overlander's Uncanny X-Men Special #1 - No End In Sight, Part 1 of 3: Breaking In review

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    Not much special about this series

    The premise of a caper is always in doing something over the top in a cool, efficient manner, despite impossible odds. This series came out of nowhere on a longshot chance and may leave readers feeling empty.

    The Good

    Sean Ryan has some clever dialogue that tries to amuse, but unfortunately falls short of the potential. Every now and then characters will have a smart line, but the scene or deliver may be compromised by inconsistent art or flaccid composition. There is, in the kernel of the tale, something very interesting trying to be told. Unfortunately, this issue isn't making me more interested to come back for seconds.

    The Bad

    The story brings in an obscure, comedic bounty hunter (thankfully not another Deadpool appearance) to retrieve a very dangerous Sommers brother, but the twist rings hollow. Not only is this character upstaged by his minions, he is the victor in a scenario that we've seen the X-Men escape handily. With Tempus, Goldballs, Cyclops, and the rest of the gang, there is no way the foes they encounter would ever have the outcome depicted in this issue. We're talking about nearly the same lineup that walked away unmarred from the Avengers.

    This story has potential, but the premise upon which the whole caper rests is rather flimsy. The idea of Scott's students organizing their own search & rescue operation is interesting. You take a rag-tag bunch of students who dutifully use their powers and minds to hunt down obscure adversaries to help their staff and there should be a heart-warming story. Unfortunately, the pencils by Ron Atkins leave a lot of wasted space on the page. in a two-page spread of the blackbird tragically crashing (for the umpteenth time) there seems to be more sky on the page than anything else.You turn the page and find the following splash to have a similar problem. Backgrounds are flat, simple, or non-existent, despite the characters having some modest expression.

    The Verdict

    With a bland story and middling art, this doesn't feel like an X-Men comic made by Marvel. The poses don't seem as exciting, the energy isn't krackling in the panels of the pages, and the conceit of the story seems squandered in the execution. It's possible it might pick up over time, but if you love Cyclops and his X-Men, wait until this arrives on Marvel Unlimited to give it a try.

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