Once again, I'm PO'ed at the cover of the comic, especially when it's the 69th issue. Ahahaha ok immature side has taken over. I mean not only is Wolverine shockingly shorter than Cyclops, but the cover has NOTHING to do with the story inside of it. If it does, shock me. The only thing I liked about the cover is the scoop, "Phoenix?" because this arc MIGHT determine whether I will continue reading X-Men. One of the sole reasons I disliked the 616 X-Men, was because of the PHOENIX. So I'm reading this and hopefully Phoenix doesn't get too carried away. Sadly, I hope Jean dies quickly if the Phoenix gets out.
As I was saying...then I opened up the comic itself and read along. And the first page disappoints me, because in the past the first page shows the "Previously in Ultimate X-Men" then I go to the next page, not bothering the recap since I read the issue already. But no, under the recap shows something that IS happening in the current comic. Try sticking to one, either put the panels of the previous comic or the present one.
Now what I did like, was the down-right truth of Colossus being gay. When Miller first hinted that Colossus was gay, I was PO'ed, but after some anger management classes and the understanding of the gay society, I'm glad Colossus is, and I'm glad he's not afraid to show it and glad there's an involvement with Northstar.
Unfortunately the art in this wasn't all too great. I did not like the way Xavier was drawn. In one panel, it looked like his forehead was drastically enlarged , his nose was shoved down to his mouth, giving him the the image of a drastic serial killer. Then Jean at one point had the face of an old lady, facial expressions that looked like she was stabbed in the back, then back to posing like a model. As for Wolverine, is it me or has he changed considerably from Ultimate X-Men #1? Back to cowboy hats and all, boring. We like the "as$hole".
I read along then there was a lil confrontation between Jean and Charles when Jean called him "Charles" and Xavier asked her to call him "Professor". I'm glad the "Professor" is showing some leadership there lol. Then it lead back to the teamwork of Rogue and Iceman. I like the lil' chemistry going around considering they were "making love" in the previous comics. At least they're getting along and how about this new guy eh? Cyclops showing him around, like every other "new person's" introduction. Gets quite boring lol.
Back to Colossus and Northstar. Once again the chemistry is there, obviously they like each other, I just hope it doesn't get too carried away. But then when things were heating up, "BRA-KROOM!!" What kind of sound effect for words is that? I guess they have to come up with some new words to describe the crash-in to the place. I really do love the Brotherhood, especially Blob and Toad. Loved those two since they showed up in the earlier issues. "WRAMM!" "BOING!!" "GOOM!!" Ok these sound effects are very very very bad. First of all, if you're thinking physics, the sound effect "WRAMM!" would have never happened...and when Colossus bounced off, the boing, geesh. I don't even want to talk about it. I do love the Toad's tongue...certainly powerful.
Oh and then the last few panels, very disappointing. If you go back to when Cyclops told the new guy, "As many X-Men as we have running around this place these days--something REALLY bad would have to happen for us to use you before you're ready" Ok so basically Cyclops told him he's not ready, we'd have to see Xavier's opinions about your powers before you go, oh and also a few days earlier and he had killed his parents, nearly destroyed a few SHIELD ppl, oh and Nick Fury probably one of the most important guys in Ultimate Marvel, but what does Cyclops say, (actually Robert Kirkman) "Well, Elliot you just MAY get your wish." Sorry that calls for poor writing, unrealism, and a poor ending to #69 to me that is.
Cover - 1/10
Story - 5/10
Art - 4/10
Overall - I'll give it a 4. Nothing too special, I guess it's an issue to start the arc...
Edit: Apparently, after re-reading the rules spoiler tags are not needed in this thread, so I took it off.