Ultimate X-Men #39 concludes the "Blockbuster" storyline.  Unfortunately, it's one of those storylines which leave you with the unshakeable feeling that it isn't a storyline at all, merely a convenient break point for the trade paperbacks - and in this case, barely even that.

"Blockbuster" has a severe case of split personality.  The first half of the story consisted of Wolverine running around New York meeting up with a range of guest stars from the Ultimate continuity.  It was little more than a greatest hits tour of the universe, but perfectly entertaining on that level.

The second half of the story has tried to segue into dealing with the Phoenix subplot, and setting up a subplot about a coup being planned against the US government.  None of this, you'll notice, is actually resolved; the story just spends its final half on set up for future plots.  This sort of thing worked just fine back in the days when everything wasn't in clearly labelled storylines.  But when you try and present the last six issues as a story in themselves, they don't hold together.  A nameless bunch of villains turn up to capture Wolverine, and they get thwarted.  That's your closure.  But the main interest is elsewhere, and the tone shifts awkwardly halfway through.

In short, it doesn't really work.

Judged purely as an individual issue, this isn't so bad.  There's plenty of the little details of dialogue and so forth that always make Bendis' stories readable.  And artist David Finch is still fitting in very comfortably with Bendis' style.  He still has the hallmarks of a Marc Silvestri clone, but the layouts have much more in common with what you'd expect from a Bendis comic, and the approaches mesh surprisingly well.

If you're prepared to take it as a transition issue between storylines, this is fine.  As the conclusion of a six-parter, it just feels awkward.

Rating: B-

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