Ultimate Comics X-Men by Nick Spencer vol. 1

It’s been a few years since I’ve read about the Ultimate version of the “X-Men” as the end of Robert Kirkman’s run seemed like a pretty good jumping off point.  The series then limped on into the “Ultimatum” crossover before Jeph Loeb gave us the “Son of Wolverine” in “Ultimate X”.  Now it’s in the hands of Nick “Morning Glories” Spencer and the results aren’t bad.  Granted, that’s a little disappointing after Jonathan Hickman was tearing it up in “Ultimate Comics Ultimates” but it means that I won’t be bored waiting for Brian Wood to take over with vol. 3.

After Magneto’s terrorist stunt in “Ultimatum,” mutants are now more hated and feared than ever with the majority of the species being confined to prison camps.  Known mutants, like former X-Men Kitty Pryde and Bobby Drake are on the run, living in the abandoned morlock tunnels beneath NYC.  Still, some would see every last mutant purged from the face of the planet.  William Stryker Jr. is one of them and he has the committed following, and special abilities, to make it happen.  While the president and Val Cooper, his liason on superhuman and mutant affairs, try to figure out what to do with this situation, Quicksilver shows up with a plan to spin things in his direction.

“Ultimate Comics X-Men” is not a subtle series, and that works in its favor for the most part.  Granted, starting things off with a little girl being killed off-panel because her parents didn’t want her to face the reality of being a mutant is a bit much, but Spencer finds the right balance of histrionics to keep the reader’s interest throughout.  It’s fun seeing Kitty morph into the X-Men’s leader almost by default because she’s the only one levelheaded enough to manage goofballs like Drake and Johnny Storm, as well as the “Is she crazy now or isn’t she?” Rogue.  (As for what Johnny’s doing here; well, he’s a mutant.  Trust him.  It’s a ridiculous setup, but I can believe the character in it because he really is that reckless and principled.)  Quicksilver’s duplicitousness is also intriguing, up to the point where his entire plan is seemingly kneecapped.  As for Stryker, he’s a pretty generic X-villain in his religious crusade against mutants though he becomes a bit more interesting once his secret comes out.

Oh yeah, there’s also Jimmy “Son of Wolverine” Hudson who is so much like his dad that it makes you wonder why they didn’t just bring him back.  He’s such a generic presence here that it begs the question of why involve him in this at all.  Because he’s the “Son of Wolverine” and you can’t have an “X-Men” story without him.  Ugh.  If they were so desperate to have the character in here, I wish they would’ve just bit the bullet and given us Ultimate Daken instead.

Moving on, though the story itself plays out in an utterly predictable manner, it’s still chock full of over-the-top drama.  Nimrod sentinels attacking mutants, Times Square being blown to hell, Stryker’s tragic history of family death and craziness, and a lot of dramatic deaths as well.  It helps that artists Paco Medina and Carlo Barberi sell this very well with their exaggerated and energetic styles.  Still, while all of the histrionics will go down well enough with longtime fans of the characters, those of you not partial to “X-Men” brand of drama won’t find anything substantially different enough to appreciate here.

So if you used to read “Ultimate X-Men” and have fond memories of that series, then you’ll find more to like here.  Though the drama and intensity has been turned way up, it never manages to degenerate into a hopeless slog.  I’m interested enough in seeing where Spencer goes with the next six issues.  Interestingly enough, it appears that “Ultimate Comics Hawkeye” is turning out to be more important to the Ultimate Universe than it initially appeared…