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Ultimate X-Men (Collected Editions) #16
Ultimate X-Men, Vol. 16: Cable
If one man is capable of disrupting the carefully controlled world of Charles Xavier's School For Gifted Youngsters, it's this one: Ultimate Cable! He comes from a tragic future to wreak havoc on mutantkind today, and his sinister secrets will shock the X-Men to their very core. It's a huge event in Ultimate X-Men history. Get in on the ground floor. You've been warned. Plus: Delve into the secret life of the X-Men's rivals, Emma Frost's Academy of Tomorrow, in a special bonus story!
Collecting: Ultimate X-Men 75-80
Collecting: Ultimate X-Men 75-80
142 pages, Paperback
First published May 16, 2007
4 people are currently reading
366 people want to read
About the author
Robert Kirkman
2,742 books6,942 followersRobert Kirkman is an American comic book writer best known for his work on The Walking Dead, Invincible for Image Comics, as well as Ultimate X-Men and Marvel Zombies for Marvel Comics. He has also collaborated with Image Comics co-founder Todd McFarlane on the series Haunt. He is one of the five partners of Image Comics, and the only one of the five who was not one of the original co-founders of that publisher.
Robert Kirkman's first comic books were self-published under his own Funk-o-Tron label. Along with childhood friend Tony Moore, Kirkman created Battle Pope which was published in late 2001. Battle Pope ran for over 2 years along with other Funk-o-Tron published books such as InkPunks and Double Take.
In July of 2002, Robert's first work for another company began, with a 4-part SuperPatriot series for Image, along with Battle Pope backup story artist Cory Walker. Robert's creator-owned projects followed shortly thereafter, including Tech Jacket, Invincible and Walking Dead.
Robert Kirkman's first comic books were self-published under his own Funk-o-Tron label. Along with childhood friend Tony Moore, Kirkman created Battle Pope which was published in late 2001. Battle Pope ran for over 2 years along with other Funk-o-Tron published books such as InkPunks and Double Take.
In July of 2002, Robert's first work for another company began, with a 4-part SuperPatriot series for Image, along with Battle Pope backup story artist Cory Walker. Robert's creator-owned projects followed shortly thereafter, including Tech Jacket, Invincible and Walking Dead.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 50 reviews
May 14, 2024
My local second hand bookstore was selling a lot of bargain copies of Marvel Comics graphic novels at prices irresistible to a comic book enthusiast. The Ultimate X-Men series of trade paperbacks was well represented. I managed to get first three collections in the series, all with story by Mark Millar (Kick-Ass) and featuring some art by Adam Kubert, and the last three books that collect the run of The Walking Dead’s Robert Kirkman. Getting the books by Millar is almost a given as he did a lot of great work with his time in the title, but I got into Kirkman’s work because of the Michael Turner cover on volume sixteen.
I find myself enjoying Kirkman’s take of the X-Men mythos. He takes advantage of the lack of continuity baggage in Ultimate X-Men by introducing new characters that reflect his nostalgia for the heady days of the Nineties. He references and retells some of the classic storylines of that decade Ultimate style. This volume introduces Ultimate Cable, a key figure in classic X-Men mythology but reinvented. Aside from Cable, other Nineties characters he introduces and uses in this volume and the next two include Bishop, Psylocke, Stryfe, Apocalypse and Onslaught. Nineties X-Men readers would recognize the stories referenced as the Cable identity mystery, Stryfe and the Mutant Liberation Front, Age of Apocalypse, Onslaught Saga and a dash of the two best stories in X-Men history, Days of Future Past and the Dark Phoenix Saga.
I consider the last three books of Kirkman’s as a trilogy, since the events in volume sixteen sets up the next volume and the final one as well. The first two end in a cliffhanger that it would serve you better if you have the three books on hand.
After being spoiled by Adam Kubert in the first three Ultimate X-Men books I bought, I find the art team in this collection wanting. Except for Yanick Paquette, who I wish did the entire issue seventy-five to eighty story arc.
