The place is a world very much like ours. The time is now. The phenomenon is genetic mutation. It is a time of change. Humanity now faces mutants, a mysterious sub-species that is gifted with strange and frightening powers. Hidden among the population. they are feared and hated by their human cousins. As rumors and urban myths about their existence spread across the world, the US government creates its own initiative to deal with this threat: the Sentinel Project. Meanwhile two men wage a secret war for the hearts and minds of young mutants everywhere. Charles Xavier has recruited a cadre of students including Cyclops, Jean Grey and Beast, that call themselves the X-Men. But there are others out there, living in fear, struggling to deal with what they are: Ororo Munroe, Bobby Drake and another, more dangerous mutant named Logan. Simultaneously, the terrorist known only as Magneto has assembled The Brotherhood, a militant group dedicated to the overthrow of human authority. A war is on the horizon and these amazing young men and women will decide the future of all humanity! Just as Ultimate Spider-Man reinvented and reinvigorated Marvel's flagship character, Ultimate X-Men promises do the same for comics' most popular super hero team. Streamlining the mutant heroes into a manageable core group, this non-stop saga action and intrigue takes place in a continuity recognizable to fans of this year's blockbuster smash X-Men movie. Ultimate X-Men is the perfect choice for anyone who can't get enough of the X!
Mark Millar is the New York Times best-selling writer of Wanted, the Kick-Ass series, The Secret Service, Jupiter’s Legacy, Jupiter’s Circle, Nemesis, Superior, Super Crooks, American Jesus, MPH, Starlight, and Chrononauts. Wanted, Kick-Ass, Kick-Ass 2, and The Secret Service (as Kingsman: The Secret Service) have been adapted into feature films, and Nemesis, Superior, Starlight, War Heroes, Jupiter’s Legacy and Chrononauts are in development at major studios.
His DC Comics work includes the seminal Superman: Red Son, and at Marvel Comics he created The Ultimates – selected by Time magazine as the comic book of the decade, Wolverine: Old Man Logan, and Civil War – the industry’s biggest-selling superhero series in almost two decades.
Mark has been an Executive Producer on all his movie adaptations and is currently creative consultant to Fox Studios on their Marvel slate of movies.
Ultimate X-Men represented Mark Millar’s version of a franchise distilled from the cream of its rich history. The launch of the Ultimate line of Marvel Comics afforded the writer a unique opportunity to tell stories unencumbered by almost four decades of continuity. The result was a product still recognizable because of the iconic nature of the characters. This way, the older readers were not alienated and familiar enough that the new readers that were introduced to the mythos through Bryan Singer’s X-Men movie would pick it up.
Millar tells a cinematic, widescreen, action blockbuster and is ably abetted by the Kubert brothers with their kinetic art. The action flows smoothly like a decent summer flick, as Millar establishes this Ultimate version of the mutant team with familiar X-Men tropes like the Xavier–Magneto philosophical disagreement and conflicting methods and a new yet similar take on the heroes that protects a world that fears and hates them. The new here is that the heroes have become media savvy, like actual reality show celebrities.
With no continuity baggage, this is an excellent entry point for any new or lapsed reader to be interested in comics.
Initially, I really got into this collection. The characters, setting, villains, and mutant situation had such a modern, realistic tone to them that I couldn't stop reading. Plus the artwork was really good as well. But then something happened: I lost interest.
Why you ask?
I really don't know. For whatever reason, I felt like I was experiencing the same X-Men stories I've been reading since I was ten repackaged to be new, shiny, and more up-to-date. There were some small tweaks here and there but nothing that was really original or kept my attention.
Yeah, yeah, I know, the same criticism could be leveled against the Ultimates and other series set in this universe, but I suppose I wanted more from the X-Men. And when I didn't get it, I found the whole thing rather "meh."
2017 REREAD
I enjoyed this one a lot this time. I really think it is because I haven't read a good X-Men comic story in many years. The new Marvel books just aren't my thing. This graphic novel reminded me of how good X-Men can be. Can't wait to read more.
Mark Millar reboots the X-Men for the Ultimates Universe with this new iteration of the popular franchise in "The Tomorrow People" and unlike recent reboots like Grant Morrison's "New X-Men" and Jason Aaron's more recent reboot, Millar's version is by far the weakest and least original.
