the characters, who were still rather innocuous even by issue #40, but his first arc, “Blockbuster”, felt more like a stale Millar leftover. Then came “New Mutants” and things became a lot better a lot quicker. Hell, he even managed to make Angel interesting. Finch was on top of the artwork, sales went up with Bendis’ arrival and things were looking good for the title. The rest of the X-Books were preparing for the departure of Morrison and the horribly miscalculated ‘ReLoad’ stunt, making the delayed success of the Ultimate version even sweeter.
#26 – Xavier. Magneto. Chat.
#27 – A more recognisable Nightcrawler meets the team while Magneto prepares the Brotherhood for attack.
#28 – The X-Men go on the run while Magneto goes on the pill. Or something.
#29 – Turns out Wolverine left Cyclops for dead in the Savage Land to try and f*ck Jean.
#30 – Cyclops gets the team to the Savage Land (somehow) to stop Magneto’s doomsday device.
#31 – Jean saves Miami.
#32 – Wolverine. Cyclops. Fight. Xavier agrees to government supervision.
#33 – Xavier. Magneto. Chat.
#34 – Wolverine. Spider-Man. Team-up.
#35 – Ditto, but with Black Widow too.
#36 – Ditto, but with Daredevil too.
#37 – Ditto, but with the rest of the X-Men turning up at the end.
#38 – Wolverine and the X-Men make up. Hugs and kisses.
#39 – Wolverine and Jean save the government.
#40 – Angel turns up and he’s hot.
2004 – Bendis brought “New Mutants” to a close with the death of Beast. Killing off a major character in any other Ultimate book is rather difficult. Doing it in the X-Men book, which has a far bigger cast, is a bit easier so it will be interesting to see if dead does indeed mean dead in the Ultimate Universe. After this, Bendis and Finch buggered off to make room for the Vaughan and a bevy of artists.
#41 – Wolverine kills a kid with a mutant power that kills anybody near him. Brilliant issue, the best of Bendis’ short run.
#42 – Dazzler, Karma, Emma Frost and the Hellions turn up, while it seems the President actually likes mutants but maybe that’s just Xavier’s psychic influence.
#43 – Emma Frost, Xavier’s ex, tackles the youth vote via Dazzler – crime-fighting mutant punk rock chick.
#44 – X-Men save the President again, though Angel turns out to be useless at fighting.
#45 – Beast dies and Storm cries.
Vaughan is far more similar in tone to Bendis than Millar, so hopefully his run will continue to beat the heart of the book and it’s characters… let’s see…
“The Tempest”
#46 – The team deals with Beast’s death in various ways. Xavier is beginning to favour a more militant and violent approach to the mutant cause and has no problems with Colossus and Wolverine beating the crap out of one another in the name of “training”. Emma Frost is rather appalled at seeing him wallow so much and takes off back to her own school in Chicago. Havok goes with her since he doesn’t want to hang around with his brother. Cyclops starts to have a good whine about all of this, but Jean brightens him up by taking him on a psychic journey to Corsair, which is passed off as a childhood fantasy land of Cyclops’ making. Kitty makes an appearance in a rather inappropriate bikini and finds that Storm has been taking Beast’s death very hard and has given herself a drastic haircut. Meanwhile, Angel and Nightcrawler try to recruit the recently-outed Northstar, but he runs off. Later on he is lured into an alley by Mr. Sinister and shot. Sinister appears to simply be a street thug with a titular tattoo on his arm at this point…
#47 – It turns out that Northstar’s speed meant the bullet that was aimed at his heart missed hitting anything fatal. He wound up in a coma but Jean managed to wake him up just in time to tease a romantic interest in Colossus. Sinister apparently shot and killed four other mutants in the same night as part of a pledge to sacrifice ten lives to his unseen master, Lord Apocalypse. The Bugle refers to this as a ‘mutant massacre’ and so Cyclops begins meticulously training the team, gradually asserting more authority as a leader. Meanwhile, Xavier has been talking things over with Nick Fury and has come to realize that there is no need to put his students in any more danger. Nonetheless, he comes to a compromise with Cyclops and the senior students go out alongside Wolverine to look for Sinister. Nightcrawler has an effective pep talk with Storm to get her involved too.
