Ultimate X-Men #77

Ultimate X-Men was one of the few great X-titles left. In fact, it was one of the few great Ultimate books left until recently. When Robert Kirkman first took the reigns to this book he delivered a few solid issues that really looked promising for the Ultimate X-Men. However, more recent issues, including those involved with Ultimate Cable, have been less than stellar and even downright bad. What was originally planned to be Bryan Singer’s run, the Ultimate Phoenix saga thus far has been uninteresting and bland. And the romantic relationships between the X-Men have suffered and where they were once a great part of this book as a whole, they are now easily forgotten and not worth even having. Don’t get me wrong, a lot of Robert Kirkman’s work it really fantastic, but I hold strong on a theory that he can only write certain types of characters, namely those that only he creates, Eric O’Grady/Ant-Man or Invincible for instance.

That being said, if you haven’t been reading Ultimate X-Men, the least you need to know is that Cable has shown up, but it’s not the Cable we are used to. In a fit of using Ultimate creative license, Kirkman has given Cable a new identity and it is not the all important one of being the son of Scott Summers and Jean Grey, Nathan Dayspring Askani’san, and the eventual destroyer of Apocalypse. Rather, Cable is a future version of Wolverine who has traveled back in time to kill Xavier for making his future the way it is. Chasing Cable and recruiting the X-Men for help is a very old Bishop. For me, that is the only point of this story that works, Bishop chasing Cable. In the mainstream Marvel Universe, Cable is a great character with his own story and powers. In the ultimate incarnation, there is no techno virus covering his arm, his eye doesn’t do the yellow charge thing and he is Wolverine sans healing factor. Cable kidnaps Jean Grey and takes her to the Weapon X facility where his team, Ultimate X-Force, will take on the X-Men.

There is a lot wrong with this issue and arc. Granted, the Ultimate Universe is supposed to re-imagine the Marvel Universe, there are some things that should be left as they are, Cable’s origin and purpose being one of them. The whole Goblins haunting Jean Grey has gotten a little old and there’s really nothing becoming of the whole Phoenix saga, be it because they are building up to something really big or because they can’t figure out the direction, either way its becoming old and throwing this version of Cable into the mix just hurts the overall quality of the title. The one shining moment of this issue comes with Domino blows Rogue’s arm off. There is a revelation between Xavier and Cyclops at the end that just makes this series worse.

The artwork also detracts from this issue. It feels sloppy and chaotic and overall does not help this issue where it suffers the most.

3/10