Ultimate X-Men: Ultimate Collection, Vol. 1

The economical paperback Ultimate X-Men Ultimate Collection Vol. 1 represents the first year of the mutant team, issues 1-12 plus issue 1/2 that took place between issues 6 and 7. Ultimate X-Men was created as part of Marvel's Ultimate line, which starting with Ultimate Spider-Man "rebooted" popular series from the beginning so newer readers could dive into them without having to learn 40 years of character backstories. (They also use a more dynamic, cinematic style.) In the case of the X-Men, that meant reconfiguring Professor Xavier's opening roster to include Cyclops, a punk Jean Grey, Beast, Ice Man, Colossus, Storm, and a psychopathic secret weapon named Wolverine. In the first of the two six-issue story arcs, The Tomorrow People, we meet the team and their mission to protect the human race against Magneto and his Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, whose desire to establish homo superior's proper place above normal humanity leads the U.S. President to deploy the mutant killing machines, the Sentinels. The second arc, Return to Weapon X sags a little by deemphasizing the team in favor of the government agents behind the Weapon X project. Written by Mark Millar, with pencils mostly by Adam Kubert and Andy Kubert, with assists from Tom Raney and Thomas Derenick. --David Horiuchi