The Good
Cyclops and his team of X-Men take on the Blockbuster Sentinel, which is the toughest of the sentinels so far. Can they come together to defeat it?
Frazer Irving's art is beautiful throughout this issue. Flatout, the best art of the week. It may not be everyone's cup of tea, but his use of color and shading is brilliant. He really has a way with invoking emotion in the reader as we watch these characters struggle. He's great at capturing these moments-in-time and making the reader feel like they're right there. He's wonderful with putting these panels together to tell a compelling story as well.
The flat out best part of this book is the reveal page. It took a while to register (spoilers ahead) because that character behind it all look so darn familiar, but I couldn't place them, so I researched real quick. It's a character from the Finch variant cover of NEW AVENGERS #1 from 2005. Many will remember this character because it never appeared in any issue, only on this one variant cover. Pretty brilliant move.
The Bad
Frazer Irving is one heck of a talented artist with a very distinct style. Brian Michael Bendis is one heck of a writer with his own distinct style. The problem is that these styles clash and don't work on this book. Irving's art is darker and a bit gritty and pretty serious. Bendis, on the other hand, weaves a lot of fun into his stories and isn't afraid to throw a joke or two around. Together, it simply doesn't work. Now, there are times where Irving's art really drives a great point across, like anytime the reader sees the Blockbuster Sentinel, it comes off as incredibly stoic and intimidating, but all that goes away when Fabio yells out "Gold balls!"
There's an artist switch up in this book as well, Kris Anka does a few pages, and while Anka's art fits Bendis' writing style a bit more (I'm assuming the Madripoor pages are Anka) it's a bit of a throw off. Switching up artists for a few pages needs to have meaning, and here it's just to travel around the globe. Personally, I'd rather just one of these talented artists do it all themselves.
Frankly, the issue was just "meh." It was a David and Goliath tale without the suspense or intrigue. And while the ending of the issue, with that fantastic reveal page, catches the reader's attention, it wasn't enough to make up for the rest issue.
The Verdict
UNCANNY X-MEN #11 is a visually stunning book with an ok story. The biggest problem here just lies within the fact the art and the writing mesh poorly and there's an art switch-up for a few pages within the middle of the book. The reveal page here is the big kicker, which will really get you excited for future story lines, including the upcoming "Battle of the Atom" story line. This is not a bad book by any means. It's just another down the middle of the road issue.