Comic Books

UNCANNY X-MEN #1

After the Schism, UNCANNY X-MEN starts over at #1!

What is to become of Cyclops and the mutants who side with Cyclops after the big split? And what does it have to do with the resurrected Mister Sinister?

The hottest new writer in the business, Kieron Gillen (THOR) and superstar Carlos Pacheco (X-MEN: SCHISM, ULTIMATE AVENGERS) bring you the biggest and baddest X-Men you’ve ever seen.

Story by Kieron Gillen
Art by Carlos Pacheco & Cam Smith
Colors by Frank D'Armata
Cover by Carlos Pacheco

Price: $3.99
iFanboy Community Pick of the Week Percentage: 2.0%

Reviews

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glcfarmboy11/10/11NoRead Review
joawmeens11/06/11YesRead Review
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Avg Rating: 3.9
 
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Comments

  1. I can’t say I’m as excited for this as I was for Wolverine & The X-Men, but I am interested in what Gillen has in store for the other half.

  2. Definitely giving this a shot, it doesn’t hurt that Pacheco is drawing it (because that means Land isn’t!)

  3. I’m a DC guy–almost exclusively–but I’ve always wanted to like the X-Men. I missed last week’s “Wolverine and the X-Men,” but I’m planning to buy it digitally, and I’m gonna try this one this week. Here’s hoping!

    • I am a big DC guy, too, but I did really enjoy Wolverine & the X-Men (I actually bought 2 Marvel books last week – the other was FF which I thought was okay). It was a fun 28 page story plus a cool little back-up feature – well worth my $4. I hope this is, too. But if it switches up to 20-22 page stories for $4 I will be out real quickly.

    • Man, I wish I had gotten the Wolverine and the X-Men floppy last week. Oh, well. Totally agree on the price vs. page count deal. DC may only give 21-22 pages, but they charge a buck less for those books.

      Now, if we could just get them to include more story and less promo material for our money, we might really be on to something! 😉

    • I am mostly a DC reader as well, and I have been enjoying the X-books too. That price difference has been prohibitive for me though. It adds up. Still, I may have to get this book… looks like some interesting conflict on this team. Wolverine and the X-men was a lot fun.

  4. I hope it really is: “The biggest and baddest X-Men you’ve ever seen.” That sounds fun.

    • Hell yeah!

      Magneto, Emma, Namor, Juggalosus, Danger, and Magik? Not exactly a friendly crew.

      I really enjoyed Wolverine and The X-Men, but I’m hoping this brings a tone that’s somewhere between “kind of different” and “totally different” from W&TXM.

    • Yeah, Ken. Not the warm and fuzzy bunch.

      I liked in the Regenesis one-shot when Scott was trying to get Storm to stay, how he said, “My team has Magneto, Emma Frost, and Namor on it! Logan has Kitty, Bobby, and Hank. I need you.”

      Interesting group Commander Summers has on his hands.

  5. I hope that both flagship books are awesome.

  6. Every time Pacheco does a new book I hold out hope that his art looks more like it used to look 5-15 years ago. What I’ve seen recently from him (even in the Uncanny X-Men .1 issue he did) looks so flat and non-dynamic. Not bad art, but not as awesome as it used to be.

  7. I’m on to see if this is the X-book that brings me in. I bought Second Coming and Schism. Both were fun, but nothing that really kept me afterwards. I want to know more about this team, though. I like most of them and looking forward to getting to know the other members.

  8. I’m only getting this for Mr.Sinister!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  9. I can’t believe Danger is still around, let alone in a flagship title

  10. i didnt like wolverine and txm, but i love gillen so im going to give this a chance. one thing this has workin against it is the fact that i hate cyclops and im sure i’ll be hoping for his death every issue. shouldnt magneto be the leader anyways? isnt he stronger and more experienced in the militant mutant movement of sapien vs superior? i definately could get behind a magneto lead x-book. scott is just such a douche, hopefully gillen can break through my prejudices and make me love this book despite myself. not to sound pretentious, but that would be quite an achievement.