This is an X-Men nostalgia comic book disguised as an Ultimate title. If you enjoyed the X-Men in the Nineties whether through the comics or the animated series, you will enjoy this book.
I find myself enjoying Kirkman’s take of the X-Men mythos. He takes advantage of the lack of continuity baggage in Ultimate X-Men by introducing new characters that reflect his nostalgia for the heady days of the Nineties. He references and retells some of the classic storylines of that decade Ultimate style. This volume introduces Ultimate Cable, a key figure in classic X-Men mythology but reinvented. Aside from Cable, other Nineties characters he introduces and uses in this volume and the next two include Bishop, Psylocke, Stryfe, Apocalypse and Onslaught. Nineties X-Men readers would recognize the stories referenced as the Cable identity mystery, Stryfe and the Mutant Liberation Front, Age of Apocalypse, Onslaught Saga and a dash of the two best stories in X-Men history, Days of Future Past and the Dark Phoenix Saga.
I consider the last three books of Kirkman’s as a trilogy, since the events in volume sixteen sets up the next volume and the final one as well. The first two end in a cliffhanger that it would serve you better if you have the three books on hand.
After being spoiled by Adam Kubert in the first three Ultimate X-Men books I bought, I find the art team in this collection wanting. Except for Yanick Paquette, who I wish did the entire issue seventy-five to eighty story arc.
This is an X-Men nostalgia comic book disguised as an Ultimate title. If you enjoyed the X-Men in the Nineties whether through the comics or the animated series, you will enjoy this book.
November 27, 2017
Loved this story. I’ve been waiting for Cable to show up, and in this volume my wish came true with Bishop also making an appearance. As I’ve said many times I’m a sucker for time travel stories, and this one had a nice twist that I won’t spoil. The conclusion of this one is big too, foreshadowing major changes for the team.
July 18, 2016
So take many of the time travel concepts that the X-Men books have beat into the ground over the years, and add a slight spin to virtually everything, and you'll have this book. Cable is still from the future, but this Cable isn't the son of Scott Summers and Maddie Pryor, he's a future Wolverine without the healing factor. He's taken it upon himself to go back in time to kill Xavier, because he's pieced together... something. Some sort of grand conspiracy theory that makes Xavier responsible for a vaguely dystopian future. Bishop is also here, now older and a former colleague of Cable's. Ok. To be perfectly honest, I'm not a fan of either Cable or Bishop, nor do I much care for the sort of time jumping story they tend to specialize in. Not my cup of tea. And most of this book was just ok for me, but I am quite interested in seeing where this might go. This could be a major shakeup, and it certainly seems like it. Xavier is gone, Cyclops is disbanding the X-Men as a team of super mutants, Nightcrawler has gone missing, Colossus has joined his boyfriend at Emma's school, Kitty has left Mutant Land entirely to live with her parents and generally hang out in Ultimate Spider-Man. For what it's worth, I remember very fondly her time over in Ultimate Spider-Man, and I think Bendis used her better there than she's been used yet in Ultimate X-Men. At any rate, it certainly looks like major changes are brewing, and that's an interesting place to be.
May 17, 2020
Cable makes his appearance in the Ultimate universe with a neat twist. We learn some secrets of Xavier which are kind of just creepy. This volume is pretty good but it feels like Ultimate X-Men line was getting pulled from a bunch of other series and can't figure out the new status que. The ending leaves it up for some cool ideas to revisit but this is kind of messy. A 3 out of 5.
April 8, 2025
My Ultimate Year #17
I almost gave the one star for a single horrible story telling choice, but the rest of the story is pretty solid, so 3 it is…
Read for Cable, Bishop, and some team shake ups.
I almost gave the one star for a single horrible story telling choice, but the rest of the story is pretty solid, so 3 it is…
Read for Cable, Bishop, and some team shake ups.
