The Good
The X-Men (from both universes) were last seen facing down Ultimate (hooved) Doctor Doom at his Latverian palace and things were going poorly. We pick up directly after that cliffhanger and Doom does what he does best in any dimension: some good ol’ fashioned monologuing. After an impressive introductory two-page splash, we get some resolution with this situation which, without giving anything away, still leaves half the issue to pick up the pieces and finally find exactly who they’ve been looking for since issues and issues ago. Brian Bendis wraps things up well enough here, giving several of the characters not only great character moments, but some great moments to work with their alternate selves. It’s actually incredibly satisfying to see the power of a pair of Jean Greys alongside two Icemen. Bendis even gives us some glimpses into the multitude of remaining dimensions as it turns out our dimension hopping mutant hasn’t been simply resting on her laurels and waiting to be found. Several of them seem to have some wonderful storytelling potential from what very, very little we see of them. There’s also a really satisfying end to the story that makes great use of the two Jeans and gives both of them a chance to both learn about and describe their powers in new and interesting ways.
This is Mahmud Asrar’s strongest issue, visually, yet since his time taking over the series. Asrar not only takes on the not-too-easy job of differentiating the various X-Men from at a glance, but has to reign in what is, all told, a very chaotic issue. As portals continue opening, it would be easy to get completely baffled by what’s going on, but Asrar’s linework is crisp and clean, his panel control excellent and his new, often strange, character designs extremely helpful in guiding the reader along from one page to the next. Marte Gracia’s colors do plenty of heavy lifting as well, a combination of bold bombast and shadowy darkness. There’s some mention of how much darker and drearier the Ultimate Universe is in general, and Gracia’s colors do a great, subtle job of communicating that. The bold colors are a little more muted, the shadows a little more pronounced.
The Bad
This is the final issue in a story arc that could have, perhaps should have, been much, much shorter. It’s hard to not use a final issue in an arc as a judge for the rest of that arc, but the fact that this storyline stuck around for as long as it did has culminated in this final issue exemplified, perhaps best, by Doom. As entertaining as it was, and as visually magnificent, the whole Doom side of this felt pointless and like it was there to add length to an already over-stretched story. The same could, unfortunately, be said about the various dimension hoppings that are a great excuse for Asrar to demonstrate his talent with some giant panels, but also come off as more padding.
The Verdict
Usually Bendis is able to keep his ducks in a row and work an entertaining, well-paced story into six issues, but this is a rare faltering for him. While the book is a visual feast, it simply doesn’t have the story or enough character focus to drive the narrative forward. There are some great character moments, but they’re mostly focused on five of what is a gargantuan group, the rest of who did essentially nothing but fill up backgrounds. This isn’t a bad issue by any means, and it wasn’t a bad story by any means, but it felt like a massive holding pattern from very early on and never managed to overcome that.