Uncanny X-Men 410

So there's been a bit of a delay with the X-Men Year in Review post, but I should have that up soon. In lieu of that, here's the beginning of my issue-by-issue review of Chuck Austen's X-Men run.

I have to say, I rather liked this issue. It gets by a lot on the "Lobdell Quiet Issue" template, with the Squid-boy scenes, and as an introduction to a new character, it's not bad. I actually like how Austen plays him up as this kid who's in total awe of the X-Men and how Xavier is a genuinely decent person. After years of people shitting on his character, it's nice to go back and read these stories where he's not a total jerk. There's also some legitimately funny dialogue bits in the X-Jet (once again, more quiet issue stuff), and the fact that we don't see the "villain" of the story until the last page is impressive, especially when you take into account where Austen will eventually go with the character. This is his first issue, and the conflict of the story centers on a new character and an unseen enemy; this was a bit of a gamble, and I think it works. It also helps that Ron Garney drew the issue, and at this point he's got a bit of an Kubert Brothers look, which I really like. He's usually better with action heavy plots, but he doesn't drop the ball with the quieter, dramatic bits going on here.

Now that I've talked up the good stuff, it's time to get down to what doesn't work so well. First, there's the fact that Austen really seems to gloss over the fact that Squid-boy was contemplating shooting up his school. He manages to sell pretty well his motivation, but then it's dropped pretty quickly once Xavier shows up. There's also the scene after the X-jet crash that are way too melodramatic. It's not necessarily terrible, so it doesn't ruin the issue, but this kind of melodrama a pretty good example of one of Austen's more annoying traits and a sign of what's to come. Still, as debuts go, it's a solid story. Nothing to write home about, but still enjoyable.