Review: Uncanny X-Men Annual #1 by Brian Bendis and Andrea Sorrentino

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uncannyxannual

Uncanny X-Men Annual #1

Written by Brian Michael Bendis

Art by Andrea Sorrentino and Marcelo Maiolo

 

The short of it:

Remember when Eva vanished a few issues back? The Uncanny X-Kids were on a training mission in Tabula Rasa, and bam, she’s gone, and then she’s back and her hair was longer and she was clearly older? Well, this is that story. Eva lost control of her powers and went flying through time, coming out in a world with the giant Stark tripods of Doom that haunted Tony Stark’s nightmares back when Frac wrote that book. There are weird octopus monsters pointing guns at her, and she winds up saved by a guy named Jonathan Raven who has no clue what X-Men are. She figures, hey, still in the Danger Room…despite having not been in the Danger Room, so she tries out her powers again, realizes…this is real, and then vanishes into time before being stepped on by a tripod. She comes back out in the old west, where she just wants answers but everyone only cares about her look and accent. She manages to lock up time, with the exception for some reason being the Rawhide Kid who tells her the year and lets her talk her way through what’s going on for a few moments before trying to help her move elsewhere in the timestream. Fear is an excellent motivator, and he does have a gun.

Next stop, 2099! She sees some flying cars, and meets the future X-Men before passing out (or maybe they knock her out, that isn’t clear). They talk about her possibly being THE Eva Bell, and then take her to see the Sorcerer. Thankfully that means there’s a familiar face, as the Sorcerer is the Sorcerer Supreme of the entire galaxy…Illyana Rasputin…and her Wong is Nightcrawler. She and Eva talk about her problem, and Yana tells her that she can’t send Eva back, meaning that it will be up to Eva to get herself home.

So seven years later she’s still there, and she’s married, and she’s got a kid, and yeah, Eva is totally older now. Yana tells her it might be time to go home, but Eva has a family now and zero interest in going back, but then things go boom. SOme big multiarmed monster is attacking Yana, and everything goes to hell, and Eva is told exactly why she must go back, and she has a decision to make…unless her fear makes it for her and she winds up on the other side of history.

 

What I liked:

  • First thing is first, Andrea Sorrentino! Holy crap this book is gorgeous! This is the art that made Jeff Lemire’s Green Arrow run so dynamic, and it’s absolutely perfect here!
  • I absolutely loved the time travel effect with numbers in her time bubbles.
  • I always said that all Eva all the time would be a winning formula, and sure enough, this issue is all Eva, and it’s all awesome.
  • I love that the Iron Man apocalypse from Fraction’s run still seems to be canon.
  • Yana gets a major upgrade in importance, and I dig it. I mean, yes, this is the endgame Bendis teased with her training with Strange, but it’s still nice to see.
  • Marcelo Mailo, whom I can’t claim I’ve heard of (I only know a few colorists by name), did a fantastic job here with the colors. He sets the tone of every time period with different color washes (I think that’s the right way to describe it), and it really emphasizes the shifts. This may just be an excuse to further gush over the awesomeness of the art this issue.

 

What I didn’t like:

  • If you want to make readers care about Eva having a family and then losing them, GIVE THEM NAMES! It’s noseless green husband and the hungry baby with some green hair. They’re props.
  • Is anything that has happened with the X-Men since Bendis took over not Beast’s fault?

 

Final thoughts:

I wish I had any sort of nostalgia for Killraven so that I could care that he appeared. As it stands, I only know who he is because I googled his name. I mean, yes, I know Killraven exists, and I had a feeling it was him, but I still know nothing of him save for his name.

This is in direct contrast to Rawhide Kid, whom I am very aware of due to my love of Dan Slott’s time on She Hulk.

But it’s in the same vein as my lack of nostalgia/knowledge of X-Men 2099 because I couldn’t tell you if a single one of those characters is from the classic version.

So does not having a soul make Nightcrawler immortal? Or at least unable to die by means other than getting cut in half?

So Eva is at the very least SEVEN years older than she was when the book debuted. How is that not clearly a difference in her physical appearance? She was a teenager, now she’s mid twenties. I don’t know about the rest of you, but once I hit twenty I never passed for under twenty again. This means that Scott’s X-Kids are the most oblivious people in the world.

Why wouldn’t Yana discourage Eva from starting a family if her goal was to just go home and Yana knew it would happen?

The Western style thing Eva wears over her shoulders…what is it with future X-girls and that thing? Hope has one too.


Overall: 9/10

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.