He might be dead, but the Ultimate version of Wolverine is certainly not forgotten...

(Panini Books)

UNFORTUNATELY for Marvel, and certainly for him personally, the Ultimate Universe version of Wolverine is well and truly dead, killed by mutant terrorist Magneto during the lacklustre Ultimatum event several years ago.

That means there’s not the opportunity for a relatively continuity-free story featuring the character to tie in with this summer’s Hugh Jackman movie, something which was exploited with the recent Ultimate Iron Man series. Instead, we’re caught up in the ongoing events of the radically different America seen in other Ultimate Comics books, as Wolverine’s son James Hudson uncovers events surrounding his birth.

This is far from an accessible read for newbies looking for a decent Wolverine entry point story after seeing the latest film, and they’d be better served hunting down Chris Claremont and Frank Miller’s seminal Wolverine mini-series, which provided much of the inspiration for the movie.

However, it is a further development of the continuing Ultimate Universe saga, now so fundamentally changed from the mainstream Marvel U that it’s barely recognisable. The characters actually grow throughout this series, and this is something which will obviously be reflected in the main Ultimate titles, ensuring what could have been a simple spin-off has real implications for the future of the line.

The involvement of mutant terrorist Quicksilver, and revelations surrounding his own origins, also seeds upcoming storylines, and although there are many plot points unresolved at the end of this series, we are promised they will be explored in subsequent issues of The Ultimates.