August 21, 2012
Stuff I Read – Ultimate X-Men #75-80
Once again I should preface this by saying that this is technically more than one arc according to the little things on the side of issues. It is a four-part story titled Cable and a two-part epilogue to Cable, so I’m just treating it as one six-part arc for the purposes of my review. So there! Anyway, Cable begins the first time that the Ultimate X-Men have to deal with time travel, and it does take good advantage of that to throw some twists into the Ultimate line. First of those is the twist that this time it is someone coming back to kill Professor X to save the future from some horrible turn of events. Or, at least, that is what Cable says when he travels back. Cable, by the way, turns out to be Wolverine from the future, which is hilarious in many ways, but he does pose good threat to the group. Another not-so-twist is that Bishop comes back at the same time as Cable, or near enough, and is trying to save Xavier. Only in this Bishop is rather old and used to work with Cable. So it is nice to see that the X-Men future things are being condensed in the Ultimate line, because in the normal comics it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense.
But anyway, Cable fails to kill the Professor and instead injures most of the X-Men and kidnaps Jean. This leads to the rescue mission where Bishop takes command and leads the team against the future version of the Wild Pack and craziness ensues. The battle is fast and vicious, and the X-Men actually work together and tough it out and win. Professor X then drops a bomb by telling Cyclops that he loves Jean, which came as a bit of a weird moment, and I really don’t buy it. I mean, they tried to pull that in the mainstream book back around the time of Onslaught and I really didn’t buy it then, either, so here I just didn’t think it was that effective. I’m not sure if it was part of some plot to get Cyclops to let him sacrifice himself, but the truth is never really revealed because at the conclusion of the battle with Cable, Cable uses an explosive to seeming kill the Professor. And so the comic falls back on a different X-Men troupe, that of people believing Professor X is dead. And that happens so much in the mainstream comics that it really didn’t come as a shock when it was revealed that Cable was holding the Professor in the future. Really, just kind of ridiculously funny.
The other part of that battle was that Cable stranded Bishop in the future, and so he just sort of sticks around, and starts trying to convince people that they need to fight and learn more how to control their powers. A funeral follows and Scott, Jean, and Storm are given the school. Scott decides to disband the X-Men and concentrate on the school being a school. And so many of the people scatter. Colossus leaves to be with his boyfriend. Kitty goes back home to her parents. Bobby and Rogue stay in the school. Wolverine goes to try and find answers about his past. Nightcrawler escapes and goes off on his own. And Bishop tries to insist that the world needs the X-Men, prompting Scott to tell him to go start his own. So really, Kirkman has done a fair job of clearing the board that was left over from Vaughan. At this point most of the juvenile stuff is forgotten and the X-Men actually claim a pyrrhic victory. Not the best thing in the world, but at least then fought and won.
And if not for the weird stuff with the Professor, this arc would have been better. Kirkman obviously enjoys the more extended stories where the arcs weave together, and I have to assume that he will get back to all of the various plots that he introduced. Otherwise it is refreshing to see some higher concepts working their way back into the story. Strangely enough I have missed them since Millar left, as both Bendis and Vaughan kept the stories rather grounded to more mundane matters. It is refreshing at times to have a much more full-blown superhero story, even one involving time travel. And Kirkman has definitely shifted things with this, and I look forward to where he is taking the team. As for this arc, I give it an 8/10.
Once again I should preface this by saying that this is technically more than one arc according to the little things on the side of issues. It is a four-part story titled Cable and a two-part epilogue to Cable, so I’m just treating it as one six-part arc for the purposes of my review. So there! Anyway, Cable begins the first time that the Ultimate X-Men have to deal with time travel, and it does take good advantage of that to throw some twists into the Ultimate line. First of those is the twist that this time it is someone coming back to kill Professor X to save the future from some horrible turn of events. Or, at least, that is what Cable says when he travels back. Cable, by the way, turns out to be Wolverine from the future, which is hilarious in many ways, but he does pose good threat to the group. Another not-so-twist is that Bishop comes back at the same time as Cable, or near enough, and is trying to save Xavier. Only in this Bishop is rather old and used to work with Cable. So it is nice to see that the X-Men future things are being condensed in the Ultimate line, because in the normal comics it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense.
