Ultimate Comics: X-Men #12 review by Wolverine12

[Wolverine12]

After last issue's ho-hum feeling I was anticipating something amazing from Spencer as he is wrapping up his run on UCXM, and I think he delivered a solid final issue.

spoilers:

-We start at a mental hospital that is housing Alex Summers. A mystery man is there to see him and everytime he walks by people they age rapidly and die -Alex is seeing Cyclops in his cell with him, the mystery man also can see Cyke but apparently not the orderly. -We get the Ultimazation of Layla Miller, nothing unique in terms of design but apparently she is a coporate big wig and is working with the mystery man -Apparently Xavier, Mags, Wanda and Cyke are "ghosts" -The mystery man is revealed and it is none other than Sinsiter, and he is back to worshiping the mannequin version of Apocalypse.

end of spoilers

Well this issue was certainly a page turner for me. Spencer's run on this title has been really up and down for me and luckily this was an up issue, seeing Havok again was also nice not to mention his cell mate :). I will say this about this issue, despite me really enjoying the issue I felt a pang of sadness knowing that we won't be revisiting this story for while now that Wood is taking over. We kind of got an answer on the "risen dead" plot, but it wasn't very satisfying and tbh it stll felt like we aren't getting the whole story. This is actually kind of true since Spencer won't get to complete his story, but he did good with what he had. The reveal of the mystery man from today's issue was not a surprise at all to me, and his "ink" was the wrong color but maybe that was done on purpose. Also he apparently has a new powerset, which didn't really fit in with his previous appearances but I guess it could be tech or something like that.

Spencer's overall story completely feels like it was cut short and since Wood is heading in a different direction it makes me feel like the whole run was kind of pointless. Granted this can all change once we see what Wood brings to the table, but that's how I feel today. The story is definitely intriguing and I really wish we were getting more, we just aren't

As for the writing itself, I hope Wood gets these characters as much as Spencer has. I really do enjoy reading the dialogue Spencer gives the characters. They feel like they all have their own personalities and it makes the story that much better.

Art, I haven't had a lot of complaints about the art since issue 1 and that isn't changing. Only one thing was weird and it was very minor, just some tattoo's being an odd green color, even then that's completely on the colorist I would imagine.

Overall probably couldn't have asked for much more in terms of cutting a story off at it's knees and having to wrap it up.

Story: 8/10
Writing: 9/10
Art: 9/10
Overall: 8.5/10

Spencer's entire run as a whole: 8/10

[MrV]

Dr. Layla Miller? The one from the Roxxon Brain Trust in Ultimate Comics: Mystery, right? Hard to believe they are the same character. Same could be said about Sinister, who was unrecognizable.

Guess that means Sinister and her survived the collapse of the Roxxon building.

[Hostile_17]

Wow, that was a great way for Spencer to end his run by answering a bunch of questions followed by raising a bucket load more!

I decided to read Spencer’s entire run in one sitting today and this is certainly two volumes written for the trade!

It’s not long ago I read the entire run of X-Men in trades and apart from possibly the Ultimate War arc, Spencer’s run has been my favourite as a whole.

As a lot of us suspected the big evil manipulating things is indeed Apocalypse. What I really wasn’t expecting though is the tie in with Layla Millar and Roxxon International!
It did seem odd that they had a guy in their “brain trust” called Nathanial Essex, so now we know why. He’s the new incarnation of Sinister!

Marvel have obviously been planning this story for a while and it makes me think everything going on in The Ultimates and X-Men are even more connected than we know.


So what are Essex & Miller after? Looks like they are trying to locate the four horsemen.

Well they now have Alex and believe he will be able to give them the location of the fourth horseman (Death & it’s a She?? Jean??) And they say they already know the location of the other two but don’t yet have them; one of them looking like it could be Colossus? (Could explain why he is now able to function without Banshee and his violent turn in the mutant camps).

I’m presuming Sinister himself is one of the horsemen? And if I had to guess I’d say he is War.

Red Horse:

The rider of the second horse is often taken to represent War[2] or mass slaughter.[4][1] His horse's color is red (the jewel on Sinisters forehead).

