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Ok, I know I said last month that I was gonna give a
rundown on the ten best things in the X-Books during the year
2000, but it looks like my plans are gonna be a smidge different,
what with a spiffy new comic coming out the last few weeks.
That, and I've got something that will take care of that coming up
in a few months? What's that? Heheheh...
So, what's this new book? Why, it's Ultimate X-Men! A
new version of the classic X-Men, updated for the 90's. Picture
DC's Earth-1 and Earth-2 concept, or the Legion of
Superheroes reboot of a few years ago, except with the original
continuity continuing on.
First off, this ain't your father's X-Men. That statement has
been said a lot about this book already, but I'm still using it,
because it fits. Heck, these aren't even MY X-Men. And you
know what, that's a good thing.
Almost every character receives a personality transplant,
except Beast, who is still the intelligent, fun lovin' monkey man
we all know and love. Minus a few yards of blue shag
carpeting, and a new abusive home life. The new personalities
are a matter of contention amongst folks, I know it is, or soon
will be as more people read the book. However, I feel this
makes the characters more in tune with kids these days, and
seperates it even further from the characters of old. Let's go
down the list:
Cyclops: Still mostly the same, but less of a stick up his butt.
He's still the field leader, still tosses about orders, but has a bit
more of a sense of humour. And it's a bit of a mind blower to
see him use the word "dumbass". Ah, that 'hip' nature those
wacky Brits bring to comics!
Jean: Here she's back to using the Marvel Girl name. No,
really. And instead of being the token female, quiet, shy, and
reserved (How sixties of you...), here she is open, flirty, and has
Rachelhair.
Storm: Yay! No bad speechifying! She's not a goddess!
She barely has control over her powers! Improvements all
around ;)
Colossus: Painter? Farmer? Naaaah. Working for the
Russian mafia, and sending the money he makes home to his
family, the farmers. A nice reinterpretation on the character for
the 90's.
Most of the other characters we weren't really shown much
yet, but I'm sure we will.
Charles and Magneto are pretty much as they were. Old
friends with differing views on the place of humanity in this world
of mutants. They were still old friends, Xavier helped Magneto
build his haven for mutants in the Savage Land, and they had a
falling out, where Mags rammed a large metal shaft through
Xavier, and his spine. This gets rid of the encounter with a
goofy Kirby alien from the original, and simplifies things a bit.
The plot kicks in several days after Magneto has bombed
NYC and Washington DC, with further threats of violence if the
humans don't cede control of the planet over to the mutants.
This is where Xavier comes in, gathering a group of mutants to
protect a world that hates and fears them a lot more than usual.
The Days of Future Past from core continuity seems almost a
few days away, as Sentinels make sweeps of areas and wiping
out any mutant it detects in rather horrible ways.
Even the costumes and codenames get updated for a bit
more 21st Century sensibility. The uniforms act as bafflers to
protect the X-Men from the Sentinels' mutant detection
protocols. The names were something that Xavier and Magneto
concieved of not to protect identities, but as a rebaptism into
mutanthood, much like some cultuers allow people to choose a
new name once they reach manhood.
Mark Millar has done a brilliant job redefining the X-Men,
both characters and concepts, for a new generation. His writing
has always been smart, and contemporary, making his comics
seem more real than many others (Aside from obvious
compatriots. Mostly the other Brits), as if this is something that
could be happening right outside your door.
Adam Kubert's art is also some of the best we've seen, from
the character designs, to the backgrounds, to some interesting
methods of drawing, colouring, and inking for certain scenes and
effects that really make this something special.
Overall, if you can handle picking up something that looks
the same, but is something new entirely, grab this book. I doubt
Marvel ever supplanting the old continuity with this, unless it
becomes insanely popular. And I mean like, all-of-us-combined
levels of insanity, and then some.
Look! I went a whole column without a single mention of
Liefeld or Ellis! Wait...
Damn! Ah well.
Next month... Well, frankly I don't know what's coming
next month. As of January 1st, I have officially dropped the two
core books, since Scott Lobdell is taking over them for a brief
interim, and his stories almost always leave a bad taste in my
mouth.
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