I see this series described with terms like "violence porn" and "perverse gorefest", and more than one review in the vein of one commentator who basically threw up his hands and said "enough! September 11 ruined comics, because then it's been the constant tease of apocalypse and it's fatiguing and sad." This series was fatiguing and sad, and I think Marvel and DC have both been taking advantage of our affection for the characters, and our interest in seeing how the story "turns out" (as if it means shit, as if it's gonna "turn out" any way, as if it's not just all gonna be changed around again) and more fundamentally and twistedly, the Darwinian difficulty we have removing our eyes from a threat, from that which brutalizes. And in that sense, let me throw another word at you: abusive. This is like an abusive relationship, in that it's all horrible death (set up intentionally to mock the idea that there could ever be anything better in life than grooving on, like, heads exploding and cannibalism), and then as soon as you're about to put it down and cry, there's a quick switch to the Fantastic Four section, which is darkish but also a homage to Fantastic Voyage and has some cute scenes, and then as soon as you calm down he comes home drunk again and beats you with the X-Men portion, which is, once, more, twisted and wrong. Fuck this. ( )

I was pretty discombobulated by the prior "Ultimatum", which seems to wrap up Marvel's "Ultimates" storylines by having Dr. Doom set in motion a plot to pit Magneto against the rest of the world, nearly resulting in the destruction of all life and with Doom intending to pick up the pieces. This book sort of wraps up some of those storylines, with three stories focusing on Spider-Man, the Fantastic Four and the X-Men. A few things are explained, many heroes have fallen, and some fateful decisions are made that would still seem to keep this Marvel plotline in its own little pocket of the Marvel Universe. And that's OK, because it gave Marvel a chance to really stretch and try some interesting things. I've enjoyed this ride, and am sorry to see it end. ( )