Marvel’s ‘Uncanny X-Men’ has been following the events of Cyclops trying to recruit a new Omega Class mutant to his cause, one that could change reality and the evolution of mutantkind as we know it. Only this isn’t actually a new mutant but one that has been retconned in from “The Last Will and Testament of Charles Xavier” where Xavier has kept a young mutant in the dark on his powers as he didn’t think that as the greatest psychic of all time he would be able to help him. Once Xavier died, his mental blocks that were keeping this mutant in place slowly started to wear off.
The same event occurred in ‘X-Men: Legacy’ to his son, though that sure seemed to occur quite a bit quicker as Legion. My guess is that could be explained away with Legion having known he was in control of his mind or that he knew what was going on. Whatever the reason, we have a whole new level of mutant mess going on with this one.
Brian Bendis knows his characters and while doing an amazing job with Cyclops and Magneto,I truly felt that the work with expanding our new mutant, Matthew Malloy, has really fallen short even though he was the focus for the majority of the issue. The best part though is the inclusion of the newly expanded Eva Bell. He did a really good job at explaining her character and skill set in the recent ‘Uncanny X-Men Annual’ #1 and ‘All-New X-Men Annual’ #1 which really fit where this story is going. I really think she is a character who could be an absolute win for the X-Men’s recent lack of interesting mutants. Seriously this seems to have been perfectly orchestrated by Bendis with the timing of the annual and this issue.
Art wise. I have to say that Chris Bachalo didn’t make any mistakes. That being said, there was nothing on page that really stood out and stayed in my memory. I feel that his best work here was actually seeing what Malloy’s character was doing in the background than on page. The potential is there for more and I have a feeling if we get a big showdown in the next issue or two that we could be in for something special when the need arises for something visually amazing.
We have some great Magneto and Cyclops moments in this issue that truly show how well the characters have come to know each other. While the interaction between the two aren’t of the level that Xavier and Magneto had, this really is the next best thing. Only, Malloy cuts the conversation a little short by banishing Magneto as he had with Scott.
We’re still closing on the story that sprung forth from “The Last Will and Testament of Charles Xavier” and while all good things must come to an end, Bendis has made this a little longer than it should have been. Even so, the end plan gives us a potentially perfect setup to bring us to the last chapter. I just hope they pull it off without using a deus ex machina solution.
UNCANNY X-MEN #29
Writer: Brian Michael Bendis
Artist: Chris Bachalo
