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Ultimate X-Men (2024) #1

Ultimate X-Men (2024) #1

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Visionary creator PEACH MOMOKO (DEMON DAYS, STAR WARS) creates a new generation of X-Men for an all-new universe! Hisako Ichiki is a teenage girl who just wants to live a normal life - go to school, hang out with her friends, ignore the political strife broiling over after the events of ULTIMATE INVASION - but life has other plans for her. In Japan, urban legends have sprung to life and brought some unusual new powers with them…Meet Armor, Maystorm and a group of new Ultimate X-Men the likes of which you've never seen before!

34 pages, Kindle Edition

Published March 6, 2024

33 people are currently reading
134 people want to read

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Peach Momoko

105 books75 followers

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5 stars
210 (35%)
4 stars
240 (40%)
3 stars
101 (17%)
2 stars
28 (4%)
1 star
15 (2%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 77 reviews
Profile Image for Anna  Quilter.
1,677 reviews50 followers
March 7, 2024
Great design and nice to look at.

Not a great deal happens....but who just doesn't love a slow build?
471 reviews
March 6, 2024
Mildly interesting.

Its a decent start but works better as an Armor solo than an x-men book.

It's a fast read but overpriced for what it was. I rather tradewait it.
Profile Image for Krystal.
2,191 reviews488 followers
March 8, 2024
This is strangely far from an X-Men story, but I kinda liked it.

I really love Peach Momoko's art style, and it suited this story really well. I'm very curious about how it's going to become an X-Men reboot, but til it becomes clearer I'll happily follow along with no clue.

This would be a fantastic entry point for people who like manga that are interested in reading the Western comics. X-Men fans may be a little disappointed, though.
Profile Image for Kylesnooze.
271 reviews2 followers
March 6, 2024
No clue what's going on, but the art is nice
Profile Image for Pickletape.
103 reviews
June 13, 2025
I don’t know anything about Armor but I enjoyed this so far. The art style is incredible and probably my favorite part!!
Profile Image for Machiavelli.
797 reviews21 followers
June 17, 2025
Just read Ultimate X-Men #1 by Peach Momoko — gorgeous, dreamy, and totally unique. The art is stunning, and the vibe is unlike any X-Men book I’ve read. Intriguing start with a strong tone. Curious to see where it goes.
40 reviews
March 7, 2024
Goes down smooth

This debut issue takes the lesser known X-Men character Hisako Ichiki, aka Armor, and gives her the star treatment! Writer and artist Peach Momoko uses the relaunch of the Ultimate Marvel imprint of comic books to transplant the character to her homeland of Japan for a new spin on her mutant origin story. A very promising start.
Profile Image for Carl Archambault.
78 reviews
May 9, 2024
To be honest, I’m not a big fan of the childish art and the story is kinda weird. Totally different of what I know about Ultimate X-Men
Profile Image for Jameson.
1,032 reviews14 followers
March 11, 2024
Another awkward misfire. Give Peach her own series if people like it, but what’s this have to do with the Ultimate universe, new or old? Peach’s art, for better or worse, is so distinctive that it doesn’t make sense in a shared universe. But if you like YA manga and watercolors more than you like X-Men or superhero comics, then you’re in for a real treat. I guess. I like manga, I love X-Men, but I could never get into any of Peach’s stuff. It’s boring, it’s lifeless, it’s derivative. This isn’t the X-Men, this isn’t Ultimate X-Men, it’s Ultimate Peach. If that’s what the book was called I’d receive it slightly differently.
70 reviews
June 16, 2024
It’s not bad, but it’s a super quick read and with nothing else to go on I can’t say it feels very x-men at all. I liked the art style quite a bit though
Profile Image for Brandon.
1,338 reviews
September 11, 2024
Picked this up because the Japanese-style art looked cute.

