"Ultimate X-Men: World Tour"

 

                The following is a review of the graphic novel “Ultimate X-Men: World Tour” as presented in Marvel Ultimate Epic Collection format.

                They are the X-Men – sworn to protect a world that fears and hates them. Led by Professor Charles Xavier, young mutants Cyclops, Marvel Girl, Wolverine, Storm, Beast, Colossus, and Iceman use their mutant abilities for the betterment of mankind as a whole. Weapon X, the covert government program that turned mutants into living weapons, is no more. Despite their capture, the X-Men helped bring it down and regrouped at the X-Mansion in New York’s Westchester County. As headmaster of the School for Gifted Youngsters, Professor X was pleased with the performance of his students, and things were quiet at the academy. But not all mutants had been fortunate enough to have been rescued by Charles Xavier. Some survived by their wits alone, with nobody to whom they could turn. Each day, they faced the scorn and fear of the human world – and sometimes, of themselves. One such mutant was Remy LeBeau.

                A little girl witnessed gangster Hammerhead murder her parents and barely escaped herself. Remy LeBeau used his powers as street performance on the streets of New York City. He thought he was going to be having a good time, until the little girl came to Remy and asked Remy to use his magic to bring the little girl’s parents back to life. Remy told the little girl Remy didn’t know that kind of magic but offered to protect the little girl for a little while. That night, when they went to sleep in an abandoned subway train, the little girl was taken by Hammerhead’s goons. Hammerhead’s goons left a note for Remy, telling Remy not to come looking for the little girl. Remy began shaking down New York City’s underworld, searching for information on how to find the little girl. During his search, Charles Xavier came to Remy with an offer, but Remy refused to hear it. Remy’s search led him to Hammerhead, whom Remy had to face off with to spare the life of the little girl and also for Remy’s own survival.

                Professor X wrote an article, detailing his world at his school and about his students, the X-Men, hoping to alleviate the anti-mutant tension. Professor X revealed to Peter Rasputin/Colossus that Magneto, the mutant terrorist whom the world believed had been neutralized by Professor X, was alive and living as Erik Lensherr, with mental blocks convincing him he was an ordinary human. Erik was working with special needs children and in a romantic relationship with a nonmutant woman. Colossus was unsettled by this. Fred Dukes/Blob was chatting online with Henry McCoy/Beast, pretending to be a closeted mutant female who was romantically interested in Beast. The Brotherhood of Mutants’ continued terrorist attacks led the magazine that Professor X’s article was to be published in to reconsider, and the article was scrapped before it hit the pages of the magazine.

                David Xavier, son of Professor X and Moira McTaggert, human geneticist and ex-wife of Professor X, who had been kept in a hidden school/hospital for mutants on Muir Island in Scotland funded by Professor X’s generous secret benefactors designated for mutants who could not go public due to the nature of their mutations, escaped before his dying body failed him by transferring his consciousness into one of Moira’s doctors on staff. Professor X published a book, and to promote it, held a world tour, bringing the X-Men along with him. While in London, the X-Men broke up into groups to compete in assignments to help the disadvantaged in order to earn their grades. Despite their work being lower profile, Beast and Scott Summers/Cyclops came out on top. While at their hotel, Colossus disappeared overnight with two unknown people, headed for Russia. Moira called Professor X to tell him David had escaped and trashed the hospital. S.T.R.I.K.E. agents Dai Thomas and Betsy Braddock had been dispatched to investigate the situation. Professor X, Bobby Drake/Iceman, Beast, Ororo Munroe/Storm, and Logan/Wolverine flew to Muir Island, while Cyclops and Jean Grey/Marvel Girl flew to Russia to search for Colossus, whom Professor X believed may have been kidnapped. The X-Men tracked David down to a Burger King in Aberdeen, where David had been jumping bodies due to the bodies’ inability to sustain David’s life energies. David jumped into Wolverine, whose healing factor made it so he would not deteriorate from David’s powers. David used his reality warping powers to defeat the X-Men but was unable to withstand Agent Braddock’s telepathy. David left Wolverine’s body and disappeared, but Wolverine found himself gravely injured. Cyclops and Marvel Girl found Colossus in Saint Petersburg. Colossus had left the X-Men because he felt neglected and unable to believe in Professor X’s dream. In Berlin, Professor X spent time bonding with Agent Braddock. A submarine was downed in Barent’s Sea, trapping the sailors within. Colossus rescued the sailors in the submarine and realized he could find his place in the X-Men after all. Professor X realized that after leaving Wolverine, David had jumped into Agent Braddock’s body and the woman he had been talking to was actually his son. As Wolverine, Iceman, Beast and Storm were driving to the airport to reunite with Cyclops, Marvel Girl, and Colossus, they encountered David, who was holding Professor X and Moira hostage. The X-Men combatted David, now calling himself Proteus, who used his reality warping powers to destroy the sites Professor X and the X-Men were planning on visiting along their book tour. The X-Men were nearly defeated, with Iceman gravely injured. The outcome of this conflict left Professor X with doubts of his dream.

