Customer Reviews

Ultimate X-Men, Vol. 2

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I have enjoyed the Ultimate X-Men title as a reader of the Graphic Novels only. I started with the first two books in paperback form, but after this edition of books 3 and 4 in Hardcover I wouldnt buy or recommend anything else! In fact, if I could I would buy the first Hardcover edition of the series.
The book itself is beautifully made and very sturdy. Not to mention looking pretty good on a bookcase. And it's just really cool to have so many pages of good reading in one place.

The stories themselves are pretty good two. Mark Millar's writing page by page (as opposed to just the plot) is really bloody good and I'm getting more into the characters that aren't Wolverine more than ever before. The artwork is mostly good tho I wish Andy Kubert would have done more issues.

Needless to say it was a page-turner and tho I'm not an age-old fan who was dissapointed with the Phoenix intro - I was a fan from the start of the second X-Men series and I really like the return to just plain adventure stories with a writer who has the courage to mix everything up (for the better). And also, in combination with the previous Hardcover (or Vols 1 & 2 of the Trade Paperback) it's a great read for any new readers.

Marvel struck gold when they launched the Ultimate X-Men series. By unshackling the popular characters from four decades of convoluted continuity and starting fresh, they were able to let new fans and old in on the X-Men from ground zero. I've been following this series through these deluxe hardcover collections, which contain roughly a year's worth of individual issues and at least two full story arcs.

The second Ultimate X-Men hardcover collection includes the following issues:

World Tour (issues #13-18) - In this storyline, Professor Xavier takes the X-Men on a worldwide publicity tour to promote his book and garner some PR for the mutant cause. Unfortunately, Xavier's son David (the Ultimate Universe version of Proteus) breaks free and causes torment on a massive scale. This storyline is remarkably similar to the original Proteus saga, though Millar's version of the character is a lot more twisted. This also introduces the Ultimate Psylocke. Artwork on this run is provided by Adam Kubert and Chris Bachalo. Kubert's art seems to be slipping a bit, though Bachalo's is incredible as always.

Hellfire & Brimstone (issues #19-23) - This arc finds uncomfortable allies Cyclops and Wolverine (with stowaway Kitty Pryde) on a mission to the Savage Land, while back home Jean Grey is manifesting the Phoenix, much to the pleasure of the sinister Hellfire Club. As momentous as these events are, they're merely a prelude to the massive story to come, which features the return of the X-Men's greatest foe. Artwork on this run is by Adam Kubert and Esad Ribic.

Thief in the Night/Wild Card (issues #24-25) - The debut of Ultimate Gambit, by Chuck Austen and Kaare Andrews. This little stand-alone story doesn't really fit the mood of the rest of the book, but it's a nice addition. It's a shame they never fully developed this version of Gambit.

I highly recommend Ultimate X-Men, not only to new X-fans who might be bewildered by the continuity of the older series, but to old school X-Men fans like me. If you keep an open mind, you should find this series quite enjoyable.

I could beleave that the youngest son of my sister kids found this book in my personal libary. Not only found this but read it too! 10 y/o probley little too young to read, but then I started reading comics book at the younger age, much worse then this. The fact is, it got him to read. People over judge things way too much! Wish I was with him as he read this book, to help him with the words and so forth.

Another largely excellent Ultimate X-Men trade paperback, collecting the twelve issues in the 2nd year of Mark Millar's take on Marvel's premier mutant team and also featuring a bonus story by Chuck Austen featuring X-Men fave Gambit. The first story arc, `World Tour' has the X-Men up against Xavier's teenage son Legion, who has uncontrollable reality-warping powers and is angry at Xavier for leaving him and his mother - Moira MacTaggert - some years before to set up the X-Men. Legion is a very dangerous and unstable mutant, who does not hesitate to kill and whose aim is to destroy everything that Xavier and his dream stands for - a plan which involves wiping out several of the world's major cities. Will Xavier's X-Men be prepared to use lethal force to stop the insane Legion, in defiance of Xavier's pacifist ideals? In the second story arc, `Hellfire & Brimstone', Xavier and his X-Men prepare to meet the wealthy and mysterious benefactors who have been funding Xavier's school. These benefactors are revealed to be an organization calling themselves The Hellfire Club, and they have a special interest in teenage X-Men telepath Jean Grey, who has been having severe psychotic hallucinations and visions of a fiery Phoenix engulfing the world in flames... Finally we have a bonus tale featuring Cajun street hustler Gambit, using his special gift of being able to charge physical objects with kinetic energy to protect a young homeless girl from gangsters who would harm her.

Comments: I found this to be another largely excellent Ultimate X-Men trade paperback. The first story arc delves into the skeletons in Xavier's closet, as we are introduced to the son and wife he left - or some might say abandoned - in order to found the X-Men, and see the present day consequences of those past actions. The second story arc introduces the classic Phoenix character to the Ultimate universe, with the expectant death and destruction. There are also a number of interesting subplots, such as love rivals Cyclops and Wolverine coming to blows - and almost more - over Jean Grey and Beast inadvertently revealing to The Brotherhood the truth about Magneto's `death' (see `The Tomorrow People'). These two story arcs have excellent artwork from artists including X-Men veteran Andy Kubert, original Generation X title penciller Chris Bachalo and Kaare Andrews (who has a different and distinctive style). However, Chuck Austen's bonus Gambit story is a let-down, with a weak story and poor artwork from artist Esad Ribic, so I feel would have been better not included. Nonetheless, it is only a bonus story, so this trade paperback still elicits 4 stars.

