Well, Mark Millar's crossover between Ultimate X-Men and Ultimates lives up to its title. He conveys the sense that a turning point has been reached in history, that a crisis has begun, and the response is one that boasts a strong military approach. But instead of armies in conflict, it's two small groups. Overall, this is just well-done super-heroics, filtered through a sharp, cynical perspective. Furthermore, the dense script is surprisingly accessible; even those who haven't been following either of the ongoing titles that spawned this limited series will be able to keep up.
Magneto has been awakened, and he's as powerful as ever. As his first act, he gives mankind an ultimatum: submit and surrender. The time for the mutants to rule over the earth, with human beings as their sheep, has come, he says. Amreica responds by sending the Ultimates -- with some new recruits -- into action, first to hunt down the members of Magneto's Brotherhood of Mutants. Iron Man, meanwhile, tries to track down the X-Men to help oppose Magneto.
Bachalo's dynamic and dark artwork conveys the power and grave tone of the story nicely. His style also suits the weird tone of some of the characters, most notably the more physically mutated members of the Brotherhood of Mutants. However, at times, unusual perspectives and some inky artwork makes for some confusion in the flow of the story, especially in the book's opening scenes. He manages to capture the sense of chaos on the Brooklyn Bridge, but it's difficult to see what's happening to the minor characters in that scene, for example.
I'll mention it only briefly here, but it needs to be said (as it no doubt will be extensively in the days to come): Marvel's new super-floppy, slick format for the Ultimate line of comics stinks on ice. I don't know if it does anything for the artwork reproduction, but the flimsy feel of it makes the issues seem... disposable. Maybe Marvel is trying to drive some readers to the trade paperback format, I don't know. My initial reaction was that it was cheap and robbed the book itself -- not the storytelling -- of some measure of value. No wonder Marvel didn't include any of this week's three Ultimate titles in its First Look packages.
Format aside, the story offers a good deal of entertainment. The climactic tone and intensity of Magneto's decrees draw the reader into the tale immediately. The efficiency with which the Ultimates operate is convincing as well, and Millar does an excellent job of introducing new and "old" characters alike in this inaugural issue.
I think what I most enjoyed about this is the fact that the war in the title doesn't seem to refer to just another big fight between two super-hero teams. Millar is telling of a war between two species: mutants and humans, and I hope that approach continues throughout the limited series.
