So I'll start at the beginning. I've decided to part ways with Ultimate X-Men. I read the issue that came out last week, and despite all the potentially interesting developments, I was left cold. I did some thinking about that, and concluded that I don't really expect the ending to live up to the build-up. It's a problem I seem to be having with Kirkman's run on UXM. The reveal of who Cable appears to be hooked me, but for some reason the big fight scene between the X-Men and Cable's Wild Pack, culminating in Xavier's apparent death didn't work for me.
It isn't a new problem though, so maybe it's me. It was the one problem I had with Paul Jenkins' run on Peter Parker: Spider-Man. He'd do a multi-issue arc, building up the tension and the stakes, we'd get to the end and... blah. The endings weren't bad, they worked pretty well, didn't bollix up any characters, but they felt flat after everything that had led up to that point. So yeah, maybe it's me. I wonder if on a deeper level, the endless hype has affected me to where I expect that every arc really will produce some deep and awesome change (which I will probably not approve of), and when the arc only rearranges the board a little, to try and introduce some new ideas to build on later, I'm disappointed somehow.
It could possibly be my awareness of the impermanence of changes to comic characters in general. Sure Wolverine left the X-Men to find out about himself, but he'll be back eventually. They all come back eventually (in my head I'm trying to say that in the creepiest voice possible. No idea why).
Hmm, either possibility suggests I'm growing jaded in my later years. Well, Iron Fist is coming out this week (about time!), so that should bolster my spirits, don't you think?
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4 comments:
When Ultimate X-Men first came out, I thought that it was pretty good, with an interesting take on the old stories. Wolverine working for Magneto! Scott and Logan trying to kill each other! Peter's gay! Beast is kind of idiotic!
Yeah, it has lost that spark lately. I don't particularly like Cable or the Wild Pack, or Domino and all that bunch, so meh. And I kind of miss that old Kubert art.
I guess we ARE getting jaded.
Yeah. I kind of got over UXM a little while ago, and finally decided to say g'bye to it (along with UFF) at the end of the Cable arc.
I think the point you made about wasted buildup comes within the arc itself: in the penultimate chapter of the arc, Xavier declares to Scott that he's in love with Jean. Next issue, he dies. There's really no point in introducing a plot point if you're not going to take the time to see it through, know what I mean?
As for Jenkins' Spidey, I tend to give him the benefit of the doubt. I think he's gone on record in saying he works better with smaller stories, but Marvel was pushing for six issue arcs. Then again, I would also say that he should be a versatile enough writer to easily adapt to things like that...I guess it's a two-sided coin.
-M
sallyp: Maybe the newness of the Ultimate line has worn off and things are settling into status quo?
matt: I think that's a good point about the Xavier/Jean thing. The one thing that might factor in was the most recent issue's revelation that Cable took Xavier to the future, rather than kill him. And I wonder if Kirkman might not use it as a wedge between Jean and Scott now.
Still, it was kind of an odd time to introduce that wasn't it?
Flat endings are a huge problem right now. Civil War and House of M suffered from them, and Bendis is particularly bad at it.
Perhaps if these things weren't hyped up so much, then excitement could build naturally over the course of the story and the endings will be able to live up to the build-up. But the stories are on a hiding to nothing when you've got Quesada vomiting hyperbole everywhere; they can't possibly live up to his "this changes everything! nonsense.
Of course, you still need a decent story structure, but if the story can stand by itself, it's surely going to have a better chance of delivering.
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