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ULTIMATE X-MEN #8
"First Strike"
Highly Recommended (9/10)
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Marvel Comics
Writer: Mark Millar
Pencils: Adam Kubert
Inks: Art Thibert
Colors: Jung Choi
Letters: Comicraft
Editor: Mark Powers
Price: $2.25 US/$3.50 CAN |
As the "Weapon X" story continues, my enthusiasm for this book continues to grow. I'm beginning to think that maybe this "no status quo, stuff blows up and changes in a major way every issue" could become as tiresome as the "illusion of change" status quo that we've had in comics has, but so far I'm still enjoying the full-throttle style that Millar perfected on Authority and brought over to Ultimate X-Men. And this issue, in addition to
containing terrific scenes of stuff blowing up and mutant super-freaks pounding
the crap out of one another, features some nice characterization and downtime,
helping to give the book another dimension, something it has sorely needed. All
in all, it has a sense of humor, a slick visual style, entertaining heroes and
frightening villains, and I think it's one of the best super-hero books on the
market right now.
I've said before that my favorite moments in some of the team books were the "downtime" moments, the baseball games between different teams of Avengers or backyard barbecues amongst the X-Men. This might seem at odds with the characterization light, action heavy style of Ultimate X-Men, but this issue Millar and Kubert feature
several nice character vignettes that help to flesh out the characters without
slowing the book down overmuch. Whether it's Wolverine and Cyclops hitting a
Russian Mafia stronghold together, Colossus lifting weights while Iceman yammers
at him or Storm and Beast sharing a nice picnic, the characters are beginning to
form relationships and develop personalities beyond the sometimes overly similar
dialogue patterns.
Of course, it doesn't hurt that the
dialogue, similar speech patterns or not, is always entertaining. Wolverine
opens the issue with a hilarious line, delivered in contrast to his visual, and
seeing him face down a mobster for the benefit of a new friend has really won me
over to this more gentle version of the character. I still think his conversion
to the side of the good guys was a little sudden, but I'm enjoying him as part
of this team (rather than an assassin hiding within it) more than I would have
expected. I'm getting the same pleasure out of seeing the street-smart Storm
reveal a soft side for the Beast, and seeing Iceman play the role of
over-anxious teenager *and* effective warrior in the same issue.
This being Ultimate X-Men, of course, we're not going to get an issue devoted entirely to
character moments, even if one of those character moments involves a brief
gun-battle. No, the action is still the thing, and the Weapon X assault on the
X-Mansion is a terrific action sequence. A group of dangerous mutants backed by
military forces makes for a more effective adversary than even Magneto and his
army of mutants, and Kubert does a fantastic job with the visuals of the
assault, providing a chilling image to end the issue and demonstrate just how
effective the Weapon X team is.
While I'm wondering if, like The Authority, the creators aren't backing themselves into a corner where it'll be impossible to top themselves, so far the Weapon X arc has been even better than the first arc of this title, and the Ultimate X-Men is still living up to its name, even in
comparison to stronger competition from Grant Morrison over on the regular
titles.
Email Randy Lander comments about this review. |
