Kubert returns to art chores this month, and you'd think that would answer my complaints about the book, but I once again find that a promising story in Ultimate X-Men has come to an ending that is less than satisfying. Honestly, it feels like Millar was trying to do too much simultaneously, and as a result, none of the storylines really get the ending they deserve, each forced to share a rushed conclusion with the other. That said, though, I did enjoy the pseudo-mystical take on the Phoenix Force and the Hellfire Club that Millar had to offer, and I greatly enjoyed Kubert's interpretation of that sequence as well. I wasn't disappointed in this issue because I didn't like what the creators came up with, I was disappointed because it felt like there should have been so much more of it. This complaint seems doubly odd when you consider that the creators had a double-sized issue with which to wrap things up.
The revelation of the mysterious backers of the X-Men as the Hellfire Club was a clever little bit, and I liked how Millar played with that relationship a little bit in this issue. While I thought the name-dropping of celebrities was a bit silly, it did get across that this Hellfire Club is meant to be the cream of high society instead of a band of random mutants in skimpy Victorian garb, and the party thrown for the X-Men made the group feel a lot bigger and more important. I really enjoyed seeing the X-Men and especially Charles Xavier as a little starstruck, because it gave a believable reason why their guard would be down.
This issue is the culmination of the Phoenix story that Millar has been telling in the book, but it felt like it hadn't earned the culmination. While Ultimate Spider-Man has been criticized for being too slow in its pacing, Ultimate X-Men often falls for the other sin, rushing through stories that could be considerably richer and more interesting. Five issues should have been plenty to tell the story of the Phoenix (or at least, the beginning of the story), but because there was a lot of time spent on the Brotherhood, Kitty Pryde and Cyclops and Wolverine, what we got instead were several potentially interesting stories that were all given short shrift.
While the conclusions felt rushed, they all were interesting nonetheless. I was surprised that Beast's confrontation took place off-panel, but I thought that the finale that resulted was fantastic, a great lead-in for Ultimate War and an indication once again that Millar does know how to write nasty and powerful bad guys. The Phoenix ceremony and Jean's flirtation with ultimate power was likewise very interesting, and I loved the confrontation between Xavier and Jean that resulted from that as well.
Probably my favorite aspect of this issue, however, was the return of Kubert and Miki to art chores. Their designs for the dressy outfits that the team wore to the Hellfire Club were terrific, and the work on the ostentatious Hellfire Club building was equally impressive. In addition, the pyrotechnic finale with the ceremony and the Phoenix looked great, and I thought Kubert and Miki did a great job in conveying the power and otherworldly presence in Jean Grey's frame.