This is an X-Men story in the new Ultimate universe, but with no apparent connection to the other Ultimate books as of yet. Actually, there are no apparent links to X-books either, as Hisako is not labeled a Mutant just yet, nor is any other character. We have curses and charms, like a shōnen exorcist battle manga, e.g. Jujutsu Kaisen.

This first issue sets up an okay mystery, but I have no idea where it's going to go, other than an assumption there will be more overt Mutant shenanigans eventually. But I'm interested in moving forward. And I bought Issue #2 alongside this one anyway ¯⁠\⁠_⁠(⁠ツ⁠)⁠_⁠/⁠¯
Profile Image for Ben Moore.
31 reviews1 follower
March 27, 2024
Actually perfect. I knew, of course, that Peach Momoko's art would be peerless, but it's really the concept that took me by surprise. What a wildly different take on X-Men but one that still feels respectful and appropriate. Beautifully melancholic, the story focuses on deep trauma and how much of an arresting hold that can have on our entire lives. Marvel has put a lot of faith in Momoko the last few years and this book proves exactly why they should. I haven't been this excited to read a new comic series in quite some time. Bravo. I really hope as many people as possible give this a chance.
Profile Image for James DeSantis.
Author 17 books1,203 followers
August 8, 2024
It's a simple but effective start. The art is great, unique, and I love viewing it. The idea of bullying being the central theme is smart too. I suspect X-Men is made with more teenage, or young adult in mind, and that's okay.
Profile Image for zach.
525 reviews
January 2, 2025
adore the art style and the bold narrative direction (compared to most x-men titles) but i’m a bit confused as to what’s being established. i hope the mystery of the powers doesn’t overshadow the importance of mutation and all the narrative allegories that come with it
Profile Image for Nikki Bee.
13 reviews
February 6, 2025
absolutely gorgeous, I love peach momoko art. really fun meeting the cast and I can’t wait to read the next one!
Profile Image for cooper.
64 reviews1 follower
April 3, 2025
3.5 - cool start but i can see where people’s complaints come from. kinda hard to write a “manga” comic with pacing like this when it comes out monthly lol
Profile Image for Maximus.
6 reviews
April 4, 2024
My main criticism is that this is not "X-Men", this is something else that borrows the "X-Men" title. I don't like that.

I have read many X-Men stories, and, in my opinion, Peach Momoko can't bring to the table the type of story that I expect from a book with the title "X-Men". If the book is called "ULTIMATE X-MEN", that doesn't help her case.

Ultimate:

noun

1. the best achievable or imaginable of its kind.

2. a final or fundamental fact or principle.

A book called "Ultimate X-Men" should be an attempt to present all the elements that make the X-Men great in a single place, but there is none of that here. This is something else.

And that's to be expected from someone who has no attachment whatsoever to the franchise, someone who barely appreciates it.

"I wasn't too familiar with X-Men before researching them when I was creating Demon Days and now, Ultimate X-Men"

That's what Peach Momoko said in her interview with AIPT. Her words. Not mine. Hers.

Of course I already knew that before reading the interview, but it is good to have confirmation.

Screen Rant also interviewed her and I also found something interesting there:

"Editor's Note: Peach Momoko’s answers were translated from Japanese with the help of her husband and manager, Yo Mutsu, and have been lightly edited with permission for clarity and perspective."

That mean she doesn't speak english?

Why does she even bother to work with Marvel Comics? She is clearly popular, she could publish this story in her native language elsewhere in a more suitable format and I bet she would get better paychecks. The money is not in Marvel right now, nor in DC, the money is in the manga, she should take advantage of that. I don't understand why she chooses to work at Marvel, it's clearly not because of attachment to the franchise.

Whatever.

The story itself is quite compelling and it's very well told, I think Momoko is very talented. This is good japanese storytelling, the only reason why this is not manga is because it reads from left to right like the american comics (manga reads from right to left).

