Ultimate X-Men Series Review

Back in 2000, Marvel created an Ultimate universe to provide readers with all-new 21st century versions of classic Marvel characters. The first chapter of that universe now draws to a close in 2009, and we can look back at what has been achieved since its conception. Originally a script for the first X-Men movie, Ultimate X-Men was released in 2001 as the second on-going series for Ultimate Marvel. The series began under writer Mark Millar, and has since been authored by various writers to different degrees of success.

The protagonists are the X-Men, a group of mutants whose unusual genetics grant them super powers. This sets them apart from the rest of humanity. They are led by Professor Charles Xavier, the world's most powerful telepath. Readers familiar with the original X-Men may recognize many familiar characters and storylines. However, Ultimate X-Men almost completely ignores supernatural or mystical elements as plot devices. The X-Men have no secret identities, and the mutants are mistrusted and hunted down.

Ultimate X-Men – Series Review

Ultimate X-Men begins on very familiar territory. The mutants are an emerging population, Magneto’s Brotherhood of Mutants are waging war on humanity and the American government has created the Sentinel robots to kill potentially dangerous mutants. So far, so Uncanny. It is in this landscape that Millar brings together the fan favourites as a younger, edgier group with new uniforms. Quick roll call; Professor X, Marvel Girl, Cyclops, Wolverine, Beast, Storm, Colossus and Iceman. Later issues introduce Rogue, Nightcrawler and Shadowcat to the X-Men, as well as many more favourite characters and villains to the Ultimate universe. Even Apocalypse.

One particular issue I have with the X-Men in general is that there clearly are a lot of themes that the writer has to juggle in order to create a satisfactory story. First, there’s the political/philosophical impact of the mutant concept and how it affects the individual characters, there’s the soap opera relationships that connect and break apart like Lego bricks, there’s the traditional superhero/supervillain conflicts that play out and the obligatory action-packed fight scenes. On top of that, writers have to know where and when to make use of the wide spectrum of characters that appear in this team book. Get the balancing act wrong and you end up with a story that’s sufficiently below expectations.

For the better part of the series, I feel the above predicament sums up Ultimate X-Men quite well. This series is by far the most inconsistent of the “four pillars”, regardless of who’s in the writing chair. Out of the nineteen TPB volumes of this series, I feel that only four of them got that balancing act just right. Out of those four, Mark Millar’s introduction counts for three of them. Volumes 1-3 are quite simply amazing in their design and execution. Not only do they feature some of the most despicable villains I have ever read (as villains should be), but they do an excellent job of developing both the personal and political landscape for mutants over the course of that run. Seeing the X-Men on a “world tour” to spread a positive image of mutantkind, and how the mutant power of Xavier’s son has affected him emotionally, this has been an excellent opportunity to see some powerful writing.

Of course, Millar wrote six volumes total, so why were the last three not as good? Quite simply, Millar gave them over to a story in which Magneto returns and the X-Men are forced into hiding from the Ultimates. The balance thus is tipped almost completely into action and thriller material. To be fair, it does the job well; it captures a good sense of claustrophobia. But it doesn’t capture the enormity and depth of the X-Men characters or their situation. No, the fourth book in my list of “balanced” is actually Volume 8, written by Brian Bendis of Ultimate Spider-man fame. This book, titled “New Mutants”, introduces an alternative school and philosophy to the X-Men, led by a newly-characterised Emma Frost. This book manages to revive the character development and political conflicts that made the first three volumes so exciting, and its conclusion with the death of Beast was a powerful end to Bendis’ run on the series.

Since Bendis left Ultimate X-Men, writer Brian K. Vaughan kept the series afloat with some good writing, but did nothing particularly memorable aside from creating an internet meme about pushing Xavier down a flight of stairs. Then Robert Kirkman, a writer respected for other series, was particularly atrocious with his handling of Ultimate X-Men, bringing the series down to cancellation point. It’s absolutely not worth reading.

The artwork, like the writing, has also been inconsistent over the series’ course, although it doesn’t help my memory that one particular issue (somewhere in Volume 4) was for some reason drawn by one of the worst filler artists I can recall in living memory. It was not only bad, but completely different from the rest of that book. It stood out like a sore thumb set on fire. But one of the biggest casualties of Ultimate X-Men’s artwork in general was Beast. In the first volume, artist Adam Kubert drew Beast with a very distinctive expression and figure that became a part of the character as much as the writing. So typically every other artist after Kubert ignored it, drawing Beast as a blue human, sometimes with slightly bigger hands if they could remember that was his mutant power in the first place.

So in conclusion, if you have an interest in Ultimate X-Men, I would recommend the first eight volumes by Millar and Bendis. If you really like those books, you may want to try Vaughan’s run from volumes 9-13. Don’t bother after that.

Best Book: Ultimate X-Men Volume 1: The Tomorrow People

This was a very close decision over Volume 8: New Mutants, but one thing clinched it; Ultimate Magneto. Unlike the “lovely Sir Ian McKellen” (to quote Grant Morrison) from the X-Men movie, Magneto in this series is an analogue of the hatemongering ideologues of the 20th Century. I have to wonder whether Mark Millar actually used figures like Hitler as a reference for Magneto’s dialogue. The character’s aspirations for a new world order, his efforts to alienate mutants with a new language and culture, his philosophy are all incredibly lifelike, and it becomes very easy to hate the character in ways that I often fail to do with other comic book villains. And the scariest thing is his ability to entice the heroes towards his philosophy; now that’s something I haven’t often seen in a modern comic book. But of course, the character is brought down spectacularly from grace when he calls Xavier “a stupid cripple”, exposing the hateful source of his philosophy.

I suspect many people will write off the literary qualities of a book such as The Tomorrow People because of its status as having mainstream appeal, but I think it’s an excellent examination of the mutant concept and the situations that surround it.

A Raien Review