Ultimate X-Men #35 is Brian Bendis' second issue, and if you thought that the last one didn't read much like an X-Men comic, you won't be much more pleased with this on.  What Bendis is producing here, in fact, is the modern equivalent of a massive crossover.  Except, thank god, it's all confined to the one book.

Last month Wolverine and Spider-Man starred in a story which read suspiciously like an issue of Ultimate Spider-Man.  That's not quite so pronounced this issue, partly because Peter's narration has been switched off.  It's still a Wolverine and Spider-Man story, but it does read more like they're co-starring.  And then, Bendis takes them off on a tour of the Ultimate universe, with a trip to the Black Widow this issue, and the promise of Daredevil next month.

So if you're looking for an X-Men story, then yes, you're going to be disappointed.  This is a fullblown tour of the Ultimate continuity, although thus far, it's managed to avoid being too obviously contrived.  And yes, it does read much more like Ultimate Spider-Man than Millar's Ultimate X-Men, but this month, that's more because they're such distinctively different writers.  Bendis' trademarks, such as the hesitant dialogue and the "two pages of very small panels" conversation scenes are present and correct.

Bendis seems to be primarily having fun playing in the sandbox that he largely built through Ultimate Marvel Team-Up.  This isn't desperately deep stuff, but it works perfectly well as an action thriller.  Is it an X-Men story?  Well, it's more of a Wolverine story than anything else, but ultimately, no, not really.  However, it's entertaining enough that I really don't mind.

Rating: A

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