But anyway, Cable fails to kill the Professor and instead injures most of the X-Men and kidnaps Jean. This leads to the rescue mission where Bishop takes command and leads the team against the future version of the Wild Pack and craziness ensues. The battle is fast and vicious, and the X-Men actually work together and tough it out and win. Professor X then drops a bomb by telling Cyclops that he loves Jean, which came as a bit of a weird moment, and I really don’t buy it. I mean, they tried to pull that in the mainstream book back around the time of Onslaught and I really didn’t buy it then, either, so here I just didn’t think it was that effective. I’m not sure if it was part of some plot to get Cyclops to let him sacrifice himself, but the truth is never really revealed because at the conclusion of the battle with Cable, Cable uses an explosive to seeming kill the Professor. And so the comic falls back on a different X-Men troupe, that of people believing Professor X is dead. And that happens so much in the mainstream comics that it really didn’t come as a shock when it was revealed that Cable was holding the Professor in the future. Really, just kind of ridiculously funny.
The other part of that battle was that Cable stranded Bishop in the future, and so he just sort of sticks around, and starts trying to convince people that they need to fight and learn more how to control their powers. A funeral follows and Scott, Jean, and Storm are given the school. Scott decides to disband the X-Men and concentrate on the school being a school. And so many of the people scatter. Colossus leaves to be with his boyfriend. Kitty goes back home to her parents. Bobby and Rogue stay in the school. Wolverine goes to try and find answers about his past. Nightcrawler escapes and goes off on his own. And Bishop tries to insist that the world needs the X-Men, prompting Scott to tell him to go start his own. So really, Kirkman has done a fair job of clearing the board that was left over from Vaughan. At this point most of the juvenile stuff is forgotten and the X-Men actually claim a pyrrhic victory. Not the best thing in the world, but at least then fought and won.
And if not for the weird stuff with the Professor, this arc would have been better. Kirkman obviously enjoys the more extended stories where the arcs weave together, and I have to assume that he will get back to all of the various plots that he introduced. Otherwise it is refreshing to see some higher concepts working their way back into the story. Strangely enough I have missed them since Millar left, as both Bendis and Vaughan kept the stories rather grounded to more mundane matters. It is refreshing at times to have a much more full-blown superhero story, even one involving time travel. And Kirkman has definitely shifted things with this, and I look forward to where he is taking the team. As for this arc, I give it an 8/10.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 1, 2025
Kirkman's reimagining of Cable's origin, and relationship with Bishop is far more interesting than the Marvel-616 version. I mean, it's stupid, but no less stupid than Nathan Summers raised in the future.
It's a shame Kirkman didn't commit to bringing more of Cable's 616 disciples into this story, or including some off-the wall choices based on what characters aren't already involved with The Ultimate Universe. Having Domino was a cool tease that ended up not going anywhere useful, and not providing anyone fun for her to play off of.
The storyline is also significantly less confusing than the 616 Universe, which is a plus. But it drops a few of the more interesting balls that it throws into the air.
Still worth the read, but not as promising as The Magician storyarc led me to hope for.
It's a shame Kirkman didn't commit to bringing more of Cable's 616 disciples into this story, or including some off-the wall choices based on what characters aren't already involved with The Ultimate Universe. Having Domino was a cool tease that ended up not going anywhere useful, and not providing anyone fun for her to play off of.
The storyline is also significantly less confusing than the 616 Universe, which is a plus. But it drops a few of the more interesting balls that it throws into the air.
Still worth the read, but not as promising as The Magician storyarc led me to hope for.
