Comic Book ReCap

Ultimate X-Men vol. 1-4
As stated earlier, I'ma try to go through all 100 issues of the now over Ultimate X-Men and I figure I would give ya my recaps and opinions. But I'll have to play some quick catch-up
Issues 1-6: The Tomorrow People
Pretty predictable start to a new concept, we see the X-Men as they have to take on Magneto and his Brotherhood. In the Ultimate Universe, the X-Men consist of Marvel Girl, Cyclops, Storm, Beast, Colossus and Iceman. Added to the mix in issue two is Wolverine but that's only because Magneto sent him in as an assassin at the end of issue one, with the task of infiltrating and killing. Thankfully he changes his mind after bangin' Marvel Girl and coming to think the Xavier probably has the right idea in this fight (funny how that's the order of things, huh?). After a quick switching of teams and them coming back to the X-Men, Cyclops must lead the team to the White House where Magneto has taken the president hostage and is going to kill him on national tv. But we all kinda know how it ends. Except in this one, Magneto is killed by Xavier.
Overall, great set-up. For the first story in an X-Men world, you sorta have to have Magneto be the baddie but for making things all new, Mark Millar did his job. Cool new take and a promising start.
Issues 7-12: Return to Weapon X
Can we guess where this is going? The X-Men are attacked by Weapon X and taken captive. Weapon X consists of Sabretooth, Juggernaut, Rogue and Nightcrawler, which makes for an interesting team. Weapon X is using the X-Men to lure back in Wolverine who is more than happy to make a visit.
This one was pretty weak in terms of a new take. Other than the team having two well known good-guys on it, the story was the same kinda stuff we get over in the regular book. Well written and well drawn, just nothing very new. However, this is where black Nick Fury made his first appearance so we do have that and in their experiments, Weapon X managed to turn Beast furry and blue so he's now "full circle".
Issues 13-20: World Tour
Issues 13 and 14 are the Gambit issues and I've already said my part for it so we move on to World Tour where Xavier takes the students on a world tour, promoting his new book about homo-superior and coexistence among everyone. But the tour is cut short when Xavier gets a call from ex-wife Moira Mactaggert, telling him their son Davis is missing.
I really enjoyed this story. Millar did a great job of turning a classic Claremont story (The Prometheus Saga) into something new and yet completely familiar. Charles' son takes over the bodies of others, while feeding off of them, leaving dead bodies everywhere when he needs a new one (which is what Prometheus did). We are introduced to both Davis and Moira but we also get the first appearance of Ultimate Psylock, who is a Brit, mutant detective trying to help. Turns out she is his last victim as she reveals to be him most of the back-half. As he destroys everything around him, Psylock is able to get enough control to tell Xavier to kill her so that he dies too. Colossus, having left the X-Men and doubting his worth for most of the story, is happy to listen and crushes them both with a car. and in the mist of all this, Xavier reveals that he didn't actually kill Magneto, only made him forget who he was. Cool take on a cool story. Millar seems to have a good knack for remaking the X-Men
Issues 21-25: Hellfire and Brimstone
This one kinda surprised me, but I'm not sure if it's for the good or bad. Marvel Girl (having spent time in an asylum before joining the team) begins to have her visions of an ancient, Egyptian Phoenix God again. As this is all going on, Beast, having broken up with Storm (cuz they were dating) has been talking to a nice mutant girl online. Only we know that it's Blob of the Brotherhood and he's only posing to try and infiltrate them again (it's actually a weird plot-thread). Much to Blob's surprise, Beast reveals that Magneto is still alive, and they go after him, wanting their leader back. And this is all interlaced with Jean having her "nightmares". However, as the X-Men go to a fancy dinner with the schools benefactors, the Hellfire Club, they find out it's much worse. Turns out the Hellfire Club worships the Phoenix Force and are using Jean as the vessel to bring it back. As the fire fills the room, and it appears the Phoenix has taken her over, she turns and kills all the Hellfire members (because they are trying to kill her friends, so why wouldn't she). Somehow, Xavier calms her down by convincing her the Phoenix isn't real and that she's just losing control of her powers. We know otherwise, but it gets the job done. It goes from bad to worse, though, as after this, the sky fills with metal objects spelling "Thank You Charles". Magneto is back.
I think I like this story. I liked that he downplayed the "big" story of the Phoenix and just moved on. I'm pretty sure it does come back done the line, but it didn't stay to long to start. I am however getting a little tired of Andy Kubert's art. It's not horrible but he looks more and more rushed each issue and they probably should have used more fill-in artists.