Calling it an 8.3 just because it doesn't have any action scenes perfectly showcases what superhero comics readers value the most. This is a great chapter, with a lot of clever dialogue and key moments to the characters; with this, I've understood way more how Harry's mind works, and foresee some pretty heavy moral battles in the future. It was a joy reading this, a great chapter.

A little rushed

My main criticism is that this is not "X-Men", this is something else that borrows the "X-Men" title. I don't like that.

I have read many X-Men stories, and, in my opinion, Peach Momoko can't bring to the table the type of story that I expect from a book with the title "X-Men". If the book is called "ULTIMATE X-MEN", that doesn't help her case.

Ultimate:

noun

1. the best achievable or imaginable of its kind.

2. a final or fundamental fact or principle.

A book called "Ultimate X-Men" should be an attempt to present all the elements that make the X-Men great in a single place, but there is none of that here. This is something else.

And that's to be expected from someone who has no attachment whatsoever to the franchise, someone who barely appreciates it.

"I wasn't too familiar with X-Men before researching them when I was creating Demon Days and now, Ultimate X-Men"

That's what Peach Momoko said in her interview with AIPT. Her words. Not mine. Hers.

Of course I already knew that before reading the interview, but it is good to have confirmation.

Screen Rant also interviewed her and I also found something interesting there:

"Editor's Note: Peach Momoko’s answers were translated from Japanese with the help of her husband and manager, Yo Mutsu, and have been lightly edited with permission for clarity and perspective."

That mean she doesn't speak english?

Why does she even bother to work with Marvel Comics? She is clearly popular, she could publish this story in her native language elsewhere in a more suitable format and I bet she would get better paychecks. The money is not in Marvel right now, nor in DC, the money is in the manga, she should take advantage of that. I don't understand why she chooses to work at Marvel, it's clearly not because of attachment to the franchise.


Whatever.

The story itself is quite compelling and it's very well told, I think Momoko is very talented. This is good japanese storytelling, the only reason why this is not manga is because it reads from left to right like the american comics (manga reads from right to left).

When this was announced I thought that, despite I think this was a wasted opportunity for Marvel, maybe I would enjoy it because I like Armor. And I did enjoy it while I was reading it, but not because of Armor, that Joss Whedon character is not quite here, Hisako could have any other name and the story would work. This book could have any other title that is not "X-Men" and the story would work. This story doesn't need to be set in a Marvel Universe.

That is my complaint.

THIS IS NOT X-MEN. Why? Because the X-Men are a team of heroic mutants formed by Charles Xavier with the purpose of protecting a world that hates and fears them. No matter what universe it is, that's what the X-Men are meant to be. The team is called "X-Men" because of Xavier. The team represents the dream of Charles Xavier of peaceful coexistence between mutants and the rest of humanity.

Here there is NONE OF THAT. There is no Xavier. There is not even a team here. There is no X-Men in a book called "Ultimate X-Men".

Maybe there will be a team at some point in the series, but if there will be, why don't you show me that first and save this story for an origin issue later in the series?

This comic is very well crafted, it looks like it will be a good supernatural story in the japanese tradition. I still don't quite get what happened exactly to Hisako's friend (he was bullied so I suppose he took his own life) but my only real technical complaint would be that this type of story would work better in another format, a larger format, a graphic novel format (like manga).

This is a good comic book, but it is not a good X-MEN comic book. Nothing here resembles the X-Men, not even taking into account that this is a different universe.

The X-Men movies were clearly different from the comics, but they were good (of course I'm talking about only the first two) because they had all the recognizable elements of the franchise.

That's not the case here. Peach Momoko is not trying to include any of the recognizable elements, she's doing her own thing, which would be fine if she wasn't borrowing the "X-Men" title. It's just not right to use an established IP as a platform to present something completely different, it's deceptive.

The X-Men is an established brand, that means the public already has an expectation that the book must meet in order for it to sell, but Peach Momoko is not even trying to meet any expectation, because she doesn't want to write an X-Men story, she wants to write a story about high school girls fighting ghosts (or demons) using their newfound pseudo-magical powers.

It looks like a interesting story, but it doesn't matter how good it is because it's disrespecting the costumers by giving them something they did not pay for.

I have no doubt Peach Momoko is very capable of telling good stories, but she is not capable of writing good X-Men stories simply because she clearly has no interest in doing so.

Not even Hisako's powers have a slight resemblance to the X-Men lore, here they look more like a magical thing than a genetic accident.

If this wasn't called "Ultimate X-Men" it would be good, but it is called "Ultimate X-Men" while not presenting anything that resembles the X-Men, so, thumbs down. more

Wow, didn't know marvel could look like this. Momoko's wobbly style and goofy drawings go perfectly with a psychological horror X-Men origin story, which goes perfectly with X-Men. Kinda reminds me of the TV series about Legion, which was way more trippy than this but also deal with stuff like trauma and how it affects a powerful individual.

Only 7,5 for now because it's a little rushed, too many things the author wants to dump on us at once, but hopefully it'll follow an interesting path. more

Seeing Spidy and the Green Goblin team up and working together is one of the most epic things it has happen in the superhero's history