When this was announced I thought that, despite I thought this was a wasted opportunity for Marvel (and it is), maybe I would enjoy it because I like Armor. And I did enjoy it while I was reading it, but not because of Armor, that Joss Whedon character is not quite here, Hisako could have any other name and the story would work. This book could have any other title that is not "X-Men" and the story would work. This story doesn't need to be set in a Marvel Universe.

That is my complaint.

THIS IS NOT X-MEN. Why? Because the X-Men are a team of heroic mutants formed by Charles Xavier with the purpose of protecting a world that hates and fears them. No matter what universe it is, that's what the X-Men are meant to be. The team is called "X-Men" because of Xavier. The team represents the dream of Charles Xavier of peaceful coexistence between mutants and the rest of humanity.

Here there is NONE OF THAT. There is no Xavier. There is not even a team here. There is no X-Men in a book called "Ultimate X-Men".

Maybe there will be a team at some point in the series, but if there will be, why don't you show me that first and save this story for an origin issue later in the series?

This comic is very well crafted, it looks like it will be a good supernatural story in the japanese tradition. I still don't quite get what happened exactly to Hisako's friend (he was bullied so I suppose he took his own life) but my only real technical complaint would be that this type of story would work better in another format, a larger format, a graphic novel format (like manga).

This is a good comic book, but it is not a good X-MEN comic book. Nothing here resembles the X-Men, not even taking into account that this is a different universe.

The X-Men movies were clearly different from the comics, but they were good (of course I'm talking about only the first two) because they had all the recognizable elements of the franchise.

That's not the case here. Peach Momoko is not trying to include any of the recognizable elements, she's doing her own thing, which would be fine if she wasn't borrowing the "X-Men" title. It's just not right to use an established IP as a platform to present something completely different, it's deceptive.

This is a branding problem. The X-Men is an established brand, that means the public already has an expectation that the book must meet in order for it to sell, but Peach Momoko is not even trying to meet any expectation, because she doesn't want to write an X-Men story, she wants to write a story about high school girls fighting ghosts (or demons) using their newfound pseudo-magical powers.

It looks like a interesting story, but it doesn't matter how good it is because it's disrespecting the costumers by giving them something they did not pay for.

I have no doubt Peach Momoko is very capable of telling good stories, but she is not capable of writing good X-Men stories simply because she clearly has no interest in doing so.

Not even Hisako's powers have a slight resemblance to the X-Men lore, here they look more like a magical thing than a genetic accident.

If this wasn't called "Ultimate X-Men" I would give it 4 stars, but it is called "Ultimate X-Men" while not presenting anything that resembles the X-Men, so, I give it 3 stars.
Author 23 books120 followers
March 6, 2024
Brilliant

I love Peach Mom looks art. Cute, animated, surreal with disturbing bits. And now I see the art extends to writing. Loved this i ssue.
Profile Image for Patrick.
89 reviews7 followers
March 9, 2024
Who knew the X-Men universe could get a makeover this stunning? Peach Momoko's Ultimate X-Men #1 is unlike any X-Men story I've ever experienced because this ain't your typical mutant comic.

Momoko throws us headfirst into a world steeped in unsettling horror vibes, but it is so much more. Momoko weaves a narrative rich with emotional depth and touches on serious mental health topics. Beneath the surface of shadowy figures lies the beginning of a powerful coming-of-age story. Hisako/Armor’s struggles with self-acceptance and the weight of extreme, traumatic guilt. Momoko handles these serious themes with incredible grace and heart, making you truly invested in Hisako's journey. She didn’t try to do too much with this first issue and I think it really helped her introduce us to this new world.

Of course, no Momoko comic is complete without her signature artwork. The classic manga style is simply gorgeous, adding another layer of depth and intrigue to the narrative. The way she portrays the fantastical elements alongside the grounded reality of Hisako's world is nothing short of breathtaking. I felt like I was watching a Studio Ghibli movie play out on the pages in front of me.

