Broken Frontier

Elliot Boggs, the Magician, has been a helpful addition to the X-Men. But what are his true motivations? What does he really want with Xavier’s mutants?

You won’t find out the answer to those questions in this issue, however, eyebrows will be raised. After defeating a group of racist terrorists, the X-Men are on their way home, but little do they know, Nick Fury has come by the X-Mansion with some surprising information. He doesn’t know how Xavier got Magician into his fold, even though it was only a few issues ago when he brought Boggs to the mansion. Was it him? Is he messing with the mutants? What’s going on? Something is definitely wrong. As the inevitable confrontation begins, Magician lets loose the full might of his powers and the X-Men, along with Fury, seem all but defeated. However, there is one member of the team with far more power…

Robert Kirkman’s X-Men are fun to read. The repertoire the team has is comedic, endearing, and distinctly teen at all times. They jump into action a bit too quickly, their emotions run rampant, particularly Nightcrawler’s, and their interaction is frighteningly simple. The complexities of these characters are underneath the surface. On the top the lake shimmers clear: Cyclops is the leader, Iceman is the jokester, Shadowcat is the good girl, etc, etc, etc. This serves to make their behavior, influenced by Magician, seem strange. Cyclops jumps the gun, Shadowcat acts promiscuous to the point of labels, etc, etc, etc. Truly, only a well versed and confident storyteller could pull this off, which, coincidentally enough, is exactly what Kirkman is.

Tom Raney and Scott Hanna are in the same boat. Raney mixes a simplistic, flowing style with intricate line work to give the book a unique, fantastical feel appropriate for the X-Men. The machines and backgrounds are crisp and the characters are clear, well defined yet hardly overdone. This combination makes Ultimate X-Men reflect our world in a teasing way. We know it isn’t possible, we know mutants don’t exist, and based on their appearance, that is clear—these are comic book characters. But the world they live in is as alive as our own. If the black lines were removed, this art would look surprisingly real. Of course some credit must go to the equally talented Hanna and the colorists, Gina Going and June Chung, who work, I’m sure, just as hard to give this book its stand-out appearance.

Ultimate X-Men has had its ups and downs. Some have criticized the various storylines for various reasons. At times, I have been one of the people criticizing. But Kirkman, with Raney and their team, leave little room for anything save praise.