Comic Book ReCap

Ultimate X-Men vol. 6 - Return of the King

Thanks to the involvement of the Ultimates, the X-Men are are the run and hunted by the government. Treatment on par with that of The Brotherhood, how has been growing. Magneto back in charge, they have been recruiting every mutant possible as he prepares to make the human race suffer. As the old story goes, though, the X-Men try to stop them at every chance while using it as a chance to maybe convince people that they are indeed separate from the Brotherhood. We find out that back in the Savage Land, as Cyclops was falling off a cliff, Wolverine did in fact let him go, trying to rid the competition for Jean Grey. Cyclops was then found by Magneto's men and brought to his asteroid base where he was able to stop his world-destroying plan long enough to signal the X-Men, thus they could save the day. Even as his "plan-b" of setting off a nuclear plant in Miami is under-way, Magneto finds that Jean, tapping into the Phoenix Force, just lifted the ground up and saved the day with all the other mutants Xavier helped "escape" from government holding. By end, Magneto is taken captive by SHIELD, placed into a plastic holding cell like the movie. Rogue and Nightcrawler join the X-Men. Cyclops is able to forgive Wolverine as he does not want them to turn into Xavier and Magneto. And the X-Men are now being funded by SHIELD, leaving Nick Fury to think they are more in control. Oh, and the homosexual innuendos from Colossus are much easier to spot now that I have the foresight to see they make him gay. Totally there the whole time. He even tries to profess his love for Wolverine to him when he thinks they are going to die.

This was a pretty awesome ending to a great run by Mark Millar. As easy as the story was to predict, it was awesome and almost everyone had some sort of a bad-ass moment. As much as I would have preferred more change in the "mutant dynamic" from the launch of a new universe, I am still happy with what Millar has done. It's really just a modern re-telling of old X-Men stories and opposed to making new ones which is the best way to think of it. I for one did not go in with that thought the first time around and it's much more coherent this time. I would definitely recommend reading this book so far, especially if you don't want to try the fifty years of continuity in the real book.

Up Next: New writer Brian Michael Bendis and new artist David Finch take over in Blockbuster