Ultimate X-Men #2 - Letterless Preview

[Grunty]

While true, it does seem strange to go about crafting a cast that purposely isn’t made up of the usual A-listers only to have an A-lister clone in the roster.

Not to forget having the second introduced character be an original creation, while there is the well known ever growing pile of underused B- and C-listers that could be used and re-imagined instead.

Something which allready seems to have puzzled fans/viewers with Spyke in Evolution (though admittedly the origins of the character are rather interesting because of how it can a look into the difficulties of adaptations).

[Kurolegacy]

Huge fan of the OG Ultimate X-Men here. Though, not as explosive start, it's still a promising story for me as I dig the first issue. There's actually a post from Peach Momoko's FB page that along the way that there will be a team eventually. So, I'll stick with this title as I know it will be more interesting as it builds up to more characters and become a team.

The thing that’s worrying for me is that the post not only mentions that things are going to be slow and the they go with the vagueness of “eventually” there will be a team. That could very well mean that the X-Men team of the book called X-Men has no definitive point at which it will actually happen. It could be by the end of the arc, it could be a year down the line before we see the very team the book is named about and given how drastically different they want to go with this to the point of also saying there are no super hero battles, who knows if the wait will end up worth it. Hell, I wouldn’t put it past this book to have the X-Men end up as a club they put together at school that investigates the happenings around their town rather than actual super heroes.

[juffuj5]

The thing that’s worrying for me is that the post not only mentions that things are going to be slow and the they go with the vagueness of “eventually” there will be a team. That could very well mean that the X-Men team of the book called X-Men has no definitive point at which it will actually happen. It could be by the end of the arc, it could be a year down the line before we see the very team the book is named about and given how drastically different they want to go with this to the point of also saying there are no super hero battles, who knows if the wait will end up worth it. Hell, I wouldn’t put it past this book to have the X-Men end up as a club they put together at school that investigates the happenings around their town rather than actual super heroes.

The solicitation for the first issue did confirm a team, we’re just watching mutants starting to emerge in this universe. Plus the preview art for issue 2 showed an action scene. It feels like the first 4 issues will focus on Armor and Maystorm and then after we’ll see them trying to find more mutants. Plus them fighting threats around town doesn’t make them superheroes?

[MarvelMaster616]

Didn't like the first issue at all. But I am willing to give the second issue a chance in hopes that it's actually building towards something.

However, I'm genuinely concerned about Maystorm because the track record for original characters in Ultimate Marvel is not great, Miles Morales notwithstanding. She could either be the one that saves this title or she could be the next Geldoff.

Another concern is that it just feels like this title would be making the same mistake by, instead of giving us more recognizable characters people associate with X-Men, they're giving us rip-offs or derivatives. Ultimate tried that last time with characters like Jimmy Hudson, Ray Connor, Monica Chang, Tyrone Cash, and Teddy Allen. None of them stuck at all. And unlike many of those characters, Storm is actually alive in this Ultimate Universe. We saw her show up in Black Panther. But instead of using another character or someone who idolizes someone else, we're getting someone who is basically a replacement or placeholder for Storm?

Not saying it can't work. I'll wait and see how Maystorm is a character. But if history is any guide, she'll have an uphill battle as an OC.

[Laser_Man]

Another big name comic book being made by someone who doesn't want to be writing comic books.

This is obviously the author's OC manga but she has the backing of a company like Marvel for this project. There is nothing here which even remotely resembles X-Men and saying "eventually" there will be a team is so vague.

I don't even care about the classic X-Men characters. Give me a new cast with cool new powers and personalities. But the vibe of the book has to be like X-Men and sadly it is not.

People who wanted to read her write a new manga will be happy, I personally am not bothering with it.

[Kurolegacy]

The solicitation for the first issue did confirm a team, we’re just watching mutants starting to emerge in this universe. Plus the preview art for issue 2 showed an action scene. It feels like the first 4 issues will focus on Armor and Maystorm and then after we’ll see them trying to find more mutants. Plus them fighting threats around town doesn’t make them superheroes?

