Martinez – Alvaro

All posts tagged Martinez – Alvaro

Ultimate Comics X-Men : World War X

Posted by John Klein III on August 13, 2024
Posted in: Review. Tagged: , , . Leave a comment

The Final Ultimate Comics X-Men storyline!

Ultimate Comics X-Men (2011)

Posted by John Klein III on January 30, 2014
Posted in: Retrospective. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

Of the 33 issues, I own 29 of them!

I own these issues :

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 13, 14, 14 (Granov Variant), 15, 16, 17, 18, 18.1, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33

I am missing then :

9, 10, 11, 12 – all were a concentration camp storyline, not having Kitty but Storm and Colossus – I believe I will pass, thank you.

28 I was suppose to get.

Issues

1, 2, 3, 4, 5            Nick Spencer and Paco Medina

6            Nick Spencer and Paco Medina / Carlo Barberi

7, 8            Nick Spencer with Carlo Barberi

9, 10, 11, 12            Nick Spencer with Paco Medina (boo to these!)

13            Nick Spencer with Paco Medina / Reilly Brown

14            Brian Wood with Paco Medina / Reilly Brown

15            Brian Wood with Paco Medina

16            Brian Wood and Paco Medina / Carlo Barberi

17            Brian Wood and Carlo Barberi

18            Brian Wood and Carlo Barberi / Agustin Padilla

18.1            Brian Wood and Filipe Andrade

19            Brain Wood and Paco Medina

20            Brian Wood and Carlo Barberi

21            Brain Wood and Carlo Barberi also Nathan Edmondson and David Baldeon

22            Brian Wood / Nathan Edmondson with Carlo Barberi

23            Brian Wood and Carlo Barberi

24, 25, 26, 27, 28            Brain Wood with Mahmud Asrar

29, 30, 31, 32, 33            Brian Wood with Alvero Martinez

On my Wishlist :

Only 5 Issues!

1 Bagley Variant Cover

1 Paco Medina Variant

13 Jorge Molina Variant

28 Regular issue

29 Pagulayan Variant

Nick Spencer started the run out with some amazing concepts and  rich characterization.

Brian Wood took over at the halfway mark and made the title into more of a political comic.

Both of them made and continually made Kitty Pryde the leader of mutants and she really became the face of the franchise.

Both had amazing work done on the title.

Such storylines were :

Divided We Fall

United We Stand

Reservation X

Natural Resources

World War X

With this final part over, anything can happen to the Ultimate X-Men as Galataus is next!

I did not realize that we had such a committed cast of artists on the title :

Paco Medina, Carlo Berberi, Reilly Brown, Mahmud Asrar and Alvero Martinez.

The cast was pretty much Kitty Pryde, Iceman, Rogue and Wolverine’s son, Jim Hudson.  Johnny Storm started out in the night under Nick Spencer and then he stayed behind in New York as Kitty and the gang took to Texas to fight the Sentinels.

This version of the X-Men is the second title in the Ultimate Universe, once Ultimatum happen and made mutants truly the outlaws and feared and hated more than their proper Marvel counterparts have ever felt.

It was like Operation Zero Tolerance, except for two years.  It was like Decimation but on a global scale.  Instead of 200 mutants, we only had 20 left in America.

Not too many stories that were basically “Let’s Introduce this character” type of stories.  They had established these characters and were now able to start telling proper stories.

Ultimate Rogue came off very well.  As did Kitty, they were no longer boy crazy young girls but had become women in their own right.

This title was pretty female dominant, which I didn’t realize until right now.

If Kitty wasn’t fighting a faceless government, she was being threatened by Mach Two or Jean Grey.

Iceman sort of disappeared and Jim Hudson was pretty much just Kitty’s boyfriend more than he was Wolverine’s son, except for that Ultimate Wolverine mini.

Nick Spencer started out with Kitty telling the story (from a future point) stating she was American’s number one terrorist.  I can see where that idea sort of drop but in the age we live in, I can see the news outlets continuing to warm people of Utopia in New Mexico.

Such a great series, push come to shove, I would say that it was the better of the two Ultimate X-Men volumes.  It helps that it had two creative voices guiding the ship and I’ not sure what happen to Nick Spencer but Brian Wood has proven to be quite the talent at Marvel and with the proper X-Men.

Cataclysm : Ultimate X-Men 1

Posted by John Klein III on December 7, 2013
Posted in: Review. Tagged: , , , , , . Leave a comment

Cataclysm X-Men 1

Writer Josh Fialkov

Penciler Alvaro Martinez

Penciler John Lucas

Colorist Jordie Bellaire

Letterer VC’s Joe Sabino

Part One of Three

Ultimate Kitty Pryde is only referenced twice in Rogue’s narration captions.  Which I find disappointing as I was hoping she was leading the charge.  Hopefully she shows up in this mini or the proper Cataclysm miniseries.

Cataclysm Ultimate X-Men 1 Shadowcat 1

Kitty sends a rescue squad to what is left of Tian.  Jimmy Hudson, Rogue, Iceman, Blackheath, Mach-2 and Stomr.  They are there to rescue Pixie.  The character intro captions are very funny.