He makes the X-Men teenagers so we get to see Cyclops, Storm, Jean Gray learning the ropes and having tantrums etc. Scott Summers especially when he sees Jean and Logan smooching. It's kinda lame. Also a mis-step was making Wolverine a double agent especially as it doesn't amount to anything. He's with Magneto one moment then with Xavier the next with no repercussions. What a waste of time! Same goes for Cyclops who switches sides before inevitably going back to Xavier. These McGuffins become quite tiresome after a while.
The Sentinels make a belated return though they're as useless as ever with the X-Men, as teenagers with barely any training, able to take them out despite professing fear of them. Then Magneto shows up with his usual tirade against humanity which we've seen in countless previous issues of X-Men not to mention the trilogy of X-Movies. There's very little originality going on with Millar's re-imagining of the X-Men.
His dialogue for Wolverine was very poor, Logan sounds like a Brit always saying "yeah that should be a laugh" - I've never heard a Canadian use that phrase.
Millar, while usually an excellent writer, falls back on old archetypes while making his cast younger though the effect is underwhelming. I didn't care about the new version of these characters, finding little charm in them and fewer interest in where the series was heading. There are better X-Men stories out there with far more imagination and new situations to make reading them worthwhile; far from rejuvenating the series, "The Tomorrow People" feels strangely old, tired and boring.
So I read Ultimate X-Men growing up. I think it was my first big "X-Men" world to read. It was my first major run I had every volume for. I stopped reading when it hit volume 18. So I decided to re-read it more than 10 years later. Well...this ages not too well haha.
There are things to love. The art is solid throughout. I also enjoyed the changes in personality for certain characters. I especially like how Storm don't give a fuck, and Beast is both badass and smart, and Magneto even more "sinister" than before. I also think the action is well paced and fun to view and well placed throughout.
Now the bad. The designs of a certain characters are pretty bad. Especially logan's clothes. I also dislike how obvious things are, like Jean falling for Wolverine, and they have the cliche of Scott looking out the window, and then behind the scenes Wolverine is smiling. Beyond fucking corny. Also the edge is strong here, and everyone insults EVERYONE. Very out of character even if these are new takes on beloved characters.
Overall if you want a more edgy, early 2000, "badass" X-Men then check this out. It's not horrible but it sure feels like early 2000. So on to the next one!
Welcome to the douche-y X-Men, hope you survive the experience. It's not all that bad other than numerous attitudes (and Wolverine's soul patch thing.) Millar does his normal thing though of cramming two years of story into 6 issues. A little more breathing room could have done wonders. I like the art by the Kuberts here.
Little more than serviceable. Considering that the intent was to reimagine these characters in a modern context, it's disappointingly similar to the main MU version. There are very few adjustments, and they amount to nothing. I'll put in at least a few volumes, because there might be something good later on.
We follow wolverine and his mission to take down Xavier but him turned and then how this incarnation of the X-Men comes about is interesting and then the whole sentinel business and then the usual Professor X's mission and the big fight with Magneto and his brotherhood and a good twist with Cyclops which was interesting.
Its a good volume and a great place to start with X-Men and I like how simple it is and characters are defined well here and the usual romance and twists but its also very sinister like with whats happening with Charles and I like the way Millar writes Cyclops and his confidence is next level and the art was wonderful and a delight to marvel at!
A very nice re-packaging of the usual X-Men stories, with some changes. I enjoy the way Magneto is able to stay two steps ahead of everyone, even Professor Xavier!
The artwork is tight, and the colorist deserves an award for making the night scenes a reflection of how the human eye works: concentrating on the scant areas of light to suggest what lies in the darkness. Well done!
Overall a very enjoyable read if you are already familiar with this team of mutant superheroes.
I have a pretty favourable opinion of Mark Millar's work in general, so it irked me to see such a colossal misfire here.
"Edgy" early 2000s Ultimate X-Men just wind up being less likeable versions of their classic characters, with some truly tragic fashion and grooming choices along the way (nice bandanna, Bobby, and the less said about Wolvie's Mark McGrath goatee the better).
Also, was anyone else grossed out that Logan starts out as a super-assassin on a mission to kill Xavier, but conveniently converts to the X-cause after holing up in a posh hotel because, reasons, and shagging Jean Grey...who is well-established as 19 years old in previous issues? Dirty Old Man Logan, indeed! Blecch.
