Ultimate X-Men - Volume 2: Return to Weapon X [Englisch] [Taschenbuch]

Despite being on a first name basis with the President of the United States, Xavier's School for Gifted Children is hit by Colonel Wraith and his shock troops, both human and mutant. Now Cyclops, Marvel Girl, and the others will serve the greater good and help the government fight fire with fire (the only good mutant is a mutant with a neural implant). Of course, since this is a comic book, the person in charge of this government program is psychotic and perfectly willing to do anything to do anything to get the job done (or did I mention already that Wraith was in charge?). The main part of the story arc has to do with the X-Men regaining their freedom, but this is also mixed up with Wolverine's search for his past and Nick Fury's search for an illegal genetic operation violating the Superhuman Test-Ban Treaty.

I think that one of the main strengths of the Ultimate comic books is that they emphasize story arcs that take multiple issues (six in this case) so that a dozen issues into the series we have only dealt with two major stories instead of a self-contained episode with a new villain every single month. This should help the well from running dry too quickly. Writer Mark Millar along with Penciller Adam Kubert (with Tom Raney & Tom Derenick) and Inker Art Thibert (with Scott Hanna, Joe Kubert, Danny Miki, & Lary Stucker) are having fun tweaking the "original" X-Men stories and creating some new dynamics (e.g., Storm is interested in Hank McCoy, Nightcrawler does not speak English) so I think that those who have been reading the X-Men since issue #1 of "The Uncanny X-Men" (or issue #1 of "The Giant-Size X-Men") will enjoy the differences more than neophytes and appreciate the way key stories resonant (e.g., Jean Grey is Marvel Girl and not Phoenix when she steps over the line this time around).

"Return to Weapon X" is not as good as the first volume in the series, but it is hard to compete with Magneto when you talking about the X-Men, whichever version of the group is involved. Millar's story is certainly complex enough and you can see all sorts of things being set up for down the road. As long as you are not offended by the very existence of the series, you should find "Ultimate X-Men" or any of the other titles in the Marvel series to be at least entertaining and quite possibility compelling. At the very least, you should be able to appreciate the tweaking.

I thought this six part storyline rocked.. The Xmen are better than before and The Weapon X Project is a 100 times more evil and (This is important) credible than it's ever appeared in the 'Wolverine' books.

Originality is the key as while Millar draws on all the heroes and villains from marvels stock, but the story line keeps you on tether hooks till the end. Issue 12 was a finale..

Best line in the book 'First rule in a fight, Always protect your family jewels' and then Logan wises Sabretooth as to this old adage... hehehehh..

But...

A serious problem with the WHOLE Ultimate Xmen series is the static storyline..Too often I felt that there was more to say but i feel Millar was working under constraints.. Not enough space given to flesh out the charachters. This was a major bummer and hopefully something will be done by Millar in the upcoming issues.. ..

The art credits varied from the kubert bros and tom raney.. I found it sometimes too sketchy and imprecise (Interchanging looks between different charachters) and I did not understand at all the raid on the X-mansion.. however I loved the scenes of painted art mostly in the dream sequences. ...