Ultimate X-Men #1 Reviews/Spoiler

[Malachi]

This part. Some folks liked it and some folks didn’t. That’s OKAY y’all! We don’t need to convince people to give something they don’t like an extra try and we don’t need to convince people who liked it to rethink their enjoyment.

Absolutely.

I think for me the most concerning part about this method of building the title is the uncertainty with how long it will last. As has been mentioned the market is one factor, how long will it support it. The other is how long will Momoko be able to do it. My high ceiling , very high, would be roughly three TB’s. So roughly 15-18 issues. Which would mean, with presumably some delay between these arcs, roughly two years of her life being spent on working on this. Probably only working on this since she writes and draws it. That’s a lot.

Part of me wants to know how this title will develop. Will it be other artist building on what she does? Or will it be one arc that segways into a team book. Who knows.

Hickman and his GODS will get 8 issues. It’s a an uncertain market. I hope marvel has made promises that if this sells badly we will still get all of it.

Or maybe Momoko does 6-10 issues that works both as a standalone story and a springboard into something different. Maybe that would be the best.

[Jackraow21]

Looks like this will find a following. Not hating on it. Good for them.

[Digifiend]

That's pretty much the way I feel about this. The book isn't bad but I think it was a mistake leading a new Ultimate X-Men book like this.

I agree, it's not a bad book. But face facts, if they called it Armor, it wouldn't have sold anywhere near as much as it will with X-Men branding. And as others have said, they won't have wanted to go with a traditional take anyway, that'd be cannibalising their sales by launching it so close to the relaunch of the 616 X-Men line.

[Kurolegacy]

I agree, it's not a bad book. But face facts, if they called it Armor, it wouldn't have sold anywhere near as much as it will with X-Men branding. And as others have said, they won't have wanted to go with a traditional take anyway, that'd be cannibalising their sales by launching it so close to the relaunch of the 616 X-Men line.

Even so, it does feel like a deceptive bait and switch as not every comic reader follows the development news of these books. Hell even for the more casual, they’d be attracted by the name X-Men only to get a book that’s got nothing to do with the X-Men. And it’s not like they can do anything about it at that point since Marvel then has their sale. It reminds me of how Sony made their SSU and then basically coasted by on being vague as to whether it connected to the MCU. Sure the more savvy will see through it but not the casual.

[Plawsky]

I'm not sure why everyone is so bent out of shape over it not having the X-Men in it from the get go. Yes, the book is far from a traditional X-title, but it's obviously going to eventually have some version of X-Men in it. I thought it was a great issue about Armor, and I'm intrigued where it goes from here.

When Ultimate Fantastic Four #1 launched nearly 20 years ago, it didn't have the Fantastic Four in it. It was just an issue about Reed and had small cameos from Ben, Sue, and Johnny. They didn't get their powers until #3. Ultimates started with a WW2 Cap issue that had Tony (no armor) on a single page.

How is this any different?

[Kurolegacy]

I'm not sure why everyone is so bent out of shape over it not having the X-Men in it from the get go. Yes, the book is far from a traditional X-title, but it's obviously going to eventually have some version of X-Men in it. I thought it was a great issue about Armor, and I'm intrigued where it goes from here.

When Ultimate Fantastic Four #1 launched nearly 20 years ago, it didn't have the Fantastic Four in it. It was just an issue about Reed and had small cameos from Ben, Sue, and Johnny. They didn't get their powers until #3. Ultimates started with a WW2 Cap issue that had Tony (no armor) on a single page.

How is this any different?

I’d say difference there is that the original Ultimate Universe may have had some decompression to it but not only did it still use characters that were unmistakable to what it is that the reader is reading but didn’t have the writer outright say that they weren’t doing anything based on traditional. It’s to the point that the term mutant isn’t even mentioned once in the opening issue of an X-book. While something like Fantastic Four, Ultimates or Spider-Man may be able to get away with such things due to them being origin stories of a person becoming a hero or a team coming together, X-Men is about the mutant experience. Its figuratively and literally in its DNA.

