Review: Ultimate X-Men Volume 5: Ultimate War

Having been freed from the rehabilitative mind control that Professor Xavier put him under, Magneto resumes his war against humanity with a fury previously unseen. The X-Men have gone underground to avoid questioning from the government, but are pursued doggedly by the Ultimates. With an inevitable conflict on the horizon, the X-Men must outwit Magneto and avoid being apprehended by the Ultimates.

Ultimate X-Men Volume 5: Ultimate War collects the four-part mini-series Ultimate War, written by Mark Millar and illustrated by Chris Bachalo.

As with much of Mark Millar’s Ultimate work, Ultimate War proves to be an excellent idea in theory, but incredibly flawed in execution. It builds off the events from the pages of Ultimate X-Men. After their original conflict with Magneto, Professor Xavier made the difficult decision to spare Magneto’s life and attempted to rehabilitate him through psychic therapy. In doing so, he lied and allowed the world to believe the world that Magneto was dead by psychically projecting false images of his demise. His plan backfired when Magneto regained his memories, which subsequently resulted in the restarting of his campaign against humans. Both the X-Men and the Ultimates are working towards bringing Magneto down, but the former are wanted by the government for their role in the faking of Magneto’s death. All of this works as the impetus for a conflict between the two teams. A fight between the Ultimate Universe’s two major teams is a great idea, especially when using Magneto as an ideological catalyst for the conflict. While I appreciate Millar’s pared down approach to telling this story, his delivery is off due to the deeply off-putting way he portrays the characters involved.

As I’ve mentioned in my review of Millar’s initial arc on The Ultimates, one of the biggest issues with the Ultimate Universe’s version of the Avengers is that they aren’t even remotely close to being likeable as characters. Though it’s not essential for characters to be likeable in order to be interesting or well-written, Millar fails to add layers to the Ultimates. This is especially evident in Ultimate War. For the most part, they don’t receive any development. There’s no interiority offered to Iron Man, Thor, Black Widow or Hawkeye. They’re just following orders. Captain America, meanwhile, remains the grade-a jerk we saw him as in The Ultimates. He lacks diplomacy and seems to relish the opportunity to wage a war with the X-Men. Then there’s Wasp. She seems to have depth where the others do not. She appears to be more conflicted about the events that are going on around her. She’s a mutant, so she feels understandably quite concerned about whether the government and the team will turn on her as well. However, not enough work is done to truly excavate these worries within her character. Instead, she seems to brush them aside after being given a trite pep talk from Captain America. In reading this mini-series, I didn’t feel compelled to sympathize with or understand the Ultimates. There’s no reason to root for them or to feel that they’re justified in their persecution of the X-Men. Perhaps that was the point. Overall, the X-Men fare better than the Ultimates. They’re infinitely more complex, even though I often don’t like how Millar has chosen to portray them (Storm especially). As such, there’s really no denying that they’re the stars of this mini-series. We’re on their side and are with them in their fight for survival.

Chris Bachalo’s re-teaming with Millar is fortuitous as it elevates what could otherwise be a fairly unmemorable reading experience. I truly love the way he portrays the characters involved and the general atmospheric moodiness that his art lends to any given comic. There are quite a few memorable panels, such as the gorgeously illustrated spread of Wasp shrunken down amongst the flowers in Jean Grey’s father’s greenhouse and the stunning shot of Storm unleashing lightning on her enemies in the final issue. Though Bachalo’s art can sometimes have a certain sameness to it, I do like the effort that was put into making sure each character was distinctive and had their own feel to them. For instance, he gives Black Widow a very harsh look with slicked back hair while Jean Grey has a cuter mod-like appearance. As with anything, Bachalo’s work isn’t without flaws. There’s a very glaring mistake in that he draws Kitty Pryde to look absolutely nothing like what she’s been established as physically. In the pages of Ultimate X-Men, Kitty was drawn to be extremely young. She had curly brown hair and freckles. Here, her freckles are nowhere to be found, her hair is straight and blond, and she appears much older than she should.

If I’m being honest, I liked elements of Ultimate X-Men Volume 5: Ultimate War. It’s actually entertaining in a very mindless way. The art is gorgeous, the action is intense, and there’s a lot of dialogue that’s had on the subject of morality. Still, Millar’s faulty portrayal of beloved Marvel characters goes beyond creative re-imaginings and goes straight into “gritty for the sake of being gritty.” The Ultimates have no depth and the reader’s ability to understand Magneto’s perspective (which is always essential) is lost due to just how sociopathic he seems to be. In actuality, this mini-series would have benefitted from an added issue or two to allow for more action and character development. As is, Ultimate War falls short of its potential.

RATING: C+