Growing up, I built up my vocabulary of adjectives by reading comic books: Amazing. Astonish. Impossible. Incredible. Invincible. Fantastic. Mighty. Savage. Sensational. Uncanny.
The strangest one being, of course, uncanny. Which, ironically, means strange. Did that mean it was the opposite of canny? And what did canny mean? Apparently, it means clever or shrewd, so I'm not sure how something strange, eerie, or mysterious is the opposite of clever or shrewd.
Anyway, remember when only one superhero team was uncanny? And remember when there was only ONE X-Men comic? It's hard to conceive of now. Now, there are three uncanny teams: Avengers, X-Force, and X-Men. It kind of lessens the uniqueness and impact of the word, the team, and the comic, doesn't it?
The original Uncanny X-Men series ran for an -- get ready for it -- astonishing 544 issues. That's pretty long for a comic book series. Of course, following DC's restart of all their long-running series (including Action Comics, Detective Comics, Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman), Marvel decided it was time to restart their long-running series as well. Following the "schism" between Cyclops and Wolverine seemed like the perfect opportunity. It also allowed for the entry of another X-Men comic (Wolverine and the X-Men). And not only another X-Men comic, but an X-Men comic starring Wolverine. (He's one busy fella!)
Sadly, volume two of The Uncanny X-Men only lasted for 20 issues. Then along comes
Brian Michael Bendis and the Marvel NOW! initiative. I'm sure the conversation went down something like this:
Marvel: "We'd like you to write the X-Men."
Bendis: "Okay, but only if I can start with a #1 issue."
Marvel: "But we just restarted the Uncanny X-Men after 50 years."
Bendis: "I don't care. Take it or leave it."
Marvel: "Sigh... Okay. Let's axe volume two and start all over again."
Bendis: "Deal."
Now came volume three in 2013. Hopefully this one will last significantly longer than volume two. Unless, of course, Bendis leaves and Marvel wants another high-profile writer to take over who has high demands.
The current Uncanny X-Men features Cyclops, Emma Frost, Magneto, Magik, and a bunch of new young "students." Cyclops sports a new costume with a headpiece that really reinforces his codename's namesake (although his costume looks too similar to DC's new Superboy costume, which itself is too Tron-like for my taste). Emma Frost sports a new, all-black costume, thus reinforcing the idea that she is no longer the Hellfire Club's White Queen (but how about a new codename?). And I'm not sure what's up with Magneto's new look. Wearing a white and black costume that resembles the Punisher's? Bald? I'm not loving Emma's or Magneto's new costumes.
Now let's talk about artwork. Chris Bachalo's art is a bit unflattering to the characters. It's very rough-looking, and it certainly doesn't bring out Emma Frost's sexiness in the least. And because nobody's costume is very distinguishable and the artwork is a bit sloppy, I sometimes can't tell if the woman in a panel is Emma, Magik, or one of the Stepford Cuckoos without some additional clues. And don't even get me started on the new characters. Who's who? Who knows? They all look too similar. Is that Rogue? No, it's a new student who also has a white streak of hair. Really? The entire book is very dark, too. There's no real color to it; just shades of black and gold, which makes it doubly difficult to decipher between characters. Visually, the entire book just isn't very appealing to me.
I'm still reading the book, though, because Cyclops and Emma Frost are two of my favorite characters (even though they've gone through some pretty drastic changes over the years). And Bendis does provide good dialogue between the characters, even though the characterization isn't optimal. Are those the personalities we know? Are these people always in costume and running around? Do they ever do anything else? What about their private lives?
A great, new recent addition to the comic is the underutilized Dazzler. She's now an agent for S.H.I.E.L.D., but her costume is very new Fantastic Four and Magneto-esque. Unfortunately, she, too, is pretty indistinguishable from the blond-haired Emma, Magik, and the Stepford Cuckoos. In fact, when she first appeared, I didn't even know who she was until someone spoke her name. Why not make characters more recognizable? Isn't that the point of distinguishable costumes? Readers should be able to instantly recognize their favorite heroes or villains, no matter which artist is drawing them. She, too, doesn't seem to be very Dazzler-like in her characterization. Does Bendis need some Cliff Notes on each of the team's members?
Let's hope that Marvel can one day bring its flagship X-Men title up to the level in which it was in the 1980s, quality-wise. It has a lot to live up to. Welcome to Uncanny X-Men, Volume 3, hope you survive the experience.
Ever since Gambit first appeared in the X-Men comics in 1990, I thought he was a pretty cool character, despite rarely being able to understand what he's saying because of his Cajun accent. I loved the flirtation between he and Rogue, before she got into daddy figures (see: Magneto). Plus, you've gotta admire a straight dude that can pull off purple (see also: Hawkeye). But what's with the long overcoat? Doesn't that get in the way of battle...or make the Louisiana Bayou heat even more unbearable?
Unfortunately, Marvel hasn't really done Gambit justice, evidenced by the numerous attempts at solo series for him. The latest (2012) attempt isn't any better. After reading the first seven issues, I'm all, "A sphincter says what?" I couldn't even follow what was going on from issue to issue because I was so disinterested. There was battle sequence after battle sequence with little to no character or story development. Sure, we got to see some Gambit nips as his costume was destroyed, but that hardly makes up for the lack of decent storytelling. Now he's supposed to be some sort of international James Bond? I just don't get it. And, frankly, I don't have to. This is just another Gambit series headed for cancellation due to lameness. Mon Dieu!
Magneto Testament delves into the background and childhood of Erik Magnus Lehnsherr, a Jewish boy from Germany who survived the Holocaust and would one day become the villain Magneto. He is born Max Eisenhardt, though, which is the first unresolved mystery. Why wouldn't he keep that name or change his name to something less...Jewish? You would think to escape the Nazis, he'd change it to something that would be less identifying...but no; that wasn't the case and we, the readers, were never told why.
Although I found the story enjoyable and moving, I was a little disappointed in the mini-series as a whole. I think my expectations were higher for the book because of its (supposed) powerful storyline, the beautiful covers, and $3.99 per issue price tag. Unfortunately, if the cover didn't say "Magneto" on it, one would never know that the comic was about this X-Men villain rather than some other boy during the Holocaust. Besides the names being different (and, again, we weren't given an explanation about the name change), the story sped along so fast that it read just like a Holocaust timeline with not a lot of depth to the characters. We didn't have a chance to learn about the characters as much as I had hoped to, including Magneto and his family. It seemed that while a lot of time was put into researching the Holocaust to ensure the events were accurate, not a lot of time was spent researching and developing Magneto himself. There was no indication of the development of his powers either. There was perhaps a tiny clue when his entire family was riddled with bullets but he wasn't, but not enough attention was paid to it.
Magneto is a truly unique and tragic character in the Marvel Universe and it's disappointing that he wasn't given his full due in what could/should have been an epic tale of the Holocaust and the specific events that shaped this boy into the powerful and hate-filled villain Magneto. I'd have to give the idea of this series five stars (out of five), but the execution of the story only three stars, as it was merely average for the way-too-important subject matter.
