Welcome back to the Marvel Rundown! This week, the crew at Stately Beat Manor (George Carmona 3rd, D. Morris, Beau Q., and Tim Rooney) takes a look at the latest in the ‘From the Ashes’ refresh, Uncanny X-Men #1! This review contains MILD SPOILERS, so check out one of our many recent enrapturing reviews if you’re feeling spoiler-averse.
What did you think of this week’s batch of fresh Marvel Comics, True Believers? The Beat wants to hear from you! Give us a shout-out, here in the comment section or over on social media @comicsbeat, and let us know what you’re thinking.
Uncanny X-Men #1
Writer: Gail Simone
Artist: David Marquez
Color Artist: Matthew Wilson
Letterer: VC’s Clayton Cowles
Cover Artists: David Marquez & Matthew Wilson
THE BEAT: Hey team, welcome back to another roundtable! Let’s get into it – what’re our initial impressions of Uncanny X-Men #1?
GEORGE CARMONA 3RD: I think we’re going to be okay with this title, solid reintroduction of the team members, Gail Simone has an ear for individual dialog and it works for this issue. Solid start for this X-Team.
BEAU Q.: I’m obsessed with this Simone quote from the back, “we want this book to feel warm, like a campfire,” and I think it’s true, too! I believe Simone/Marquez’s Uncanny is the perfect foil to the hyper-militant FAAFO energy emanating from Jed MacKay & Ryan Stegman’s X-Men.
TIM ROONEY: What a difference putting A-list talent on a book makes. I liked the adjective less X-Men well enough but it felt very safe and familiar. But this book knows immediately what it is and feels different and fresh from everything else in the X-line right now. Gail Simone immediately has a clear voice for each character and a vision for what she wants this book to be. About finding belonging and community, about the forces and fears that drive people apart. David Marquez’s abilities as a draftsman and storyteller get better and better. After NYX, which felt like creators trying to fit into an inauthentic voice, I really enjoyed how much this felt like it came from creators who wanted to tell this specific kind of story.
GC3: It did remind me of Chris Claremont, but in the best ways.
BQ: There is some Claremont era tonal whiplash from neo-Nazis threatening a concentration camp, high fantasy adventure-fighting a dragon, and losing a terminally ill patient, but the ground it wants to cover in a single issue is enough to feel like we’re in safe hands going forward.
D. MORRIS: I’m going to be the dissenting voice here and say other than David Marquez’s artwork, this was not a book for me. There’s plot elements that just rubbed me wrong. I think the tonal whiplash is what really didn’t work for me. Also I will admit on principle that I’m not a big fan of Gambit, so an X-book with him front and center kind of loses me.
TR: D., I am also a Gambit hater, so this book really had an uphill battle with him as a main character. Unfortunately, Gambit is having a bit of a moment this year between this, X-Men ‘97 and Deadpool & Wolverine. I find myself warming to the character after this media blitz which has used him so effectively.
GC3: On my first read, I was with you, I was only there for Marquez’s art, which for me was always okay in the past, but he put some extra-sauce on this book. I don’t think there were more than 15 panels that didn’t have background elements filling it. And if it was an empty background Matthew Wilson colored the frak out of it. It is a genuinely gorgeous book that reminded me of Marc Silvestri’s run on Uncanny X-Men.
BQ: Marquez is still using a thinner line here, which means more of the layouts and panel compositions revolve around areas with and without detail. This doesn’t highlight negative space as much, but Marquez is definitely taking it easy in areas he can rely on Wilson to knock out of the park. See the sequence with Sadurang the God-Snake as a great example of leaving inks alone when an all-time great colorist anchors your production team. Beyond that, Marquez has kept the graphic nature of his Uncanny run light, so characters are fully existing in panels, and only sparingly dipping into shades and silhouettes to amplify darker sequences. This means characters don’t pop out of panels as much and we’re less likely to get a cutaway panel in the future, but what Marquez and Simone are trying to accomplish is a grounded X-title…and this is definitely one way of getting there!
TR: It’s funny you say grounded because what I liked about this first issue is that it blurred the lines between grounded character interactions and big, mythological ideas. We got a little bit of everything that the franchise is here, without spoon feeding us backstory or giving a history lesson. It felt like a primer or a prelude, a chance to sit with the characters and their headspace before really setting them loose on the world. Marquez’s art foregrounds the characters on the page so much, even in the big action scenes. What Simone and Marquez are telling us out the gate is that this story about these characters, not the big action or plot machinations.
DM: I think that the greatest hits vibe isn’t working for me, which again is what the whole From the Ashes revamp. We’re very much back into the scattered X-Men era where the team after entering the Siege Perilous and everyone went all over the place. Divided X-Men rarely stay divided for long.
GC3: This has been the biggest problem for me with the revamp, they had everything, and it was stolen from them and so far Rogue seems to be the only one showing any kind of trauma.
BQ: Yeah, though I’ve found that maneuvering Cyclops and Rogue to take up the mantles of Professor X and Magneto has been effortless given the ideological divide in how they approach being a mutant, effortless doesn’t necessarily mean more entertainment. But Simone takes us on this journey through Rogue’s eyes, which helps immediately ground expectations and relatability for this assortment of mutants who refuse to be militant in their existence. Also, never one to disappoint fans, Simone uses this time with Rogue to get hot with Gambit, get some emotional vulnerability from Wolverine, and told how hot she is by a ten year old [complimentary], which feels great for those that need it!
DM: I think having Cyclops and Rogue be philosophical opposites is an interesting way to set up a book. That said, I don’t know if I needed a story to introduce a sick child and then kill him off as an impetus for Rogue going on a journey of what it means to be an X-Men when she has the trauma of Krakoa right there.