Mark Millar strikes again. In these story arcs, he seems to realize that he's stuck on this book for the long haul, so he better take it more seriously than he did during his first 12 issues, which were so bad, I'm sure he was shocked that the book didn't get cancelled.

There are a few noticeable improvements to summarize: the characterizations are more fleshed out (although still very problematic--but at least there's a bit more depth attempted here), the incredible wordiness and verbosity has been eliminated for a leaner, funnier script, and the technology and other "near future" flourishes have been toned way down. (For example, the X-Men no longer fly around in a B-2 Bomber)

The first story arc deals with Professor X, flying high on an ego trip and world-spanning book tour. His travel arrangements, and his visions of philosophic grandeur, are derailed by the escape and murderous rampage of his son (a mash up of Proteus AND Legion from the original series? Comments?)

There's a stupid subplot involving Colossus trying to leave the team, and then, in a Spider-Man "with-great-power..." moment, saving a downed Russian submarine. The only thing that makes sense in this subplot is big C's assessment of Professor X: he's a maniac! That's the problem with the main story--as in the first 12 issues, the character of Professor X remains completely ridiculous. He's browbeating his students with pacifist mumbo-jumbo, he's confessing being a bad parent because he was having a mental love-affair with Magneto...he's a completely unsympathetic, arrogant, naive jerk. Viewed another way, he's a barely credible character, and certainly not one the reader can have any positive feeling for. There's no feeling of jeopardy as he's being thrashed by Proteus, because Proteus is a lot more likeable than Prof X!

The other characters are similarly unlikeable. Jean Gray and Storm are still arrogant, Cyclops is still a prick, Wolverine is still a prick...Beast emerges as a tragic sap, chatting online in search of acceptance, in a hilarious and sad subplot.

The artwork duties get taken over by Chris Bachalo, in a nice change of pace.

The second arc is a bit of a mash up, featuring Wolverine, Kitty Pride, and Cyclops on a trip to the Savage Land, Iceman dealing with a shady politician manipulating him in order to forward his anti-mutant agenda, and Beast continuing his absurd online love-affair with (unbeknown to him) the Blob!

Almost everything clicks in these stories- the satirical nature of them fits very well with the incredible artwork by Kaare Andrews. His work is cartoony, quirky, and eccentric, and genuinely funny. The script is very witty and works perfectly with Andrews' art to create some hysterical moments. The characters, although rendered as biting satires, are given more depth than in previous arcs.

Most enjoyable is the online chat with the Beast and Blob, with the hilarious Prosimian and the Brotherhood running interference. It is just dead-on real and funny, made even more so by the wacky art. The story with Wolverine and Cyclops is also well done, recalling their effective banter in the X-Men movies.

The last story once again brings out the worst in Mr Millar. I certainly understand the satirical impulse to skewer treasured episodes from the X-men's past, in this case, the Jean Grey/Pheonix story. But is it wise to waste such a rich vein of material? And in such a stupid, throw-away story that blows through the Hellfire club, and the Pheonix story in 2 issues?

Once again Prof X is rendered as a completely naive jerk. The rest of the characters don't get much air-time, although Jean Grey gets a softer treatment and no longer comes off as the bitchy and stuck-up girl from the first 15 issues or so.

The Beast/Blob/Brotherhood storyline culminates in the dramatic return of you-know-who. A very effective subplot which manages to be funny, tragic, and suspenseful, and that leaves readers anticipating the next arc.

To summarize, this book represents and improvement over the first one, largely because Millar takes his characters somewhat more seriously, and because of the much leaner script that is actually funny in many places. Still troublesome are the jerky characterizations, and the throw-away plotlines that make mincemeat of the original, better-plotted stories.

It is illuminating to consider Brian Michael Bendis' work on Ultimate Spider-Man. In that series, Bendis utilizes the original stories, but fleshes them out, creating more effective, deeper, more intricate characterizations and plot lines that result in truly involving and rich re-workings of the classics. Contrast that with Mr Millar's X-Men, in which he strip-mines the original stories to create breezy, satirical, compressed and lazy massacres, revealing his contempt for the original material, and for his own re-imaginings. Bendis' Spider-Man is a lovingly rendered tribute. Millar's X-Men is a facile, hateful and not very effective lampoon.

This seires of X-men give you a whole range of new and interesting possibility with in the X-men world. Storys have all sorts of soicial problem events and tackel all sides of human life.

If you like X-men this seires is for you.

It was really quite nice, I wouldn't say it was extra special but I had also ordered New X men Vol. 1 & 2 and let me tell you those ones make this book look infinitly perfect. So all in all it is worth the money you pay for it and perhaps just a smidge more.

I was disappointed in the first volume of the revisionist X-Men but I hoped for improvement in the 2nd volume. If anything the second year's worth of stories was worse than the first.

Millar's writing was subpar. The Proteus storyline was a joke. The Hellfire Club/Dark Phoenix storyline was nearly as bad. Character development was nonexistent.

To make matters worse the artwork was wildly inconsistent.

I think I've seen enough of the Ultimate X-Men.