Guest Post: Living With The Consequences (or Why I Can No Longer Read the X-Men) – by Jonathan Wood

Jonathan Wood is the author of No Hero and Yesterday’s Hero. I invited him to write a guest post, and he has decided to get something off his chest about Marvel. It’s a grumble we have in common…

As a general rule, I try not to wish death on anyone. I’m not always successful (I’m looking at you jackass, singing along to your MP3 player on the crowded subway car. You can be taken down by a herd of horny wildebeest and I will stand by, cheering them on), but I try.

That said, man did I want Jean Grey to die.

Ultimate Comics: “X - Origins” (Marvel)

Writer: Jeph Loeb | Artist: Arthur Adams | Colours: Peter Steigerwald | Digital Inks: Mark Roslan

Wolverine is dead. The X-Men are no more. Captain America is a fugitive. The Fantastic Four disbanded. Lives have been destroyed and nothing can ever be the same-is there any hope left? It all begins with a search for a brand new character whose identity will leave jaws on the floor and change the Ultimate Universe forever.

This is the first post-Ultimatum X-Men title. It was apparently meant to be a new series in itself, but due to less-than-stellar sales, it became an introduction/prequel to Ultimate Comics X-Men. I actually really enjoyed this. Given that this series is set in a new, seriously anti-Mutant world, with a radical new premise for the X-Gene, it ran the risk of being too jarring and disappointing. Thankfully, however, it turned out to be an engaging, addictive and beautifully rendered graphic novel.