Ultimate X-Men 5 (2024) Review
Summary: Well, we finally have a team name. With a new villain introduced, another villain finally getting a name after 5 issues, stellar artwork, and two new mutants coming up, this is slowly but surely turning into a superhero book. A VERY unconventional one, but a superhero book none the less.
4
Magic?
Background – We get a name for our villain and meet another! Also: magic!
Writing –So first things first: This is our new Shadow King. I was right! More than that: he has a name! It’s Shinobu, which admittedly was revealed in a very strange way. But he’s not our only villain: Surge has entered the book.
Surge, whose real name is Noriko, originally showed up in New Mutants in the early 2000’s and went through a long traumatizing, comics career. She always remained positive throughout her trials and tribulations, however. This Noriko, though, is definitely not stable. Surge may seem like your typical vapid popular girl, but she has a sadistic mean streak to her as evident by her grisly murder of her … client. She is not only a school aged girl, but she is also a prostitute of sorts. She doesn’t sell her body, only her time and company, and when one of her clients gets too handsy, she electrocutes his head. While I doubt we’ll ever see exactly what changes The Maker made to her timeline, whatever has happened to her in this new world has definitely inverted her moral compass. This also begs the question of whether the Maker ended up turning more heroes into villains beyond his main cabal, or whether or not Surge broke bad in this reality without the support of the X-Men.
In regards to our heroes, the girls run a test to see if they can get a vision on Hisako’s Omamori (amulet), when the Shadow King interrupts them. Nico ends up fighting him and her magnifying glass grows into the Staff of One. The issue ends with Surge spitting on a poster of Emperor Sunfire (!), and the revelation that being a mutant may not have anything to do with DNA in this reality. Instead, blood and magic may be the cause of these new powers for the girls (and others). There seems to be a cult that deals with blood magic that has named itself Mutants. The final two panels show us our next two team members Natsu and Mori. Nori has one eye (maybe our new version of Cyclops) and a girl wearing bunny ears (super leaping or maybe she’s our new Quicksilver?) Who knows!
The book’s only real major stumble on this issue comes from the naming of the team. Mei and Nico are walking home and the name X-men is decided on. It feels very forced and random, especially when the first name idea also just happens to start with X (X-Team and then Secret Society X-Men).
Artwork – At this point, the art is either for you or it isn’t. The creepiest bit this issue doesn’t come from our resident shadow, it comes from none other than our brand new mutant Surge. The death of her “john” is really gnarly looking.
Final Thoughts – With some big secrets and plot details finally revealed, this has turned into the most important (and best) issue yet. Our villain has a name, a new villain has been introduced, and Nico has discovered there is more to her powers than she originally thought. With the solicits showing that a very important X-Man will be showing up in the next issue or two, our team is just getting started. While the name drop of the team felt very awkward, at least we finally heard the name of the book IN the book.
Final score: 4 out of 5
Publisher: Marvel
Writer & Artist: Peach Momoko
Letterer: VC’s Travis Lanham
Cover Artist: Peach Momoko
Script Adaptation: Zack Davisson
Genre: Superhero
Format: Monthly
Release Date: 07/17/2024
About the Author
Matt Fischer Lover of all things nerdy. Reader of Comics for over 25 years. DC encyclopedia. X-Men historian. Spider-Man and Marvel lover. Indie side guy.
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