I tend to think of Ultimate X-Men as a writer-driven book, but the substitution of guest artists whose styles aren't compatible with the book always seems to lower my opinion of the stories considerably. Case in point, this issue, which features the anime-style work of Kaare Andrews and which just about killed my enthusiasm after really enjoying the first two issues of this story arc. Of course, part of the blame also belongs with Millar, who takes a throwaway joke and turns it into a running story element in this issue, drawing it out far beyond its usefulness. There are elements of this story that I liked, including some new developments with the story of Iceman's parents and further development of the new Brotherhood, but in general, I found this to be a stumbling block for the story.
I like to think of myself as fairly open to new artistic approaches. I like Mike Mignola, George Perez, J. Scott Campbell and Eduardo Risso, but they need to be matched to a story that fits their style. I enjoyed Kaare Andrews' work on X-Men Unlimited and I love his Hulk covers, but his work here is just too goofy to fit the story, and the exaggeration of anatomy doesn't really work for me. It doesn't help that the book is digitally painted in a very light style, and it looks faded and washed out. There is some spectacular artwork here, including a splash of a Tyrannosaurus Rex and some straightforward renditions of Cyclops and Jean, but in general it seems an odd fit.
Speaking of odd fit, I'm not entirely sure why Millar took the hilarious gag of Beast and Blob having an Internet affair under false pretenses and decided to turn it into a more serious sequence. Seeing what was a funny bit turned into a jab directly at Beast's vulnerable emotions and a part of the Brotherhood's plan to become more dangerous was a strange change of direction, and it makes Beast look pretty stupid, giving away valuable information to someone he barely knows.
However, when the story steers clear of that element, I am still very intrigued by Millar's take on the Phoenix storyline. The psychic conference between Jean and Cyclops (reminiscent of Morrison's White Queen/Cyclops exchange) has some interesting tidbits, including the notion of a force speaking in Jean's mind in Latin about the destruction of everything that makes the Ultimate version far more sinister and subtle in tone than the mainstream one. And the most interesting aspect of this story for me is seeing that Iceman is being basically blackmailed by his parents into suing the school, an interesting look at the kind of thing mutants on the outside of Xavier's little utopian school have to put up with.
Though this issue featured a lot of elements that didn't work for me, predominantly an art style that didn't match the tone of the book, there's still a lot going on in this story that does draw my interest. Though the setup is one I find a bit weak, the potential of what happens next definitely has me intrigued, and I'm enjoying that Millar continues to build a variety of plot threads into one overriding story.
