Ultimate X-Men Collection, Book 5

Ultimate X-Men (2001) (Collected Editions) #9-11

by Brian K. Vaughan, Brandon Peterson (Illustrator), Andy Kubert (Illustrator)

This deluxe hardcover collects Ultimate X-Men Volume 9-11, plus a hefty helping of DVD-style extras! In The Tempest, the death of one of their own leaves the remaining X-Men struggling to deal with the loss. And even before a moment of silence can pass, the mysterious Mr. Sinister arrives, intent on giving the X-Men a lot more to mourn! In Cry Wolf, Gambit's back, but where's he been - and what does he want? The Fenris twins threaten to expose the Ragin' Cajun's past sins - and they are legion - unless he obeys them. But with Rogue on the other side, to whom will Remy finally lend his loyalty? And what decision does Rogue make that will affect her budding relationship with Bobby Drake, Iceman? And in The Most Dangerous Game, mutants convicted of capital crimes are being released on an island where contestants hunt them down. Longshot has survived longest, and the X-Men are sent to rescue him - until they become part of the game themselves! With one of their teammates a captive on the island of Krakoa, the malevolent media mogul called Mojo demands the X-Men return Longshot to his headquarters or Angel will soon have a harp to go with his wings! Collects Ultimate X-Men #46-57.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Marvel, X Men, Comic Book, Graphic Novels Comics, Superheroes

296 pages, Hardcover

First published December 22, 2005

About the author

Brian K. Vaughan is the writer and co-creator of comic-book series including SAGA, PAPER GIRLS, Y THE LAST MAN, RUNAWAYS, and most recently, BARRIER, a digital comic with artist Marcos Martin about immigration, available from their pay-what-you-want site www.PanelSyndicate.com

BKV's work has been recognized at the Eisner, Harvey, Hugo, Shuster, Eagle, and British Fantasy Awards. He sometimes writes for film and television in Los Angeles, where he lives with his family and their dogs Hamburger and Milkshake.

Reviews

[Baba]

This three volume collection kicks of with the mourning team having to take on the mutant-killing and possible insane, voice hearing Sinister, in Ultimate X-Men, Vol. 9: The Tempest. Brian K. Vaughan takes over the writing on the series and is joined by artist Brandon Peterson, and the pair make a very average start with this volume.

The middle story collects Ultimate X-Men, Vol. 10: Cry Wolf in which Gambit returns to the fray with only one person on his mind... Rogue! Introducing the Ultimate version of Fenris, but this volume is very much character development, but it is also quite average in attainment, despite being grand in scope. Drawn by Andy Kubert. 6 out of 12.

The final volume featured in this collection is Ultimate X-Men, Vol. 11: The Most Dangerous Game: where the game brings in the Ultimate Mojo reality including Mojo, Spiral and Longshot. Although the story is quite basic the outcome is very interesting to say the least. So the remarkable thing about this book is the fact that very talented Vaughan only created an average read! 6 out of 12 overall.
Guess who?

2022 read; 2017 read; 2011 read

[Chris Greensmith]

"Jean, I'd like you to wake up Logan and Peter. We've a rescue mission to mount."

[Jacob A. Mirallegro]

These four storylines were all interesting and I thought played with the Ultimate characters really well. Each story felt very distinct, there wasn't much transition or build up which was my biggest problem. They were still well written and I thought each arc explored mutants in different ethical or political ways which was cool.

[B]

This Mr. Sinister was really stupid and confusing. He winds up feeling like five different story ideas—none of which work on their none—and none of which really gel together.

The Gambit-Rogue story took a new turn. The Longshot story was fun but I thought the ending was too sour.

[Krzysztof Grabowski]

Czego można się spodziewać po autorze, który dał nam wspaniałych Runaways? Więcej młodzieżowej dramy, podlanej sosem całkiem niezłej akcji, którą w tym tomie rozłożono na trzy historie. Przy czym jak to bywa z serią Ultimate jest to całkiem nowa interpretacja, często podobna, ale jednak różniąca się zasadniczo od świata 616.

I tak mamy krajobraz po burzy, gdyż grupa musi się mierzyć ze stratą przyjaciela. Niestety nie jest im dane odpocząć, bo ktoś zabija jednego mutanta i usiłuje zabić następnego. Po udaremnionym zamachu wychodzi na jaw, że agresorem jest nie kto inny jak niejaki Nathaniel Essex, czyli Mister Sinister w wersji Ultimate, którego wizja naprawdę zaskakuje. I jegomość ma całkiem porządny plan. I nie równo pod kopułą, jak się przynajmniej zdaje, bo końcówka tej opowieści zapowiada inną postać. Będzie GRUBO...

Niedługo potem przyjdzie nam obserwować uprowadzenie Rudej przez niejakiego Gambita, który ma się ku naszej mutantce, oj ma. W tle złowroga organizacja zarządzana przez dwójkę mało przyjemnych postaci i voila. Przepis na całkiem sporo pojedynków, ale deser jeszcze przed nami. Ktoś pamięta taką postać jak Mojo? Typek bardzo lubi organizować takie "Uciec, ale dokąd" z mutantami w roli głównej.

Traf chce, że młodzi i rwący się do walki członkowie ekipy szukają tylko pretekstu, aby zadziałać. I znajdują go, mocno narażając się na zgon dla jednego takiego mutanta, który ma interesujące zaplecze. Reszta to już standard dla tego typu tytułu. Sporo mocy, nieco bardziej lub mniej zabawnych tekstów plus parę sercowych uniesień, które tylko komplikują sprawy.