What's the point of this, this world and these charaters are basically the same as the original, there's zero effort by Mark Millar to make this Ultimate universe feel unique, then he brings back that love triangle all over again which is easily the lamest thing about the X-Men, and he managed to make it even worst, even the art is not that good, costume design is awful. I remember dropping Marvel comics when these overpriced books started coming out, and it looks like I made the right choice, probably didn't miss much.
I was really looking forwards to this series. It did not start off well. Don't get me wrong, this is certainly an epic story. There is a lot that is going on here, but the execution of the story leaves much to be desired. I was interested in this story because it was written by Mark Millar. It's the Ultimate's Universe version of the X-men story. There are some subtle differences, as with any Ultimates tale, such as Wolverine starting off as working for Magneto. But in general it follows the exploits of two very powerful and very different mutants. Dr. Xavier leads the X-Men a team of powerful mutants who fight to preserve good will between humanity and mutant. On the other side is Magneto leading the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. Magneto believes that mutants are the next generation of humanity and here to replace the previous version. The rest of the story unfolds in the usual manner. Wolverine joins the X-Men, Magneto tries to take over the world (in this case just annihilate America), a combination of people from Cyclops, the rest of the X-men, Wolverine, Quicksilver, etc all gang up to stop him. The interactions between Wolverine and Jean Grey seemed forced. Also for someone who is touted as this supreme killer, Wolverine sure does change his tune after sleeping once with 19 year old Jean Grey. It just seems a bit much. I never really could buy into their relationship. Many of the other relationships seem similarly forced. I understand Pietro doesn't like his father, but the alacrity with which he decided to turn on his father after so many decades of service seemed forced. The X-men themselves are a good version of the group. While there are subtle differences since it is the Ultimates world, there are still many familiar elements. The art was very disappointing. It did not do the story justice and certain panels made the characters just look ridiculous. If the art had been of a better quality then I think this volume might have eked out a 3/5 rating. But, due to a mediocre execution on what could have been a great story and less than impressive art- I give this first volume a 2/5 rating.
This book collects the first six issues of the first X version of the Ultimate universe. I wasn't a fan of the Ultimate concept as a whole, but there have been so many alternates and reboots and such X iterations that I didn't see it as a new thing, just another parallel story variant. Millar's writing is good; concise and to the point and it serves the story nicely. The art is from Adam Kubert on some issues and Andy Kubert on others and is uniformly good. I enjoyed the opportunity to compare and contrast how they did the same characters as part of the same story. What I did not like was the appearance of some of the characters, which was dictated by the editors, not by the Kuberts. (There's a section at the end of the book explaining the editorial direction.) Iceman has a weird rag tied around his head for some reason, Logan has a weird tuft of fur on his chin, and Jean's urchin hair cut is just silly. A couple of the plot points bothered me. First, there's a whole deal made about the uniforms needing to cover the skin to avoid detection and then Jean and Storm have bare midriffs. Also, they make a point about Jean being a teenager and Logan being old as dirt and then, of course, they're next seen sleeping together, so that's kind of out of place. Otherwise, it's a pretty good book. The characters are a tad edgier here than they are in the universe I grew up in, but I was okay with that for the most part. Excelsior!
After enjoying the Ultimate Spider-man books, I was pretty hopeful about Ultimate X-Men — especially since I remember enjoying the appearances of the various X-Men in the Spider-man comics. I enjoyed X-Men cartoons a lot as a kid, and it seems to me a shame that — as with Batman and Superman, actually — I haven’t particularly enjoyed the comics. Unfortunately, The Tomorrow People didn’t change that much.
It might not help that it’s a team book, so we don’t see one individual character for long, and it definitely doesn’t help that they’re teenagers and that Scott Summers accordingly has a tantrum. A tantrum that has entirely predictable results, of course. Meanwhile, Wolverine switches sides, more or less for no apparent reason. Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch do so as well, with comparatively little background. And Magneto is entirely too easy to take down — obviously this isn’t going to be the last the X-Men see of him in this series, because it’s Magneto, but.
It felt like a lot of flash and not much bang, really. I own three more volumes, so I will read them. After that… I don’t know. Not on the strength of this volume.
