Uncanny X-Men #1
UNCANNY X-MEN #1
Capsule Review
Marvel’s latest X-Men title is all about the hardcases. If the other X-Men books are about heroes the public thinks are bad guys, then what does that say about an X-Men book that really is about the bad guys? With the fallen-hero-as-villain trope so central to all things X-Men, there’s no limit to the characters who might stock this book, but writer Cullen Bunn and artist Greg Land stick with the usual suspects, to generally good effect. We get Magneto being melodramatic and hardcore, Sabertooth holding himself in check, Psylocke flashing her swords around, and Monet (who I don’t know at all) smiling all the time and delivering dialogue that felt just a bit too stagey. There’s also a brain-dead Angel who is more drone than superhero. The plot is clever and centers on Magneto’s typically slash-and-burn approach to solving the Inhuman-spawned Terrigen mist crisis that is threatening mutant-kind. The book hits a bad-guys-as-heroes tone that completely eluded the Illuminati reboot. The action is strong and the faces are full of expression. I was especially taken with Greg Land’s panel introducing Sabertooth, with the villain (hero?) crouched on the hood of a truck, and the driver’s panicked expression communicated through the frightened eyes framed in the truck’s rear-view mirror. This is the kind of book that has big panels and lots of action (and a two-page center-spread) which means you can read it in about five minutes … but it’s a pretty good five minutes.
Approachability For New Readers
No more or less clear than any other X-Men book.
Read #2?
You bet.
Sales Rank
Read more about the X-Men at Longbox Graveyard
Read more capsule reviews of Marvel’s All-New All-Different rolling reboot.
Posted on February 3, 2016, in Reviews and tagged All-New All-Different Marvel, Cullen Bunn, Greg Land, Marvel Comics, X-Men. Bookmark the permalink. 20 Comments.
dangvozden
Kris (not Chris)
markginocchio
miloapama
Dean Compton
Moya
ryanmcswain
Greg Land is the terriblest, but I guess I’m in the minority on that one, because the dude keeps getting jobs. And unfortunately, it seems a lot of those jobs are X-Men-related.
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With little experience in contemporary comics, I think this was my first experience with Greg Land. His layouts ran a little toward the posed/pinup style, but nothing too egregious, and in every other aspect of his work I thought him among the better artists in Marvel’s reboot.
Why the distaste for Land?
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I actually liked Greg Land once upon a time. Then I saw more of his work and realized he only knew how to draw one woman’s face. Color palettes and attire should not be the only way for a reader to determine identity. (To chime in on the comments below, Jim Lee is guilty of this too, but I give him an admittedly unfair pass because his X-Men were also my X-Men.)
That’s my real issue, but there’s the notion of him regularly swiping/tracing/stealing others’ art, or recycling his own for new projects. Some of those things I don’t find so egregious, but some are pretty bad. Take a look:
http://www.comicvine.com/greg-land/4040-2064/forums/greg-lands-art-why-i-hate-it-take-178-407907/
There’s about a hundred threads like that one out there.
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He should consider body painting super-heroe costumes on porn actress’ bodies, that would be art!
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Good work if you can get it.
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That sounds way better than the naked girls in Times Square painted up in the Puerto Rican flag. If you’re gonna walk around like that, get a Thigh Master first.
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I should get a ThighMaster too … my last con appearance in Longbox Graveyard body paint resulted in a public health hazard.
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Ah, OK … swipes are problematic, didn’t know about that. Thanks for the info.
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Oh, and the reason his art looks pin-up posed is because a lot of his photo references are from porn, which I find more eye-rolling than anything else.
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You gotta applaud anyone that can combine their business with their hobby, I guess.
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Mebbe not the worst because the worst has yet to come… It reminds me of Jim Lee, successful but grossly overrated and awfully boring.
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I’ve had a couple meetings with Jim Lee, and he’s a good guy … I missed that whole era of X-Men but I’ve generally liked his work.
Of course, maybe I’m instantly disqualified for sticking by Miller & Lee in All-Star Batman & Robin. But what can I say, I like what I like.
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I have a couple of Jim Lee’s first X-men comics.
I tried but never understood how to read that stuff.
I should ship them to you, the first one may have some value?
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Wow, X-men# 248 sells as low as $8 in NM condition… I guess won’t get rich anytime soon.
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No no no … no more comics! Thanks, but … there’s just no more room here at my secret headquarters!
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Probably a good guy if you say so but still, art wise, grossly overrated and boring:
Stiff pinup stock poses, mechanical rendering, trading cards storytelling.
I picked up on him but really, he’s just the product of a generation and far from being alone.
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In the main I didn’t care for that whole 1990s/Image Comics look, but Lee was a cut above most of those guys.
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Agreed on Lee but, as my mother would put it, a cut above poor is nowhere near enough.
I’ll take Don Heck on a bad day anytime over the likes of Leifeld, Valentino, McFarlane, Portacio or, a cut above, Jim Lee and II’ll give Larsen a pass for showing his geniune idiosyncratic comics love.
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“Don Heck on a bad day” (shivers)
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Greg Land? No thanks. ‘Nuff said!!
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