Ultimate X-Men falters with issue #51.

The basic idea is that Rogue's been captured by Gambit, and she escapes and confronts her captors.  Apparently we're now onto revamping the C-listers, since Gambit is working for Ultimate Fenris.  This time round Fenris are corporate mutant criminals, and their big plan is to enlist Rogue as a spy for corporate espionage.

The scenes of her in jail with Gambit don't really work, because Gambit is trying to convince her that this is all for the best.  That's entirely in keeping with Gambit buying into Fenris' pitch.  Unfortunately, Andy Kubert draws him to look far too smarmy and creepy.  He comes across as painfully insincere, and I really doubt that that was the idea.

Fenris' plan also seems to have some fairly fundamental logic problems.  It's all very well to say that they like to kidnap future employees because it provides greater deniability, but it's hard to believe that this can really be a very effective method of getting loyal agents.  Rogue certainly doesn't seem to be going for it.

Very underwhelming.  I'm not buying into the premise of this storyline at all.

 Rating: B-

back | continue