Uncanny X-Men #460 Review

Archive

Reviewer: Jesse Baker
Story Title: Resurrections and Reunions

Written by: Chris Claremont
Penciled by: Tom Raney
Inked by: Scott Hanna
Colored by: Gina Going
Lettered by: Rus Wooton
Editor: Mike Marts
Publisher: Marvel Comics

After a storyline that was so God-Awful that it defies description in terms of its horrible horribleness, Chris Claremont gets down to the task of making sense out of the recent X-Men storylines and mini-series and put them into some semblance of chronological order. While some of them work (Wolverine: Enemy of the State/Agent of SHIELD) others don’t ({Phoenix: Endsong). He also finally gets to due a contrived reunion scene with Storm and Colossus, which causes Rachel Summers to give a meta-text rant about how unfair things are that Colossus and Psylocke get to come back to life while Jean Grey stays dead. Oh and despite being prominently featured on the cover, Girlverine doesn’t do anything this issue which makes me happy as a clam.

While Claremont goes out of his way to rationalize the events of Astonishing X-Men, Wolverine, and Phoenix: Endsong, the only attempt by Claremont to acknowledge adjective-less X-Men occurs when he pulls Juggernaut and Nocturne out of comic book limbo by literally having them fall out of a vortex in the middle of the Danger Room. This of course is just a plot device to bring in the villainous Mojo to the book, as Mojo sets out to claim the Uncanny X-Men team as his newest slaves. Not to mention set up the upcoming “New Excalibur” series that is set to feature Juggernaut as a cast member.

The issue focuses mainly on Psylocke and her point of view as she returns to the mansion. It’s a good idea in theory since Psylocke died right as Grant Morrison tossed the X-Men Universe on its ear and reinvented the franchise. Although it takes a backseat to Claremont’s meta-text rambling about resurrections and the hypocritical nature of who dies and who gets to come back to life under Joe Fathead Quesada’s watch as Editor-In-Chief. This leads to a creepy “Beast licks Psylocke as they talk about how Psylocke died saving Beast’s life” moment that Tom Raney’s art makes less creepy with his manga-esque artwork. Plus there’s more hinting that Betsy’s insane reality warping brother Jamie is responsible for Betsy’s resurrection.

Tom Raney does the artwork for this issue, filling in for Alan Davis. His artwork is great and he hasn’t missed a beat since his early ’00s fill-in artwork on the core X-Books. Claremont’s script is actually coherent, Phoenix: Endsong aside as Claremont’s explanation towards the mini-series’s nonsensical ending makes little sense as does Claremont’s attempt to fit the series immediately after Enemy of the State/Agent of SHIELD. If anything, the story should take place PRIOR to these two stories since Endsong’s laid back Wolverine doesn’t mesh with the mentally damaged Wolverine shown in Enemy of the State/Agent of SHIELD. Plus it would explain away one huge plot-hole of EotS, which is why Gorgon never tried to raise Jean from the dead as an agent of Hydra.