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Ultimate X-Men (2001) (Single Issues) #66-74, Annual #2
Ultimate X-Men Collection, Book 7
This deluxe anthology collects 'Ultimate X-Men' volumes 'Phoenix' and 'Magical', plus extras. In 'Phoenix', our heroes kick back with their significant others after their recent encounter with the master of magnetism. Meanwhile, in 'Magical', we meet the mysterious mutant called the Magician.
Collecting Ultimate X-Men #66-74, Annual #2.
Collecting Ultimate X-Men #66-74, Annual #2.
256 pages, Hardcover
First published August 8, 2007
About the author
Robert Kirkman
2,577 books7,082 followersRobert Kirkman is an American comic book writer best known for his work on The Walking Dead, Invincible for Image Comics, as well as Ultimate X-Men and Marvel Zombies for Marvel Comics. He has also collaborated with Image Comics co-founder Todd McFarlane on the series Haunt. He is one of the five partners of Image Comics, and the only one of the five who was not one of the original co-founders of that publisher.
Robert Kirkman's first comic books were self-published under his own Funk-o-Tron label. Along with childhood friend Tony Moore, Kirkman created Battle Pope which was published in late 2001. Battle Pope ran for over 2 years along with other Funk-o-Tron published books such as InkPunks and Double Take.
In July of 2002, Robert's first work for another company began, with a 4-part SuperPatriot series for Image, along with Battle Pope backup story artist Cory Walker. Robert's creator-owned projects followed shortly thereafter, including Tech Jacket, Invincible and Walking Dead.
Robert Kirkman's first comic books were self-published under his own Funk-o-Tron label. Along with childhood friend Tony Moore, Kirkman created Battle Pope which was published in late 2001. Battle Pope ran for over 2 years along with other Funk-o-Tron published books such as InkPunks and Double Take.
In July of 2002, Robert's first work for another company began, with a 4-part SuperPatriot series for Image, along with Battle Pope backup story artist Cory Walker. Robert's creator-owned projects followed shortly thereafter, including Tech Jacket, Invincible and Walking Dead.
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
October 27, 2022
This one starts with Ultimate X-Men, Vol. 14: Phoenix? which begins with date nights that include Jean getting closer to Scott, a homophobic team member, a Spidey team-up; rekindled passion and the Ultimate versions of Lilandra and the Shi'Ar, and finishes with a bit carnage.
This is quickly followed with the quick absorption of a new team member Magical in the previous volume suddenly not sitting right with our Ultimate mutants in Ultimate X-Men, Vol. 15: Magical. These volumes see a big uplift in the quality of the immediate storytelling while maintain the overall ongoing plot lines, as well as increasing the amount of real jeopardy the team face. This collection is finished with more Robert Kirkman, with Ultimate X-Men Annual #2 in which a team member essentially loses his mind! 7 out 12 overall.
2022 read; 2017 read; 2011 read
This is quickly followed with the quick absorption of a new team member Magical in the previous volume suddenly not sitting right with our Ultimate mutants in Ultimate X-Men, Vol. 15: Magical. These volumes see a big uplift in the quality of the immediate storytelling while maintain the overall ongoing plot lines, as well as increasing the amount of real jeopardy the team face. This collection is finished with more Robert Kirkman, with Ultimate X-Men Annual #2 in which a team member essentially loses his mind! 7 out 12 overall.
2022 read; 2017 read; 2011 read
December 9, 2024
"So what exactly are you going to do to me--crazy me to death?"
November 4, 2019
The Phoenix/shi'ar stuff was pretty blah. They just refuse to commit.
The Magician stuff was a very cute story.
The Magician stuff was a very cute story.
May 17, 2026
I don’t like Invincible and this is just Invincible but with the X-Men
So here’s the thing… I’m not the biggest fan of Kirkman's writing, at least when it comes to his superhero stuff, and especially when he deals with young heroes. I don’t mind Walking Dead and Marvel Zombies is palatable and Battle Pope is actually really stupid but kinda cool in its own stupidity and his current Transformers run (while paced like a dying turtle taking its pet snail out for a leisurely walk) has been mostly fine with the major exception of Issue #30 of it; but I cannot get into Invincible at all, not with the comic and not with the show and this really is just Invincible but with X-Men characters.
I find Kirkman’s weird obsession with young characters' sex lives as just kind of uncomfortable; now I’m not the puritan kind, I understand how establishing some characters' sex lives can help establish their relationships and give a feeling for what is at stake between them, but the way Kirkman writes it feels like he’s just doing it to avoid writing anything else that might be an interesting way to develop a relationship.
