Ultimate X-Men, Volume 16: Cable Book

Loved this story. I've been waiting for Cable to show up, and in this volume my wish came true with Bishop also making an appearance. As I've said many times I'm a sucker for time travel stories, and this one had a nice twist that I won't spoil. The conclusion of this one is big too, foreshadowing major changes for the team.

My local second hand bookstore was selling a lot of bargain copies of Marvel Comics graphic novels at prices irresistible to a comic book enthusiast. The Ultimate X-Men series of trade paperbacks was well represented. I managed to get first three collections in the series, all with story by Mark Millar (Kick-Ass) and featuring some art by Adam Kubert, and the last three books that collect the run of The Walking Dead's Robert Kirkman. Getting the books by Millar is almost a given as he did a lot of great work with his time in the title, but I got into Kirkman's work because of the Michael Turner cover on volume sixteen.

I find myself enjoying Kirkman's take of the X-Men mythos. He takes advantage of the lack of continuity baggage in Ultimate X-Men by introducing new characters that reflect his nostalgia for the heady days of the Nineties. He references and retells some of the classic storylines of that decade Ultimate style. This volume introduces Ultimate Cable, a key figure in classic X-Men mythology but reinvented. Aside from Cable, other Nineties characters he introduces and uses in this volume and the next two include Bishop, Psylocke, Stryfe, Apocalypse and Onslaught. Nineties X-Men readers would recognize the stories referenced as the Cable identity mystery, Stryfe and the Mutant Liberation Front, Age of Apocalypse, Onslaught Saga and a dash of the two best stories in X-Men history, Days of Future Past and the Dark Phoenix Saga.

I consider the last three books of Kirkman's as a trilogy, since the events in volume sixteen sets up the next volume and the final one as well. The first two end in a cliffhanger that it would serve you better if you have the three books on hand.

After being spoiled by Adam Kubert in the first three Ultimate X-Men books I bought, I find the art team in this collection wanting. Except for Yanick Paquette, who I wish did the entire issue seventy-five to eighty story arc.

This is an X-Men nostalgia comic book disguised as an Ultimate title. If you enjoyed the X-Men in the Nineties whether through the comics or the animated series, you will enjoy this book.