Solicits are basically blurbs that don’t always tell the truth of what will be in the issue. And while they said there will eventually be a team, like I said, it’s the eventually part that is concerning because eventually gives zero indication of how long they plan to drag things out before actually forming the titular team. And I wouldn’t really call what we saw in the preview here as much of an action scene as it’s really no indication that we’ll see any more action than we saw in the first issue which amounted to all of a short sequence especially since from what we see here, they’re just running away. And for them just dealing with things around time gives off as street level small scale that still feels entirely divorced from the rest of the universe especially the likes of the faction of the Maker’s council that have control over their region of the world.

[Rift]

Another big name comic book being made by someone who doesn't want to be writing comic books.

This is obviously the author's OC manga but she has the backing of a company like Marvel for this project. There is nothing here which even remotely resembles X-Men and saying "eventually" there will be a team is so vague.

I don't even care about the classic X-Men characters. Give me a new cast with cool new powers and personalities. But the vibe of the book has to be like X-Men and sadly it is not.

People who wanted to read her write a new manga will be happy, I personally am not bothering with it.

I don't think that's entirely fair. I get people being disappointed with the new and different direction, since it's not what people are expecting. Especially when the vibe feels pretty different so far. And there's nothing wrong with wanting a comic instead of a manga.

But I don't think Momoko going for a different direction is necessarily bad here. That she doesn't want to make a comic. Because taking cues from manga can be a great idea. Like there are many reasons why manga are popular, and borrowing some of them to grow is natural. Stories should feel free to take influence from each other and grow. Heck, some very popular anime were inspired by Western media, and we've had some good cartoons inspired by anime.

And this book isn't some "X-Men in Name Only" thing. They specifically chose an established (if lesser-known) X-Man who's been in the franchise for 20 years now. Armor's powers are more unique and cool, while still being recognizably her. Her plotline with Wing inspired Tsubasa and his death, and a lot of people were able to recognize the connection. There's a good chance the main villain is the Shadow King, or one of the X-Men's other longtime villains. Solicits already tell us Maystorm is going to help Armor understand her powers and what it all means. The book is clearly drawing a lot of ideas from various parts of the X-Men franchise, while still trying to get us used to the new status quo, what mutants are and what the characters are like.

The art style, different tone and choice of characters so far are different from what was expected. But it's still distinctly X. I don't think it's fair to immediately dismiss it just because some of its connections to the X-line aren't immediately obvious. And yeah yeah, Spider-Man is more recognizable to its 616 counterpart while still making changes. But Spider-Man is a single character and has much less room to deviate. And I don't think that other stories playing it relatively safe means that UXM needs to do the same. Especially when they have more room to play around with lore, powers and characters.

I also know there's some trepidation around there "eventually" being a team and the book being more traditional. You don't want to spend months waiting for something that might come, and might not even be satisfying if it does. But in this instance, I think it's reasonable to let Momoko cook. The book needs time to develop its new ideas, and it needs time to delve into the old stuff. This is also the perfect time to work on a smaller scale. Because once the team gets established and gets involved with the rest of the Ultimate verse, you can't put the genie back in the bottle.

All that said, Maystorm. Maystorm. She is a weird choice, I'll admit. My guess is that Momoko either wanted to use her, or Marvel is trying to test the waters for these sidekick characters after Spider-Boy's success. They already made those variant covers and showed them off in that Timeless one-shot. They're also variants of older characters - which is something Marvel loves, almost as much as they love fusing two character concepts together to make... variants of older characters. Yeah, I'm iffy on Maystorm. I would have preferred Surge instead.

[Nicoclaws]

I think I would have less issues with Maystorm if Storm had already appeared in the new Ultimate universe.

I would have preferred Mach-3, she was an ultimate character, and a Magneto wannabe, so that would have make more sense in my head.

[juffuj5]

I think I would have less issues with Maystorm if Storm had already appeared in the new Ultimate universe.

I would have preferred Mach-3, she was an ultimate character, and a Magneto wannabe, so that would have make more sense in my head.

Storm appeared in Ultimate Black Panther 1, she doesn’t speak but we see her and Killmonger save a kid. No doubt we’ll see her again in issue 2

[juffuj5]

I don't think that's entirely fair. I get people being disappointed with the new and different direction, since it's not what people are expecting. Especially when the vibe feels pretty different so far. And there's nothing wrong with wanting a comic instead of a manga.