Nice seeing Rogue in a proper outfit, instead of that skimpy bikini she was wearing in the woods.  Ultimate Rogue has become quite harden.  She has lost so much, friends, lovers and security.  She is tired of it all.

On the other hand, Iceman hasn’t changed at all.

Jimmy finds Pixie, she is surrounded by some mutants from Tian who are taking care of her – Silence (a new character), Strong Guy (already better than his proper version), Amp (new, maybe?) and Beak – who is even sadder than his proper Marvel character.  Lucky for these new characters, Silence is able to calm everybody down as the X-Men are ready to attack them.

Galactus shows up and has everyone spooked.  Pixie wakes up and sees Galactus and due to Amp’s ability to increase powers, Pixie teleports them to deep space, where the Ultimate Galactus bugs are located.  They all start freaking out being in space and surrounded by this metal bugs that all they want to do is consume. Consume. CONSUME.

Cataclysm Ultimate X-Men 1 Shadowcat 2

Beak recommends Silence calms them down, Blackheath says the “ugly bird man is right.”  Beak then says “Words hurt, dude.”  Which is such a great line.

One of the bugs, Gah Lak Tus, kills Silence.  This sets off Rogue and starts wanting to destroy these things, she is not going to watch any more death.  She absorbed Jimmy’s powers, so she has bone claws.  I wonder if the creative team forgot that Jimmy also has the ability to turn those claws into metal – unless he lost that in his own miniseries, I only read the first issue.

Issue ends with Rick Jones showing up, as he is now Captain Marvel.  Iceman calls him a total spaz.  Future does not look bright for the X-Men or the Ultimate Universe.

Ultimate Comics X-Men 33

Posted by John Klein III on November 4, 2013
Posted in: Review. Tagged: , , , . Leave a comment

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Writer Brian Wood

Penciler Alvaro Martinez

Inker John Lucas

Colorist Chris Sotomayor

Lettering VC’s Joe Sabino

World War X Conclusion

Ultimate Comics X-Men 33 Shadowcat 1

Issue opens up wih Pixie continuing to teleport Tian mutants to Utopia.

Blackheath and Zero confirm the Sentient Seed is alive, but brain dead.  This devastates Rogue.

We get to see Kitty and Jean fight.  Pretty cool to see Kitty hold her own.

Turns out Jimmy did not die.  Kitty takes the time to hug him and Jean brain zaps the two of them.

Colossus sends out the order. Pixie teleports Kitty and Jimmy out.

Poor Pixie gets the task of doing a poor Watchmen “thirty minutes ago” rip.

Kitty’s main goal / plan?  If there is no physical Tian, then mutants have no choice but go to Utopia.

Dtorm saves Jean, which is unfortunate.

Watching Tian sink is amazingly drawn and quite the moment.

Two weeks later, Jean has agreed to have some mental blocks on her powers.

Get the impression that Kitty has spent two weeks trying to turn herself in.  Sgt. Wolman tells Kitty, in probably the best page of the issue, that no one wants to punish Kitty for destroying Tian.  Kitty probably could live and eat  freely in Southeast Asia.

That ends the second volume of Ultimate X-Men.

Next, Cataclysm.  Will the Ultimate Universe survive Galactus?  Will the X-Men?  I am set to get the X-Men mini and the proper miniseries.  Won’t actually buy them unless Kitty is in the issues.

I would actually like to see them end the Ultimate Universe, has that would be a pretty bold move.

But something tells me this is Ultimatum Part Two, and the solicitations next month will spoil the true ending to Cataclysm.

. . .

Shoot!  This was my 129th post.  Should have done something at least proper Kitty Pryde related instead of Ultimate.  That is on me.

I will make it up tomorrow with both Thor and Kitty.

Ultimate Comics X-Men 32

Posted by John Klein III on October 15, 2013
Posted in: Review. Tagged: , , , . Leave a comment

285981_20131009162036_large

Writer Brian Wood

Penciler Alvaro Martinez

Inker John Lucas

Colorist Chris Sotomayor

Lettering VC’s Joe Sabino

World War X Part Four of Five

Ultimate Comics X-Men 32 Shadowcat 1

Kitty is one bold character, sitting on grass while wearing a completely white outfit.

Ultimate Comics X-Men 32 Shadowcat 2

Who would thought a sabretooth tiger was at Utopia?

Ultimate Comics X-Men 32 Shadowcat 3

James is trying to escape Tian.

Storm fights Farbird, and kills him.  We see some real emotion from Jean.

Jean states that he killed James, I am not convinced.  Have to wait until next issue.  His “death” inspires Liz to fight Jean.

Husk introduces Kitty to Ultimate Pixie.

We get Kitty’s plan, but really, it is a delay attempt so Utopia can knock Tian out of the sky.

She has two hours but Colossus already knows that he is waiting for the two mark.

Kitty sees James, her face is in shadow, perhaps he really is dead.  Issue opened with her missing him, so storywise, makes sense that he is dead.

Next issue, Kitty v. Jean for the sake of mutant unity.  The concluding chapter and I want to say Wood’s final issue too, as Cataclysm starts in December.