                Professor X penned a letter to Cyclops, announcing the disbandment of the X-Men and Professor X’s plans to remove the mental blocks on Magneto, but an unexpected encounter led Professor X to realize the validity of Professor X’s dream. Cyclops and Marvel Girl became romantically involved.

                Kitty Pryde had manifested her mutant powers of intangibility and was unable to control them. Theresa Pryde, Kitty’s mother, contacted Professor X to tell Professor X about Kitty’s situation. Professor X met with Theresa and Kitty and accepted Kitty as a student at Xavier’s School for Gifted Children, under Theresa’s condition that Kitty was not to go on any missions or be a superhero. Iceman’s family filed a lawsuit against Professor X. Senator Andrew Border Turk took an interest in the case and became the public face of the lawsuit against the X-Men. Marvel Girl’s visions of the Phoenix returned. The Brotherhood pulled off an operation in Pakistan, in which they disarmed the country of its nuclear arsenal. The members of the Brotherhood became disillusioned with Pietro Maximoff/Quicksilver and Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch’s leadership strategies and prepared to oust Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch as heads of the Brotherhood. Cyclops and Colossus were picked to go on a mission to the Savage Land after the Pentagon lost communication with the members of the United States military stationed in the Savage Land. Wolverine and Cyclops got into a physical fight over Marvel Girl. As punishment, Professor X picked Wolverine instead of Colossus to go with Cyclops on the Savage Land mission. Beast let slip in an instant message to Blob, who was pretending to be a closeted mutant female, that Magneto was alive. Cyclops and Wolverine found that Kitty had stowed away with them on the X-Jet to the Savage Land. Professor X’s response was to expel her from Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters. The Brotherhood, without Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch, planned an ambush on Beast to learn the location of Magneto. Iceman was asked to testify against Professor X and the X-Men. Cyclops and Wolverine discovered the Savage Land’s computer had achieved self-awareness and planned to overthrow the planet. Professor X’s secret benefactors, the Hellfire Club, arranged a gala to meet with Professor X and the X-Men. Professor X, Storm, Colossus, and Marvel Girl attended the gala. Professor X learned one of his benefactors was Sebastian Shaw from Shaw Industries. The Hellfire Club’s agents attacked and incapacitated Professor X, Storm, and Colossus. The Hellfire Club summoned the Phoenix and used Marvel Girl as it’s vessel. The Phoenix was not happy with Shaw trying to command it and went out of control. Professor X was left to face the Phoenix and save the mind of his student. The Brotherhood attacked Beast and went in search of Magneto to remove the mental blocks.

                Okay, now that we have the synopsis out of the way, let’s move on to the Tim Cubbin segments of this review. First off, we’ll start with, as we usually do, my own personal opinions about this graphic novel. Let’s begin by evaluating the stories. I absolutely loved these stories. “Thief in the Night”/”Wild Card” with Remy LeBeau was actually my favorite story in this collection, I really enjoyed seeing him do everything he could to protect the little girl from Hammerhead. “It Doesn’t Have to Be This Way” was an interesting way to get a glimpse into the personal lives of the X-Men. “World Tour” was exciting, I really enjoyed this interpretation of Proteus. “Registration” was a great epilogue; I liked how it explored the relationships between the characters. “Hellfire and Brimstone” was also a great storyline, I especially enjoyed the part at the end with Phoenix, and I loved the introduction of Kitty Pryde, and I also liked how it very slightly loosely reinterpreted “The Dark Phoenix Saga,” one of my all-time favorite comic book stories. However, I did have a major problem with this graphic novel, that being the graphics. The artists failed to consistently appeal to my visual palate. I did not like the way Esad Ribic drew Remy’s face, it didn’t look natural. There were times where I liked Adam Kubert’s work, but much of the time, his characters’ faces just didn’t look right. I especially disliked Chris Bachalo’s drawings of Proteus and Iceman. I kind of appreciated where Kaare Andrews was going with his artwork, but I don’t quite approve of the execution. Moving on, let’s discuss the title. I felt like “World Tour” was the ideal choice for a title for this book. Despite “Hellfire and Brimstone” being the longest storyline in the book, I still thought “World Tour” was a better fit. It just seems to capture the essence of the book better. Finally, we’re going to talk about the cover. It features the X-Men poised for action. I feel like it’s a great cover. What I do find odd is that it comes from nowhere within this collection. I honestly don’t know where it comes from, none of the issues in this book have this cover, but I do like it. So, when looking at this book, reading the story was enjoyable, but the artwork detracted from the experience a great deal.

