Robert Kirkman's era on Ultimate X-Men comes to close with trade paperback number #18, collecting the final five issues (#89 - #93) and the final two storylines.
Shadow King "ultimizes" the villain from the mainstream universe, and we've had a few hints leading towards this as Ororo "Storm" Munroe has been having horrific visions of the Shadow King and his brood attacking her. Yes, I use the word correctly because the Brood have also been ultimized, now being creatures living on the Astral Plane that have been tamed and controlled by the Shadow King. Given that Robert Kirkman banged on about how he would not be doing an ultimate-of-the-week kind of story, it is amazing at how many things he has ultimized. Surprisingly, given at how long it's been hinted and built up to, the whole Shadow King story is only one issue long, and essentially comes down to: "Storm, you electrocuted me when we were lovers"; "Yes, but you were banging Yuri"; "Oh, now you can beat me". Coda: Storm tells Wolverine she doesn't want bad boys anymore. Short, and disappointing.
We may never know what, if there was any at all, Brian Vaughan's plan was when he ultimized Nathanial "Sinister" Essex and hinted at the return of Apocalypse, but the final four issues of this trade are dedicated to waht Kirkman has come up with, and finally wraps up the Phoenix storyline as well - which kind of wraps up the Hellfire and Church Of Shi'ar storylines as well. Given that it therefore has so much to do, it's surprising Kirkman does it only in four issues. And it shows.
The story is very much mostly about the return of everything Kirkman introduced, including Bishop, Cable, the Morlocks and, of course, Beast. Killing off Bishop is a brave move, but Kirkman has now completely rendered all deaths in the Ultimate universe meaningless since he resurrected Beast (and sure enough, even though Angel is killed, he too is resurrected). I hate the fact that Kirkman has made death a non-constant in the Ultimate universe as that more than anything else, has separated it from the main Marvel universe; the stakes are a lot higher here. Apocalypse's return is met by the return of Cable and Xavier, looking like Onslaught and Stryfe, though clearly not calling themselves that in light of the fact that Stryfe was in the last issue. The battle is somewhat inevitable given Kirkman's writing - they battle Apocalypse, can't win, Jean becomes Phoenix and saves the day.
Kirkman has been pretty determined to close all the doors he has opened, and so in addition to Apocalypse being beaten and Phoenix leaves the planet (why separate Jean and Scott? Seriously, everyone hates it when that happens, and everyone knows it is never permanent...why bother to even play that stupid game?), we also get information about the Legacy virus, what it is and the consequences of Beast attempting to cure it.
I love Kirkman's writing on Walking Dead, but frankly I'm glad he is moving on from Ultimate X-Men as he hasn't really done anything original or noteworthy in the title, and if anything has ruined what was such a promising title. With only four issues to go before Ultimatum kicks in and stops X-Men, poor old Aron Eli Coleite has much to do.
On the art side, it's worth noting that Salvador Larocca does his usual excellent job on the first four issues. I love his Apocalypse and his take on the other characters is really well drawn. Sadly the last issue is drawn by Harvey Tolibao and is absolutely awful. The last page shows the males have veins and arteries that stick out so clearly even under clothes. Frankly it's disturbing. Additionally, all the females are buxom and curvy, including Psylocke, despite being in her child's body and despite the storyline last book about her being jealous of Storm's adult figure. Thanks Harvey.
A poor end to an era, but a worthy one.
"C"
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