After a couple of self-contained issues, Ultimate X-Men turns back to the ongoing plot.

Bendis seems to have a fondness for populating the Ultimate Universe, as was apparent from Ultimate Marvel Team-Up.  I'm still not convinced that that book was a good idea, by the way - it's full of Bendis coming up with treatments for existing characters which he was never going to get around to writing, and which were (understandably) virtually ignored by Mark Millar once he got around to using some of the characters more prominently.  It's easy to throw away the advantages of doing a revamp if you bring in new characters just for the sake of doing so.

However, this is Ultimate X-Men and Bendis is bringing in characters who seem set to stick around, so perhaps things will fit together more comfortably this time round.  So we get the debut of Ultimate Dazzler, Ultimate Karma, Ultimate Emma Frost and, it seems, the Ultimate Hellions.  Oh, and Ultimate George Bush's wife.

Nominally, this is Dazzler's issue.  Dazzler is certainly a character who requires drastic overhauling to work in 2004.  She was originally conceived as a disco tie-in character, and there's just no way you can do that gimmick these days.  As disco eventually faded out, the original Dazzler kind of faded into a generic superhero who happened to be a singer in her secret identity; the gimmick was faded into the background.

Admittedly, some might say that was a good thing.

Bendis reinvents Dazzler as a punk singer.  And, to be honest, pretty much dumps everything other than the name (and presumably the powers).  This is still a bit awkward, because "Dazzler" just doesn't sound like the name of a punk band.  I can see that Bendis is trying to keep the original idea that Dazzler was a struggling singer in dodgy venues, and the genre shift kind of works in that context.  Even so, it's by far the most severe reinvention Bendis has done with a character in the Ultimate Universe.

The rest of the issue centres on the US government's increasing doubts about their involvement with the X-Men.  In an interesting departure from the norm, the President isn't anti-mutant at all.  In fact, he quite likes them.  Aside from his rather questionable treatment of Karma in the opening scene, the issue is really quite generous in its portrayal of Bush, who comes across as a thoroughly reasonable chap.  Mind you, he's in shadow, so maybe it's somebody else.

Anyway, the concern isn't about what the X-Men stand for, but the political implications of associating with those particular mutants.  Bendis brings back an issue Millar had used as an ominous background feature - how do we know Xavier isn't just manipulating everyone?  In fact, we're assured Xavier isn't controlling the US government.  But there's still the distinct possibility that he's screwing about with the X-Men's minds for what he considers to be the greater good.  And the Republicans aren't entirely comfortable with the leader of the country hanging around next to a man with mind control powers which can't be defended against.  Even if they trust Xavier, how many other people won't?  And who could blame them?

It raises the interesting question of whether, by nature of his powers, Xavier is actually the worst possible choice of spokesman for the mutant cause.  As somebody who can change the way you think without you knowing, he's inherently scary, and inherently untrustworthy - because even if you trust him, you don't know whether he made you trust him.  He's somebody that people should legitimately be worried about, and perhaps not the face that the mutant rights campaign should be putting forward.

David Finch produces some fantastic artwork in this issue, and seems to be getting better as his run on the title continues.  He's certainly nailed the image for the new Dazzler, who's dutifully rendered as the sort of person you'd find fronting a Distillers clone band.  Finch is really starting to impress me on this title.

Ultimate X-Men doesn't get the attention of other X-Men titles or other Bendis books, despite being a high seller.  But after a shaky start to their run, Bendis and Finch are definitely hitting their stride now. 

Rating: A

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