Ultimate Comics X-Men #33
World War X has been just what this X-Men series needed since Ultimatum. Everything that they have gone through leading up to this very moment here, one which Brian Wood so brilliantly constructed. Fighting against the world, then extinction, then the government, even themselves, and now there’s no more fighting. All that’s left is an end to the dark times, though that doesn’t mean it will last considering this is the Ultimate Universe.
Kitty really shined in this issue. Not as a leader, but as a mutant. With how much of politics she had played to this point, you forget how formidable she can be as a fighter. It’s obvious Woods takes favor in making her the main character, but even so there’s so much character development from her alone. Surprisingly giving the likes of Jean Grey a hard time. Heck I was a bit taken back to remember that she could become dense as well as intangible, one of the many ways she is different from her 616 counterpart. She fought for what Woods has emphasized this whole storyline. It had always been about uniting the mutants, finding a way that they can live at peace, never having to worry about quarries between each other. The aftermath of it all really was the highlight, seeing what could be accomplished from working together, picking up the pieces of what Jean unleashed upon both sides. What you always want to see is that struggle and what good comes out of overcoming it. That comes with the territory of being a mutant and is something Woods emphasizes repeatedly. Rising to the occasion like Kitty has done since the start.
Hardman’s penciling has been so great for this book, it always has. Capturing the dark times, the good times, capturing how every character reacted to this conflict. The fights, the scenery, it all looks so well done and he really makes this world his own.
The conclusion to World War X shows that the Ultimate X-Men have so much to offer the Ultimate Comics as a whole. What started as broken people, ended as the X-Men of tomorrow. This was the best ending you could hope for the X-Men going into Cataclysm because that will be the real test in terms of what they can really do united. If you are an X-Men fan and want something different that keeps you at the edge of your seat, this book is what you should be reading, Woods understands the X-Men.