Ultimate X-Men #87

While I am second to none in my admiration for Robert Kirkman’s Invincible, his Ultimate X-Men leaves me completely cold. I don’t see any significant progression here. The storyline seems to tread water, and the characters don’t seem to be moving anywhere. This is clearly writing for the trade, and it bugs the heck out of me.

One of the problems is that I think Kirkman has wandered too far from the core conceit of any X-Men title: A school that trains mutants in the use of their powers while acting to defuse mutant-human tensions. Contrast this title to the much better X-Men: First Class, and you’ll see what I mean. Right now the team is floundering -- half is serving with Bishop as a strike force, while the other half is trying to run the school, which is frankly bizarre. Yes, back in the Silver Age I was able to swallow Cyclops taking over for Prof. X, despite the fact that he was a teenager, but I’m having a LOT more trouble swallowing it here. Sorry, but a boarding school needs an adult running it.

My final complaint is with the villains of the piece, the Sentinels. This storyline introduced the Trask family into the Ultimate universe, but it would seem Trask isn’t quite the inventor he was in the normal Marvel U. These Sentinels fold like cheap card tables, and it’s tough to consider them any type of threat. I’m sorry to say it, but this title feels rushed and simplistic, like Kirkman is phoning it in, and I expect better of him.