Ultimate X-Men 50 - 53
Cry Wolf
After 49 great issues of Ultimate X-Men, I was excited and truly looking forward to putting together a review of the most recent story arc, Cry Wolf. I thought, as the title hit 50, it would have a penultimate story arc that really blew out all the stops and lent itself well to a review. Taking a look at the cover of issue 50, I was even more excited as I waited out the four month delay to read the arc in one sitting, start to finish. My excitement and expectations ended as I dug into these issues. To my surprise, the series had suddenly let me down.
Ultimate Gambit? Regrettably, ultimate "yawn".
As I stated recently in a Comic Related commentary (see Long live the Giffen Legion), I'm not a big fan of a full series reboot. That said, Ultimate X-Men has defied my x-pectations (sorry couldn't resist) many times since its start. It's been a 
hit title that creatively rethought the X-Men tradition. The series has proven to be full of fresh life, slick ideas, mild irreverence and unexpected turns (the death of the Beast or Wolverine turning on Cyclops being two solid examples). Simply put it has been a joy to read.
The Ultimate line, as a whole, has proven itself to be a great forum to try new ideas, set various characters in a modern light and drop some of the excess baggage of the parent titles without giving up the titles themselves or their collective history. For me, if a reboot has to happen, the Ultimate line has shown the way it should be done.
This time out, Gambit, Rogue and Iceman were the central players of the tale with subtext being added to the Wolverine/Storm and Jean Grey/Charles Xavier interpersonal relationships. An Ultimate version of the Fenris twins served as the villains.
What about Gambit? I'm certainly not meaning to offend any Gambit fans out there, but I believe I'm about to. Does anyone else feel that Gambit's 15 minutes of fame are just about up? Gambit, as a character, was immensely popular for a time, spawned his own series which peaked and began to fade. He had a lot of personal 
back story that framed well an era of X-Men mythos during which he was front and center on the team. To me, he's quickly becoming relegated to the Longshot status of characters from eras past. One of those secondary characters that was popular for a time, but a little too fixed in the period during which he was successful.
It appeared in this arc that his reintroduction to the ultimate universe and his development of a tie to Rogue was intended to carry the story. It just didn't work for me. It wasn't enough the first time it was presented (in the main x-titles) and it remains less than overwhelming in it's ultimate recast. It simply didn't feel "Ultimate". It felt as if they were forcing the Ultimate mythos to match what had happened in the traditional x-universe.
With a little help from my friends... Okay, teen angst is one thing, but complete disrespect and degeneration of a character is quite another. I understand that Bobby Drake (aka Iceman) is impulsive, but I never knew him to be so impulsive that he would push so hard and desperately to achieve a goal putting team-mates in harms way (treatening and forcing Nightcrawler to do a blind teleport being one example). Maybe we're 
developing something here for the future and Iceman is nearing a melting point, but when it comes to his portrayal, I like my Iceman a little more cool and collected.
Logan's interaction with Storm is another example where the relationships just seem pushed harder than they need to be. Wolverine doesn't have to be portrayed as cold hearted as he's made out to be in this arc. He was so spiteful at points that you couldn't feel sympathy when the story called for it (when Rogue called him to task over his treatment of Gambit). Maybe that sympathy isn't something the authors are looking for, but to me it's a quality that makes Wolverine ultimately Wolverine.
What about the antagonist? Let's hear it for the return of the B-list villains! I guess given my assessment of Gambit above, this could be a fitting match but for me Fenris stories always seem to have an air of desperation to them. Stuck up rich kids with a shared power? If you have to go this route, drop out the cash element and make mine the Wonder Twins (of Super Friends days past). For that matter, why not make the villain of this arc someone like Arcade? At least the environment, lair and challenges could have been creative. With Fenris you find yourself stuck with an office building and your standard shock troops as grunts. The villain choice could have been better. The story, which boiled basic employee recruitment and introducing Gambit and Rogue, could have been a bit madcap benefiting from Arcade's obsession. At least the story would have had more flavor.
Ultimate X-Men stories have always been fast paced, well laid out, full of intrigue and pumped up with excitement. The kiss on the cover of issue 53 showed more passion that I felt at any point in this story. For this title, which has remained a fun read since day one, the Cry Wolf story arc and this review surprised and disappointed me.
Scale of 1 to 10 ... Cry Wolf: 4
November 29th, 2004
