Uncanny X-Men has been a total train wreck for quite some time. I honestly can’t remember the last time I thought that this title was a good read. I think this current story arc is just brutal to read. Luckily, this is the last issue of this story arc and Brubaker takes over Uncanny X-Men with the next issue. I usually do a long detailed synopsis and review, but a new creative team is taking over next issue and, honestly, Uncanny X-Men #474 doesn’t deserve a detailed review. Let’s hit it.
Creative Team
Writer: Tony Bedard
Penciler: Roger Cruiz
Inker: Victor Olazaba
Art Rating: 6 Night Girls out of 10.
Story Rating: 2 Night Girls out of 10.
Overall Rating: 4 Night Girls out of 10.
Synopsis: All right, put on your tracks shoes; because this is gonna be fast. The issue starts with the Foursaken introducing Pyslocke to his utopian society.
We then cut to a flashback of how Jamie Braddock and his buddies met the Foursaken and had their powers awoken. The X-Men start arguing with Jamie’s pack of friends and they are about to brawl when they all realize that their powers don’t work anymore. Jamie says that they are in a Utopia where there is eternal peace so no one can use their powers to fight.
Psylocke and the Foursaken join the rest of the X-Men and Jamie’s crew. Psylocke then notices that there are no more than 4 people from each species in this Utopia. The Foursaken says that he simply picks 4 individuals from each planet that he comes into contact with to live in his Utopia. The rest of the populations of each planet are killed.
With that Psylocke attacks the Foursaken and we have a braaaaawwl! During the brawl, Psylocke injures the Foursaken which allows the X-Men to get their powers back. We then learn the origin of the Foursaken. That he was a king of a planet who prayed to preserve the glory of his people. His prayer was answered by the essence of endless changeless perfection and he became the Foursaken. Jamie uses his powers to send the X-Men and his friends back to Earth. Jamie stays behind to seal the portal so the Foursaken cannot get to Earth.
We then cut to the X-Men back on Earth as well as Jamie’s friends. The two groups part ways. Bishop then gets a phone call. It is Storm over in Africa. (Wow, we are finally going to resolve that boring and pointless storyline of Storm in Africa fighting to protect the powerless mutants over there.) Storm asks the X-Men to come help her stop some evil local warlord who is killing the mutants who were rendered powerless on M-Day. The issue ends with the message “Storm’s African adventure concludes and secrets are revealed in Uncanny X-Men Annual #1!” Oh boy! Notwithstanding the Revolution’s rule that all annuals are largely a waste of paper and ink, this storyline definately insures that I won’t waste my money on Uncanny X-Men Annual #1.
Comments
The Good: The only positive thing I can say about Uncanny X-Men #474 is that the “Psylocke guest starring the X-Men” which followed up the “Rachel Grey guest starring the X-Men storylines have mercifully come to an end. This past year of Uncanny X-Men has been just horrendous. The one page preview of Ed Brubaker and Billy Tan’s Uncanny X-Men is absolutely the best part of Uncanny X-Men #474.
The Bad: Uncanny X-Men #474 was as terrible as all the issue preceding it. This issue is practically unreadable. It is convoluted in a bad way. The storyline is uninteresting and the dialogue is stiff and boring. There really is absolutely nothing positive about the writing efforts turned in by Tony Bedard. I’m sure Tony Bedard is a fine gentleman. And the Revolution has a policy to never make personal attacks on any writer or artist. Having said that, Bedard’s writing on this title has not impressed me. I don’t know if Bedard got saddled with a pad plotline from Chris Claremont and is only doing the best he could with a lousy plot. If that is the case, then I won’t blame Bedard for not being able to deliver a good story. I have not read anything else from Bedard, so I can’t fully comment on his writing talents. All I know is that Uncanny X-Men has been a terrible read for quite some time.
And what really gets me is that DC, being the totally inept on how to handle the Legion of Super Heroes, is bringing Bedard in to help co-write the Legion of Super Heroes with Mark Waid. Waid is obviously busy with 52 and needs a little support for several issues. That makes me less than happy. I don’t know how much of this current mess in Uncanny X-Men was due to Bedard or due to Claremont. Hopefully, Bedard does a better job on the Legion of Super Heroes than he did on this title. I know one thing that Bedard could do to make me instantly like him more: Get Supergirl out of the Legion.
I like to support mi hermanos, but the artwork was simply average. Everybody seems to have the same face. Plus, the art lacked consistency from panel to panel. The art also looked rushed and hurried.
Overall: Uncanny X-Men #474 was a fitting ending to a terrible storyline and a lousy run on this title. It has been a very long time since I thought that Uncanny X-Men was a quality comic book. It has been down for so long. I really hope that Brubaker can restore Uncanny X-Men back to its former glory that it had in the 1970’s and 80’s.