But I don't think Momoko going for a different direction is necessarily bad here. That she doesn't want to make a comic. Because taking cues from manga can be a great idea. Like there are many reasons why manga are popular, and borrowing some of them to grow is natural. Stories should feel free to take influence from each other and grow. Heck, some very popular anime were inspired by Western media, and we've had some good cartoons inspired by anime.

And this book isn't some "X-Men in Name Only" thing. They specifically chose an established (if lesser-known) X-Man who's been in the franchise for 20 years now. Armor's powers are more unique and cool, while still being recognizably her. Her plotline with Wing inspired Tsubasa and his death, and a lot of people were able to recognize the connection. There's a good chance the main villain is the Shadow King, or one of the X-Men's other longtime villains. Solicits already tell us Maystorm is going to help Armor understand her powers and what it all means. The book is clearly drawing a lot of ideas from various parts of the X-Men franchise, while still trying to get us used to the new status quo, what mutants are and what the characters are like.

The art style, different tone and choice of characters so far are different from what was expected. But it's still distinctly X. I don't think it's fair to immediately dismiss it just because some of its connections to the X-line aren't immediately obvious. And yeah yeah, Spider-Man is more recognizable to its 616 counterpart while still making changes. But Spider-Man is a single character and has much less room to deviate. And I don't think that other stories playing it relatively safe means that UXM needs to do the same. Especially when they have more room to play around with lore, powers and characters.

I also know there's some trepidation around there "eventually" being a team and the book being more traditional. You don't want to spend months waiting for something that might come, and might not even be satisfying if it does. But in this instance, I think it's reasonable to let Momoko cook. The book needs time to develop its new ideas, and it needs time to delve into the old stuff. This is also the perfect time to work on a smaller scale. Because once the team gets established and gets involved with the rest of the Ultimate verse, you can't put the genie back in the bottle.

All that said, Maystorm. Maystorm. She is a weird choice, I'll admit. My guess is that Momoko either wanted to use her, or Marvel is trying to test the waters for these sidekick characters after Spider-Boy's success. They already made those variant covers and showed them off in that Timeless one-shot. They're also variants of older characters - which is something Marvel loves, almost as much as they love fusing two character concepts together to make... variants of older characters. Yeah, I'm iffy on Maystorm. I would have preferred Surge instead.

In one of her interviews, Peach said Marvel offered to let her use Maystorm or any original character

[Nicoclaws]

Storm appeared in Ultimate Black Panther 1, she doesn’t speak but we see her and Killmonger save a kid. No doubt we’ll see her again in issue 2

Arf, my bad, then. xD as i said i'm coming around the idea of the character anyways

[Frontier]

So Japanese Storm.

I remember when I actually tried coming up with an anime/Japanese re-imagining of the X-Men I tried to port certain characters as is without needing to race-change them but Storm is already in Ultimate Black Panther so...

And you've got to have at least one character with white hair.

[MarvelMaster616]

So Japanese Storm.

I remember when I actually tried coming up with an anime/Japanese re-imagining of the X-Men I tried to port certain characters as is without needing to race-change them but Storm is already in Ultimate Black Panther so...

And you've got to have at least one character with white hair.

So, this title can't use Storm. Instead, we're getting what is essentially a replacement character who's somehow supposed to fill that massive void?

Yeah, that won't work. Marvel already tried this before with Ultimate X-Men. They tried to replace Wolverine with Jimmy Hudson. They tried to replace Blob with Teddy Allen. They tried to replace Angel with Derek Morgan.

None of those characters worked. And the less said about Geldoff, the better.

[MarvelMaster616]

In one of her interviews, Peach said Marvel offered to let her use Maystorm or any original character

Further proof that they truly did not care about this title and had no real vision for it.

[juffuj5]

So, this title can't use Storm. Instead, we're getting what is essentially a replacement character who's somehow supposed to fill that massive void?

Yeah, that won't work. Marvel already tried this before with Ultimate X-Men. They tried to replace Wolverine with Jimmy Hudson. They tried to replace Blob with Teddy Allen. They tried to replace Angel with Derek Morgan.

None of those characters worked. And the less said about Geldoff, the better.

Maystorm and Storm are co-existing though, not replacing her