Ultimate X-Men finishes off "Cry Wolf", with one of those awkward moments peculiar to Ultimate titles.

The Ultimate titles are strange things, because they're simultaneously very different from the parent books, and yet compelled to follow the same basic direction.  So we have X-Men with different personalities, a team with a completely different roster, and so forth.  And yet Rogue and Gambit are still compelled to fall in love at first sight, even though they met when he kidnapped her.

Granted, it could be a lot worse; Vaughan at least acknowledges that this is a bizarre kind of relationship even within the logic of the story.  When Rogue starts to give an explanation, it's promptly shot down as nonsense by Iceman.  But this comes dangerously close to characters complaining about the plot, which is never a good sign.  It certainly doesn't overcome the feeling of two square pegs being forcibly hammered into a round hole just because their Marvel Universe counterparts have been a couple for the last decade. 

If they'd used this story to have the characters meet up, and teased some mutual attraction with Gambit being set up as a returning supporting character, that could have worked.  This... feels really forced.  Vaughan comes very close to pulling it off, to his credit, but it's just not on the cards.

 Rating: B-

back | continue