Uncanny X-Men #10

The Team
Writer Brian Bendis Artist Frazer Irving

Uncanny X-Men highlights the descent of leader turned psychopath turned leader again. Cyclops is such a huge presence in the universe and so wonderfully complicated. This title is devoted to fleshing out his current state of mind, and his new dynamic with his team. This batch of anti-heroes sticks out from others in a vast majority of ways, mainly because the team has such rich history with each other. With all of the great personality featured here, there is a massive downside. This narrative moves quite slowly from month to month. The next real confrontation that the team is going to have with the greater X-Men universe will likely not be until the next crossover. In the meantime things are going to be pretty quiet, and likely more character based. A refreshing turn of events from the last issue or so took shape in the form of Dazzler agent of Shield. It’s a fresh take on a dying character that Bendis does a great job writing. It will be interesting to see how she fits into this structure going forward, and how she reacts with the greater Marvel universe.

Writer Brian Michael Bendis is obsessed with the spectacle of forming a movement. He has explored this idea numerous times with series like Dark Reign, Scarlet and now this title. After the movement is formed are where his stories begin to start stumbling. The straining relationship that the main heroes have with S.H.I.E.L.D. are a big part of the series. It is also what serves to add layers of complication to the plot. The biggest question regarding this book as a whole is what comes next. When Battle Of The Atom hits, where will the Uncanny X-Men in the midst of all the craziness. To this extent the series seems to be treading the same water. Small details like the changing relationship of the X-Men’s interest with the aforementioned organization is the biggest pot point in this comic. To that end this series can only be recommended to those that are very interested in this team of characters.

Frazer Irving’s pencil style captures the sense of grandiose an X-Men title should have. Occasionally his talking heads can get slightly bizarre, however his supernatural elements in the book are beautifully added in. This title can sometimes be more reminiscent of a pixar movie than a comic book. The strange take on the artwork pays off on a book so haunted by what used to be. A spread towards the beginning is astoundingly beautiful and features great use of modern technology on the printed page. It is also a small moment of humor injected in a fairly dour narrative.

With a bigger focus on plot this could be more interesting. Until then readers will simply have to enjoy fairly well written character centric stories. Those who are die hard fans of the character or property should not be disappointed by this installment of the series.