Broken Frontier

Kirkman wraps his multi-storyline arc with more than a few plot twists, not the least of which is an interesting angle on the Phoenix origin.

The "Date Night" arc started off with a relatively quiet bang. Magneto had just been thwarted by the X-Men again, so Professor Xavier gave the gang a night off to do as they please. We got to see Kitty Pryde on the streets fighting crime with her new boyfriend, Spider-Man, Rogue heating up Iceman, Jean Grey aggressively moving on Cyclops, Storm and Wolverine hitting the bar scene and Xavier going on a dinner date with a woman named Lilandra Neramani (I think I got it all…).

Now, Charles Xavier finally has enough of the small talk with his circle-talking with Lilandra. She tells him of the history of the Phoenix entity and what it means for mutantkind and even the world. Meanwhile, Wolverine faces down Sabertooth, who has just dropped a paternal bomb. Back at the mansion, Kitty gets home; Iceman/Rogue and Cyclops/Jean discuss where their respective relationships are headed.

You gotta love the Ultimate Universe. Long ago, I swore off X-titles because of the albatross that their multi-character histories posed for the books. I tried Ultimate X-Men at first just to see how different it was, but Millar’s stories just weren’t doing it for me. Then it was announced that Bendis was coming along to write, and with David Finch accompanying him on art, I had to come back. Since that time, the book has shown off a solid writing pedigree that included Brian K. Vaughan and now Robert Kirkman (and soon, rumor has it, Bryan Singer). Each has made definite mark on the title, and thus far Kirkman is only three issues in.

The multiple plot threads Kirkman has going here are breathing new life into the book. While I really liked Vaughan and Bendis’ takes on the title, in the span of three issues Kirkman has introduced many interesting possibilities that didn’t exist before. I am not familiar with the origin of the Phoenix Force in regular continuity, but what Kirkman offers here via Lilandra’s Shi’ar account is interesting, feasible in a mythic way, and important. It could even be said that with the events unfolding in the Ultimate Galactus storyline, this explanation of the Phoenix could shape the Ultimate Universe. Yet even with all this going on, Kirkman makes time for the personal relationships of the characters. Without spoiling too much, let’s just say that love is in the air.

Honestly, if I’m not scrutinizing the art too closely, Tom Raney is doing a decent job here. As a reviewer, though, I have to scrutinize, and I have to say that this could have a better look. Raney has consistency problems, especially anatomically. Maybe he has to rush a little to keep on a monthly schedule because that is what some of his figures look like. Hanna’s inks are subdued, which is necessary on a superhero book, and Going-Raney’s colors are vibrant where they should be.

The story is what drives any book, and Kirkman has delivered so far. Hopefully, Raney can find more time to clean up his artistic flaws, but by no means does he retract from making Ultimate X-Men a great book right now.