    • I don’t think Cyclops is dying anytime soon, but with teammates like these…

    • Hit the button too soon. Ahem…

      …but with teammates like these…I think he might wish he was dead.

    • wishfull thinkin’. dont destoy my dreams, man. they’re all i got.

    • @sitara119
      i used to hate Cyclops too. I’m a product of the nineties and cyke was just such a little bitch! But i have to say, over the last few years he’s REALLY grown on me. Although i like the idea of a magneto lead x-book, i’m kinda anxious to see what all gillen can do with these characters on their own island NOT tied to an event.

    • i saw a fear itself promotional poster in which cyclops was dressed as magneto and i thought that if they played on that image that scott could be a cool character. perhaps scott is being pushed in a dark direction that will give him more depth of character and thus be more interesting for me to read. if anyone can do it, its gillen.

  11. Is Cyclops yawning on that cover?

  12. I’ll decide on Wednesday whether or not to grab this. I loved Wolverine and The X-Men and this seems like it could be a nice contrast. Heavy hitting mutants acting as a super-hero team and going on crazy, world ending adventures. I did see Land is still on the rotation in the January solicits though.

  13. Oh what a wonderful future we live in where I can come into work early and start the day with some joe and Uncanny X-Men #1.

    I like.

  14. My expectations were unfortunately set very high and this didn’t come even close to delivering. To me it seems like Gillen is just more of what Fraction brought to the table. A flying Mister Sinister head is too wacky, even for comics.

    Sinister’s character has just been neutered at this point, he was such a classic and scary villain back in the day.

    • I feel the same way. I only gave Gillen one issue to wow me, and he didn’t. You’re right that he’s just the same as Fraction: horribly superficial trendy characterizations like 75% of the time . . . then a tiny bit of good characterization.

      At least Fraction’s creator-owned work is good. I don’t think Gillen’s a bad writer, but I tried to read a few issues of Phonogram and thought, “Wow, no wonder his X-Men stuff is so bad. This guy’s brain is completely colonized by pop culture trivia.”

      I really wish they got a different–dare I say more mature?–writer for the Uncanny reboot. Just please give me someone who doesn’t want to turn the X-Men and their villains into airheads and celebrities.

  15. Yeah this was a total let down for me as a relatively new x-men reader. Metric shit ton of characters I had no idea who are much less care about, colossus also being some kind of demonic juggernaut was weird, and what the hell is up with a giant flying sinister head?!? Not for me at all. I will stick with Wolverine and the X-Men and maybe Uncanny X-Force thank you very much. 3/5 Dropped.

    • You complain about all the characters but you think Wolverine is less overwhelming? Uh-huh.

    • ummm yeah I thought Wolverine and the X-men was significantly less overwhelming for new readers I know this because I am a new x-men reader. Something tells me you’ve been reading x-men for awhile and know who most of these characters are which is why you may have liked this, which is fine. However I grabbed this hoping it would be a good starting point for new readers, I was apparently VERY wrong. I was only recognized about 4-5 characters and two of them are now completely different apparently (demonic colossus/juggernaut & magneto), as for everybody else I was completely lost. I even tried wikipedia a few times while reading this and felt even more overwhelmed. At least in Wolverine and the X-Men all the main characters were established characters I recognized from my childhood cartoons and they were presented with a fun story. Yeah I didnt know all the characters in that book either but at least they were just students in the school who i’m sure will get introduced as the series goes on and they didnt really affect how the story flowed. That’s my two cents as a fairly new reader to the whole 616 X-men universe.

    • I’ve started reading X-Men within the last year. I had been following books like X-Factor and X-Force since they were stand alone from the main X-Men books, but didn’t really start to appreciate the X-Men until Second Coming. You can learn most of the characters via Wikipedia, but for people such as myself who’ve been reading comics for years, most of them were gimmes and simple to figure out.

