Marvel Comics is slowly pushing The X-Men under the covers due to 20th Century Fox holding The X-Men's film rights hostage. But just because the business is ignoring The X-Men, doesn't mean there aren't some awesome writers and awesome characters who are keeping the boat afloat. Today on Current Issues we talk about the current "Uncanny X-Men".
Writer: Cullen Bunn
Artist: Greg Land
The X-Men were created in 1963 by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, initially they were conceived as Marvel Comic's next big superhero team after the success of The Fantastic Four. When developing The X-Men, Stan had trouble figuring out how these characters would have powers. Because comic book writers were just comic book writers in the 60's, guys like Stan would use forms of science the general public didn't know about to justify superpowers. For example: a radioactive spider bite would kill the spider of radiation poisoning before biting some kid, but in the world of comic books radiation transfers the abilities of the spider to said kid. Anyway, Stan was running out of waves (gamma waves, cosmic waves, so on) so he went with the simple idea of the characters being mutants, born with a genetic trait that gives them powers. An early concept to justify superpowers actually became the crutch of the franchise as Stan and Jack quickly developed the fictional concept of mutants into an allegory for race and sexuality. As a mutant, you would be seen as a subset of the human population and a potential danger to those around you. Because of the actions of one mutant, you too could be persecuted simply because you share the same species with someone dangerous. Much like common racism, the struggle for mutants has remained a factor since the 1960's. Add to that the integration of mutants into human society (like when Beast joined The Avengers) and diseases spread by mutants (the Legacy Virus) and you further build the example The X-Men create.
In modern Marvel The X-Men have hit a downward slope. First their leader Cyclops became infused by the same power that killed his wife and used said power to kill his mentor Professor X, then you have the next division of mutant-kind between Cyclops and Wolverine both having groups of X-Men, next came the death of Wolverine, and finally we get to the current problem of M-Pox. M-Pox is a new disease that slowly kills mutants and only mutants, it's caused by exposure to Terrigen Mists. Mind you, The Terrigen Mists are the same fumes that reactive alien genes within some humans and create Inhumans like Ms Marvel and Black Bolt. Funny, isn't it? The same thing building the Inhuman population is the very thing killing off the mutant population. It's almost like Marvel is trading in one black horse for a dark gray horse. With M-Pox in the air, The X-Men have taken it upon themselves to rescue as many mutants as they can and bring them to Limbo-yes, Limbo-where they can be safe. Or, you know, be away from the Marvel Universe. However, one team of mutants is taking a much more progressive stance on the matter. Instead of rescuing mutants, this team of X-Men is releasing the mutants into the world and giving them a choice: hide or fight. This team of X-Men is led by the mutant who started the scare and remained one of the X-Men's greatest foes, Magneto.
We'll start with what everyone wants to hear about when it comes to team books, the team itself. Magneto leads this team of X-Men and hasn't changed from his usual depiction. He still leads like a villain keeping information to himself for the good of the team, but also out of his habit of commanding rather than leading. Before this book Cullen Bunn wrote a Magneto solo series that was quiet successful and continued the aspect of Magneto being more of a sympathetic anti-hero. An element used in his solo series was that Magneto's age was catching up to him and his powers became a weight on his shoulders. Bunn brings this element back for this book and to greater effect, but because Magneto has a full team now there is a balance to his immense power and potential weakness. The team's secondary leader is Psylocke, one of my personal favorite X-Men. I mean, she's a psychic ninja with a British accent in the body of a Japanese woman. Also when she uses her powers to create awesome psychic swords she gets this little pink butterfly design on her face which is neat. I really like the forward position Psylocke takes in this book, she's kind of a mirror to Magneto in that regard. Plus it is only fitting for an X-Men team to have at least one telepath. Psylocke has an additional weapon in her arsenal, that being Warren Worthington. Former Angel, then Archangel, then Angel again, and now Archangel. Just in time for the new X-Men movie, huh? For whatever reason, after the 2015 "Secret Wars" Warren has become Archangel again and has regressed into a brain-dead weapon. Because Psylocke and Archangel have had a romantic relationship in the past, Psylocke has begun using her powers to command Archangel like a drone. When he isn't following attack orders, he's just floating there ominously. It's obvious he will be used for some Apocalypse plot soon, but I quiet like this relationship between him and Psylocke. It's a tragic romance at that. And we can all admit Angel is a lot cooler when his wings are like 6-foot cleavers. Sabretooth is on the team as a Wolverine-stand-in. All comparisons aside this is probably the coolest Sabretooth has ever been, after Wolverine died Sabretooth decided to turn over a new leaf and honor his old rival's memory by becoming a good guy. He may not have metal bones, but Sabretooth has all the senses and enhancements Wolverine had, plus a healing factor. Because Sabretooth has this new-found honor system he has become instantly more interesting to me. I've always liked the rivalry between Wolverine and Sabretooth before it was ever given explanation, so the fact that a villain would have enough respect for a hero to pick up their mantle after they died is a really likable trait. Finally there is Monet, the least interesting mutant on the team. Monet's selling points are that she's racially mixed, raised muslim, has a paragon power-set, and is kind of a spoiled brat. Based on the way she acted I assumed she was a character created quiet recently, but to my surprise she's been around since the 90's. Monet has super strength, flight and a healing factor, kind of basic when you line it up against the other members. She has a telepathic ability too, but it's kind of downplayed in this book. Monet is simplified to her base personality of being spoiled and flirtatious and stubborn and unlikable, even though she has had twenty years of development that seems lost in this character. Though she's a weaker aspect of the book I see potential for her to become a much more welcomed addition to the team.
