The best yet of From the Ashes, but that's not saying much.
Writer | Gail Simone |
Illustrator & Inker | David Marquez |
Colorist | Matt Wilson |
Publisher | Marvel | 08.07.24 |
Spoilers Ahead
So far, executive editor Tom Brevoort's retooling of the X-Men line has been pretty shaky. X-Men was an okay start, but each subsequent book hasn't come close in terms of quality. With the bar set so low, that's a concerning trend. X-Force, Phoenix, and NYX have all been mediocre. Honestly, who reading this can claim to know anyone who's excited about any of the four books that I listed? I think X-Men might be the nearest to getting anyone's heart rate to pick up and that's it.
Uncanny X-Men #1, by Gail Simone and David Marquez, is the closest to a good book of anything launched thus far. This is thanks in part to the fact that the lineup of heroes is the most interesting of any of the series. Well, until the last page of the issue, but we'll get to that in a moment. Wolverine, Rogue, Gambit, and Nightcrawler are all featured here, and they act more or less how one would want and expect them to. Simone was once upon a time one of the more celebrated writers in the industry, and when she's firing on all cylinders she does good work. For Uncanny, it seems she's striving to do her best and it's shining through in the character work.
Story wise, this is a fairly generic adventure, but it does set up some intrigue with where the team is at post-Krakoa. We start off at the mansion where the facilities are completely abandoned. Someone named Dr. Ellis is working with a team to dispose of its contents and convert the building into a prison for mutants. Although we don't know who this group is or why the mansion is being dismantled and repurposed, we do know that they've been invited to do what they're doing. Does this mean Xavier is involved? It's unclear, but possible. There's also a mutant brought into the building whose head is covered by an electronic device of some kind, which might also be Xavier.
Meanwhile, Wolverine is meeting up with Rogue and Gambit in Mexico where an enormous dragon named Sadurang the God-Snake is napping on a pyramid. I enjoyed seeing this trio interact, as it felt like a return to something familiar and normal. These characters have so much history, and as a result it lends a real humanity to them and their exploits. I did find some of the dialogue for Gambit to be a little off, however. Simone has some strange ways of conveying his accent that didn't land for me. I also thought that Sadurang's threats were way too over the top and made him more of a joke than actually threatening, despite being enormous.
Another odd aspect of the story revolves around Sadurang's second Eye of Agamotto. By the end of the fight, Gambit has stolen it from the creature and then barters to give it back to Sadurang after one year away in Antarctica. The resolution here is achieved so abruptly it makes the preceding fight seem like a farce. Sadurang does a total attitude shift, going from threatening to eat them to peacefully acquiescing to Gambit's request, and that've after having been blinded by him. I sincerely didn't know what to make of this but chalk it up to modern Marvel's need to trivialize all fights and battles. It's a trend that needs to go away.
After Sadurang departs, the trio head to a hospital in Mississippi where they reunite with Nightcrawler. He's asked them to meet with a young mutant named Harvey, who's dying of cancer. While he beams at his favorite heroes, it's refreshing to see the X-Men as proper good guys. In the Krakoa era, as has been noted by many, the team became wanton, merciless killers. It really spoke to the extremist mindset of many of the writers who had been working on the franchise up to that point. Here, Simone portrays the X-Men as they truly are: heroes who don't just fight bad guys, but also make themselves available to the people they defend.
One aspect of Joss Whedon's Astonishing X-Men run that I recall fondly was how Cyclops made an intentional point of reaffirming to the public that the X-Men are superheroes. As we delved deeper into the Krakoa era, the X-Men moved further and further away from that aspect of the franchise. They didn't seem like heroes at all, and some of their behavior was outright villainous. Pivoting the team, at least this Uncanny squad, to being a spot of light and brightness to give people hope is important to healing the brand.
It also helps having superstar David Marquez on art. His designs are gorgeous, evoking the feel of the Jim Lee era but streamlining and modernizing them just a bit. I wish it was the Jim Lee designs with no alterations, but I'll take these any day. The squad looks a heck of a lot cooler than the designs over on adjectiveless X-Men, certainly. Marquez's ability to render action and quiet moments is impeccable; there's a reason he was a good pairing with Brian Michael Bendis back in the day. Sadly, I fear this versatile, gifted illustrator won't be here all that long, but for now Simone is working with a true artistic force.
In a creepy/interesting moment, Wolverine can tell Harvey is about to die. I presume it's his enhanced senses alerting him the way dogs sometimes will be able to tell when someone is about to have a stroke. Harvey indeed does succumb to his disease, but not before getting some kind of precognitive flash of the team's future. Mirroring Sadurang's departing words, he mentions the X-Men encountering someone called the Endling. Unfortunately, it's here that my enthusiasm was killed a bit. There's a character named Fawn on the run from some bad people at one point in the book, and the issue ends with the appearance of four (probably mutant) new characters, all of whom I guess have the potential of being the Endling.
The reason my enthusiasm was killed is because I couldn't care any less about these characters. I don't want to get to know them, I don't have any curiosity about them. They're just five weird and/or boring looking mutants who I know will have zero staying power. They're "modern audience" filler at a time when Marvel needs to go back to basics with the X-Men. If they're students, as Rogue alleges before their arrival wanting to reestablish the school, fine. But if these mutants are going to be part of the team, no thank you. Yes, sometimes we get good new characters, but like I said, right now, after Krakoa, the world simply needs the X-Men in a familiar state.
Still, for all my gripes, this was easily the best book From the Ashes has given readers yet. What sucks is that with the quality being as weak as it's been, that means the best X-Men book on the stands is simply an okay comic. Nothing mind-blowing, nothing that will have anyone abuzz in their local comic book shops. I'll give it some time, but if nothing else, this is a book that feels like the X-Men should, and for now I can live with that.
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