The X-Men are uncanny again!

The new Uncanny X-Men #1 was released this week…and it was awesome!  There are so many X-Men books (and they keep announcing more) that it can be hard for fans of Homo Superior to know where to begin.

What makes this book so good?  One of the best things about X-men books can also be their Achilles heel.  X-men books tend to revolve around developing characters and not so much plot.   Because of this the need for a purpose  gets lost  in the process and thrown out for the sake of introducing new mutants or flushing out what makes them tick. Bendis is a great writer because he knows a book with a well-defined purpose will give its characters depth and make their development richer as they react to and within the story.   It’s a story, not just a filler arch.  It aims at an answering a question and providing a resolution to problem.  And this creates drama, and thus, comics that are amazing to read.

The problem uncanny X-Men 1 seeks to solve is that New Mutants are popping up all over the world and Scott and his group are recruiting them.  This is a problem because we don’t know if we should trust Scott or his ability to mold mutant minds for good.   Ever since the though whole Avengers vs  Xmen stuff we as readers have had serious reason to question Scott’s moral compass. 

In this first issue, Bendis gives us some tasty drama by setting up some disagreements that Magneto has with Scott over the future and philosophy of mutant kind.  This will almost certainly be the driving conflict in the issues to come.  Which is great! Cause Magneto isn’t really Magneto unless he’s a villain, or at least sorta one.   All this, with a dash of most of their powers being out of wack, the age ole X-Men plot device.

I’m really excited about both Bendis X-books, All New X-Men and Uncanny X-Men.   With ANX he’s giving us a kind of retrospective on X-Men history through the eyes of the original X-Men (who have been taken from the past by Beast so as to remind Scott of where they came from and what they were about in the beginning…I know right).   And with Uncanny we have a new spin on the classic question of the X gene: “I am a mutant? So what does that mean?”

If you love X-Men or have been waiting for a good starting point to jump back in this is the issue to grab.

New year, New Spider-Man...sort of

While at work yesterday I saw a kid wearing a shirt with Spiderman’s face on it, I was only seconds away from saying “Oh! You’re a fan of Dr. Octopus?” That’s the situation we are in now.  An elderly man has implanted his mind into the body of a 20 something year old dude and is living his life.  After months of hinting at it, we now know that’s the way that Peter Parker dies but Spider Man lives.  Like all such gimmicks it was meant to generate more interest in the Amazing Spider-Man or rather the book that will be replacing it, “Superior Spider-Man”, and attract new readers.  I’ve never consistently read a Spider-Man book.  Steph has read all of Bendis and Bagley’s Ultimate Spider-Man and has them all in trade.  She ADORES the character Peter Parker and Spider-Man is her favorite super hero in all of Comicdom. 

 So with Marvel offering me a jumping on point, I took the bait.  Before I read Superior #1 I went back and read Amazing Spider-Man 699, 700, and Avenging Spider-Man 15.1 so as to know the back story of issues happenings.  To catch you up to speed: Doc Ock, in the final moments of his life, switched minds with Peter Parker, thus trapping him in his frail dying frame.  Instead of making some heroic re-switcharoo, Doc Ock’s body gives out and takes Peter with it.  As this happens, Peter forces Doc Ock to relive all the major moments in his life that made him who he is.  This causes Ock to vow to change his ways and be live a life worthy of, and superior to Peter Parker.  That brings us up to Superior #1.

The idea took some getting used to; after all we have an elderly man who has, until recently, always been evil gallivanting around in twenty something’s body.   But after thinking about it, I was thinking it had potential.   A redeemed villain trying to live with a situation he sorta of regrets while at the same time living up to the memory of his archenemy? That could be cool, right?  Doc Ock would bring his genius and scientific know how to reinvigorate and update Spidey’s gadgetry, maybe even creating some new corny catch phrases, and the new suit he created isn’t the worse thing in the world, so I was trying to remain positive.

At first the issue was mildly entertaining, if not a little creepy, on account of him ogling Mary Jane and all.  And then the biggest cop out in the world happens.  Throughout the issue Ock fights the sinister six and towards the end is beating Boomerang to death and when the disembodied spirit of Peter stays his hand, but Ock can neither see nor hear him.  Come on Marvel.  All of us knew it was coming but draw it out a little.  Wait till issue 20 or 10 at least.  You advertise this big change and then you give us a way back to the status quo in issue #1.  I know the idea was a little weird to begin with but at least it shook things up a bit.  My first clue should have been the nonchalant way in which Peter gave up in Amazing 700, very different from his death in Ultimate Spider-Man.

We’ll have to see how this all plays out but I just hope they use this sorta turning point to build on Spider-Man and Peter Parker’s history instead of trying to do things just for shock value alone.  Comic Book fans are fickle, we want change and new stories all while staying true to each of our favorite versions of these characters.  Creators are then caught between a rock and a hard place.  Understanding all this I'll try to keep open minded.  We’re only on issue #1, so lets wait and see.  Cool cover though.