Ultimate Comics X-Men 31

Posted by John Klein III on October 2, 2013
Posted in: Review. Tagged: , , , , . Leave a comment

284035_20130919172321_large

Writer Brian Wood

Penciler Alvaro Martinez

Inker John Lucas

Colorist Chris Sotomayor

Lettering VC’s Joe Sabino

World War X Part Three

Ultimate Comics X-Men 31 Shadowcat 1

Ultimate Kitty has decided to match Ultimate Jean Grey, move for move.

I like how because of this, Jean is getting a tad more crazy, she was not expecting this level of opposition.

We see how silly it was of James to switch sides.  He left Utopia because he is a warrior, now Jean wants him to fight, and he doesn’t want to do it.

The Kitty and Rogue scene is my favorite section of the book.  There are times where I believe none of the characters remember Volume One of this title, which someone finally draws attention to that later.

Kitty and Rogue used to be rivals, and all due to Bobby, which was pretty awesome when they both moved on and Bobby was left to himself, and had nothing to do.

How great from the hug they give each other to Rogue’s decision, the layouts and writing, really come together.  Maybe it is more about the characters and less about the building battle, though it is part of it, that I am drawn to.

I like the contrast between the two ladies, Rogue still in that jungle garb, she has committed to spending all of her time with the Seed, she doesn’t worry about absorbing other’s powers.  Kitty still dressed neck to toes, in her commander uniform, she is still leading the charge.  Which, I don’t believe we have seen her in a different outfit yet.  She is constantly in leader mode.  I suppose we saw her in the casual version if it.

If Rogue had decided to fold, Kitty would have had to convince the others to back down, but she would have done it.  Instead, this is now even more on!

Kitty annouces that Colossus is the new leader.  She lists all great reasons.  He will only be the leader, for four weeks, then they will vote for their third leader.

Wonderful how Blackheath steps up and points to Bobby, reminding everyone that Bobby was Original X-Men, because that boy hasn’t done anything but pine ovet Husk.

I quite like how Colossus is has straight forward as he is, though with his mafua background, I suspect he has killed quite often in the past.  I also like how Aleks is sticking around.

Mach Two and Shola show Colossus a brand new weapon they can use.  Great use of Shola’s engineering abilities, which we know he has from the Mekanix mini.  Still crazy how they Ultimatized a character from that mini – it was a cool pull.

I get it is a type of cannon, I just need to see it a few more times to fully fet it.

Issue ends with Jean releasing James, so that Tian can hunt him down and kill him.  I hope they succeed in that endeavour.

Maybe one more issue, and then the big Utopia v. Tian showdown?

Though Farbird is sent to kill Storm at the end of this issue, so maybe bext issue does start the battle.

Ultimate Comics X-Men 30

Posted by John Klein III on August 20, 2013
Posted in: Review. Tagged: , , , , . Leave a comment

280827_20130815214126_large

Written by Brian Wood

Penciled by Alvaro Martinez

Inked by John Lucas

Colored by Chris Sotomayor

World War X Part Two

Can’t believe that Jean had sex with Logan, and now is having sex with his son.  That girl has a type!

Ultimate Comics X-Men 30 Shadowcat 1

I like that Kitty is not going to just turn the cheek and let Jean keep attacking Utopia.  No, Kitty is going to match her, move for move.

Ultimate Comics X-Men 30 Shadowcat 2

Really glad we are not getting scenes of Mach Two secretly planning to betray Kitty, this is war, choose a side and stick with it.

Sending robots to attack Kitty is just plain dumb.  She destroys anyrhing electrical.  It’s like those two were never on the same team.

So Tian is off the coast of Asia and Utopia is somewhere in Colorad.  That has to be several hours away from each other.  Almost silly length of space to send troops from.

Oh man, the power set on Magma here is insane!  She straight up added new land and environments.  I like Mach Two asking the question if she us taking resources away from other locations, as that is how Storm’s powers use to work in the original Marvel Universe.  At least, if she constantly used her powers for a length of time.  Magma states it isn’t as she knows what she is doing.

Kitty offers Colossus the leadership of Utopia.  Hopefully, her plan is to stay on as co-leader.

Ultimate Comics X-Men 29

Posted by John Klein III on August 1, 2013
Posted in: Review. Tagged: , , , , . Leave a comment

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Written by Brian Wood

Penciled by Alvaro Martinez

Inked by John Lucas

Colored by Chris Sotomayor

World War X Part One

This is the final comic of the ones I didn’t get last month.  Apparently the mutants beat the American soldiers.  Now, Kitty has to fight against Jean Grey.

Ultimate Comics X-Men 29 Shadowcat 1

Ultimate Comics X-Men 29 Shadowcat 2

James breaks up with Kitty.  As her third boyfriend, he is better than Bobby, but still nowhere near Peter.

Glad Wood remembered that Ultimate Colossus is into dudes, yet another reason why I like the Ultimate version better.

Jean is all types of crazy in this universe!

Should be a very interesting arc.

Apparently, there is a variant cover for this issue, that I will have to add to my wishlist once comicbookdb has it updated.