Customer Reviews

Ultimate X-Men Vol. 12: Hard Lessons

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This collection is by far the best since Brian K. Vaughan took over as the writer for the Ultimate X-Men (since vol. 9: The Tempest collection). Hard Lessons comprises three separate stories, first seen as Ultimate X-Men issues 58-60 and the first Annual of the series. The artistic teams change for all three stories and all of them do a great job.

Story 1 (issues 58): Professor Xavier finds out his account has been frozen by the Hellfire Club just as a two-headed mutant attempts a bank robbery. Professor X finds out that his telepathy is limited when dealing with this particular mutant and must try to save himself and the other hostages in the bank by utilizing his powers in a more creative manner. Steve Dillon pencils this issue with the magnificence he brought to the Preacher series.

Story 2 (issues 59-60): Wolverine is tracked down by Storm, and where else would he be but Canada? The reunion is cut short as Deathstrike makes her first Ultimate appearance and takes on Wolverine and Storm. Backing her are Dr. Cornelius and other Weapon X remnants. More of Storm's past and personality is shown, and in a twist on the original origin Deathstrike has ties to Storm, not Wolverine.

Story 3 (Annual 1): Gambit and Rogue continue their quest to bring down Fenris via clever thievery, but Juggernaut tracks them to a job in Las Vegas. Apparently Juggernaut has the hots for Rogue and as one might expect Gambit becomes the focus of his wrath. The fight that ensues is heavy and brutal, and not all of the combatants survive it.

Pros: Lesser known X-Men characters show up very briefly, or are mentioned, in their debuts in the Ultimate universe (Warlock and Sasquatch). Vaughan's time with the Ultimate X-Men has been criticized (at least by me) for its bland villains and scant appearances of most of the X-Men. This volume, however, does a smashing job with the villains and adds some of the best depth to the X-Men (at least the ones highlighted in the three stories) since the series began. Xavier's characterization is captivatingly well rendered, and denotes a significant difference between the Ultimate and main-stream Xavier; the Xavier of the Ultimate universe is sly, sneaky, shrewd and willing to soil his hands, or those of his proxy, to do what he deems necessary. Rogue and Storm also get some good time in the limelight, but the greatest improvement is in Vaughan's handling of the villains. Deathstrike has cool powers and the relationship between she and Storm is interesting. Juggernaut is much the same as he was in the main stream Marvel universe before he became a hero and his lust for Rogue and reaction to the relationship she has developed with Gambit make him more realistic and even more villainous.

Cons: The majority of the X-Men remain as little more than background characters as a result of the three stories each focusing on only one individual character. However if this is a trend that will see each X-Man get his or her own highlight story, and the issue about Xavier showed that Vaughan is more than capable of doing a great job of this in just one issue, I would hesitate to call this a fault. The only other low point is the fight between Deathstrike and Storm and Wolverine. It was very short and it didn't seem like Deathstrike was really unleashed.

Overall I recommend this collected volume of Ultimate X-Men to any and all X-Men or Ultimate Marvel enthusiasts. To those of you who either gave up on the series or are/were on the verge of doing so I recommend that you give Hard Lessons a chance as it provides hope that Ultimate X-Men will retake its spot as one of the must-have comics from Marvel.

I have been reading ultimate X-Men since its beginnings. It was a fun and enjoyable book up until the New Mutant arc. Since then the series has dropped the ball and it still hasn't recovered. It is an all right arc, but the annual is a must read. I suggest getting the book only because it is on sale for about 9 bucks and the annual will now cost you about 5 to 6 dollars.

if you like Storm and Lady Deathstrike and Wolverine, in that order, good.

If you like Prof.X's powers, are interested in everyday uses for telepathy and bank thiefs, good.

If you like Rogue and Gambit's coupling, their adventures and Juggernaut, his powers and his magic crystal thing, good for you.

These are the three stories, and they are okay. The Storm one was especially catching, but overall you look back and say hey that wasnt very productive. So be prepared for those storiees

"Ultimate X-Men, v.12" was pretty underwhelming. To begin with, it's very short -- only reprinting three regular issues and an Ultimates Annual adventure. In one story, Professor X is caught up in the middle of a bank robbery, and rallies his fellow hostages into defeating the bad buy. The script touches lightly on a few interesting ideas -- Prof. X tapping into the minds of regular humans to prod them into heroic action -- but mostly the issue felt like filler. Then comes a two-part story featuring Ultimate Wolverine and Storm, who apparently are an item in this universe. They cause a little mayhem in Canada, and the series desperately tries to inject a little pep into Ororo's back-story, with very little effect. Both of these characters are much more interesting in the regular Marvel continuity, and the story itself offered little that would make either character more compelling. Finally, we get a rehash of the Rogue-Gambit relationship, in the Annual issue. The best part of this is that in this version they kill Gambit's character: yay! What fun! I've always found him deathly dull in the normal continuity, and wish the same thing could happen there as well. (No worries: no doubt Ultimate Gambit will be cloned or sent back from the future or something. But this is nice while it lasts. :-)

Overall, I thought this was pretty uninspired writing, with lackluster artwork. It's too bad because the other Ultimate titles are much better. (Joe Sixpack, Slipcue book reviews)

Ultimate X-Men Vol 12 is a collection of Ultimate X-Men 58-60 and Annual 1 and is arguably, the worse Ultimate X-Men so far. Brian K Vaughan had a good start on the series, taking the character of Sinister and warping him to a degree previous authors wouldn't have taken a chance at, it worked. Here he does his best with Lady Deathstrike, and some character development.

I appreciate Vaughan's attempt to draw out new character in the Ultimate X-Men but Storm's personality seems to have gone out the window, and the change is nowhere near as good as back when Chris Claremont cut her hair and warped her personality the first time around (Check out essential X-Men 4 if you want that story). Lady Deathstrike's personality has also taken a major hit, now making her one of Storm's villian's as opposed to Wolverine's really doesn't make since considering the adamantium and such. The strongest part of the story is the Annual which due to the end might prove to be one of the least liked, I'm not giving anything away but if you didn't like volume 8 your not going to like this one.

The art changes 3 times over 4 comics starting decent, with Dillon and going to terrible with Immonen. Immonen's art hasn't become any better since the last volume and if anything is worse, its original I'll give him that but really does not be long in the realistic ultimate universe. The best art of the volume comes at the end where Tom Raney takes over. He has an interesting style the looks both realistic and for the first time shows the X-Men as the kids they are.

All in all this is the weakest volume of Ultimate X-Men having no strong storylines and only one comic really worth buying, but if you're a fan of Ultimate X-Men, particularly Vaughan's run you might want to look at this, look but don't buy.

The worst graphic novel I've read. Simply awful. Save your money.