GC3: That sick kid story beat was tough, I didn’t realize I could feel bad for a character who only existed for 3 pages.
BQ: I actually dig Simone/Marquez killing a kid off the bat! This is a book that starts with a villain planning their concentration camp in the heart of Xavier’s School, so I think it’s a fair price to pay in a book setting up adversity and oppression. I mean, better a terminally ill child dying with his faves in the room than starting yet another X run off with a hate crime.
TR: I like that they’re not pulling punches too, Beau. Simone immediately sets the stakes in ways large and small. They’re fighting for the soul of mutant and humankind but they are also fighting for every individual child who feels left behind. The scene in the hospital is heartwarming and tragic at the same time. That’s superhero comics at its best! Marquez draws that sick child with such minimalism, too. He’s a stand-in for the purity of childhood, he doesn’t get the same harsh lines and shadows that the rest of the book is draped in.
GC3: I’m glad that they didn’t just go back to the school again, I want that place to burn. That being said the “Condoleezza Rice” Warden’s plan to use the school as a prison is a nice twist, and to start a book off like that bold when the book it’s in is about the battle for Mutant souls.
BQ: To bring this back, Simone frames this title as a warm campfire, so Wilson keeps the moods mostly warm, and only dips into a colder end of the palette for sterile moments like the Dr. Ellis cold open, the hospital, etc. I found the pale and faded impressionistic color moods very interesting for a X-Men book, especially when they are beholden to a mostly central light source. Wilson manages to keep the lush atmosphere of X-Men alive without sacrificing moods that reinforce this aimless road Simone/Marquez’s Uncanny team walk upon. For contrast, MacKay/Stegman’s X-Men is in the modern/pop art wing of this museum C.B. Cebulski wants to revisit, whereas Uncanny is in the classical art wing, so to say.
GC3: I did feel a few rifts of the young mutant on the run with Fawn standing in for Pryde/Jubilee/Wolfsbane. Also, I loved Fawn’s design, it seemed fresh and new for a Mutant.
DM: I will say I am kind of curious about the newer mutants seen in the issue and who is chasing them in this issue. Finally, horse representation is on the X-Men.
THE BEAT: Alright, how do we feel about this book moving forward?
DM: I think this is probably going to be the most traditional of the X-Books in this new line up. Again a lot of vibes and elements that harken back to the 80s/90s era of the book so far. I also think it’s going to be the one that goes back to the idea of peaceful coexistence between humans and mutants. It’s just frustrating that every time someone does a radical take on X-Men (ie. Grant Morrison and Jonathan Hickman), that Marvel feels a need to nuke it from orbit. Morrison had the Joss Whedon Astonishing X-Men book putting them back in costumes and fighting supervillains again. Now we have this book and Mackay/Stegman book reviving the scattered X-Men teams stories of the late 80s and early 90s following the forward thinking Krakoa era. I know that changes rarely stick, but I don’t know how many times the series can truly go back to basics after a massive upheaval.
GC3: I just hope the characters don’t drown in the glut of X-Books, we still have two more X-Teams to premiere and right now my only hope is that these books have creative teams with a vision for their particular book that marks its way forward.
BQ: I’m in the bag as a long time Simone fan, so if I’m keeping up with any of the X-titles going forward, Simone/Marquez’s Uncanny X-Men run is where I’m pinning my eyes. Sorry, MacKay & Stegman– the Morrison era + Krakoa era + Claremont era gumbo goin’ on in Alaska is just not what I’m feeling these days.
TR: I am pretty high on this first issue based on the vibes we got here and the clarity of Simone and Marquez’s take on these characters. I know Simone is a big talent and Marquez is always improving so there’s potential for something compelling long term. I hope we start getting more of what the mission of the book is going forward because the vibes alone won’t hold my attention for long. There are a lot of X-Men coming out like George said, so there’s a risk the larger line could weigh even the best ones down. Of the X-Titles we’ve gotten so far, this is the most compelling, distinctive intro. It feels much less like retreading safe ground. But maybe the final QR code stinger that we won’t see until Wednesday morning will change my mind for the worse?
THE BEAT: And on that note – how about some verdicts?
GC3: Worth your time to travel to a comic shop, Buy.
BQ: Money is tight everywhere. I love comics, but comics are a luxury. BROWSE.
TR: I said “Buy” for the MacKay/Stegman debut and I like this one more. Buy.
DM: Again this book wasn’t for me, but I’d be lying if I didn’t say it was at least worth a Browse.
BQ: Cy, you better keep this in. I want to thank you for your time and effort in the time you’ve been editing the Marvel Rundown weekly here at The Beat! This ship don’t steer itself, so thank you for being the Captain at the wheel while everyone else slept! Really! I know folks are here for the X-Thoughts, but everyone loves to see those that deserve their flowers GET their flowers. Take a bow please!
GC3: Same, thanks Cy, Live Long and Prosper.
DM: I’m going to miss you corralling us every week to talk about Marvel! Like Wolverine, you’re best at what you do and what you do is make us look real pretty. To quote Stan Lee, Excelsior!
TR: For sure—bon voyage, Cy! Thank you for keeping us in line and on schedule!
THE BEAT: Ahhh, thanks everybody, it means a lot. I’ve had a great time working with all of you while managing this column and I can’t wait to keep reading as a fan. I’ll see ya in the funny pages!
Next Week: Ultraman x Avengers, Werewolf by Night, X-Factor, Venom War, and more — what else could ya ask for, True Believers?
