Review: Uncanny X-Men #12

“Every ending has a beginning.”“ The narrator tells us on the opening (all black) page of Uncanny X-Men #12. It“s a befitting prologue to a key issue in the latest iteration of one of the world“s most famous comic book titles. Despite the spinoff mania, Uncanny X-Men remains the most important book in a universe of books with color codes and clever X-inflected spinoff titles. It seems a little crazy (to me) that Marvel thought that they could make do without an “Uncanny”“ book for a while. X-fans couldn“t. The Uncanny X-Men is the book that launched a thousand books, but it is also the book that rests at the core of our current superhero craze. “Uncanny”“ is the book that made Marvel matter in ways that Spiderman, Ironman, Thor, Hulk, and the Avengers simply couldn“t. It was (and is) a book about oppressed people, who even in the face of that oppression, embrace their humanity and their inalienable right to exist.

Matt Rosenberg (writer), Salvador Larroca (artist) and the rest of this Uncanny team have a deft grasp on the core organizing principles of the Uncanny world in which the X-Men have lived and died many times. This arc, once again, finds the X-Men “presumed dead,”“ and issue #12 finds Wolverine and Cyclops working together to find and liberate whatever is left of the mutants who have been or are a part of some variation of some X-team. It“s a familiar set of circumstances and Larroca“s artwork harkens back to the dark imagery of the “Days of Future Past”“ storyline. Nostalgia is good in the X world these days. Mr. Rosenberg knows this and he also knows that only the right amount of nostalgia can work. Too much will turn off new readers, too little will alienate the old heads.

You wouldn“t think that Wolverine and Cyclops would make such an ideal team, but given the weight of the crisis facing these Uncanny X-Men, Logan and Scott seem up to the challenge. It helps that their personalities are diametrically opposed to each other and that we know them so well. Their collaboration in Uncanny X-Men #12 almost asks for a Wolvie/Cyclops team-up series ”“ almost. They aren“t the perfect X-team and that“s ok; they are the perfect imperfect representation of what the X-Men have been.

The Uncanny X-Men have had to battle with some of the greatest villains in the Marvel universe ”“ Magneto, Apokolips, Mr. Sinister, etc. But their greatest villain has always been the US government. That hasn“t changed here ”“ only the generals or politicians“ names change. The government“s directives remain the same ”“ exterminate the mutant population. The Uncanny X-Men have used just about every variation of real-world genocide and oppression as figurative fodder to tell some of the greatest stories ever told in any superhero universe. That hasn“t changed either. In ever uncanny issue, Rosenberg and Larroca remind us why the X-Men matter so much in this complicated world. 4/5!

[yasr_overall_rating size=”large”]

(W) Matthew Rosenberg (A/CA) Salvador Larroca