    • @jonny see but that’s exactly my point I shouldn’t have to go to wikipedia to figure out who 80% of the characters are. Seems like the writer should realize that now of all times is the time to make a book easily accessible to new readers (especially a #1 issue for god’s sake). Hell i’ve started reading SOOOO many new comics that i’ve never even heard of before (both DC and Marvel) because they are now new reader friendly and now instead of buying 2 or 3 issues a month I have a pull list of more than 17 and growing. However there is no way i’m sticking around with a book that’s more of a homework assignment than a fun read. I pass

    • I would think the intro page with the brief descriptions are enough to tell you what you need to know. Beyond that, just ask on here! Will give you the version even simpler than Wikipedia.

    • @ABirdseysView appreciate the offer but honestly I just don’t see much enjoyment in this series for me. Not really worth the money to find out either since I’m already enjoying other X-men titles out of the gate.

  16. Fun book to read and much better than Wolverine & the X-Men. I would like to point out that Scott is a cold-blooded ass. Anyone else notice how he completely ignored what happened to Emma when fighting the Sinister Head? Yeah. Someone say douchebag.

    • douchebag!

    • except for the explicit story point that was introduced because Scott noticed it

    • didn’t he notice both times? She even kept saying “don’t worry darling” and stuff like that. Then things *ahem* fell apart?

    • I’m with Edward. I took Scott’s line “Hope – Emma’s telepathy is out.” to mean that he was well aware of the fact that Emma had to stay in diamond form. Also, he doesn’t really have to be worried. She’s was blown to little diamond bits in New X-Men and made it back from that. Also, he’s got a team to lead in a crisis. Girlfriend comes second.

    • He absolutely noticed it. The point of the exchange there is to show Scott as a battle commander, he has keep his act together so other people don’t die.

  17. I unfortunetly ended up spending the 4 bucks after my LCS owner convinced me to try it to confirm what i had already thought about this title, that id much rather read Wolverine and the X-Men along with X-Force and Wolverine instead of this in order to get my X-men fill. Apparently by looking at it that way i like Wolverine i guess haha, but ya this just wasnt for me

  18. My favourite character in this was easily Dr Nemesis in his three or four panels. Does this mean I should buy X-Club? Hmm…

  19. Did anyone else’s copy feel like it was printed on exceptionally low grade paper?

    I know comics are generally printed on lousy paper, but this felt worse than usual. I was legitimately concerned I was going to rip the paper with every page turn!

  20. I wonder if they’ll touch on Magneto and the High Evolutionary “lobotomizing” the celestial. Is that what made it so easy for Sinister to use its power?

  21. Anybody want my copy? I only used half of it before I had to put it down due to the fact that I was totally lost. Not only did I not know many of the characters, but the action sequences weren’t very easy to interpret either. What a waste. I think this just might be the last time I try to trick myself into trying out a MARVEL title. I screw myself over EVERYTIME

    • You should get a refund; your copy was apparently missing the first page, which literally explained who every main character was, and the last page, which literally drew you a map.

    • jimski, chill it with the snarky judgment. i felt the same way as robby

    • @jimski yes I agree chill man. I’m a relatively new x-men reader as well and felt completely lost and confused the entire time reading this. You die hard x-men fans get crazy rude when us new readers try to come onboard and feel completely lost and then when we express that opinion, you treat us like we’re complete idiots. It’s not very appreciated I assure you.

    • I’ll translate for jimski!
      The first page of this #1 issue has a picture of all of the main characters appearing in this book and who they / what they do. The last page breaks down, character by character, who is in what team for “team cyclops.”

      I will however say that many people don’t have any background in S.W.O.R.D and probably derailed a bit when a space woman with green hair appeared on utopia.

    • @oops
      saying it slower(so to speak) doesnt really translate anything and it almost sounds more insulting. did you say it louder
      as you typed it as well, cuz that doesnt help either. lmfao.

      @robby
      i hate most marvel titles too. try daredevil, ultimate spiderman or journey into mystery. they r solid

      @jimski
      if i had feelings, they would b mixed toward u. i dont know if you’re trying to be funny or an asshole. perhaps a little of both, which is kinda funny. hahahahahahahaha

      @thompson
      x-fans are rude and im glad im not one of them after reading this and even wolverine &txm

    • But . . . there WAS a breakdown. And a map.

