237. Ultimate X-Men vol 1 #4 ... Marvel ... Kubert ...

Well from the mess that was last issue, writer Millar and artist Kubert continued unabated and in fact, this is a much better issue. Now our past reviews are a mixture between trying to entice you to read the comic and yet balancing between a discussion for those who have read. Well, from this review onwards, BE WARNED. We will be doing a full review as if you have read, okay? SO IN SHORT EVERYTHING IS REVEALED. SPOILER ALERT ALL THE WAY THROUGH

Right. The cover is finally awesome. That is surely an updated Jean Grey and in the Ultimate-verse, although Jean is young but she is streetwise and not the half-fragile flower, half-stronger-inner-woman from the original Marvel 616-verse

Inside, we are first shown the continuing firefight from last issue. The Brotherhood is no longer the only villain or on the run. We are shown others with more conventional firepower i.e. bullets and guns ... and then comes the boss of the baddies, enter: Magneto

Huge blow-out and we see the X-Men finally going home recuperating. Yup! Hank is not dead and the reveal in the previous issue was merely to get us interested in this issue. Boo! This is Ultimate. We should see Beast gone!

Next, for whatever reasons i.e. intentional or otherwise, there seemed to be unnecessary tension created here. As we know, Cyclops has a crush on Jean and vice versa even though Scott Summers is more beefy and hairy unlike the 616 Cyke whose nickname is Slim. But here, we are shown that nasty Wolverine, with a few clever looks and comments actually manages to snog Jean. Does that mean Jean is easy? Or a slut? Hahahahahahahha!

Anyway, Scott saw it and that's Wolvie's intent ... cue some other pages of (to us) irrelevant panels ... before we are swept away to the lair of Magneto where he is assembling not an army but a country of his own ... and guess who comes to join him on that last page?

Cyclops!

Yup ... but after last issue, we are left wondering if we can believe this or merely another set-up by the writer (boo!). See? This is what happens when the boy cries wolf too many times in too short a time!

O yes the colouring is awesome though. Love it on that final page and the garden scene

Ratings: 6/10