Finally, Brian Bendis wraps up his run on Ultimate X-Men.

"New Mutants" has been a curious storyline.  For one thing, it's clearly one of those stories which isn't really a story at all.  It's six issues which have been bracketed for inclusion in a single trade paperback.  It's actually been paced for the monthly title rather than for the trade - issues #40-42 are pretty much freestanding, for example.

The overreaching plot about anti-mutant conspiracies in the government, which has been present throughout Bendis' run on the title, is given a definitive resolution.  Otherwise, however, things read rather strangely.  A ton of new characters have been introduced, most of whom have had little opportunity for full development.  Alex Summers still hasn't had more than a handful of dialogue by the end of this issue, despite being introduced two months ago.

All this would make sense if Bendis had been planning to do further arcs in future.  Taking this as the end point of his run, though, it feels unfinished, and covered with loose ends.  Future writers will have plenty to work with (though I still expect it all to be wasted in favour of film tributes), but it feels like we've just had the set-up arc of a longer Bendis run which is never going to happen.

Still, there's some great scenes in here, notably Karma exposing the conspiracy.  David Finch does some fantastic art on Storm fighting the Sentinel, and manages to sell the Sentinel as a genuinely intimidating opponent rather than a dodgy old Silver Age robot..

But the run as a whole still feels like it's full of sketches for ideas that deserve further exploration.  I suppose on one level that's a good thing, but it also feels frustratingly incomplete.

Rating: B+

back | continue