#48 – The team hits the streets of Manhattan to try and find Sinister. Nightcrawler and Jean get told off for their efforts by a non-famous mutant. Cyclops and Colossus get into a scrap with the Russian gun-dealers Colossus used to work for. Storm and Wolverine have a heart-to-heart then find Sinister’s apartment by hassling his tattooist. Quite brilliantly, Lord Apocalypse turns out to be a hallucination of Sinister’s that he has manifested in the form of a ludicrously attired mannequin. This leaves Xavier giving further training to Iceman, Rogue, Angel and Kitty, who have been joined by a drunken Dazzler. Unfortunately for them, they are Sinister’s new targets.
#49 – Sinister manages to knock-out Xavier with the greatest weapon of all – a flight of stairs. As the senior X-Men rush back to the mansion, the younger members take the fight to Sinister and prove quite adept. Storm prevents Rogue from killing Sinister after finding inspiration in Beast’s legacy rather than depression in his death. Nick Fury turns up to take Sinister off to be detained in the Triskelion. While he is in his cell, we get a glimpse at Apocalypse but it is left unclear whether he is the real version or another hallucination. Xavier decides that there is little point in trying to shield the younger X-Men from the dangers that await them in the real world – although he has apparently been spying on them with hidden cameras.
All in all, this was a very well-written superhero team-book story.
“Cry Wolf”
#50 – Nightcrawler and Angel play at Pirates of the Caribbean in the Danger Room, Cyclops and Jean have some alone time, and the rest of the group heads to Coney Island. Dazzler tries to get with Colossus but he’s more interested in beating a rigged test-of-strength machine. Storm and Wolverine have another chat and she gives him a peck on the cheek. Iceman winds up kissing Kitty, which pisses off Rogue, who knocks her out with one punch. Then Gambit turns up and causes all manner of trouble, such as blowing half off Wolverine’s face off. Apparently since his last appearance in the title, he has been trained by an unknown group who have sent him to kidnap Rogue for some reason.
#51 – The group behind Gambit are Fenris, remodelled into some sort of corporate espionage outfit that are kidnapping and then recruiting mutants to gain intelligence for them. Xavier and Jean try to use Cerebro to track them while Wolverine goes off to do things the old fashioned way. Storm follows him and this time gives him a proper kiss.
#52 – Wolverine gives Storm the brush-off. Fenris offer Rogue a magic costume that can control her powers, but she is more interested in earning redemption the hard way with the X-Men and turns them down. Since she’s seen too much they try to threaten her into staying, which winds up with Gambit finally coming to his senses regarding his gullibility towards Fenris. The two of them make a break for it but Wolverine has found them and wants some revenge on the Cajun. There’s a lovely astral plane moment with Xavier and Jean too, with Jean dressed in the original Marvel Girl costume that was apparently her third-grade Halloween outfit.
#53 – Wolverine and Gambit have another sick brawl but Rogue brings it to a close and chastises Wolverine for daring to think that someone with his past could ever be the hero. This leads to Wolverine going off in a huff, pausing just long enough to give Storm another brush-off. Gambit convinces Rogue to leave the X-Men and go on the road with him, while soap-opera jealousy runs rampant throughout the rest of the team too. Cyclops thinks Jean is getting a bit too close to Xavier, Iceman and Kitty are dealing with their kiss rather badly, Dazzler is starting to get a thing for Iceman now, while Nightcrawler appears to be rather interested in Kitty.
Vaughan handles the character aspects of the story very well, but the Fenris plot just did not work particularly well in the least and the predetermined Rogue/Gambit relationship was unconvincing.