    • HEY. DID YOU GUYS KNOW THAT THERE WAS A BREAKDOWN AND A MAP! is everyone aware now? MAYBE IF WE KEEP SAYING IT OVER AND OVER AND LOUD, WE CAN CHANGE PEOPLE’S MIND ABOUT HOW MUCH THIS SUCKED

    • @sitara119: If you didn’t enjoy the issue for other reasons, that’s one thing. Clearly, you’re not a big fan of Marvel or the X-Men. But don’t blame it on knowledge of the characters. Most of the characters featured here are well known and established figures in Marvel’s lexicon. X-Men is not the only group of titles with a long and convoluted history. Publishers and writers print things like breakdowns and maps in an effort to help people like Robby and yourself get the most out of the issue. If you don’t feel this method is effective, or if you have a better idea, perhaps you should send them an email with your suggestions. Just make sure you use all caps so they can hear it.

    • i didnt blame….sorry,ahem….I DIDNT BLAME MY DISDAIN ON ANYTHING. hahaha. Nor did i comment on the method being ineffective. perhaps you would like to redirect your comment to someone who did. DONT FORGET TO MENTION THE HISTORY OF MAPS AND BREAKDOWNS. HUGS AND kisses

    • @sitara man you are too funny-DID Everyone get the map should be a new catch phrase lol-about the comic I liked it alot more than Wolvie and x-men…I wasn’t confused by it but I can understand the criticism of it..sorry but did everyone review the map..lol to f’n funny-4 out of 5 for me

    • thanks doc. i’ve often found that people online take other people’s opinions way too personally especially if it conflicts with their own. which begs the question “why so serious?”hahaha.(i know, cheezy) but with a username like yours, you obviously have a good sense of humor(glad to see im not alone)

    • @sitara119: Touché, salesman.

    • your a good sport. please realize that this is all in fun and i meant no disrespect, i just love to laugh at all the sassy comments and back and forth feuds when people disagree. i love passionate debate and often post lame jokes to ease tentions or feul the fire. example: i overstated when i said this sucked, i actually gave it 3 stars but im still not a fan.
      P.S. do think our avatars fight when we’re not looking?(see, lame joke)

    • No worries. After a closer read I realized that you were right, you didn’t really blame your disdain on anything in particular, so my comment should’ve been directed at robby. I can admit when I’m wrong. No big deal.

      P.S. – We can only hope.

    • sitara119 is being terse and starting fights. he’s like a young edward

    • whats an old edward like?

  22. I picked this up because I quite enjoyed Wolverine & the X-Men #1, but if the next issues are 20-22 pages for $3.99 I’m done with Marvel for good (except for Millar’s 2.99 books).

  23. Scott Summers is a bad motherfucker. Between this and WatXM I’m getting everything I want from the X-Universe.

    Also, they should give Dr. Nemesis his own title… Oh… Well, they should give him two.

  24. I liked this quite a bit. Nice counterpart to the W&TXM. Still, Uncanny X-Force is by far the best X-book for my $3.99.

  25. Ok honestly
    open front cover.
    look at pic of emma frost

    giggity giggity gooo

  26. Somebody give that Emma a hand!

    HEYOOOOOOO!!

  27. I am a Gillen fanboy. Pretty much every book he puts out, I buy, read and love. For me, his last run on Uncanny X-Men was the best book it has been in years. I am a bit concerned about this comic though; by taking characters like Kitty Pryde, Beast, and Iceman and putting them with Wolverine, this book has lost any character to relate to. There’s very little human element to it, and the remaining characters are almost uniformly so arrogant the conversations between them is grating.

    I love Namor, and Cyclops has never bothered me, but I don’t know that there is enough here to make me excited to come back each month. Somebody mentioned Fraction earlier, and that’s what this felt like. Almost exactly like Fraction’s Uncanny X-men book when it started out. That book sucked ass, and I should know, I read it all. Now I’m stuck with a Wolverine book I can’t stomache the art on, and an Uncanny book that is a shell of what it was just a month ago. Thanks Schism.