In some translations, the color is specifically a "fiery" red. This color, as well as the rider's possession of a great sword, suggests blood that is to be spilled.[3]
The second horseman may represent civil war as opposed to the war of conquest that the first horseman is sometimes said to bring.[3][11] Other commentators have suggested it might also represent persecution of Christians.[9]

What if all the events that have happened in both The Ultimates & X-Men are a result of Sinister/Apocalypse manipulating things to create Civil War (Divided We Fall) within the U.S!!

We now know this storyline has been in play since Doomsday and Roxxon obviously have ties into the government as they were “The Company” that disabled the audio feed in the mutant camp.

They could turn out to be behind the takeover of S.H.I.E.L.D and could also have been a factor in Reed’s story arc as that spun out of Doomsday too.

Essex: “The United States government, in all its glorious ineptitude won’t be an issue for much longer”

It would be really cool if everything was connected!!


Moving on to the next question answered:

“What do you know of the last time the world ended”?

Thank god this wasn’t Ultimatum!! They were referring to when Apocalypse last rose and Jean as The Phoenix re-wrote history! Can’t believe we didn’t think of that!!


Now the new questions that arise from it:

What is The White Hot Room?

Why are Alex & Piotr the only ones who saw it?

If the ghosts of Magneto, Xavier, Wanda & Cyclops were not Apocalypse as it seemed in this issue, who are they? Essex & Apocalypse seem to know all about them and be able to see them too so it is related in some way… Hmmm

And finally… why does Apocalypse look like an escaped mental patient has robbed a charity shop to dress up like a super hero?? THERE HAS TO BE A REASON FOR THIS!!


All in all I love this ending and think it’s given us enough answers to satisfy for now, but enough of a tease for it to boil in the background until being picked up again.

I also think from here things can quite organically lead into the Divided We Fall conflicts, especially after last issues set-up.

I always thought an Ultimate Universe version of Apocalypse would be more focused on manipulating events behind the scenes and acting through politics and sinister corporations (pun intended).
It looks like they might do him justice this time. I only hope Brian Wood can pull it off when the time comes because it’s had a great and thorough set-up.

In the meantime though, roll on issue #13!

I can’t wait to get into Divided We Fall and The Stryker regime (this kind of story I have full faith in Wood!!)

It will be even more fun knowing there is this big storyline simmering away in the back ground waiting to be picked up. I just hope he drops the odd bit of foreshadowing here and there!

[Morentez]

Layla Miller was in Ultimate Doomsday... Is this the same Layla or not? (I haven't read this yet).

[Hostile_17]

Layla Miller was in Ultimate Doomsday... Is this the same Layla or not? (I haven't read this yet).

Yes, and the same Nathaniel Essex.

[Wolverine12]

Dr. Layla Miller? The one from the Roxxon Brain Trust in Ultimate Comics: Mystery, right? Hard to believe they are the same character. Same could be said about Sinister, who was unrecognizable.

Guess that means Sinister and her survived the collapse of the Roxxon building.

Completely forgot about her in that series, I don't think it's the same Essex from doomsday though. It looks just like his original incarnation.

[Plawsky]

Wow, that was great. Even though I was wanting Spencer to wrap up his run with this final issue, I'm glad he didn't try, because it would have been impossible. This issue gave the story a slight amount of closure - as in, the story is FINALLY set up - now we move on to chapter 2 (or as Balfro will say, "Season 2"). Spencer's run, though decompressed, is really cool as a setup for what's to come. It's too bad that he's being replaced, but I definitely think we'll see more from this story. I wouldn't even be surprised if Nick Spencer came back at some point to finish it. The focus is clearly on Divided We Fall for now, but I think it's clear that Marvel is not going to let this story go; otherwise, they would have ended it here. But it's only just begun.