Lord that was bad! An attempt to re-imagine the X-men puts them in the costumes from the movie, adds a lot of teen angst and makes nearly all of them unlikable. The exceptions are Colossus and the Beast. Even then you have to cringe through the Beast making a joke about taking a dump. Jean Gray has a belly button ring, Storm is a teen thief and Wolverine is basically a hired killer, but to make all those fanboys happy, Logan finally gets to bang Jean.
More of that grim, not much fun stuff that passes as hip, modern, realistic comics. Why are characters written as jerks always seen as more realistic?
Aside from the Spider man title, Marvels Ultimate-verse is pretty much a failed experiment. They can be mildly interesting viewed as a big 'What if?', but otherwise skip them and use your money to buy some of the Essential X-men volumes instead.
Though, not to be completely negative, the fight with the Sentinel robots in New York was a cool action scene that would have looked good in one of the X-men movies.
This series might be called Ultimate X-Men, but it might as well be called Ultimate Wolverine. He is featured in almost every story and everything revolves around him. And oh yeah, he is on every cover. Most of the time just him. Lets just overuse the character for Pete's sake.
The stories were okay, more like "What if" stories. Thanks to Comixology Unlimited I can read the first two volumes in this collection.
Book Info: This collection contains Ultimate X-Men issues #1-6.
ABSOLUTE RATING: {2.5/5 stars} (Rounded Down)
STANDARDIZED RATING: <2/5 stars>
Reeling from the recent anti-human bombings of New York and Washington, the US government contracts roboticist Bolivar Trask to engineer giant machines capable of sniffing out, capturing, and killing mutants hidden all over the country. In the midst of of all this chaos – perpetrated by Magneto and his Brotherhood of Mutants – Professor Charles Xavier and the X-Men desperately work tirelessly to amend mutant-human relations, as well as provide sanctuary and power training to all mutants seeking them. But while Xavier gathers recruits, Magneto sets his crosshairs on the White House, and plants one of his followers among the ranks of the X-Men – on a secret mission to assassinate the Professor.
The Tomorrow People was a shockingly weak volume for a number of reasons – foremost being the characters. As a team-based comic, there are several things a writer must accomplish in order to get it right, and, in some ways, their job may well be more challenging than it would have been for a solo book; not only must team chemistry be cultivated, but each member needs to be both unique and independently valuable. But sadly, characterization did not seem to be one of Millar's main priorities, so he fails on all counts. As a result, virtually everyone seemed rather one-dimensional, and I couldn't bring myself to connect with any one of them.
I'm sure most decent introductory X-Men books manage to portray some aspect of the mutants' difficulties coping with their extraordinary abilities, and explore their feelings of isolation and fear. In this book, we are introduced to each of the newest additions to the X-Men's roster (i.e. Beast, Storm, Colossus, and Iceman) during their separate encounters with X-Man Jean Grey. Jean finds them when they're at their lowest point, and manages to convince them that life at Xavier's school would be their best option moving forward. Following the mere 2-4 pages devoted to each encounter, competent readers should find they've already experienced the bulk of their misery, and little else is done to expand on this. Also, Millar's transition from recruitment to field missions occurs entirely too quickly, and he glosses over any training sessions or team interactions that might have added much-needed substance (and believability) to the story.
Another defining attribute of X-Men books is that they tend to address relevant topics such as discrimination and terrorism in a poignant and thought-provoking manner. Although the writer does appear to make some attempt to do so, his efforts are scant, and what little he tries is superficial and tedious. Through a few, all-too-brief confrontations where normal folks try and pick a fight or mock mutants they meet, Millar hopes to portray the travesty of intolerance. And this pathetic gesture is barely held together by three strategically-placed crying panels and another three thinly philosophical exchanges about the surrounding political climate. But even more generally speaking, the writing here is amateurish, and most attempts made to be clever or humorous fall flat.
[Excellent question, Iceman; I have no idea. As for the news: perhaps it has something to do with the grim realization that the lives of you and your comrades amount to nothing more than the trivial scribblings of a writer who couldn't care less about your fictional existence? No? Hmm... Alright, then. Just a thought.]
For a writer who had been in the comic-writing business for as long as he did up until this point, this ought to have been a complete embarrassment. The cheap tactics were so transparent and borderline insulting that I almost couldn't believe it; after a certain point, he seems to think he can get by on bland battles, a middling love triangle, and arbitrarily shifting allegiances (see postscript for more on this). And though I'm not very familiar with his work, Andy Kubert also doesn't appear to be operating at full capacity. This is just judging from what I remember of Flashpoint and Batman and Son, but perhaps this was produced at a moment during his career where the artist still had much room for improvement. So it was mostly decent, but surely not his best.