  28. #teamslim

  29. I thought that this issue was a solid way to start the series. Mr. Sinister is a good foe and, at least for this first story arc, I think that there will be a lot of action. I, however, wish that this book would lower its price and I also wish that instead of having so many X-titles there would be just “X-Force” and one other book. I feel that if I start buying this book that I will need to buy the other titles to stay up to speed and I don’t want to have to do that.

  30. I think this started to lose me when Scott actually used the phrase “this schism with the Westchester school”. I chuckled a little, but not in a good way.

  31. I’m consistently reminded of what a good move I made by jumping back into the X-Verse last year. I really enjoyed this one. I prefered W&TXM, but this was very solid. So glad to see some Pacheco again. Gillen understands these characters, and that’s all I need for now. It was exciting, dynamic, funny, and a great start overall.

    @Ron (and other hardcores): Does it strike you as odd that Psylocke, Domino, and especially Jubilee would be on Scott’s team and not Logan’s? Psylocke’s on X-Force with him, Domino used to bang him all the time, and Jubilee’s one of his classic sidekick girls. I’m not criticizing. Just looking for discussion. Any thoughts?

  32. See, it’s hard for us who have been reading the book to see what could possibly be confusing. To us, it appears like everything is thoroughly explained, but we also know it all already. Hell, we might even be skipping over some of the bits that are supposed to help anybody jumping on.

    But, no one that is supposedly confused by this issue is saying what they are confused by either. It’s an exaggeration to say that you are completely confused. Surely you know what San Francisco is, and can guess that it might have parks and water nearby. You don’t know any of the characters? Well maybe not some, but there must be some you do know, Cyclops, Storm, Magneto. You’re not giving any of us hardcore X-fans any evidence that this issue is not new reader friendly.

    • Here i’ll give you a list of stuff that I had to go to wikipedia to figure out while reading this. Also on a side note if I have to go to wikipedia more than once or twice to understand a comic then odds are I will not be staying with that comic. Anyway here you go

      1. Why are the X-men on utopia?
      2. What is the Celestial?
      3. Who is Mr. Sinister?
      4. How is magneto a good guy now, didn’t he kill thousands of people back in the day?
      5. Why is Namor on the x-men?
      6. What is the character Danger?
      7. Why is Colossus also be The Juggernaut?
      8. What happened to the real Juggernaut?
      9. Why do they keep referring to the Juggernaut like a demonic possession?
      10. Who is Dr. Nemesis?
      11. What is S.W.O.R.D?
      12. Who is the green haired chick in the space station?
      13. What powers do Mr. Sinister have that can turn people to look like him?

      These were the only questions that I actually looked up. There were a lot of other minor things I didn’t understand either but just didn’t think they where important enough to what was going on to merit looking them up. Needless to say I wont be back for another homework assignment.

    • The X-men are on utopia because Cyclops wanted to have all mutants in one place to protect them.
      The Celestial is an unknown, other than what they are in the Marvel U (which is too complex to explain here)
      Sinister is equally complex – a quick summary is that he is an evil geneticist who is dedicated to creating a super species.
      Magneto is a good guy because comic book logic. Just go with that one.
      Major is an X-man because he is actually a mutant in his species.
      Danger is a sentient version of the Danger Room that joined the team a few years ago. She has had very little development beyond that.
      Read back 2 issues for the answer about Colossus. The original Juggernaut is caught up in Fear Itself BS I am not reading.
      Juggernaut’s powers are derived from Cytorrak, some sort of demon god of destruction. Those powers have the sad side effect of making a person… very grumpy.
      Dr. Nemesis is a super scientist and one of the first mutants. Also, hates Nazis. Do we know anyone who likes them?
      SWORD was introduced in Whedons excellent run, which you should read if you like the Slender at all. They are basically an outerspace SHIELD.
      She is the leader of SWORD.
      What Sinister did is outside his normal scope. Presumably related to the Celestial creation powers.

      Anything else?

    • Major=Namor. Phone correct.

    • thompsonslive-

      It’s not Marvel’s fault that you didn’t know All that stuff.
      In fact what are you even doing in this thread??

