10 Thoughts Review On Uncanny X-Men #526 By Matt Fraction And Whilce Portacio

10 Thoughts, Reviews, Top Story

1. It’s been so long since I’ve seen someone freaking out as their body changed to go along with their manifestation that I’d almost forgot it wasn’t a happy process. I hadn’t really thought about how long it had been since we dealt with new mutants….stupid M-Day.

2. Hope carrying  supplies that probably outweigh her is as in-character as it is hilarious. She was raised by Cable, I’m amazed she isn’t made of pouches. There’s going to have to be a lot of Cable in her, and I think that works. There really isn’t anyone on the X-Men that acts like that, and I mean, given that she’s like Cable but not Cable will definitely help add to her appeal. Even with her time travel origin she’s still less complicated then he was.

3. Why is Tony Stark rich as hell in this book and poor in his own book? Fraction writes BOTH BOOKS! Does being an Avenger immediately make him rich again? And if so, then why does he have none of this in his own book where he’s trying to pull together people to finance a company so he can make back his money?

4. I don’t think anyone is surprised to find out that Hope’s mom is dead, since there was a massacre with the hospital as the epicenter right after Hope was born. Of course, this changes nothing about the encounter with her grandmother which was exceptionally well handled. One thing Hope has been lacking is any sort of true emotional tie to, well, anything not Cable. And even there, she always knew that he wasn’t really her dad, and he didn’t even bother to name her until she was five or six. Just the instant sense of belonging you feel for the girl, it’s deserved.

5. I like how they finally got around to explaining what was wrong with Kitty’s powers, but I want to know how she wound up naked for this issue when she has been in her Astonishing uniform up til now.

6. After seeing a picture of Hope’s mom I need to honestly ask, do all red heads in Marvel that aren’t Mary Jane look JUST LIKE JEAN GREY?!

7. Hope has a touch that helps mutants manifest? Alright, I can live with that. It creates an immediate bond between her and the Five Lights that helps set them all up in Generation Hope. Otherwise you just wind up with a bunch of 17-19 year olds that don’t have any reason to get along.

8. For the most part I was happy with Whilce on art here, and he looked a lot better than he did in his issue before Second Coming. His style has aged very well with the times, and if he’s the new ongoing artist in the rotation parallel from Dodson, cutting Land out, I can totally live with that.

9. The Allan Heinberg and Olivier Coipel back up story was not really essential to Uncanny, but it does help place Children’s Crusade in continuity. I mean, one of my complaints there was that Magneto showed up and I had no idea how that would have happened because he was in Second Coming at the time. Well, this little story infodumps Magneto on the Young Avengers and sends him off to meet his grandkids. Nice, simple, to the point. No problems at all.

10. Rating: 8.5/10 This is our first official numbered issue coming out of Second Coming, and rather then spend the entire time recapping it and rebuilding from it, Fraction pushed us forward into the next stage of things. It’s really the best way to go with this title too, I mean, give us Second Coming wrap up on the fly, we’ve got Five Lights to dive into! Fraction is the man with this, just go go go without time to breathe and without overkilling it.

A lifelong reader and self proclaimed continuity guru, Grey is the Editor in Chief of Comics Nexus. Known for his love of Booster Gold, Spider-Girl (the real one), Stephanie Brown, and The Boys. Don't miss The Gold Standard.