I will admit that the character of Elliot Boggs is an interesting mean that Kirkman uses to criticize the superhero genre and how idolizing these characters and not distinguishing between reality and fiction (in this case by literally warping reality around him) is interesting, but I feel maybe it could’ve gone on longer and the stuff with the Phoenix and his take on the Shi'ar is… pretty lame and has that issue that Millar's Ultimates falls into where replacing what was there with a "more grounded" version of something ends up making it worse than what it originally was.
I get that Kirkman kind of hates anything superhero related and at least on that front he’s a more restrained Mark Millar or Garth Ennis, but you can feel that he has no respect for the characters of the X-Men and probably hates them and for proof of that, look no further than his take on Nightcrawler.
Now I kind of already didn’t care much for a lot of the changes this take on the X-Men introduced, but the straight up character assassination of ol' Kurt Wagner aka Nightcrawler is the biggest sour point for me. Kirkman depicts him as a massive dickhead with all his teammates, a straight up obsessive psycho with Dazzler and a a massive homophobic prick towards Colossus (I know in the book he says that it’s because Colossus hid that fact from him rather than the fact he might be gay, but it’s still written in such a way where it feels like that’s just his excuse) and he tries to cover it all up by trying to have other characters act like it’s a "realistic" depiction of PTSD. Just a terrible handling of a character Kirkman very clearly doesn’t like, something that can be applied to everyone else tbf, but especially Kurt.
Overall, it’s a Kirkman book alright, where you can clearly see his lack of interest or respect in any of these characters, and that’s fine, it’s his right, he’s allowed to not like them; but don’t make him write them when he doesn’t like them. If you like Invincible you will probably like it because like I said, it’s just that but with X-Men characters and that’s its biggest downfall for me.
So here’s the thing… I’m not the biggest fan of Kirkman's writing, at least when it comes to his superhero stuff, and especially when he deals with young heroes. I don’t mind Walking Dead and Marvel Zombies is palatable and Battle Pope is actually really stupid but kinda cool in its own stupidity and his current Transformers run (while paced like a dying turtle taking its pet snail out for a leisurely walk) has been mostly fine with the major exception of Issue #30 of it; but I cannot get into Invincible at all, not with the comic and not with the show and this really is just Invincible but with X-Men characters.
I find Kirkman’s weird obsession with young characters' sex lives as just kind of uncomfortable; now I’m not the puritan kind, I understand how establishing some characters' sex lives can help establish their relationships and give a feeling for what is at stake between them, but the way Kirkman writes it feels like he’s just doing it to avoid writing anything else that might be an interesting way to develop a relationship.
I will admit that the character of Elliot Boggs is an interesting mean that Kirkman uses to criticize the superhero genre and how idolizing these characters and not distinguishing between reality and fiction (in this case by literally warping reality around him) is interesting, but I feel maybe it could’ve gone on longer and the stuff with the Phoenix and his take on the Shi'ar is… pretty lame and has that issue that Millar's Ultimates falls into where replacing what was there with a "more grounded" version of something ends up making it worse than what it originally was.
I get that Kirkman kind of hates anything superhero related and at least on that front he’s a more restrained Mark Millar or Garth Ennis, but you can feel that he has no respect for the characters of the X-Men and probably hates them and for proof of that, look no further than his take on Nightcrawler.
Now I kind of already didn’t care much for a lot of the changes this take on the X-Men introduced, but the straight up character assassination of ol' Kurt Wagner aka Nightcrawler is the biggest sour point for me. Kirkman depicts him as a massive dickhead with all his teammates, a straight up obsessive psycho with Dazzler and a a massive homophobic prick towards Colossus (I know in the book he says that it’s because Colossus hid that fact from him rather than the fact he might be gay, but it’s still written in such a way where it feels like that’s just his excuse) and he tries to cover it all up by trying to have other characters act like it’s a "realistic" depiction of PTSD. Just a terrible handling of a character Kirkman very clearly doesn’t like, something that can be applied to everyone else tbf, but especially Kurt.
Overall, it’s a Kirkman book alright, where you can clearly see his lack of interest or respect in any of these characters, and that’s fine, it’s his right, he’s allowed to not like them; but don’t make him write them when he doesn’t like them. If you like Invincible you will probably like it because like I said, it’s just that but with X-Men characters and that’s its biggest downfall for me.
April 23, 2025
Siódmą odsłonę przygód młodych X-men w świecie Ultimate męczyłem całkiem długo. Nie jest to zła pozycja, a autorem jest w końcu sam Kirkman, czyli ojciec The Walking Dead, ale po raz pierwszy historia mnie momentami wynudziła. A przynajmniej jej pierwsza połowa.
