Review: Uncanny X-Men #20
Running alongside the chaos that is this years multi-series X-Event, the main book, Uncanny X-Men has been percolating along quite nicely under the mature stewardship of Matthew Rosenberg.
The last few X-Men have been rounded up by Scott and Logan, each with their own reasons. Throw into the mix the blackmailing of the new Black King, Emma Frost, and the machinations of Hank McCoy, each on different sides of the mutant cure and you have booked that feels a lot darker than you would possibly expect from a Marvel book.
Truth be told, the world of the X-Men should be a darker place, bearing in mind that for much of it’s existence, the book has been a metaphor for, especially nowadays, any “ism”. Whilst the remaining X-Men find themselves dealing with the remaining X-villains, McCoy takes a very strong stance, effectively warping the good intentions of Scott, who himself could do with a win to repair his own standing in the land of heroes. A Wolverine and not quite Psylocke interruption add further direction or mis-direction, which you would hope has bearing down the line.
Matthew Rosenberg must be given a lot of credit for his run on this book. With the focus on the various “Age of….” books, keeping the status quo could be seen as a pretty thankless job. After all, who cares that Cyclops is back and in his 90’s uniform? Who cares that Logan is back (he has been back a while in various hints and books)? Who cares that Emma is the new Black King? For many, the X-books have been wallowing in the shadow of the Avengers, thanks mainly to the latter’s massive onscreen presence. In Rosenberg, Marvel finally have a writer who is willing to write not only long plots with nuance, but also adds a level of ramifications. At last, this book feels like it haz purpose beyond being put out because it seems unthinkable not to have an Uncanny X-book. Rosenberg has worked hard to bring back Scott from his Avengers vs X-Men chasm. In doing so, there is new mettle to Xavier’s dream.
Salvador Larroca provides the art with a style that is, in my opinion, is a just tad over serviceable. That may seem like a harsh assessment; after all, the action panels do convey a level of dynamism and movement and some of the panel structure is great at pulling the reader through the book. With all that said, there are more than a few missteps along the way. Some of the facial elements don’t work, characters like Shinobi appear to be homage’d from either Marc Silvestri or Andy Kubert. This then fits the 90’s vibe that seems to pervade the book. Other things that impact on how the book is viewed, it looks like Cyclops is wearing a nappy (diaper) on page 10, Magik’s posture issues on page 14 and the demise of the Beast took a second glance to understand. The colors of the book by Guru-eFX work well, with some deft tones and textures in play. Finally VC’s Joe Caramagna provides the letters, dealing with the Beast verbosity, as an example, well.
I am an old school X-Men fan. Back in the day, I loved Chris Claremont’s writing and I adored Marc Silvestri, probably more than I liked Jim Lee. For many X-fans, this is the quandary we find ourselves in. Whether we are Claremont fans, Kevin Smith fans, Grant Morrison fans or even Scott Lobdell (not me!) fans, the recent books fail to match what what we consider the “classic” X-Men. Truth be told, it’s not just fans that think the X-Men do not carry the same weight of previous years; Marvel themselves have kind of disowned them (and Fox) for a while. Hopefully, that thought at Marvel / Disney has now passed, especially as the Fox contract is over and the mutants can go all MCU. Whilst we wait for that to happen, Rosenberg has done well with this series, giving us back one of the key X-Men characters and making people care about the book, just in time for the X-men to rebooted again, for the the second time in less than 18 months.
Writing – 4 Stars
Art – 3.5 Stars
Colors – 3.5 Stars
[yasr_overall_rating size=”large”]
Written by; Matthew Rosenberg
Art by; Salvador Larroca
Colors by; Guru-eFX
Letters by; VC’s Joe Carramagna
Published by, Marvel Worldwide, Inc
Author Profile
- I am a long time comic book fan, being first introduced to Batman in the mid to late 70's. This led to a appreciation of classic artists like Neal Adams and Jim Aparo. Moving through the decades that followed, I have a working knowledge of a huge raft of characters with a fondness for old school characters like JSA and The Shadow
Currently reading a slew of Bat Books, enjoying a mini Marvel revival, and the host of The Definative Crusade and Outside the Panels whilst also appearing on No-Prize Podcast on the Undercover Capes Podcast Network
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