Ultimate X-Men #1 is a phenomenal launch for this new series. It's a haunting reinvention of Hisako’s origins with her powers, packed with horror, heart, and Momoko's stunning artwork. I can’t wait for the next issue and to finally meet Maystorm!
Profile Image for RubiGiráldez RubiGiráldez.
Author 8 books33 followers
March 23, 2024
De toda esta diversificación del nuevo Universo Ultimate que acompaña a la cabecera de Spiderman, está claro que este es el que entraña más curiosidad y riesgo. Tanto por parecer focalizarse en un solo personaje y no ir directamente a una "promoción" de mutantes, como el que esté a cargo exclusivo de Peach Momoko. Esta artista ya está asentada como autora completa en Marvel y algún sello comiquero a parte de Disney. Su particular estilo que acerca el manga desde un curioso estilo que entremezcla "lo Ghibli" y el terror en la vertiente body horror, también se muestra particular en cómo afronta las narrativas superheroicas sin ser del todo asiático pero también distanciándose de lo recurrente occidental. Así es como tenemos este primer número que parece como si Junji Ito trabajase para Marvel. El "despertar mutante" de la protagonista no es lo típico visto en los Hijos del Átomo, y menos lo es la particular amenaza que la hará perfeccionar sus poderes.

Creo que este despunte total le hará más bien que mal. Aunque también queda por ver cómo harán coincidir por ejemplo a esta Ororo que también forma parte de Ultimate Black Panther.
Profile Image for Rahul Nadella.
595 reviews7 followers
March 8, 2024
Ultimate X-Men #1 utilizes bold artwork to craft a unique X-Men debut. You’re much better off going in with no expectations because it’s a fair bet Peach Momoko’s take on the Maker’s mutants will be unexpected. Momoko's character work and atmosphere hit the nail on the head for a horror Manga but the story is so far removed from every other Marvel Ultimate title, that it almost feels out of place.
Profile Image for ComicBookCult Luke.
454 reviews2 followers
March 10, 2024
I really enjoyed this first issue, as a manga fan Peach Momoko’s art style & methods of storytelling don’t get lost on me like with some of my friends.

I’m glad this issue didn’t open with Cyclops, Wolverine & Magneto. I don’t need the same story I’ve read 30 times over the last few years as an X-Men fan. Something completely fresh and new is always welcomed, especially with a wildcard like Momoko at the Helm. I’m looking forward to the next issue to see where it goes!
Profile Image for Dave.
973 reviews19 followers
May 8, 2024
Momoko focused on middle-school graduate Hisako Ichiki in Japan and her coming to grips with a bullied classmates suicide while dealing with a shadowed antagonist as well as a newly triggered mutant ability to create a red armored samurai-like exo-suit around herself which first manifests itself on a head on collision she is involved in with a car while she is riding her bicycle. More like the New Mutants Demon Bear saga than a standard X-men book, but intriguing enough.
Profile Image for Yasser Maniram.
1,340 reviews2 followers
March 7, 2024
Dropping this title like we saw one of the characters in this issue. Too morbid, did not like the use of children in that environment. Did not like the subject matter. A really depressing read that is frankly terrifying and nightmare material. If done intentionally in that sense kudos to Momoko but a heads up would have been nice.
Profile Image for Michael Schirle.
89 reviews3 followers
March 17, 2024
Interesting issue 1. The art is beautiful and unique for a typical Marvel book. If you've seen Peach Momoko's work you should know what to expect or if you'll like it.

The story is not what I would expect for an "X-Men" title, and so far it doesn't seem to have a lot of connections yet to the bigger ultimate story.

I'm excited to see what happens in the next issue.
26 reviews
October 13, 2024
I didn't like the art and it looked like it was drawn for children. In general, I'm not a big time X-Men reader, let alone a Marvel reader. This book doesn't really read like it's a comic about Ultimate X-Men, but rather some random girl that I'm unfamiliar with and the story is straight up boring and uninteresting. I hope the other Ultimate comics I've read aren't like this.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 77 reviews

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