                Next up we’re going to discuss accessibility. I know that I’ve been over this over seven dozen times at this point, but every time I do a new post, I have readers who have never read a Tim Cubbin review before, so I have to explain what I mean every time I do it, so I’m doing it again. What I’m posing here is this: is this book accessible? When I say this, what I mean is, can someone who knows absolutely nothing about the X-Men or even Marvel Comics in general decide to take this book from wherever they find it, read it, and be able to understand it as it is written, with no outside knowledge? This collection is marketed as Vol. 2, and it does pick up exactly where Vol. 1 left off. Reading this volume without having read the previous volume is not going to be easy. That said, Vol. 1 did not end in the middle of a storyline, and this book does not feature any events or crossovers, and only contains issues of “Ultimate X-Men,” so while not having read Vol. 1 leaves a lot of blanks, I don’t feel it is absolutely essential to being able to read and enjoy this particular volume. Also, this is part of the Ultimate Universe, which was relatively new at the time, and there really is not a lot of backstory at this particular point, so not having read Vol. 1 is only missing twelve issues of a new Universe. However, if you’ve never read a Marvel Comic book before and are looking for a place to start, I would not recommend picking this book as your first choice, I would recommend reading the first twelve issues of Ultimate X-Men (2001) first, then you will be fine reading this book as your next option.

                Next up, we’re going to reveal my numeric score. While this is one of the key points of all my reviews, I don’t necessarily feel it is the most important part of the review. After all, everyone has different values, and each segment of these reviews has different meanings to all my readers. Readers come for the synopsis so they can learn what this book is about, some might say that’s the most important part. Others may say my recommendation paragraph is the most important because it makes them decide if they actually want to read the book or not. Everyone feels differently. Anyway, let’s discuss my scoring system. It’s fairly simple: I score on a scale of exact whole numbers ranging from one through ten. If I score a book at a one, that means it’s a flaming pile of trash, and every remaining copy should be rounded up, placed in a pile, and lit up, then all the print plates should be deleted so this horror can never be recreated and is wiped out of existence permanently. Okay, that’s a little extreme, I’d never actually condone book burning, I’m just being extra. All I’m saying is it’s horrible. If, on the other hand, I score a book at a ten, that means the book is absolutely sheer perfection, perfect in every way and one of the best things I have ever read in my entire life. Now, a ten requires a story that is thoroughly enjoyable from start to finish, artwork that consistently appeals to my eyes, a title that fits the story perfectly, and a cover that is a great representation of the content inside the book. So, you can probably guess that this book is not getting a ten due to my assessment of the art. While this book did have a great story, title and cover, the art still detracted from the experience of enjoying this book. Still, I do have to give this book a pretty good score. So, everything in the metaphorical blender, the score that comes out when thoroughly blended is… an eight. I thought reading the words was enjoyable, despite not reading the imagery, but I still don’t find myself able to fault this book too terribly for that.

                Next up on our agenda is my recommendation segment. This segment answers two questions: do I, Tim Cubbin, personally recommend this book to you, my readers, or to anyone unfortunate enough to get caught up in a conversation with me about this book? The second question is, regardless of if I would tell you to read it or not based on my preferences, whom do I think is the ideal audience for this book? In response to question number one, my answer is yes, I do recommend this book to you. If you are reading this review and now, based solely on the words I’ve just spent the last few hours writing, you want to read this book, I would tell you to hop online to your preferred online retailer, your favorite bookstore, your local comic store, your public library, or check with a Marvel loving friend or family member and get your hands on this book as soon as you possibly can. To answer question number two, we’re going to look past the obvious answer of X-Men and Marvel fans, and I’ll say the best audiences for this book include teenagers, who can find themselves able to relate with the teenage superheroes, and fans of international action stories.

                Okay, we’ve covered all the key points of the review, we’re just going to do the wrap-up. Anyway, I’ve been doing this blog for over five years now. I’ve posted over 180 times. Keep checking out timcubbin.blogspot.com for all kinds of content. I’ve done several kinds of content on this blog. I’ve posted short stories, poetry, essays, articles, and editorials. I’ve also posted over seven dozen reviews just like this one. I’ve reviewed prose novels, manga, and comic events. The priority of this blog currently is to review Marvel Modern Era Epic Collections and Ultimate Epic Collections. I purchase every one of them as soon as I can after publication and try to get a review up as soon as I can after reading it. If you liked this post, feel free to search for “Ultimate X-Men: The Tomorrow People” if you want to read more about “Ultimate X-Men.” Expect my next post to come up within the next two months after this posting, it will be “The Amazing Spider-Man: Sins Past” so if you liked this post and want more from me, keep checking back for that one soon. That’s all I have to say for now. Until I post again, Tim Cubbin… out!