Friday, February 5, 2010

Ultimate X #1

Whether or not to buy this issue - it was a tough call.

On the plus side, Ultimate X is drawn by Art Adams, who's one of my all-time favorite artists, and one of a limited number whose work I'll buy no matter where it shows up (well, almost).

On the negative side, it's is written by Jeph Loeb, who has done a lot of great work in the past, but in recent years has been turning out some shaky comics - Ultimatum, anyone?

Finally, Art trumped caution, so I picked up this issue - but I still find myself on the fence.

As expected, the artwork is tremendous. Loaded with creative angles, loads of detail that bring each scene to life, beautiful women and handsome men, and lots of powerful emotion, Adams' work makes the issue sing with life and energy.

But as I feared, the story just kinda lays there. It focuses on young Jimmy Hudson, a teen who is apparently related to Wolverine.

Sadly, Logan was killed during Ultimatum (or was he?), and his adopted parents have never told him about his true parentage, so Jimmy has to learn these things through a car crash and a message left behind by a surprisingly-thoughtful Wolverine.

Most of the exposition is provided through captions, which are more confusing than helpful - especially when several captions apparently go missing around page 17.

This issue is all setup and origin, so I'm willing to give it a few more issues to get things sorted out - but at this point, it's only the stunning artwork that makes this comic worth buying.

Grade: B

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