[D.Z]

They're Mutants

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?sto...00063644616240

[Kurolegacy]

They're Mutants

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?sto...00063644616240

You can say on that they’re mutants on the level beyond the 4th wall but that doesn’t do much if you’re so fixated on being different that you don’t even use the word associated with the entire fictional race in the actual book. Their experiences as mutants is literally the thing that separates them from just any other super powered person in the MU.

[juffuj5]

You can say on that they’re mutants on the level beyond the 4th wall but that doesn’t do much if you’re so fixated on being different that you don’t even use the word associated with the entire fictional race in the actual book. Their experiences as mutants is literally the thing that separates them from just any other super powered person in the MU.

Remember, mutants aren’t really known in Earth 6160, they’re not referred as much in Ultimate Invasion and in the Ultimate Universe One Shot.

[D.Z]

They also might not be feared and hated.

[Plawsky]

I’d say difference there is that the original Ultimate Universe may have had some decompression to it but not only did it still use characters that were unmistakable to what it is that the reader is reading but didn’t have the writer outright say that they weren’t doing anything based on traditional. It’s to the point that the term mutant isn’t even mentioned once in the opening issue of an X-book. While something like Fantastic Four, Ultimates or Spider-Man may be able to get away with such things due to them being origin stories of a person becoming a hero or a team coming together, X-Men is about the mutant experience. Its figuratively and literally in its DNA.

Where would the word mutant be in this issue? It’s one character who’s going through an experience - so far - alone. It’s hardly uncommon for a new mutant to not know they are one until someone comes to find them and tell them. There’s no reason to believe they won’t be talking about mutants at all.

[Grunty]

This is pure speculation territory, so not to be taken too seriously. But it could be a couple things:

1) Hickman didn’t have a strict vision for Ultimate X-Men because it wasn’t so long ago that he did his big X-Men story (which itself was a pretty big departure from the norm), so he was far more willing to give over full creative freedom.

2) Hickman and co. knew from the beginning they wanted X-Men to take place in Hi No Kuni (this universes territory that contains Japan), so they went to the biggest Japanese creator they know at Marvel and let them put their spin on it.

3) Marvel knew that they were going to have a X-line relaunch around the same time that this came out, so to not undermine those efforts they choose to start Ultimate X-Men off with a smaller scale story.

A 4th possibility is that they actively try to avoid introducing the mutants and by extension the X-men too early, simply because of how much of an attention hog both are to any version of the Marvel universe.

Essentialy avoiding the constant questions like "why do the public love y but hate X-men/mutants?", "why didn't the Avengers/FF/etc. help when this happend to mutants?" or "why isn't everyone researching mutants?" and so on.

[the illustrious mr. kenway]

A 4th possibility is that they actively try to avoid introducing the mutants and by extension the X-men too early, simply because of how much of an attention hog both are to any version of the Marvel universe.

Essentialy avoiding the constant questions like "why do the public love y but hate X-men/mutants?", "why didn't the Avengers/FF/etc. help when this happend to mutants?" or "why isn't everyone researching mutants?" and so on.

Then why do Ultimate X-men if they wanna avoid using mutants?

[Rift]

Then why do Ultimate X-men if they wanna avoid using mutants?

Maybe they still want to use mutants, but don't want to go in swinging and making a big fuss right away. Like they want to slowly introduce the concept on a smaller, more intimate level that allows them to develop their cast and their personal stories. The way things are now, the X-Men book can focus solely on mutants and their personal stories, without having to worry about outside influences and the inevitable fallout that will come with an official, established team.

[juffuj5]

Then why do Ultimate X-men if they wanna avoid using mutants?

Will reiterate, the status of the mutants in earth 6160 is very different. The Maker seemingly took out Charles and Erik, and somehow suppressed the growth of mutant population. There’s not as many of them and the ones we know of work for the Maker, meanwhile Storm is a freedom fighter over in Africa. and Ultimate X-Men explores mutants beginning to pop up more frequently. They’re not so common to the point the name “mutant” hasn’t been used.