The ongoing fallout of ‘The Last Will And Testament Of Charles Xavier’ is still incomplete as the X-Men have yet to complete a mission that they were given in the last issue. Until they do this, they won’t hear the end of the will or Xavier’s final words.
That being said, don’t expect the mission to be completed in this issue. I was kind of hoping it would either come to a close or at least be pretty far into it by the last page and I was wrong. While Bendid has some amazing writing going on throughout the issue, it didn’t get as far as I wanted it to and personal bias has me knocking it down a couple of pegs from that. 1 peg to be specific, or more accurately, 1 atom.
Art wise, Anka nails every scene. From the personal interactions between the X-Men to what is happening over at S.H.I.E.L.D. who is monitoring the threat that is the X-Men’s next mission, to the children, and everything in between – the issue just feels right.
Back to the writing, I think my favorite part about this is you didn’t just have all of the X-Men blaming Scott for killing Xavier all issue long. Sure, you have outsiders giving him the benefit of the doubt as Nightcrawler was dead and Firestar wasn’t around but they give the common sense argument that just fits here. Immediately after this, though, is the X-Students who go for quite the interesting workout in the danger room.
Only, one of the kids disagrees with the scenario and starts a very large ethical and moral conversation of their own. It kind of sets the new students of Cyclops’ school against the Stepford Cuckoos who have had years of experience on dealing with humanity. It is a bit of the naive hopefulness that you can picture in the original X-Men compared to the very beginnings of what could turn into the extreme views that Magneto once tried to push on humanity.
It is a really good plot point that not only makes the students think but should easily make the readers think as well.
The focus on the students in this issue is short but some of the absolute best writing in it. The more I think about it, the more I feel that this will become a major plot point in the near future and one that shouldn’t be swept under the rug. I don’t think Bendis would ignore it with how he slipped it in and I can’t wait to see how it is addressed when the students bring it up to the teachers down the line. It shows that Cyclops is preparing for exactly the kind of fight we could imagine him thinking would end up coming and also the fact that these students are having problems feeling that in order to participate in that fight they might actually be the bad guys. Pro-mutant cause or not, are they hero or villain while fighting at Cyclops’ side?
UNCANNY X-MEN #26
Writer: Brian Michael Bendis
Artist: Kris Anka
