Another month, another slew of new titles for the merry mutants. With Marvel darling Brian Michael Bendis as the new creative driving force, the X-Men have certainly had a shake up with the Avengers Vs X-Men storyline ending with new mutants popping up all over the place and Professor X killed by a Phoenix corrupted Cyclops leading to the former X-Men boy scout being put in prison. Broken out by Magneto, Scott is now the poster child of the Mutant Revolution, a Malcolm X for the race. With the Jean Grey School for Higher Learning (run by Wolverine and Storm) now the respectable face of mutantkind (the setting of both Wolverine and the X-Men and new flagship title All-New X-Men) Cyclops is viewed by many as a terrorist. Following the Phoenix crisis, Captain America has moved to quell anti-mutant feeling by forming a mutant/superhuman team (Uncanny Avengers, written by hot writer Rick Remender) and led by Cyclops's younger brother Alex (Havok).
It's into this environment that Bendis gives us the latest reinvention of long standing title Uncanny X-Men. Starting with yet another issue 1 (the last less than 2 years ago), the new Uncanny focuses on Cyclops's crusade to lead the mutant race. This is a comic that is very much designed to be read along with All-New X-Men with the stories feeding into each other. This will provide a richer experience, no doubt, but will each title be distinct? From the evidence of the first two issues, it seems possible. With the highly recognisably off centre art of Chris Bachalo, Uncanny looks very different to the more traditional art of Stuart Immonen over on All-New. I am not a fan of Bachalo and find his art too stylised, messy and dark to follow easily and his action sequences (surely vital for this type of comic) are usually too idiosyncratic to deliver the thrills. Still, he is hugely popular and conveys Uncanny a certain kudos.
Issue 2 gave us more info on the former White Queen, Emma Frost. Not only has the Phoenix incident robbed her of her telepathy but it has cost her her relationship with Cyclops too. Once the sarky bitch with all the answers, Emma is vulnerable for the first time and still much in love with Scott. Bendis handles these character moments well, showing us how the flame still burns for these two but how circumstances mean they are cannot get back together. At one stage she confides to Scott:
"I miss being in your brain. Not to spy on you or because I didn't trust you. I liked being there because it was safe."
Issue 2 ends with Magneto betraying the team's location in Australia and the Avengers turning up to kick their ass. Roll on next month!
Sister title All-New X-Men is already on issue 7 (it's been bi-monthly to start with) and has settled into a nice rhythm. The main draw of the title (other than the popular Bendis) is that the original young X-Men have come forward in time to confront the older Scott and have decided to stay. The complications resulting from this are, of course, mindboggling, not least because Jean Grey is back with all the romantic angst this will cause Scott and Wolverine. Teenage wannabe mutant terrorist Quentin Quire is also very keen on the young redhead. That said, good as All-New X-men is, it needs more incident for my buck. Apart from a face off between young Cyclops's five and old Cyclops's four, the title has been conspicuously light on action. Issues 6 and 7 mostly just have a series of conversations. This is still well written however, with the new dynamic between a teenage Scott and Wolverine providing many delicious moments. It is of course Scott who is the common thread to both titles and some of the most satisfying character work has been Bendis showing us how the young man copes with the knowledge that, in his future, he kills his surrogate father and has become what the world sees as a terrorist.
Rick Remender's first arc on Uncanny Avengers concluded this month. Remender certainly set the bar high, with the Red Skull stealing Professor X's corpse and welding the dead X Leader's telepathic brain to his own. Issue 4 ended with a huge fight with Thor being controlled by the Skull to attack his teammates. The art by John Cassaday is gorgeous and adds a realism to the larger than life storyline. Perhaps the most interesting part of issue 4 was the Red Skull's condemnation of the USA to Captain America:
"You've lost your war... You're no longer fighting to preserve this rancid nation - you're fighting to change it back. To add some semblance of sanity to an incurably sick culture that breeds only parasites, greedy polluters and psychotic madmen. A hopeless struggle you continue out of habit. You imagine that if you fight hard enough, one day you will wrest control from the bankers who own you and return this nation to its former glory. Clean streets. Honest neighbors. Attractive wives. Green lawns. But in reality this is, and will remain, your America. An uneducated population fixated on competition, material wealth and voyeurism. Violent monsters doused in antobiotics to offset their diet of sugary sweet drinks and mounds of carcinogenic cow flesh. This is what you fight for!"
The X-Force brand has also had a shakeup. Rick Remender turned Uncanny X-Force into the best X-Men title, earning himself the big job on Uncanny Avengers. The decision has been made to turn X-Force into two teams. Firstly we have Cable and X-Force which brings the time travelling grown son of Cyclops back to the title. Leading a group that comprises Domino, Colossus, Dr Nemesis and Forge the comic benefits from the talented Salvador Larroca (late of Invincible Iron Man) but has a plot which is sluggish. Writer Dennis Hopeless isn't but he's not great either and the title hasn't made itself indispensible to me yet. Its story has Cable and his team hunting down a virus that turns people into giant fat blobs that will get blamed on mutants. Meanwhile Psylocke, late of Uncanny X-Force, gets to form a team in X-Force with Storm (back with her mohawk), former Alpha Flight member Puck, Fantomex's female clone Cluster and villain Spiral. Written by Sam Humphries with art by Ron Garney the first two issues are a solid read but not that inspiring. There's a nighclub where a child is mind controlling everyone, lots of fighting, lots of full page spreads of Garney's female forms and an irritating habit of having the cast swear but blacking out the words. Either print them or don't have them say it - it looks stupid.
Wolverine and the X-Men continues to shine but one must wonder if Jason Aaron is happy ploughing along in Bendis's furrow. The school based comic is a blast to read and the recent Frankenstein's circus three parter was as inventive and daft as anything the gifted writer has produced. He's also had Wolverine and Storm getting very, very friendly. X-Men Legacy, with its focus on Daniel Heller, the son of Professor X with myriad personalities, continues to delight and frustrate in equal measure. It's a quirky title and features some of the best covers in comics but it's still hard to see where the title is going. Finally (at least for me) Astonishing X-Men continues to be a satisfying read. Marjorie Lui writes decent stories with an emphasis on character that makes these silly spandexed superheroes feel strangely real. After the great gay superhero wedding of Northstar, Lui has shone the spotlight on the warrior Warbird who has the embarrassing secret of being an artist and is suggested a possible romance between Gambit and Cecilia Reyes. I hope this title can keep going - it's low scale thrills make a nice counterpoint to the more high blown plots in the main titles.
Uncanny X-Men ****
All-New X-Men ****
X-Force **
Cable and X-Force **
Astonishing X-Men ****
Wolverine and the X-Men ****
X-Men Legacy ***
Uncanny Avengers ****
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