Marvel released Mark Bagley's variant cover to Ultimate X-Men #1 on Friday. With the podcast and live Happy Hour Show, I never got around to even looking at it. Because Aiden Cross brought it to my attention, I did look...and I liked it.
Who are these X-Men? Iceman should be immediately recognizable. At the top? Yes, that's the Human Torch, Johnny Storm. Dressed in red, that's Kitty Pryde (she's been doing some really cool things with her powers). All have been in the pages of Ultimate Spider-Man. Both Johnny and Bobby have been living with Aunt May. Along with Kitty, who used to date Ultimate Peter Parker, all are completely distraught over Peter's death. In the pages of Ultimate Fallout, they decide to go off together to find their new way in life. Despite Johnny not being an actual mutant, I totally dig him being here.
As for the guy at the bottom with claws, that's not Wolverine. Wolverine is dead. At least, last time I checked. Wolverine's son as been a big part of Ultimate X (that miniseries set up a lot in what we can expect to see in Ultimate X-Men, hope you read it). Jimmy Hudson (or Howlett since he's Wolverine's kid) has claws like his dead but these look a little more metallic. Guess we'll have to wait and see what's going on.
Ultimate X-Men will be written by Nick Spencer with art by Paco Medina. These X-Men will be on the road to discover the true history of the X-gene. The regular cover will be drawn by Kaare Andrews and be polybagged for some reason. Issue #1 is on sale September 21, 2011. I wonder what role 'Karen Grant' will play in this title. It's not a good time to be a mutant in the Ultimate Universe.