Bo mamy tu dwa segmenty. W pierwszej do Xaviera zgłasza się niejaki Lilandra, która chce przebadać Jean Grey na obecność istoty zwanej Phoenix. Jednocześnie ekipa przeżywa swoje rozterki i utarczki, wzmacniając więzi. Lub przeciwnie, jak Colossus z Nightcrawlerem. I to jest cześć, która potrafi znużyć. Akcja jest przewidywalna, a autor serwuje nam 'kwintesencje' serii, ale w najsłabszy dotychczasowy sposób.
Potem jest już lepiej. Pojawia się nowy mutant, niejaki Magician, którego poziom mocy jest naprawdę imponujący i jego obecność mocno wzmacnia ekipę. Niestety, jak się okazuje, kiedy wydaje się za dobrze, coś się tu nie zgadza i odkrycie nowego zagrożenia będzie głównym zadaniem ekipy. Na koniec dostajemy jeszcze annual z Nightcrawlerem w roli głównej. To nie jest już ten religijny chłopiec, jakiego znacie...
Seria zmierza do końca, bo zostają bodajże jeszcze dwa tomy, o ile Egmont nie zaskoczy z rozbiciem ostatniego zbiorczego tytułu i w sumie się cieszę. Lwia część poprzednich historii była naprawdę niezła, ale tu już nieco czuć przemęczenie materiału. A warto zejść ze sceny niepokonanym...
Bo mamy tu dwa segmenty. W pierwszej do Xaviera zgłasza się niejaki Lilandra, która chce przebadać Jean Grey na obecność istoty zwanej Phoenix. Jednocześnie ekipa przeżywa swoje rozterki i utarczki, wzmacniając więzi. Lub przeciwnie, jak Colossus z Nightcrawlerem. I to jest cześć, która potrafi znużyć. Akcja jest przewidywalna, a autor serwuje nam 'kwintesencje' serii, ale w najsłabszy dotychczasowy sposób.
Potem jest już lepiej. Pojawia się nowy mutant, niejaki Magician, którego poziom mocy jest naprawdę imponujący i jego obecność mocno wzmacnia ekipę. Niestety, jak się okazuje, kiedy wydaje się za dobrze, coś się tu nie zgadza i odkrycie nowego zagrożenia będzie głównym zadaniem ekipy. Na koniec dostajemy jeszcze annual z Nightcrawlerem w roli głównej. To nie jest już ten religijny chłopiec, jakiego znacie...
Seria zmierza do końca, bo zostają bodajże jeszcze dwa tomy, o ile Egmont nie zaskoczy z rozbiciem ostatniego zbiorczego tytułu i w sumie się cieszę. Lwia część poprzednich historii była naprawdę niezła, ale tu już nieco czuć przemęczenie materiału. A warto zejść ze sceny niepokonanym...
November 5, 2023
This is almost a 4 from me. Kirkman’s run on the X-Men doesn’t reach the heights of Millar’s but neither does it hit the lows of Bendis’s, but it’s not mediocre like Vaughn’s. Kirkman takes a more traditional approach by telling ongoing stories in small chunks instead of the then-popular 6 issue blocks—ie, the “writing for the trade” approach that often feels underdone, stretched out, decompressed. Maybe with a smaller team and a stronger direction Kirkman could have made something special but I respect his decision to carry on the book as he found it while also doing something completely new for the Ultimate line (the Magician storyline.)
March 27, 2019
This book is really good i love the pictures and the x-men are really good for chidren to read
February 25, 2024
This series got so much better when robert Kirkman took over and I'm all for it.
November 25, 2016
I've been a big fan of the Ultimate X-Men series, and to date have not been disappointed in one of the series' hardcover collections. I certainly wasn't expecting to be less than thrilled by Robert Kirkman's run on the title. I absolutely love his Invincible series, and had high expectations going into this volume.
The storyline essentially focuses on two major events - the advent of the Phoenix force in Jean Grey, and the arrival of the powerful new student called The Magician. Maybe it's a case of "been there, done that", but the Magician's abilities are a little too close to those of Xavier's wayward son Proteus, and this series has already covered that ground. As to the Jean Grey storyline; at this point I think I have Phoenix fatigue. Seriously, has any other story been told to death like the Phoenix saga?
I hate to knock such a talented writer, but this just isn't what I had hoped for from Robert Kirkman, whose Invincible totally sets the standard for the whole teenage superhero genre. His dialogue is fine, as is his understanding of the characters. It's just the major events in the story that fall flat, and that's hard to get over. I will say that his Nightcrawler sub-plot is absolutely compelling, and will no doubt infuriate long-time fans of the character.
The artwork in this volume, as in previous collections, is a bit uneven. Tom Raney handles most of the penciling, and he's as solid as expected. The Ben Oliver issues just don't fit the style of the book. Artistically, the highlight of the book is Salvador Larocca's work on the second Ultimate X-Men Annual, which brings the aforementioned Nightcrawler story to a climax.