March 1, 2020
Look:
I fell into comics in 2000, around the time the first X-Men movie came out. I could go into it. I'm not going to, except to say that soon after I was renting everything I could from the library and stumbled into Marvel's then-nascent "Ultimate" line of comics. The "Ultimate" line re-imagined their classic heroes as if their origins happened in 2000 rather than the 1960's. "Ultimate Spider-Man" is the only truly definitive work from that imprint (it lead to Miles Morales - I'm hoping to re-read all 250 issues of Bendis' work on the title sometime this year). "Ultimate X-Men" and "The Ultimates" were the weird companions series that were grim, gritty, and much dumber than their webbed counter-part.
I loved them all, especially "Ultimate X-Men."
Once I was 16 years old (so over half a decade later), I started actually buying comic books in single issue form from a comic store. I got my first pull list. I still shop at the same store to this day, and Pete, the manager, is a really great guy who sometimes jokes with me about how long I've been a patron of his store. Ultimate X-Men was one of the titles I pulled. It was, at that point, reaching Robert Kirkman's run on the title and was 70 issues deep. "Cable" is not his first arc but it was the first story he told without the impression his run would be temporary. He was hired on to kill time between Brian K. Vaughan and a supposed run by X-Director Bryan Singer who, surprise surprise, flaked out.
So "Cable" is re-imagining the '90's X-Men, in particular the mid-90's era where everyone had guns and were as ridiculous as possible. It's a loveletter and starts a three-arc long story that leads up to Ultimate Apocalypse. At the time Kirkman's run was loathed by a lot of readers, but these days I have nothing but fond memories. The cliffhanger that reveals Cable is actually Wolverine? YEAH!!! That's fucking AWESOME!!!!!!!! It popped into my head few days back and I couldn't stop thinking about it, so we went to Half-Priced Books today and I bought this volume. I definitely over-payed for it, but is it really possible to over-pay for something that made you remember your high school bedroom again? The smell of the comic store when you were a kid? I am effervescent with nostalgia. I love dumb comics.
I fell into comics in 2000, around the time the first X-Men movie came out. I could go into it. I'm not going to, except to say that soon after I was renting everything I could from the library and stumbled into Marvel's then-nascent "Ultimate" line of comics. The "Ultimate" line re-imagined their classic heroes as if their origins happened in 2000 rather than the 1960's. "Ultimate Spider-Man" is the only truly definitive work from that imprint (it lead to Miles Morales - I'm hoping to re-read all 250 issues of Bendis' work on the title sometime this year). "Ultimate X-Men" and "The Ultimates" were the weird companions series that were grim, gritty, and much dumber than their webbed counter-part.
I loved them all, especially "Ultimate X-Men."
Once I was 16 years old (so over half a decade later), I started actually buying comic books in single issue form from a comic store. I got my first pull list. I still shop at the same store to this day, and Pete, the manager, is a really great guy who sometimes jokes with me about how long I've been a patron of his store. Ultimate X-Men was one of the titles I pulled. It was, at that point, reaching Robert Kirkman's run on the title and was 70 issues deep. "Cable" is not his first arc but it was the first story he told without the impression his run would be temporary. He was hired on to kill time between Brian K. Vaughan and a supposed run by X-Director Bryan Singer who, surprise surprise, flaked out.
So "Cable" is re-imagining the '90's X-Men, in particular the mid-90's era where everyone had guns and were as ridiculous as possible. It's a loveletter and starts a three-arc long story that leads up to Ultimate Apocalypse. At the time Kirkman's run was loathed by a lot of readers, but these days I have nothing but fond memories. The cliffhanger that reveals Cable is actually Wolverine? YEAH!!! That's fucking AWESOME!!!!!!!! It popped into my head few days back and I couldn't stop thinking about it, so we went to Half-Priced Books today and I bought this volume. I definitely over-payed for it, but is it really possible to over-pay for something that made you remember your high school bedroom again? The smell of the comic store when you were a kid? I am effervescent with nostalgia. I love dumb comics.
