It’s not that the book is bad, or that Brian Vaughan isn’t an incredible writer, but his run on Ultimate X-Men has been pretty pedestrian. The latest issue, where he’s teamed with Steve Dillon for a one-shot story, very much illustrates the style Vaughan has used for his run so far. It seems Vaughan has really embraced the drive of Ultimate Marvel (modern contemporary, real world takes on the classic creations), and has made strides to tell stories featuring grounded antagonists, who often wear blue jeans and t-shirts instead of costumes. Now I’m all for more real world takes on super heroes, but what we’ve wound up with in Ultimate X-Men is more of a syndicated TV show, than comic. All of the stories he’s told so far feel like standard TV fare, something one could see any random Sunday afternoon, buried on some obscure cable channel.
Like I said Vaughan’s a truly talented guy, I loved his first real Marvel effort, the Max mini-series The Hood, and absolutely love his Vertigo book, Y the Last Man, but for me his take on Ultimate X-Men is just too mundane. You can tell true to life super hero stories, but there should be something that takes advantage of the comic book medium, and that seems to be lacking in his run to date. It’s not the artwork either, he’s had Andy Kubert, and Stuart Immonen, among others. It just doesn’t embrace the medium enough. There’s just something missing.
So what you wind up with is another X-book that really only succeeds on the success of the concept, or property. I mean, to me, The X-Men is such a strong concept, it’s never really that bad, even when the stories are lacking. As is the case all to often these days…
If you wanna see what I mean, or prove me wrong, feel free to pick up the latest batch of Ultimate X-Men from me on eBay, HERE
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