    • @zombox thanks for the reply and quite well organized info but I did find most of that out already digging through countless Wikipedia articles while trying to read the issue.

      @tomswift ummmm i’m on this thread because I read the issue and I am now discussing the issue with other comic book readers, you know the same reason everyone else is on this thread. Is there a prerequisite for posting in here that i’m unaware of, that you would like to shed some light on?

  33. Marvel’s Stealth Reboot …Just in case you had a hard time understanding Wonder Women #!

  34. Count me in the primarily DC camp here too, and I’ve read very little in terms of the X-Men, Ive followed enough to know who all the major players are but this is all new to me in the reading. However, I liked both W&tXM and Uncanny enough that I think I’ll be picking them up on regular subscription. My only complaint is that I didnt care for Mister Sinister being included in the opening page introducing all the other X-Men. Made it look like he was a member of the XMen and I spent a few pages trying to figure out why he was snapping tourists necks while he was a member. I knew he was a villain but my impression that he was on the team for the same reason that Magneto was.

    That being said, I love the team that has been assembled here, and in some ways this reminded me of the Illuminati having so many important leaders and powerhouses in mutant-kind assembled here.

  35. I picked this up and enjoyed it. I have no real complaints. Gillen is obviously a good writer and has a nice handle on the dialog. It looked good, had a fun big idea, and I like the team for the most part. That said, it didn’t scratch my X-Men itch and get me excited like Wolverine’s book did so I’m not sure I’ll keep reading.

  36. This first issue of the new Uncanny simply wasn’t my cup of tea, though I am glad that many others enjoyed it. I preferred Jason Aaron’s *Wolverine & the X-Men,* which I will be buying every month.

    (This restrained criticism was inspired by Josh’s article about ripping apart mediocre and/or awful comic books.)

  37. One of the things that I liked about this book, just like Wolvie, was that it gave the X-Men a purpose again, not to mention an actual team.

    While WatX might be a bit more fun, I think I’m on teamslim.

    • Yep I’m the same, it’s a nice change to be able to see the x-men at school and it’s also nice for them to have a team to go out and save the world and all those people that hate and fear them.

  38. Man, I just read the rest of the comments in here and people be gettin’ mad for reals! Perhaps this Scism theme is going a bit too far…

  39. Since getting back into comics i’ve been trying to get back into the X-men with little success. Usually i can’t gain any traction because this universe is so dense and continuity heavy. I kinda felt the same way here. Too many characters, too many plot points……just too much stuff going on competing for attention. I kept feeling that i needed to do homework to fully understand all the characters motivations and plot points which for a #1 issue is kinda pointless.

    This #1 seems like its designed for hardcore, long term fans only, and i guess thats ok, i just don’t see the point of that. Wolverine and the Xmen was much more accessible.

  40. Wow, I’m surprised by the wide scope of reactions to this issue, which I thought was a pretty strong jumping on point. With very exceptions (House of M, Wolverine Origin) I have not read an X-Men book since the 90s, and I didn’t have much trouble following this one. That said, I do have prior experience with these characters, as well as what I’ve picked up in general from friends and this site. Basically, I bought this book for Gillen. I’ve been loving his Journey into Mystery and wanted to give something else of his a shot. Also, I heard fans rave about how good the X-books were at the moment. I was impressed with this issue, and gave it the edge in pick of the week over Swamp Thing (which got my pick last month for issue two). So, yeah, I’ll be picking up issue two . . .

    That said, I am really annoyed that I’ll be paying 4 bucks for 3 bucks worth of pages. If Gillen can keep up the quality, I’ll pay it, but, this means that Secret Avengers might have just got moved to drop catagory . . . Marvel your price policy is making it difficult for me to read as many as your books as I would like. Would have tried Moon Knight long ago if all your titles were 2.99 . . .

  41. Cyclops= freaking awesome

  42. I’ve been reading X-Men for a good while now so I can’t weigh in on the discussion.

    I really liked this issue.

  43. I picked this us and Wolverine and the xmen and I think this was just a little bit better.

    Just sayin’,

    K

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