Brief History:

When I first heard about Marvel making a separate X-Men series entitled “Ultimate X-Men,” I was a little hesitate in reading it at first because it was going to be a totally different version of the classic X-Men series that I grew up with. But when I read this small collection of “Ultimate X-Men” stories written by Mark Millar along with artwork by Adam Kubert, I was actually blown away by how interesting and exciting this collection really is!

What is the story?

This collection of stories from Mark Millar’s run on “Ultimate X-Men,” which basically started the series, collects both volumes one and two from the “Ultimate X-Men” series which were called “The Tomorrow People” and “Return to Weapon X.” In “The Tomorrow People,” the X-Men are recruited by Professor Xavier and they try to fight against Magneto and his Brotherhood of mutants as they try to wipe out all the humans on the Earth. In the second story “Return to Weapon X,” Wolverine’s old adversary Colonel Wraith comes and kidnaps the X-Men and forces them to work for him. Can the X-Men escape this vicious villain?

What I loved about this comic:

Mark Millar’s writing: I will admit that when I heard about the new “Ultimate X-Men” series, I thought that these new revisions of the classic X-Men characters that I grew up with would turn out to be terrible. But I was totally surprised by how this collection turned out to be! Mark Millar has done an excellent job at rewriting the classic X-Men characters by transforming the teenage X-Men that started out during the 1960s to teenage X-Men that grew up during the 2000s era. Mark Millar made the characters come much more alive by giving them mannerisms of teenagers during the 2000s, while giving each character a certain depth to their personalities. I also loved the changes that Mark Millar incorporated into these characters such as making Colossus be apart of the Russian Mafia instead of being the simple and humble farmer boy that he was portrayed in the mainstream universe, or making Storm into a more hip teenager as opposed to the regal beauty she is portrayed in the mainstream universe. These changes really made me relate to the characters even more and it is definitely easier for the current audience to relate to these characters also.

Adam Kubert’s artwork: I really enjoyed Adam Kubert’s artwork in this collection as it does have that scratchy look and sometimes, the characters’ heads are a little lop sided, but they are detailed in expressing the characters’ reactions to the series and it gives this collection a sort of gritty feel to the stories. I also loved the way that Adam Kubert illustrated some of the action scenes in this collection as they are detailed and exciting to look at. My favorite image in this collection was during the “Return to Weapon X” storyline where Colossus stops a whole train with his bare hands. This scene was brilliantly executed and I just cannot stop looking at this brilliant scene of Colossus stopping the train with his bare hands.



The characters: I just loved how the characters were portrayed in this collection from “Ultimate X-Men!” They are hip but they have a lot of depth to their character. I really enjoyed Colossus’ slightly different interpretation of his attitude from the mainstream universe as he is portrayed as being outspoken and tough. However, Colossus still maintains that friendly nature that he is famous for in the mainstream universe. I also loved what they did with Storm as she has a more bubbly personality in this universe and yet is willing to fight anyone who harms her friends. I also loved the fact that Jean Grey is portrayed as being a confident and caring person in this universe as it really made me really love her character.

Final Thoughts:

Overall, “Ultimate X-Men: Ultimate Collection Book One” is a brilliant collection of stories from the first run of “Ultimate X-Men” and any fan of the “Ultimate X-Men” franchise will definitely enjoy this small collection!