Best Ultimate X-Men Run

[Robbie_Jee]

IMO, the UU hasn't featured the same level of quality since Milkar left the first time. His early Ultimate work.. to this very day.. has not been exceeded.. yet.

[Plawsky]

I'd say BKV's run is easily the best run for me. Great long form storytelling, fun teen drama, and amazing art, courtesy of Stuart Immonen, one of the best artists around. Vaughan's ideas were by far the most creative and new of any of the UXM writers.

Millar is second. Again, great long form story and great art. The Kuberts, David Finch, Chris Bachalo... that's a heck of a talent pool. I like it a lot, but I just don't feel like he pushed the boundaries like Vaughan did.

Wood's run is tough to place, since it's still going, but he's #3 for me right now. Simply amazing stuff, and it keeps getting better.

Bendis's run was a mixed bag. I agree with the above mention of Spider-man and Daredevil. He used them as a crutch in his first arc, and it really shows. Blockbuster wasn't an X-Men story, it was a Wolverine Team Up story, featuring Spier-man and DD. The second half of the arc, after Spidey and DD leave, is a lot better. Don't get me wrong, it's a solid Wolverine story, but it was a very timid start to his run. New Mutants, on the other hand, is fantastic. His second arc was a HUGE step up from his first in every way. I love that arc.

Spencer comes next for me. I think he could have been higher, but his run was cut short. There's a lot of great stuff in there, and an amazing ending, despite the fact that we won't see a follow up for quite some time.

Kirkman next. There's some good stuff in there, but it's mostly just okay. Nothing awful, but nothing great. A lot of good ideas, but sloppy as hell execution.

Coleite definitely brings up the rear in this discussion. I liked what he did during Ultimatum, despite it not being a great ending to the series (but that was more editorial's fault than his). Absolute power, however, is a train wreck.

[Mutant Mind]

1) Millar
2) Wood
2) Vaughan
4) Bendis
5) Spencer
6) Coleite

Vaughan's work was good, I just wasn't really a fan of the focus shift onto Rogue/Gambit. The Sinister arc was awesome, though.
I loved Spencer's run, but it doesn't rank higher because it was cut short before actually going anywhere. The sub-plots (the ghosts, Jean/Karen) were damn interesting, I hope Wood picks up on them soon.

[InformationGeek]

Mark Millar's run hands down. I never cared for the X-Men then (and I barely do now!), but when I first read it, I did it because I was at the time trying to read every comic book series in my local library that had a volume one available, no matter what. I just got sucked into it with the characters, the stories, action, drama, and just pure fun of it all. Millar managed to make me care about characters I didn't before and haven't as much since. Just incredible. It's also my favorite comic book run ever as well.

Every other writer following him (Haven't read the new stuff) has had runs that were ulimately... forgettable (Kirkman), dull and bland (Vaughan), average (Bendis), or awful (Coleite).

[TheFerg714]

Well I guess I can't argue with all of you anymore lol. Obviously, the majority of us think Millar's run was fabulous. I actually dropped Ultimate Comics X-Men last month, but I'm pumped to get to that point in my Ultimate X-Men run-through. Seems like it'll be a lot more interesting now that I know the characters' back stories.

[Nitz the Bloody]

Ok, I have to ask, what is it that makes everyone love Millar's run so much? There were some good points, don't get me wrong, but overall it just seemed lackluster. The art ranged from phenomenal to terrible on a comic-to-comic basis, very few characters actually developed, and I can't even remember most of the stories. And I read them last summer. Overall, the only word I can use is boring.

Define "very few". Xavier, Wolverine, Cyclops, Jean, and the Beast all got a lot of character focus and were markedly different from who they were at the start. Other characters like Storm, Kitty, Iceman, and Colossus were more in the background (as is sometimes necessitated by a large cast), but information about their characters and their backgrounds was regularly given. One thing I really liked about Millar's X-Men is that we gradually found out who the characters were through their actions and their day-to-day lives; for example, the hints about Colossus' sexuality, or the creative but morally dubious ways Xavier used his telepathy.

The art was spectacular whenever it was by Kubert, though unfortunately there were a lot of fill-ins. Still, most of the fill-in issues were done by excellent artists, such as Bachalo, Finch, and the other Kubert.

[Hi-Fi]

Can't decide between Millar, Vaughan and Wood.

[x-mind]

1. Bendis(It was the run who got me in the comics)
2. Wood (after point1 issue)
3. Spencer
4. Millar(too much wolverine-centric run)
5. Coleite
6. Vaughan
7. Kirkman(All his run was awful)

[NapoleonBlownapart]

It was a tough decision for me to choose between Miller and Spencer. I know that Nick Spencer's run is pretty unpopular on this board because his writing is pretty slow-paced, but when I go back and read all of them in sequence it makes for a very well-paced story. He's the sort of guy who writes with the trade paperback in mind instead of individual issues. That said, I opted to vote for Millar because Wood's run has completely ignored Spencer's overarching story with Apocalypse and the mysterious apparitions of dead characters.

[webhead921]

I really love Brian Wood's run so far because it is really engaging, unpredictable, and unlike anything I've read in the 616. It's exactly what I want from the Ultimate line.

[TheFerg714]

Just now finished issue 100 and can safely say that Aron Coleite's run does, in fact, suck... like a lot. Absolute Power was SO stupid! Jean's all the sudden back on the team, Colossus (and Rogue, Nightcrawler, Angel, and Cyclops) are no addicted to drugs. Northstar doesn't die, even though he's bleeding out of his mouth. God what a terrible way to finish out an amazing series.

From best to worst:
Bendis
Vaughan
Millar
Kirkman
Coleite

Now I just need to read Ultimate X and Spencer and Wood's Ultimate Comics: X-Men.

[horsehead]

Why isn't Loeb on the list, are we not counting Ultimate X as X-Men?

I have just re-read Spencers run and I have to say I really enjoy it, I think it is very under-rated. I love what Wood is doing and I really hope he stays on the title for years and would really love it even more if over this time he addressed all of the open plot threads that Spencer left.

I also have to add that I think Coleite's run is under-rated and that it probably gets bad reviews because it is over shadowed by Loeb and Ultimatum. His actual Ultimatum arc was excellent.

I voted for Millar probably because he was the original but really I would have liked to have voted for Millar, Vaughan & Wood as a tie.

1st Millar, Vaughan & Wood
2nd Bendis & Spencer
3rd Coleite
4th Loeb
5th Kirkman

[TheFerg714]

Why isn't Loeb on the list, are we not counting Ultimate X as X-Men?

Yea sorry, when I made this thread I wasn't aware that Ultimate X existed. He'd totally be up there, and I bet no one would vote for him. :p

I also have to add that I think Coleite's run is under-rated and that it probably gets bad reviews because it is over shadowed by Loeb and Ultimatum. His actual Ultimatum arc was excellent.

No. No. No. Even if you say that his Ultimatum arc is somehow good (which it's not), that's only one, 3-issue, arc. Absolute Power was f---ing terrible. It broke so many plot points that Kirkman had left wide open...