Cullen Bunn's first story arc has this team of X-Men rescue a group of mutants who paid a company to put them under cryo-stasis (basically Futurama them) so that they would be safe from the M-Pox. This ended up pitting The Uncanny X-Men against a group called The Dark Riders, both mutants and Inhumans who believe in a "survival of the fittest" mentality. The Dark Riders target all mutants capable of healing others, since healing powers are cheating the natural progression of evolution. Their version, not mine. As The Uncanny X-Men and Dark Riders hunt down mutant healers, there's also a secondary plot involving the shape-shifting mutant Mystique and French thief mutant Fantomex investigating the aforementioned company that was Futurama-ing mutants. That's a verb now. Bunn's idea for an opening story is spot-on, involving the ideals of two groups, the desperation of a community, and the building blocks to this team. Bunn is a veteran writer and this just adds to his impressive track record. Greg Land's artwork is A-Class good too, the proportions and expressions of the characters help set the serious, yet adventurous, tone of the book. Each character moves the way they should, and the locations look just as good as the characters. He even manages to make some dumb characters like The Dark Riders look cool and unique. The coloration is amazing with bright and distinct color choices separating this book from other serious titles. I really like it when characters have matching uniforms, but each have personalized designs. Magneto's costume matches the team's theme, but retains his traditional design. Psylocke's is an updated version of her classic leotard, only now it matches the team and has more cover to it. And she looks good with a ponytail. I should stop talking about Psylocke. Sabretooth has stripes on his. You know. Like a sabretooth tiger.
I'm not necessarily looking forward to the next arc which seems to cross over with other X-Men books, but it also seems to be more focused on Archangel's situation so that will be interesting. After "Amazing X-Men", "Nightcrawler", and "Spider-Man & X-Men" hit the rocks I hadn't found an X-Men book that filled the gap. But this title just felt right, there was enough action and seriousness, but there was also a witty team dynamic and the artwork and colors matched the book's "We're in some deep trouble, but this is fun" feel. I look forward to what else Bunn brings to this excellent X-Men title.
Thanks for reading!
Kind of sad how my favorite X-Chick is getting played by my least favorite G4-chick.
Artist: Greg Land
The X-Men were created in 1963 by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, initially they were conceived as Marvel Comic's next big superhero team after the success of The Fantastic Four. When developing The X-Men, Stan had trouble figuring out how these characters would have powers. Because comic book writers were just comic book writers in the 60's, guys like Stan would use forms of science the general public didn't know about to justify superpowers. For example: a radioactive spider bite would kill the spider of radiation poisoning before biting some kid, but in the world of comic books radiation transfers the abilities of the spider to said kid. Anyway, Stan was running out of waves (gamma waves, cosmic waves, so on) so he went with the simple idea of the characters being mutants, born with a genetic trait that gives them powers. An early concept to justify superpowers actually became the crutch of the franchise as Stan and Jack quickly developed the fictional concept of mutants into an allegory for race and sexuality. As a mutant, you would be seen as a subset of the human population and a potential danger to those around you. Because of the actions of one mutant, you too could be persecuted simply because you share the same species with someone dangerous. Much like common racism, the struggle for mutants has remained a factor since the 1960's. Add to that the integration of mutants into human society (like when Beast joined The Avengers) and diseases spread by mutants (the Legacy Virus) and you further build the example The X-Men create.
In modern Marvel The X-Men have hit a downward slope. First their leader Cyclops became infused by the same power that killed his wife and used said power to kill his mentor Professor X, then you have the next division of mutant-kind between Cyclops and Wolverine both having groups of X-Men, next came the death of Wolverine, and finally we get to the current problem of M-Pox. M-Pox is a new disease that slowly kills mutants and only mutants, it's caused by exposure to Terrigen Mists. Mind you, The Terrigen Mists are the same fumes that reactive alien genes within some humans and create Inhumans like Ms Marvel and Black Bolt. Funny, isn't it? The same thing building the Inhuman population is the very thing killing off the mutant population. It's almost like Marvel is trading in one black horse for a dark gray horse. With M-Pox in the air, The X-Men have taken it upon themselves to rescue as many mutants as they can and bring them to Limbo-yes, Limbo-where they can be safe. Or, you know, be away from the Marvel Universe. However, one team of mutants is taking a much more progressive stance on the matter. Instead of rescuing mutants, this team of X-Men is releasing the mutants into the world and giving them a choice: hide or fight. This team of X-Men is led by the mutant who started the scare and remained one of the X-Men's greatest foes, Magneto.
