The Good
General Ross and his army don't take kindly to mutants. He stays outside of Utopia waiting for his order to tear Utopia down. What these mutants need to do, in order to defeat Ross, is unite in battle. Is this something they can do, even though they're so splintered?
The reason this book is consistently amazing, month after month, is because this is a great creative team, on a great book, telling once fantastic story. This is so different from every X-book on the shelves, and the storytelling is a big departure from other Marvel books. We aren't dealing with super-powered heroes trying to save the world. Wood tells of the story of people and their fight to be recognized as citizens and not monsters. We get to connect to these characters on a much more personal level through Wood's writing.
The storm is coming, and I couldn't be more excited! This story is really building to something that will hopefully be spectacular. A lot happens with the mutants here as they unite against a bigger threat: General Ross. Since the whole Utopia storyline started, this is one of the possible things I was waiting to happen. The reader certainly gets an uneasing feeling as things come to a head here, and this story is paced out wonderfully.
What is Jean Grey up to on her own? I'm loving this version of the character. She's incredibly mysterious, and while she is working with Kitty Pryde, she has her own agenda.
Solid artwork from the team of Mahmud Asrar (pencils), Juan Vlasco (inks), and Jordie Bellaire (colors). I love what they are doing and it gives this book a very "indie" feel to it, which matches very well with Brian Wood's writing. Asrar has some great layouts here. They're all very interesting and unique, and the final splash page of this issue is beautiful.
The Bad
I'm going to get a bit nit-picky. The problem I had with issue 25 was that Kitty Pryde's shirt is plain white with no shading. It's the only thing in this issue, color-wise that is entirely flat. I like and understand the idea that she's the leader of this group and quite the stand-out, so your attention goes right to her, but the overall effect comes off as a bit more of a nuisance than anything else.
The Verdict
Once again, ULTIMATE COMICS X-MEN has another fantastic issue. Wood is such a strong writer and he truly does an incredible job with these characters. He can take a bunch of mutants, in the desert, hanging out, one of the most interesting books at Marvel. The creative team here is also fantastic, and the final reveal page is incredibly cool. I wasn't too keen on Kitty's shirt being a flat-white though, but that's my only real complaint with the issue.
Overall, I highly recommend this issue and this series.
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