March 28, 2021
I enjoyed this one quite a lot! I definitely liked it a lot better than the last 6 or more issues of Ultimate X-Men, as I felt like the plot here really returned to something fascinating and worthy of an alternate line of X-Men comics - something gripping, good action, and decent character development. I would've given this four stars if they'd managed to have consistently good artwork, but unfortunately (like so many others in this series), that just wasn't the case. One of the artists did a great job (the one who drew most of the "Cable" issues), and the other artist wasn't too bad, but the way he drew lips on most characters (especially the men, and perhaps worst of all with Cyclops) was *TERRIBLE* and just way too distracting to appreciate his art as a whole. I'm not sure why they can't keep a single artist for the series as a whole, or at least for each of the issues within the same story. But that problem of inconsistently good art has plagued the Ultimate X-Men comic books for all of them I've read so far, and that's been a big disappointment. Oh well, at least half the art was good here, and the story for this volume was particularly enjoyable.
July 13, 2020
While the characters are still mostly unlikable and the twist at the very end was very predictable I at least find the idea that the X-Men have to continue (or disband?) without Xavier to be quite intriguing. I just hope it'll take a while until Xavier inevitably returns because I would really like to see how they'll handle this situation without him. I wish Bobby wasn't such a waste of a character to be honest.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 1, 2021
Dua episode yang tergabung dalam satu koleksi ini merupakan titik penting dalam cerita Ultimate X-Men karena akan ada begitu banyak pencabangan cerita dari tokoh-tokoh yang ada di dalamnya. Cable, mutan dari masa depan, menyerang sekolah Xavier dengan misi untuk membunuh profesor botak itu. Misinya terpenuhi. Tapi apa yang terjadi sepeninggal Xavier? Bisakah X-Men bertahan, ataukah mereka kemudian tercerai berai?
April 10, 2025
Just when things seem to go back to normal, we get introduced to 'Cable' who drops in from the future and attempts to Kill Prof. X.
In a battle that pursues with X-men who are helped by Bishop (another time traveller) , Cable apparently seems to succeed in his goal.
A huge let down was the fact when Professor confesses that he is in love with Jean. What a dumb idea it is.
In a battle that pursues with X-men who are helped by Bishop (another time traveller) , Cable apparently seems to succeed in his goal.
A huge let down was the fact when Professor confesses that he is in love with Jean. What a dumb idea it is.
October 20, 2017
I'm still mad at Kirkman as a writer and Professor X as a character in this volume so the superposed death of Professor X looses most of its emotional weight and isn't helped much by what felt like lazy artwork.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 4, 2019
I didn't expect Cable to be so visceral. This Cable is much more grounded than the Cable I remember from Deadpool 2. The story was absolutely gripping, but I felt like the art was lacking. It almost seemed like a completely different art style at times.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 2, 2021
Con la llegada de Cable, cambiando su origen y quien es en realidad. La batalla final, el secreto de Xavier en relación a Jean que se repite de lo que nos contaba Mark Waid en el Universo Marvel tradicional. Vertiginoso tomo con unas consecuencias de 2 números en los que nadie golpea a nadie.
March 12, 2022
I was going to give this 3-Stars for being forgettable but OK, but then I remembered that this contains one of the most outrageous and infuriating declarations of love I've ever witnessed. Throw it away.
November 24, 2018
Much more fun than his last two entries, this volume still managed to better walk that comedic/dark line Kirkman uses so well in Invincible.
September 13, 2021
Took some doing but Kirkman actually returned the series to its former glory
July 3, 2023
Somewhat messy timetravel plot but then highly emotional dramathing happens which makes this kinda ok.
August 6, 2023
I'm getting really tired of Ultimate X-men. Anyway, this is pretty bad.
October 14, 2023
Cable is so cool! Love it!
September 10, 2024
I read this because several people said it was really good. It’s not.
September 20, 2025
The cable twist is very good and the story is heading in amazing direction.
June 12, 2016
Uh....
I've never heard of Cable before. Wait, scratch that. I did hear about Cable at the end of Deadpool. That's all the exposure I've had of him before. But I had no idea this beloved character had such a crazy backstory.
