Ultimate X-Men Collection, Book 6

Ultimate X-Men (2001) (Collected Editions) #12-13

by Brian K. Vaughan, Stuart Immonen (Illustrator), Steve Dillon (Illustrator)

Collecting Ultimate X-Men #58-65, 0.5, Annual #1.

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

256 pages, Hardcover

First published August 30, 2006

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]

The collection starts of with Ultimate X-Men, Vol. 12: Hard Lessons which is made up of three tales of hard lessons learned for an Xavier in danger of losing his financing; Logan and Storm surviving hard lessons learned in their pasts; and the flagship story stars Rogue and Gambit, eternally living a hard lesson? Better stories, although it took creating standalone tales to turn it up for Vaughan. 7 out of 12.

Next up was Ultimate X-Men, Vol. 13: Magnetic North, in which the volume title might have given away the name of the primary antagonist. Featuring Emma Frost and her students, Longshot, Yuri, the Ultimates, Nick Fury and more; having such a big cast limited the character and plot development, but the story was big enough to stand on its own, and turned out to be a nice finish to Vaughan's short run on the series. 7 out of 12

Image: Fresh Comic Stories on YouTube
2012 read; 2017 read; 2011 read

[Chris Greensmith]

"It's time for something new."

[Jacob A. Mirallegro]

This was good but it had the same problems as the last volume. Vaughan writes these characters well and gives them interesting stories but it always feels like they're building up to something that doesn't get resolved. I get that this is the middle of an ongoing series but some arcs just don't have super satisfying endings.
That said the twist with Rogue had really cool and interesting implications and that alone made me want to read more of this series.

[Krzysztof Grabowski]

Nic nie poradzę, że mam słabość do świata Ultimate. Czy to Spider-Man czy X-men, z racji oderwania tego uniwersum od głównego Marvela, autorzy mogą sobie pozwolić na więcej. Tu ktoś zginie, kogo normalnie by śmierć nie dotknęła, a to ktoś ma inny origin i zachowuje się inaczej.

Początek do jednak Profesor X, który działa w pojedynkę. Mutant atakuje bank w celu rabunkowym i szef X-menów musi działać tak, aby nikomu nie stała się krzywda. Może być trudno, bo młodzieniec nie jest wrażliwy na jego moce, a ekipa podopiecznych jest daleko. Gdzie indziej Rogue i Gambit znajdują się na gigancie. Problemem może być pojawienie się innego mutanta, który ma jawną zadrę z bohaterką.

Jeszcze w innym miejscu Storm rusza aby znaleźć Wolverine, a jednocześnie dopada ją jej przeszłość, co ładnie pozwala na dynamiczną współpracę tego duetu. Niemniej wisienką na torcie jest wątek pewnej mutantki, która z racji niestabilnych mocy trafia do celi, którą dzieli z Magneto. Jak się okazuje potężny mutant ma zaplanowany własny plan, aby uciec z miejsca izolacji. A przybycie młodej kobiety stanowi tylko pierwszy krok ku temu...

Vaughan wydaje się być autorem, który rozumie dobrze młodszych bohaterów. Tam Runaways, tu dorastający X-men. I wychodzi mu to naprawdę dobrze. Jego historia ma wiele zaskoczeń (choć finał tego zbioru jest przewidywalny) i jest świetnie rozpisana z tempem akcji. Swoją drogą całość wygląda też świetnie, ale nazwisko Immonen w stopce oznacza z reguły naprawdę fantastyczną kreskę.

[Sam Russell]

VI: Whets the Palette

The sixth book in the Ultimate X-Men Collection collects five stories. They each serve to flesh out and progress the cast of characters readers have come to be so fond of, and they serve to entertain.

The first four stories have clever connections to one another, which complements the collection. The last story, however, is from a previous Ultimate Collection and seems to jar with the rest unfortunately, ending the book on an old and seemingly out of time note.

All in all the book feels like more an appetizer platter to an upcoming feast, rather than offering the reader anything substantial to sink their teeth into. That said, I enjoy Vaughan's subtle yet powerful charcater development, and am in awe of the gorgeous artwork of Stuart Immonen and Steve Dillon which brings every panel to vibrant life.

[RafaCSQ]

Ok, this one was mostly really good. I especially enjoyed the first story, a short one about Xavier, and the big on the second half, "Magnetic North". It showed me how Ultimate Magneto is actually a very interesting character, a true villain, for sure, but well developed. Of the few highs on this series, most of them involve him.

Art-wise, Dillon was ok, and Immonen is great as always.

A surprising good read, after I disliked the previous book, also from BKV.

[B]

The first half felt like a bunch of one-offs, right? And then the second half was . . . pretty good. . . but the X-Men have kind of become kid heroes when they're really a battle-hardened task force, no?

[Ty]

Vaugnhs take was not very good and I do think its not terible its certainly not good.

[Robin]

Storm and Wolverine? I'm not so sure. But there's a Rogue/Gambit story, which I'm a sucker for, even though it ends badly. Also, the return of Magneto....