“The Most Dangerous Game”
#54 – The introductions continue here, with Genosha turning up as a country that has outlawed mutants completely. Some that have been put on death row, perhaps falsely, are being used as fodder for a reality TV show run by Mojo. He’s a human albino TV executive doing a version of The Running Man and his current victim is Longshot, who was imprisoned for murdering a prominent Genoshan politician. In a nice touch, Mojo’s operation is based on the island of Krakoa. Xavier sends in Cyclops, Jean, Iceman and Kitty to try and prove Longshot’s innocence. Storm has apparently gone to chase after Wolverine, but the rest of the kids decide to hijack the X-Wing and go to Genosha anyway.
#55 – Colossus, Nightcrawler and Dazzler take a look around Krakoa while Angel stays with the plane, since he’s a bit of a pansy. They take out the transmitter, knocking Mojo’s show off the air, and locate Longshot. There’s a brief appearance by Arcade as the latest hunter for the show but he is dispatched easily enough. Meanwhile, the other four investigate the murder Longshot was convicted of committing but are attacked by some chick with six arms.
#56 – I’m told the six arm chick is named Spiral. She puts up a good fight but Jean throws a Phoenix-wobbler to take her down and foreshadow the inevitable darkness that lies in wait for Ms Grey. Meanwhile, Longshot flirts with both Dazzler and Colossus as the other kids head back to the X-Wing. Unfortunately, Mojo has taken affirmative action by nicking the ship and threatening to kill Angel unless Longshot is returned to him.
#57 – The kids rescue Angel and manage to bring down Mojo’s TV show but Longshot turns down an invitation to Xavier’s and goes off on his own. Jean takes a peek in Spiral’s mind while she is detained. It turns out that she and Longshot were a couple and involved in an underground Genoshan movement. Then she had an affair with the dead politician, the sole prominent MP not to favour the mutant ban, and when Longshot found out about it he did in fact kill the guy. Xavier freaks out about it all and Angel takes the fall, which earns him a kiss or two from Dazzler. The rather naïve Nightcrawler moans to Colossus about the lack of available girls for them now that Iceman and Kitty are paired up too.
A much better crafted story that expands on the Ultimate X-Men mythos in a very constructive manner.
Well, those were the first three arcs of Vaughan’s run on the title and he did indeed do a very good job. For perhaps the first time it feels as though ULTIMATE X-MEN has a legitimate direction and can offer something unique in comparison the regular X-Books. Millar was more concerned with banding about the broad notion of a government that hates mutants, but that’s something that’s been beaten into the ground many, many times already. Bendis tried to bring in a bunch of guest stars and just have fun but it still felt too familiar. His run did act as a transition into the Vaughan issues though, which have done a lot to expand upon each of the characters in the ensemble. Thankfully, he has realised that the key to this book is that it offers readers the chance to see the primary X-Men when they were still in school, dealing with adolescent difficulties and living out their soap opera plots whilst having some superhero action along the way. This is the kind of thing that cannot be done in the regular Marvel Universe with these characters because they are now adults and trying to teach a new generation of school kids. By focusing on this fundamental difference offered by the Ultimate Universe, something that should have been more keenly explored from the start, Vaughan has finally made this title into the refreshing read it always threatened to be.
There are still some long-term subplots to be addressed. The anti-mutant movement theme is self-evident, but finding out exactly what’s happening to Jean and getting some clearer definition of Xavier’s morals will be very interesting indeed. Then there’s Colossus’ sexuality, which shall inevitably be revealed to the rest of the team in due course. Sadly, Vaughan will not be the one to resolve these points though. He’ll soon be replaced by Robert Kirkman, thankfully a writer of similar tastes and talent. It will be a long time before I get to read Kirkman’s UXM stories though. In fact, it will probably be 2007 before the remainder of Vaughan’s run is collected in HC form. Welcome to the weary world of super-fancy trade waiting.
