A familiar face arrives just in time to help Rogue with her uninvited guests, also a glimpse into Professor X’s emo phase. Your Major Spoilers review of Uncanny X-Men #2, awaits!
UNCANNY X-MEN #2
Writer: Gail Simone
Artist: David Marquez
Colorist: Matthew Wilson
Letterer: VC’s Clayton Cowles
Editor: Tom Brevoort
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Cover Price: $4.99
Release Date: September 11th, 2024
Previously in Uncanny X-Men: With the Krakoan Age officially over, mutants have found themselves dispersed and scattered across the world. Rogue, Gambit, and Wolverine have joined up together and have found a haven in Louisiana, when suddenly a quartet of mutants arrived on their doorstep. Elsewhere, the old X-Mansion has been converted into a prison and something is hunting young mutants.
TALKING THINGS OUT
Uncanny X-Men #2 opens up in the past with a young Charles Xavier writing in his journal on a winter’s afternoon. A woman named Sarah approaches him and asks for his help getting something out of a tree. Afterwards, she invites him to buy her a cup of tea. In the present, Rogue, Gambit, and Wolverine are unsure what to do with the four teens who have arrived at their new home. Things quickly devolve, and a fight breaks out, with the X-Men finding themselves on the losing end. In the past, Charles and Sarah’s date goes well, and it seems she’s a fan of his bald head. In the present at the old X-Mansion, the warden examines the facilities and meets with the latest prisoner, Siryn. Back in Louisiana, the X-men turn the tide of the fight, but Jubilee then shows up and puts everyone in their place. They finally get to talking with the teenagers, and learn some of their backstories and learn that something called The Hag is hunting them.
LACKING DIRECTION
The first thing that comes to mind after reading Uncanny X-Men #2 is how aimless it comes off as. There are clearly events happening, characters doing things, and words being said to each other, but none of it seems like it’s going anywhere. Scene to scene, it’s well written with fun dialog. The new characters seem interesting, with gimmicks that should be fun to explore. The apparent big baddie of the series is properly sinister and menacing. Heck, even Professor X’s Holden Caufield impression is charming and fun. There’s just no connective tissue yet, so all of these things feel like they’re just simply happening. For example, the arrival of Jubilee, who quite literally just shows up, and then later on, it’s mentioned that she was doing some other stuff.
Another example is how the central conflict comes about. There’s really no reason why anybody should be hostile to each other and Rogue even comments on how they shouldn’t fight, then proceeds to fight. It’s truly just a frustrating reading experience because there’s so much here to enjoy, but it’s missing all the elements needed to make it cohesive.
LIKING THE OUTLIERS DESIGNS
The newcomers, apparently being referred to as The Outliers, none of whose powers are well defined in this issue. There’s Ransom, Jitter, Calico, and my favorite, a sad little edge lord named Deathdream. Each one has a very distinct look that even translates at times to the art style used to depict them. I like that the philosophy towards costumes is still in line with the Krakoan age, in which it seems like costumes are more about expression than depicting membership of a team.
BOTTOM LINE: IN DESPERATE NEED OF A PURPOSE
It might be unfair to complain about not getting the big picture after just two issues, but to have no direction is a whole other thing. When looking at the X-Men comic book landscape, the other titles have very quickly established their niche, while this one feels kind of superfluous. Uncanny X-Men #2 has a lot of good qualities though and it was fun to read, it’s just missing pieces to make it feel important and fully coherent, so it gets a 3.5 out of 5 stars.
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Uncanny X-Men #2
Uncanny X-Men #2 struggles to bring all its pieces together into something great. What’s left is a bunch of nice bits, without the connective tissue needed to create something better.
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Writing5
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Art8
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Coloring8
At a young age, Jonathan was dragged to a small town in Wisconsin. A small town in Wisconsin that just so happened to have a comic book shop. Faced with a decision to either spend the humid summers and bitter winters traipsing through the pine trees or in climate controlled comfort with tales of adventure, horror, and romance, he chose the latter. Jonathan can often be found playing video games, board games, reading comics and wincing as his “to watch” list grows wildly out of control.