We'll start with what everyone wants to hear about when it comes to team books, the team itself. Magneto leads this team of X-Men and hasn't changed from his usual depiction. He still leads like a villain keeping information to himself for the good of the team, but also out of his habit of commanding rather than leading. Before this book Cullen Bunn wrote a Magneto solo series that was quiet successful and continued the aspect of Magneto being more of a sympathetic anti-hero. An element used in his solo series was that Magneto's age was catching up to him and his powers became a weight on his shoulders. Bunn brings this element back for this book and to greater effect, but because Magneto has a full team now there is a balance to his immense power and potential weakness. The team's secondary leader is Psylocke, one of my personal favorite X-Men. I mean, she's a psychic ninja with a British accent in the body of a Japanese woman. Also when she uses her powers to create awesome psychic swords she gets this little pink butterfly design on her face which is neat. I really like the forward position Psylocke takes in this book, she's kind of a mirror to Magneto in that regard. Plus it is only fitting for an X-Men team to have at least one telepath. Psylocke has an additional weapon in her arsenal, that being Warren Worthington. Former Angel, then Archangel, then Angel again, and now Archangel. Just in time for the new X-Men movie, huh? For whatever reason, after the 2015 "Secret Wars" Warren has become Archangel again and has regressed into a brain-dead weapon. Because Psylocke and Archangel have had a romantic relationship in the past, Psylocke has begun using her powers to command Archangel like a drone. When he isn't following attack orders, he's just floating there ominously. It's obvious he will be used for some Apocalypse plot soon, but I quiet like this relationship between him and Psylocke. It's a tragic romance at that. And we can all admit Angel is a lot cooler when his wings are like 6-foot cleavers. Sabretooth is on the team as a Wolverine-stand-in. All comparisons aside this is probably the coolest Sabretooth has ever been, after Wolverine died Sabretooth decided to turn over a new leaf and honor his old rival's memory by becoming a good guy. He may not have metal bones, but Sabretooth has all the senses and enhancements Wolverine had, plus a healing factor. Because Sabretooth has this new-found honor system he has become instantly more interesting to me. I've always liked the rivalry between Wolverine and Sabretooth before it was ever given explanation, so the fact that a villain would have enough respect for a hero to pick up their mantle after they died is a really likable trait. Finally there is Monet, the least interesting mutant on the team. Monet's selling points are that she's racially mixed, raised muslim, has a paragon power-set, and is kind of a spoiled brat. Based on the way she acted I assumed she was a character created quiet recently, but to my surprise she's been around since the 90's. Monet has super strength, flight and a healing factor, kind of basic when you line it up against the other members. She has a telepathic ability too, but it's kind of downplayed in this book. Monet is simplified to her base personality of being spoiled and flirtatious and stubborn and unlikable, even though she has had twenty years of development that seems lost in this character. Though she's a weaker aspect of the book I see potential for her to become a much more welcomed addition to the team.
Cullen Bunn's first story arc has this team of X-Men rescue a group of mutants who paid a company to put them under cryo-stasis (basically Futurama them) so that they would be safe from the M-Pox. This ended up pitting The Uncanny X-Men against a group called The Dark Riders, both mutants and Inhumans who believe in a "survival of the fittest" mentality. The Dark Riders target all mutants capable of healing others, since healing powers are cheating the natural progression of evolution. Their version, not mine. As The Uncanny X-Men and Dark Riders hunt down mutant healers, there's also a secondary plot involving the shape-shifting mutant Mystique and French thief mutant Fantomex investigating the aforementioned company that was Futurama-ing mutants. That's a verb now. Bunn's idea for an opening story is spot-on, involving the ideals of two groups, the desperation of a community, and the building blocks to this team. Bunn is a veteran writer and this just adds to his impressive track record. Greg Land's artwork is A-Class good too, the proportions and expressions of the characters help set the serious, yet adventurous, tone of the book. Each character moves the way they should, and the locations look just as good as the characters. He even manages to make some dumb characters like The Dark Riders look cool and unique. The coloration is amazing with bright and distinct color choices separating this book from other serious titles. I really like it when characters have matching uniforms, but each have personalized designs. Magneto's costume matches the team's theme, but retains his traditional design. Psylocke's is an updated version of her classic leotard, only now it matches the team and has more cover to it. And she looks good with a ponytail. I should stop talking about Psylocke. Sabretooth has stripes on his. You know. Like a sabretooth tiger.
I'm not necessarily looking forward to the next arc which seems to cross over with other X-Men books, but it also seems to be more focused on Archangel's situation so that will be interesting. After "Amazing X-Men", "Nightcrawler", and "Spider-Man & X-Men" hit the rocks I hadn't found an X-Men book that filled the gap. But this title just felt right, there was enough action and seriousness, but there was also a witty team dynamic and the artwork and colors matched the book's "We're in some deep trouble, but this is fun" feel. I look forward to what else Bunn brings to this excellent X-Men title.
Thanks for reading!
Kind of sad how my favorite X-Chick is getting played by my least favorite G4-chick.
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