Unlike Ultimate Spider-Man, this did not hold up very well to my memory of it. It seems the more I re-read the more I come to realize just how much I've changed in recent years, and how much more sophisticated my critical analyses have become. Truth is, Millar has done much better work than this, and the volume really doesn't do much at all to redefine the X-Men in a meaningful way. Pretty much all he's done is make them younger and a lot less mature. I think I'll skip ahead to Ultimate War and see if things get any better.
Postscript:
I've always seen Magneto as one of Marvel's greatest villains, and the conflict between him and Xavier as (potentially) one of the most compelling across all superhero comics. My problem with Millar's rendition of the character is that it omits that fundamental part of Magneto that deeply loves his people, grieves over their suffering, and only resorts to violence because he genuinely sees no other way. From my limited experience, writers are able to achieve this in varying degrees, but Millar barely even seems to try. Instead, he makes him out to be your garden-variety supervillain bent on world domination – one who, as Cyclops so aptly concludes, is little more than a glorified Hitler. Sounds too harsh? See the spoiler tag below for more on this, and you decide for yourself.
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Getting into more detail regarding the "shifting allegiances" will necessarily require me to get pretty specific, so proceed with caution:
Насправді, початок серії Іксів за першого прочитання мені подобався навіть більше за Павука, бо ж "екшону більше" Однак, персонажі - ніякі, мотивація - ніяка, діалоги занудні, а всі події є натягуванням сови на глобус, бо ж водночас із переслідуванням мутантів у нас є той же Паркер, якого натовп лише раз (в межах тай-іну з Іксами) ксенофобно закидав сміттям
The girl versus boy costumes in this were SO RIDICULOUS. Oh, all the boys are covered up LIKE NORMAL for armor, but the girls, WOOOWEEE stomach and cleavage oh boy. Hope the sentinels can't figure out they are mutants from the stomach windows. That would sure be a lack of foresight.
Back in the early 2000s as I was figuring out where to start with Marvel Comics, the Ultimate Universe presented an easy way in for me, so this was the first ongoing X-Men comic I read.
On re-reading this I find it has a toned-down "Mark Millar" edge to it, mixed with the overall "black leather is cool thanks to the Matrix" vibe.
There is a little bit of a strange tonal shift from "Ultimate Spider-Man" in that the US Government is openly murdering mutants whether they're terrorists or not, but mutants in the Marvel universe have always sat in that weird place where they are hated but non-mutant Superheroes are (usually) loved.
Artwork is solid, the characters are still recognisable even if they mostly feel distinctly early 2000s.
I think the biggest issue is that at times Magneto comes across as the more sympathetic leader compared to Charles. While it's true Magneto is the one making terrorist attacks, the US Government is openly murdering innocent civillians. Also by using real life President George W. Bush, I'm even more likely to side with Magneto.
A lot of these issues are addressed by the X-Men, but often as "We don't like this either but we're following orders" which doesn't sit right with me. Same goes for Charles fiddling with Cyclops's mind to stop him from saying a bad word.
A pretty good reboot of the X-Men, which didn't need rebooting. But without any real heart or soul. Sure the writing and art is okay but the story is just plain tired. Storm is lame. Cyclops is same as always, so boring and annoying. Logan comes across flat. It is too bad that a reboot like this wasn't used to tell new stories.
The Tomorrow People (#1-6). Millar offers a nice update of the X-Men that makes the characters seem fresh again thanks to more modern takes. Having a younger Ororo and Piotr hanging with the original X-Men is a bit odd at first, but grows on you. The use of Magneto as a truly international threat works well, mirroring his role in the original X-Men comics [4/5].
Maybe it was Magneto calling Xavier a stupid cripple or maybe it was the Beast having bigoted, abusive parents instead of proud, loving ones but damn do I hate this comic book. Darker and edgier definitely doesn't mean better and Ultimate X-Men is a great example of that.
Someone should inform Mark Millar that Croatia is not some Middle Eastern theocracy and that people there A: don't drive around in pickup trucks armed with machine guns shooting random strangers, and B: sure as fuck don't wear desert head scarves. Maps exist, try using one.