Pod względem graficznym nie mam nic do zarzutu względem piątej już odsłony przygód młodych X-men w świecie Ultimate. Nazwiska Immonen, Kubert czy Peterson to w tym przypadku gwarant naprawdę dobrej zabawy, która da Wam kilka dobrych chwil na jeden wieczorek. A tymczasem czekam na kolejny tom spod strzech Egmontu.

[Jameson]

I don’t know what the hell happened here. This reads as bad now as it did when it first came out. BKV is a good writer but his run on this book suuuuuuuucks.

Included here as a special feature is his outline for the book and it’s… interesting. He bafflingly calls Bendis’s run “action-packed.” So… maybe BKV was on drugs or off his meds at this point in time. In that outline he also dunks on Millar’s portrayal of the Ultimate X-Men’s notoriety. That explains that soft retcon. He also says that Sinister never worked in the 616 universe so he’s gonna make him the baddest ass who ever badassed—which is hilarious given this ultimate badass Sinister is a stuttering roidhead with ugly tattoos.

Here’s a small list of a few of the characters BKV ruined for the Ultimate line with his bad ideas: Northstar, Arcade, Longshot, Mojo, and Spiral. I believed he inherited Dazzler but he does nothing to help her out of the shit state she’s in. And his work on the rest of the cast is either nonexistent or terrible.

I can’t find anything good to say about this book. The generic art certainly doesn’t help. Really, Bendis killed the book. Ultimate X-Men is Mark Millar’s Ultimate X-Men. It wasn’t perfect but everything that came after it was embarrassing. It will continue to limp on for another fifty or so issues, though, and a few restarts with diminishing returns. (At one point it has an unwieldy name and no X-Men in it, if I recall correctly.)

[RafaCSQ]

Not sure how I feel about this one. The stories ain't necessarily bad, but I don't like some of what BKV did to the characters.

Mostly, I'm not a fan of the big focus this whole book had on romance. Like, every issue is about a couple, and most of them come out of nowhere. All the characters suddenly got more immature than usual, and none of them know how to deal with feelings. I get that teenagers go through that, but some of the characterization here seems off, and its tiring to see so many dialogues and stories about jealousy, teenager romance, etc.

That said, the stories themselves are interesting, and I enjoyed the Longshot one. It didn't look like any of the introduced characters will appear again, and I hope I'm wrong, cause I would really like to see more of Spiral.

The art was great from beginning to end, sometimes it felt like a waste having great artists in such a mid book.

On a side note, this is the fifth of nine books, which means we're more than halfway through, and I have heard that the three last books by Kirkman are quite bad. So unless the next book by BKV is much better than this one, or Kirkman surprises me, this series will end as nothing more than mediocre, because none of the past books felt really worth reading.

[Sam Russell]

Gambit, Sinister & Mojo - oh my!

In the wake of Millar's Ultimate X-Men arcs, Book IV felt like it was missing something. Apparently that was Brian K Vaughan. Vaughan brings a renewed vigour and flare to Book V which latches onto all of the most compelling elements of Millar's stories and then augments with reinvented characters and superb storytelling.

The three stories collected in Book V each offer excellent character development for the X-Men, while bringing the story to strange new places and exploring older themes with nuance and depth. Vaughan's additions to the Ultimate X-Men go from strength to strength, seeing the X-Men evolve as a team but also in exploring the psychology of the individual characters.

Each Gambit, Sinister and Mojo are presented in reimagined iterations that offer the X-Men to explore the ultimate world in new and challenging ways. My favourite aspect of Vaughan's writing is how he utilizes every character. Each of them has them make an impact on the narrative, develops and deepens their character or gives them memorable moments. Truly a master of his craft. An excellent addition to the book shelf, and a thoroughly enjoyable chapter of the Ultimate X-Men.

[Evan Dossey]

Vaughan's run on UXM is fine. It features too much boring teen drama between Rogue, Iceman, and Kitty that goes nowhere. Maybe that was more interesting at the time? I don't remember. A few of his minor stories are interesting, particularly the final one, but otherwise this feels like a writer meant for greater, more interesting things slumming it on an X-Men book that had no clear direction after Millar left.

UXM was meant to simplify and make the X-men characters the stars of an action movie world. This feels more like a traditional X-Men book, but forgets how UXM should feel.

[Ty]

Really like this one but the dialogue is spotty at best and Mr sinister is maybe the worst thing I have ever seen. I don’t know why anybody thought that would be a good idea. Also this book is weirdly horny at times like I get their teenagers and they’ll go off with one another but some of these scenarios are straight outta American pie. Also I started this series in the 5th vol so that has its moments.

[David Gordon]

surprisingly good

[Jake]

This was really good. Made me want to find the next issues.

[Angel Dejesus]

Love anything X-men so it was amazing

[Shamus]

I've always loved the Ultimate Universe idea. No need to reboot the entire line of comics that people already follow, while also allowing a fresh take on characters that may be lessened or outright ruined with too many writer's changes to decades worth of story.

This collection continues to introduce and expand on familiar X-Universe characters, while giving a modern twist to their early years. A great continuation of this new team of teenage outcast heroes.

[Gary Lee]

Great Marvel Readthrough, pt 5

[Nicolas]

les histoires sont plutôt décousues, mais c'est toujours un plaisir de voir Colossus et Wolverine.

[Josephine (biblioseph)]

Ooh. Goody.

Review forthcoming.

[Alice Rachel]

I only got this book because of Gambit... I was not disappointed. : )

[Aaron Swensen]

Vol. 9: 4 stars
Vol. 10: 3 stars