Expect spoilers in this reviews. If you don't want this volume spoiled, go read it.
So, Cable is the future version of Wolverine who went paranoid in some dystopian future and blames Xavier for it and decides to kill him. But Bishop has to stop him, and joins the X-Men to do it. Very Terminator-ish, but alright. Fine. What I didn't expect were some of the jarring twists. Such as... Xavier being in love with Jean Grey. Yeah. I thought that was left behind in the original X-Men from the 60's, because it is obviously creepy. It didn't generate any sympathy from me when Xavier bit the dust. By the way, Xavier doesn't bite the dust in this comic. It's all fake. Yeah, Beast can die. That's fine. But Charles Xavier? No! We can't do that!
That's one of my biggest problems in any superhero comic out there. It's especially evident in Civil War. They can get close to killing beloved characters, or temporarily off them, but it never makes me feel the tension of the actions scenes, because I know all the main characters are going to be fine. Which makes the story more dull. I know, if you lose a beloved character, the rabid fanbase will want to decapitate you or you won't have as fondly-remembered of a story. But that's for imbeciles. True tension comes from a world where consequences exist for actions.
I didn't mean to rant so long on that. And I don't honestly hate this comic for committing a fallacy in numerous superhero comics. But it doesn't set my hopes up for the next comics. When the threats gets bigger and the stakes aren't equally set higher, you'll lose me. This was a decent comic. I learned who Cable was (even though he never uses a cable), there was some dumb action. It was alright.
I've never heard of Cable before. Wait, scratch that. I did hear about Cable at the end of Deadpool. That's all the exposure I've had of him before. But I had no idea this beloved character had such a crazy backstory.
Expect spoilers in this reviews. If you don't want this volume spoiled, go read it.
So, Cable is the future version of Wolverine who went paranoid in some dystopian future and blames Xavier for it and decides to kill him. But Bishop has to stop him, and joins the X-Men to do it. Very Terminator-ish, but alright. Fine. What I didn't expect were some of the jarring twists. Such as... Xavier being in love with Jean Grey. Yeah. I thought that was left behind in the original X-Men from the 60's, because it is obviously creepy. It didn't generate any sympathy from me when Xavier bit the dust. By the way, Xavier doesn't bite the dust in this comic. It's all fake. Yeah, Beast can die. That's fine. But Charles Xavier? No! We can't do that!
That's one of my biggest problems in any superhero comic out there. It's especially evident in Civil War. They can get close to killing beloved characters, or temporarily off them, but it never makes me feel the tension of the actions scenes, because I know all the main characters are going to be fine. Which makes the story more dull. I know, if you lose a beloved character, the rabid fanbase will want to decapitate you or you won't have as fondly-remembered of a story. But that's for imbeciles. True tension comes from a world where consequences exist for actions.
I didn't mean to rant so long on that. And I don't honestly hate this comic for committing a fallacy in numerous superhero comics. But it doesn't set my hopes up for the next comics. When the threats gets bigger and the stakes aren't equally set higher, you'll lose me. This was a decent comic. I learned who Cable was (even though he never uses a cable), there was some dumb action. It was alright.
August 16, 2012
A really weak book, both for Kirkman, and for the rather hit-or-miss Ultimate Universe. There's a lot of fighting and....stuff....going on, but I just couldn't really care about any of it. The illuminating dialogue that I usually enjoy from Kirkman is completely absent. Poor plotting and pacing, below average art--the book's not terrible, but it's sort of forgettable. The only thing that saves it from being a 2/5 (and the only thing that I'll really remember about it) is the identity of Cable, which is a very interesting idea that isn't fully explored.
Addendum, Aug 16, 2012: 9 months later, I read this again and enjoyed it a lot more. All my critiques above still stand, but I got a lot more enjoyment out of reading it a second time. Not enough to change the rating, but I'd give it a more solid 3/5 now.
