238. Ultimate X-Men vol 1 #5 ... Marvel ... Kubert n Millar ...

By the time you finished this issue, the first thing you will realize is that the team on this book is good at pacing. What we mean is the opening sequence and the final cliffhanger splash page. Every single issue - that's the most "impactful" sequence and it's done consistently. It almost gives us a feeling of old comics from 70s where at the end of each issue we are led with a cliffhanger to tease more to come next so that we await for the release

Okay ... let's start with the cover ... once again, it is a decent cover of Colossus looking powerful ... even though from within, it's a team book that didn't spotlight Peter Rasputin at all but hey ... it's a good cover ... so we are not complaining ...

Well, from the last issue, we saw Cyclops joining, right?

But this issue, right from the start we a jaw dropping first page - Parliament being bombed! And then in the fleeing that ensued, Cyclops and the Brotherhood - WTF right?

Naturally we know that as this is a Marvel comic, the next thing we will definitely see is a response and that response is predictable. Sentinels coming out from the ground and literally tracking and going all the way back to mutant land hide out of Magneto ...

Now before we continue discussing that, the book stops for a bit to show the X-Men trying to understand WTF is going on and trying to find Cyclops to no avail. So is he spying for Xavier or really joining the bad guys?

But hey in case you are not buying this book, writer Millar is going for all that he can squeeze out ... by giving you a scene of Jean literally doing the nasty with Wolverine ... yup last issue's kiss apparently ended in bed in a luxurious place (where's the money coming from?) ... and even after not finding Cyclops ... she didn't return to duty but continue hunkering back into bed with Wolverine ... this is not only a slut but horrendous behaviour ... shock value or not we found this scene just plain disgusting and pointless!

Anyway the big twist here is that the Sentinels and their overlord had no idea that the big villain of the picture is Magneto! Naturally if they did they wouldn't send metal robots right?

So what happens? Unfortunately by the time the robots arrived, they still managed to tear a huge hole of devastation in mutant land before Magneto seized them and said it's time for retribution on America. And here, you have to wonder again WTF. Is Magneto that dumb? He threw the first salvo by bombing parliament. What was he expecting? Obviously retaliation. Does that mean secretly he wanted a good war but wanted a slightly cleaner conscience i.e retaliation from him next not him being just the aggressor? Well if so, F U Mags you failed!

And finally naturally Cyclops woke up and said he needs to stop Mags from starting WWIII. Really? Cyclops? Really? Are you that thick?

Ratings: 4/10 ... don't get me wrong ... loved the action here but the illogical turn of the tale is a wee bit too much for me and hence the lower ratings