UNCANNY X-MEN –
#526

WRITER:
Matt Fraction & Allan Heinberg
PENCILS: WHILCE PORTACIO & Olivier Coipel

Price: $3.99

As a kid I grew
up watching the 90’s X-Men cartoon every morning before school, so naturally
when I grew old enough to earn some money and seriously start buying comics,
Uncanny X-Men was one of my first stops. Sadly however, I never got on with
Fraction’s writing style or the way he conveyed the various characters. So over
the last few years I have picked up and dropped Uncanny numerous amounts time,
Second Coming however had brought me right back again.

Seeing the series
on such a high and after such a great crossover I thought I would give Uncanny
another try – surely the fallout from Second Coming would give Fraction enough
scope and newly emerged sub plots to keep the pace and story interesting…  sadly my faith hasn’t really been
rewarded as one would hope (pun not intended).

Fraction quickly
breezes past the most interesting elements in the fallout. Disappointingly he
still struggles to give each character a voice and unique personality. Hope is
on a journey of self discovery and her families history is the first destination
on the trip. This character development (especially on the first new character
in bloody ages) is something Fraction would usually have spent a few issues
digging his teeth into, it’s a shame then that it only occupied the book for no
longer then a couple of pages…  

Still we get an
introduction to what Hope’s powers could hold for the future of the X-Men, as
well finally a small step forward with the whole Kitty Pryde episode. We are
slowly getting there… very very
slowly.

I am certain that
at some point Fraction will explore the strained relationships between Cyclops
and other various members of the X-Teams, for now however we will have to make
do with them all seeming like the best of friends again. But hey, not a terrible
rebirth for the X series, with some new characters potentially on the way and
plenty of sub plots to explore this looks like a strong, if not rather convoluted
start to the new era.

Oh and there is a
brilliant back up giving a nice introduction to the Young Avengers, Children’s
Crusade mini series – better late then never, it provides a wonderful back
story to the event for Magneto’s involvement and motivations. To be honest I
would recommend buy Uncanny #526 just for the back up!

-Josh “Origami Kid”