It’s interesting going into the X-Men related comics of the limited Ultimate Universe relaunch without reading the larger meta-series. On the one hand, I’m not going in with any larger knowledge of how The Maker brought this universe to pass, and how things are playing out in most of the rest of the world. On the other hand, this puts me in a position to see how these stories hold up as stand alone works. Do they tell complete stories that don’t require me to be reading a bunch of other series? The good news is, at least for Peach Momoko’s Ultimate X-Men, the answer is yes.

Ultimate X-Men feels, in at least a small way, like a hybrid of the X-Men and Runaways, and that’s not just because of the presence of Ultimate Nico Minoru. This is a book about teenagers, interacting with other teenagers (and a select few adults), and dealing with what happens when Larger Adult Problems intrude into their lives. The difference being that, because they’re Mutants and thus have superpowers, they may have an opportunity to do something about it. They just need to figure out what they’re going to do about it.

The cast for the comic includes (often changed to Teenage) versions of a few major comics characters with ties to Mutants – Storm, Armor, Nico Minoru – along with a couple other characters re-interpreted to this comics setting in a suburban Japanese town, like Cyclops and the Shadow King. They’re not part of any school for Gifted Youngsters, they’re just High School kids. In keeping with the setting shift, we also have the antagonists, instead of being a team like the Brotherhood of (Evil) Mutants, they’re an Aum Shinrikyo-esque cult called the Children of the Atom.

This chunk of the world feels very separate from the larger affairs of this Ultimate Universe. Each chunk of the world has been given a kind of Ravenloft-style “Darklord” shaping their domain. Japan is ruled by Ultimate Sunfire, and while he is ostensibly in charge, and makes a brief appearance in the comic, he has a limited direct influence on the plot, outside of how Japanese society treats superpowered individuals like Mutants.

I’ve read Peach Momoko’s loosely linked “Demon Days” one-shots prior to this, so I’ve seen her work in comics form (rather than just covers) previously. She’s really good with the art and layouts here. There aren’t a lot of people who have done comics in watercolors (David Mack immediately comes to mind), and I’d say that I like Momoko’s work more than Mack’s in terms of panel layouts and flow.

If you were going to ask me, if I was only going to read only one Ultimate Universe relaunch comic, is this a good one to go with? Yes, it is.

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