But enough about Spencer's run - this issue stands great by itself. The reintroduction of Havok is very welcomed. Spencer shows that he definitely knows the continuity of the Ultimate X-Men (despite his Madrox error early on) and he uses that to the story's advantage. Calling back to the ending of Kirkman's anticlimactic Apocalypse arc, Spencer turns the ending from a boring deus ex machina into something with extreme ramifications. And most importantly, he also drew from the good Apocalypse story, bringing back Brian K Vaughan's awesome mannequin version of the X-Men villain. And as far as continuity goes, I loved the appearance of Layla Miller and the young Sinister from Ultimate Mystery (the latter of which was most likely just an error originally). A very cool moment for us longtime readers.

Sure, using Apocalypse might have been a little predictable, but I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing. I think the ghosts as the four horsemen has potential to be really cool, and I get the feeling that there's a lot that we don't know (and, unfortunately, may never know, now that Spencer's gone). Jean - or, at least, Phoenix - definitely plays a role in this Apocalypse situation.

I look forward to reading this run as a whole later this evening. I'm glad Spencer was able to leave on a high note. I'm now ready for Wood and Divided We Fall. But I also can't wait to get back into this story later on.

[DoctorOak]

If the 'God' storyline winds up being Apocalypse, I'd be pretty disappointed. He's been pretty thoroughly overused by now to the point that it's a genuine surprise the movies haven't even alluded to him, let alone adapted him. But we already had two Apocalypse stories in the first Ultimate X-Men run (or one well drawn out one, if you must) and the character just doesn't have threat appeal any more.

It'd be for the best if it were actually an entirely new character, but anything but Apocalypse would be my preference.

Yyyeahh...

Oh well, this was actually a really enjoyable issue - even if it's a pretty jarring distraction from the death and destruction that's meant to be going on. I guess they really are just storing that all away for DWF.

On another note, Spencer seemed to be building up to a bit of an Ultimatum retcon with this. At least, I think that's what we're meant to take away from this. I'd have originally considered it unlikely, but given that none of what Spencer's laid down will be touched upon again until Wood's done what he wants to first, that gap could be enough to start completely deconstructing the dead is dead rule altogether.

I admit that I got a twinge of that 'old Ultimate' feeling when reading this book with Cyclops and Sinister. After the dramatic changes we've had in the space of a few months, it was actually quite nice.

[Morentez]

So... the 4 horsemen: Xavier, Wanda, Magneto, Cyclops? Or people APPEARING as these characters? I'm confused ><

[Plawsky]

Completely forgot about her in that series, I don't think it's the same Essex from doomsday though. It looks just like his original incarnation.

He looks a lot younger than the original one, though. The "new" one (Ultimate Mystery #3) looks pretty similar to this one, minus the forehead. Layla's wearing a very similar outfit, so Spencer is definitely aware of their appearances in Mystery.

[Hostile_17]

Completely forgot about her in that series, I don't think it's the same Essex from doomsday though. It looks just like his original incarnation.

I'm pretty sure it was the same, especially with it all being tied into Roxxon. The original Sinster looked like a muscle bound brute.

[Plawsky]

So... the 4 horsemen: Xavier, Wanda, Magneto, Cyclops? Or people APPEARING as these characters? I'm confused ><

It's unclear, really. They are referred to as "ghosts" in the issue. But what exactly that means is not really clarified. This story is nowhere near complete.

[SpeedofLife]

What a great way to make the Ultimate Doomsday error into something more.

Also, are we working under the assumption that the Madrox thing was an error, or do we think it was an retcon?

[Hostile_17]

So... the 4 horsemen: Xavier, Wanda, Magneto, Cyclops? Or people APPEARING as these characters? I'm confused ><

We dont really know yet but I dont think so.

The four ghosts seem to be acting independently of Sinister.

Alex & Piotr are the only two visited with ties to the four horsemen.

[Wolverine12]

It's unclear, really. They are referred to as "ghosts" in the issue. But what exactly that means is not really clarified. This story is nowhere near complete.

Jean is in on it. She made everybody think those people died but it was all a mass illusion. Eric and Charles planned this all along and I'm guessing Xavier is manipulating Jean into doing this. Soon it will be X-Men vs Xavier and Magneto and awesomeness will insue.