Four Panel Folly Comic museings.

Best Comic I Read This Week: Ultimate X #3

According to comic books, New York City is constructed out of gargoyles.

Man, first I started raving about the new Marvel Ultimate comics on this blog, which was something I never expected to do. NOW, I'm going to give the title of Best Comic I Read This Week to an Ultimate series written by Jeph Loeb. Jeph Loeb! The dude behind Ultimatum! You guys remember that train wreck? Previously, everything Mr. Loeb has done for the Marvel Ultimate line of comics had turned to ugly, smelly, verbally-assaulting-your-mother ashes. Yet, with Ultimate X he's given his own free space in the Ultimate Marvel Universe for him to stretch his influence and tell the stories he wants to without stepping on any of the other writers' toes. And it works!

Okay gang, let's rap about Jeph Loeb. I like the dude. He's always charming and interesting during interviews, and he's written some of the best stuff in comics, particularly when teamed with the artistic fun of Tim Sale. Those comics tend to be out of continuity where he can do things with major characters without effecting the main story. For instance, his Two Face origin story in Dark Victory was different than in the normal comics, but it made Dark Victory that much better. But, when he writes stories in the main continuity he doesn't feel the need to keep from making these changes. He has this nasty habit of making broad strokes without concern for what might be going on in other writers comics. For instance, Loeb destroys Iron Man's ship in Hulk. But Iron Man was using that ship in his own title! It's frustrating.

But here in Ultimate X, he can make whatever changes he wants. So far, there is only one established character, Jean Grey, and she's not being used in any other Ultimate series, giving Loeb free reign to do whatever he wants with her and any new characters.

So far, each issue of Ultimate X has been an introduction to a member of the series' cast. We met Jimmy (Wolverine's son) and Jean Grey (over emotional and powerful telekinetic) already. Also, each issue is narrated by someone who knows that person. For instance, Ultimate X #3 is narrated by Joe Morgan, the older brother of Derek Morgan (this issue's protagonist). Ironically, Joe is also a police officer unknowingly trying to hunt Derek down. Derek is secretly a mutant and has been using his powers to protect people. It's a nice thing to do but being a mutant is against the law, so tough cookies.

With just this one issue Loeb did a great job of introducing and getting me familiar with Derek. He's not exactly a totally moral dude, but he's taken the responsibility of keeping people safe with his powers. He also has a problem with authority, which is unfortunate because authority happens to be his brother.

Aaaahh, well. Derek's made new friends anyway. A dude with deus ex machina claw powers and a girl who could go crazy and kill people with her brain at any minute. FRIENDS.

Loeb's story is solid but the real star here is the art. The pencils by Arthur Adams are amazing. His drawings are filled with detail and energy. Though he has the bad habit of giving every character very similar facial structures, his work grabbed me from as early as this issue's cover. Then I got inside the issue and was dazzled from page to page.

Adams' pencils feel like the logical next step from Jim Lee and other early 90's artists. It's fun and kinetic, it looks like nothing else, and it screams “comic book”.

Marvel's new line of Ultimate comics continue to surprise me with their quality (Except for that waste of time called Ultimate Enemy). And... yeah I find myself looking forward to whatever happens next in Ultimate X.

Weird.