Written by: Brian Michael Bendis
Art by: Mahmud Asrar
Publisher: Marvel
All New X-Men is a great series, but man I could really go for a good straight X-Men story from it.
So the one thing that has been continually hyped from this series since The Trial of Jean Grey, the emergence of Miles Morales crossing over with the 616 Marvel Universe, has finally happened. While the idea itself may some like a controversial topic for some (you got your Spiderman in my X-Men!), on pure principle alone it makes sense. The current X-Men lineup consists of ostracized teenagers with distinct sets of superpowers and this seems like a natural fit for Ultimate Spiderman. The only problem I have with this, however, is in the execution. Instead of having Miles directly enter the current Marvel Continuity, Bendis instead ops to have the X-Men enter the Ultimate Universe and delivers a sort of crash course of background information for said universe along with it.
While the issue itself is well written, it doesn’t really feel like an X-Men book, instead coming across as a sort of tertiary introduction to a new continuity. However the character moments that are present in this issue work, and work well, specifically the conversation Jean Grey has with Miles Morales. While many of the other X-Men are confronted with (sort of convoluted) Ultimate versions of unrecognizable characters (this is due to the fact that the Ultimate Universe is over ten years old), Jean’s conversation with Ultimate Spiderman works well, I just feel like it would have been so much better if Miles was introduced to the 616 universe, instead of the other way around. While Stuart Immonen’s pencils are definitely missed, Asrar’s double page spread that explains Ultimate Spiderman’s origin within his universe is breathtaking.
While we’ll see how long our X-Men’s sojourn into the Ultimate Universe lasts, at least we can rely on great character moments and bright, colorful art from this series when all is said and done.