Addendum, Aug 16, 2012: 9 months later, I read this again and enjoyed it a lot more. All my critiques above still stand, but I got a lot more enjoyment out of reading it a second time. Not enough to change the rating, but I'd give it a more solid 3/5 now.
January 29, 2017
This book is very interesting. The story by Kirkman is pretty great. The identity of Cable is different than the main universe, which isn't an issue for me, but I am not overly impressed by how it was revealed. Otherwise, this is a very fun read story-wise.
"So, why is your rating so low," you ask. Well, that is a wonderful question. There are 2 artists splitting the pages here. One of the artists has a problem with faces, I assume. There are many times where a panel of one character has their head fully in shadows so you see a body and a dark silhouette of wolverine's head. There is no good reason within the story for these images to be in the dark, so this decision is distracting and immediately took me out of the story. Were it a little more prevalent and for the whole book rather than half the issues, it would have easily been a deal breaker.
"So, why is your rating so low," you ask. Well, that is a wonderful question. There are 2 artists splitting the pages here. One of the artists has a problem with faces, I assume. There are many times where a panel of one character has their head fully in shadows so you see a body and a dark silhouette of wolverine's head. There is no good reason within the story for these images to be in the dark, so this decision is distracting and immediately took me out of the story. Were it a little more prevalent and for the whole book rather than half the issues, it would have easily been a deal breaker.
August 23, 2015
Kirkman has definitely found his rhythm here a slightly darker story in tone but it had a good mix of action and character development. This story has put the characters on an interesting journey.
The art is fantastic here by Oliver and Paquette the cover of issue 78 has an almost iconic feel.
There are minor issues and they are minor; Bishop is intergrated a little quick but with a cast as large as the x-men this is always tricky. But at the end of the day this is more than just a fun read the story is strong and is well told.
The art is fantastic here by Oliver and Paquette the cover of issue 78 has an almost iconic feel.
There are minor issues and they are minor; Bishop is intergrated a little quick but with a cast as large as the x-men this is always tricky. But at the end of the day this is more than just a fun read the story is strong and is well told.
August 31, 2016
Kind of like the X version of The Terminator, as the villainous Cable and heroic Bishop zap back through time to try to murder/save Charles Xavier. Cue the usual. This being Ultimate X Men, it seems like the series seeks to redo old storylines with new artwork and scripting and with a more homogenous group of characters. Characters seem to exist in a silly time span, where Jean Grey is still 20 years old, for example, suggesting that the X Men basically fought a foe daily since their inception. Revisionism sucks - I will keep my eyes peeled for the Uncanny, original version.
June 23, 2022
Apparently multiple readings is the key to enjoying this volume more, because I had it down as a one star read from the last time I read it.
If it's someone's first time reading this and they don't know Cable and Bishop, this can be frustrating and confusing because next to nothing is explained about either of them.
Now that I know the rest of their arc (within this series, at least), I didn't mind this one, but the best moments are focused around seeing how each character reacts to the main death.
If it's someone's first time reading this and they don't know Cable and Bishop, this can be frustrating and confusing because next to nothing is explained about either of them.
Now that I know the rest of their arc (within this series, at least), I didn't mind this one, but the best moments are focused around seeing how each character reacts to the main death.
June 16, 2009
Cynical Wolverine vs. really cynical Wolverine.
I was liking the book okay until Professor X said, "Damn it, Scott--can't you see? Do I have to spell it out for you?! I'm in love with Jean." Seriously? How many guys (and girls) does that make? Make no mistake, Jean Gray is kind of the shit, and the Dark Phoenix is one of my favorites, but to have everyone fall in love with her sends her running into the Mary Sue category.
I was liking the book okay until Professor X said, "Damn it, Scott--can't you see? Do I have to spell it out for you?! I'm in love with Jean." Seriously? How many guys (and girls) does that make? Make no mistake, Jean Gray is kind of the shit, and the Dark Phoenix is one of my favorites, but to have everyone fall in love with her sends her running into the Mary Sue category.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
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