The first crossover title in the Ultimate universe leads us into
war, it’s the X-men vs. The Ultimates and it’s an all
out action packed battle to the end.
A decidingly nasty terrorist attack on NYC has The Ultimates helping
with the clean-up and the capture of whomever was behind the underhanded
attack. Meanwhile Ironman investigates the strange disappearance
of the X-Men.
The best of the best have been gathered to direct this project to
greatness. Mark Millar writes, which is a great asset considering
he scribes both regular titles. Paul Mounts [The Ultimates]
brings his veteran colouring skills to the table along with the
skilled pencilling of Chris Bachalo [Steampunk]
from the Ultimate X-Men. This team sounded really great on paper
and as I opened up and read the names of the contributors I was
practically drooling at the possibilities. Unfortunately Bachalos’
drawing style can sometimes get somewhat confusing in its strange
complexities and it definitely has too many of these moments in
this issue. There are moments where you struggle to see what is
going on in the busier action scenes. All of this taken into account
Chris still draws some wicked pieces in this book, in particular
he has a really nice original touch on some of the snow scenes in
this issue.
The writing also struggles to really impress me like it has in the
individual Ultimate titles that Millar pens on a monthly basis.
A great action scene is blended into a fast paced set-up for the
reasoning behind the impending war between both super-groups. Regrettably
the book rushes on from here and just seemed too loose me a bit.
After having read-up on both titles I felt I was pretty well informed
on the cast of characters and the continuity on both sides of the
story. Oddly enough it seems Millar has decided to just cram in
as many different characters a possible and make this a who’s
who of both Ultimate titles. This really messes with any amount
of seriousness that one can pull from the story and starts turning
it into a super-powered royal rumble like the old crossover titles
used to be, a great disappointment for a title with such talent
and opportunity to take a new direction.
I really hoped for more from Millar, having written such brilliant
arcs for both monthly versions of the Ultimate teams. The start
to this series just seemed rushed and forced towards the meeting
of both teams in a “big fight”. Maybe because of the
shortness of this arc being four issues forced Millar into feeling
that he had to produce a slugfest without much characterisation
or true storyline. I hope the next few issues flesh the story out
a bit more than this and at least give us some decent reason for
the impending war.
Score 6/10
Reviewed By:Iain Duncan
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Comic Reviews
