Uncanny X-Men Issue 526
Welcome X-Men, into the Heroic Age. Hope you survive the experience! Issue 526 here is the main crews first expedition into the world post-Second Coming, and I gotta say, I expected more. Not to say this was bad, but I really felt like this book would come firing out on all cylinders and I didn't really get that feeling. I;m all for slow storytelling, but this book really didn't need to be here.
The issue opens with Light Number 1, a young redheaded girl (We clearly don't have enough) beginning to gain her mutant title, but only in appearance and not abilities. Iceman and Angel are on patrol watching her, meanwhile other X-Men around the world are watching the other four lights, none of which we get to see. At the same time, Hope continues her quest that she established in Uncanny X-Men: The Heroic Age by going to Alaska to discover her roots.
Matt Fraction is an odd X-Men writer. I say this because he is really hit or miss, but I trust him in most endeavors. I've loved everything since his little Science Club issue (512) and he really has some great ideas. However, I feel like some of his concepts don't flourish as much when he has dialogue like he does in this issue. I mean, the ideas of the issue were good, the overall beats were cool, but the dialogue for a lot of this issue just really killed it. I think that's really his only flaw as an X-Writer, his iffy dialogue.
As for art? Well, it's a throwback, that's for sure. Seeing Whilce Portacio on art goes back to a simpler time when people didn't have to worry about extinction on a daily basis. The only thing is, at times it's the wrong kind of throwback, with some people looking just plain disproportionate, outfits looking outdated (Hopes sweater/tank top), and the occasional creeper face. That's not to say it's all bad. There was a panel on Cypher that looked particularly nice, it's just not enough to balance it out.
AND AS AN ADDED BONUS we get a little piece by Alan Heinberg and Olivier Coipel on Magneto prior to Avenger's Children's Crusade. This didn't need to be here, but it was nice, had pretty art (Better than much of Siege) and it was a good way to see how Magneto would react to grandchildren.
Overall, I would give the main feature a 3, but with the Magneto story at the end I bump it up to a 3.5 out of 5. As a side note, 3 things that bugged me quite a bit:
- Colossus has a bashed up arm from Second Coming, it'd be nice if Whilce Portacio remembered that. Oh and Kitty is suddenly naked in her bacta tank, don't know how that happened. Bad scene art wise.
- In this weeks X-Men Legacy, Cyclops says he doesn't want Rogue spending so much time together, that she needs to meet new people. Yet Rogue is here. I mean, she didn't serve a big roll, they easily could have made that somebody else.
- SAT's use a new scale now, and have for the last 6 years, so when the new girl says she got a 1590 on her SAT's, formerly out of 1800, it's now out of 2400 and is very unimpressive to brag about to X-Men. And do they even use those in Vancouver?