Overall, this is a decent enough installment in the Ultimate X-Men saga. It just isn't up to the standard I expect both from the series and this particular writer. It is enough to keep me around for volume 8 though.
The storyline essentially focuses on two major events - the advent of the Phoenix force in Jean Grey, and the arrival of the powerful new student called The Magician. Maybe it's a case of "been there, done that", but the Magician's abilities are a little too close to those of Xavier's wayward son Proteus, and this series has already covered that ground. As to the Jean Grey storyline; at this point I think I have Phoenix fatigue. Seriously, has any other story been told to death like the Phoenix saga?
I hate to knock such a talented writer, but this just isn't what I had hoped for from Robert Kirkman, whose Invincible totally sets the standard for the whole teenage superhero genre. His dialogue is fine, as is his understanding of the characters. It's just the major events in the story that fall flat, and that's hard to get over. I will say that his Nightcrawler sub-plot is absolutely compelling, and will no doubt infuriate long-time fans of the character.
The artwork in this volume, as in previous collections, is a bit uneven. Tom Raney handles most of the penciling, and he's as solid as expected. The Ben Oliver issues just don't fit the style of the book. Artistically, the highlight of the book is Salvador Larocca's work on the second Ultimate X-Men Annual, which brings the aforementioned Nightcrawler story to a climax.
Overall, this is a decent enough installment in the Ultimate X-Men saga. It just isn't up to the standard I expect both from the series and this particular writer. It is enough to keep me around for volume 8 though.
January 23, 2012
So much happened in this volume. While reading it I felt everything with "Magician" was center stage, but once I was done it really felt like the least important story being told in here (also a tad on the predictable side).
It's nice to see the Phoenix saga, who's initially delivery left EVERYTHING to be desired in the ultimate universe, spanning out a little and getting better. I found my self wanting to immediately pick p the next volume and read it to find out what happens with Jean.
Above all the stand out story for me was Night-crawler going over the deep end. I really enjoyed the story, and it's one of those times where I've felt he ultimate version of a character going in a totally different version of the mainstream version worked out amazingly. He came off as such a great antagonist. And while I was reading it I was initially a little displeased that his rampant homophobia was coming off as something kind of explained away as just being "cause he was crazy." Prejudice is vile, and I dislike when someone gets a pass on having those detestable personal feelings which it felt they were saying by implying he was just a schmuck cause weapon X made him that way. But then there was that amazing, intense scene with Rogue talking to him where she tells him she's seen in his head and she knows he's on the inside, and he really is a monster. In having her say that, it spells out that he doesn't get the free pass morally for what others did to him, hes still a shitty guy regardless.
It's nice to see the Phoenix saga, who's initially delivery left EVERYTHING to be desired in the ultimate universe, spanning out a little and getting better. I found my self wanting to immediately pick p the next volume and read it to find out what happens with Jean.
Above all the stand out story for me was Night-crawler going over the deep end. I really enjoyed the story, and it's one of those times where I've felt he ultimate version of a character going in a totally different version of the mainstream version worked out amazingly. He came off as such a great antagonist. And while I was reading it I was initially a little displeased that his rampant homophobia was coming off as something kind of explained away as just being "cause he was crazy." Prejudice is vile, and I dislike when someone gets a pass on having those detestable personal feelings which it felt they were saying by implying he was just a schmuck cause weapon X made him that way. But then there was that amazing, intense scene with Rogue talking to him where she tells him she's seen in his head and she knows he's on the inside, and he really is a monster. In having her say that, it spells out that he doesn't get the free pass morally for what others did to him, hes still a shitty guy regardless.
May 6, 2013
Ce premier tome rassemble deux ou trois histoires mettant en scène la joyeuse bande de mutants.
On y verra encore passer l'ombre du phénix, mais aussi un mutant aux pouvoirs très puissants, et très curieux, et enfin une évolution substantielle de la relation entre Diablo et Dazzler.
Je ne cesse pas d'être int��ressé par la dynamique émotionelle mise en place entre les personnages. Dynamique qui va bien au-dela du statut de mutant représentatif pour aller droit vers l'humain caché sous l'uniforme.
On y verra encore passer l'ombre du phénix, mais aussi un mutant aux pouvoirs très puissants, et très curieux, et enfin une évolution substantielle de la relation entre Diablo et Dazzler.
Je ne cesse pas d'être int��ressé par la dynamique émotionelle mise en place entre les personnages. Dynamique qui va bien au-dela du statut de mutant représentatif pour aller droit vers l'humain caché sous l'uniforme.
May 16, 2010
The theme in this Comic book was that you shouldnt trust people at first sight because they may have a motive. They could alos be lying to you. Another theme is that everyone can find romance even if the are 8ft tall and 5ft wide.
May 11, 2013
The Phoenix story is good. But just don't like the art.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews