Uncanny X-Men by Gail Simone vol. 2: The Dark Artery

A new means of dealing with mutants is deemed necessary in the wake of “Raid on Graymalkin.”  Enter the Wolfpack Sentinels, cyborg dogs trained to go after mutants wherever they are.  Even if that means taking down a group of them that have headed out for a day of fun at the mall.  Dealing with those is a walk in the park compared to actually going up against Professor X as he finally decides to break out of his prison while Gambit faces a reckoning with his youth as the time has come to pay The Vig.  Then Deathdream wakes one night and takes the rest of the Outliers to a strange obelisk at the edge of Haven.  It’s there that they’ll find a secret bit of mutant history that seeks to claim one of them for its own purposes.

This second volume of writer Gail Simone’s run continues to establish it as the more character-driven of the two flagship titles as it continues to spotlight the Outliers.  I’m all for adding new mutants to the X-roster, even though none of them have established themselves as a breakout character yet.  Deathdream’s amusing morbidity and general awkwardness is certainly fun, and all of them feature distinctive personalities – in addition to one of them possibly being the Endling that will doom mutantkind – but they feel useful here as characters for the older team members to mentor and to offer a semblance of the “School for Gifted Youngsters” setup from the title’s history.

As for the stories themselves, they’re generally not bad.  The opening two-parter is a classic mutants go for a day out on the town only to find trouble setup that helps establish the Outliers’ individual talents and actually works out in the team’s favor for once.  Then we get the opening part of “X-Manhunt” which establishes the reason Professor X wanted to break out of Graymalking Prison, but is more notable for the training session gone wrong moment that has greater implications on the ongoing story.  

That’s followed by a surprising character spotlight on Gambit as we learn at bit more about his history as a kid in the Thieves Guild.  It’s surprising because a solo Gambit story in “Uncanny” would’ve been a big deal back when I started reading “X-Men” comics in the 90’s.  That Simone is doing this today, in an age where the franchise and character’s appeal in comics are greatly diminished, means it doesn’t have quite the same impact – but it’s still a solid story about the Ragin’ Cajun.

Then we come to the title story which seeks to flesh out the history of mutants in the Marvel Universe and tie them closer to the “X-Men’s” status as an ongoing metaphor for oppressed minorities.  I realize that description may make it sound like a Very Special Arc of “Uncanny” but it’s still one that features a mutant graveyard with a special prison for those who trespassed against them in life, a possible god from beyond the stars serving as the jailer, some goth-tastic new outfits for the team, and a guest appearance by the Man-Thing.  Oh, and there’s follow-up on the subplot about Gambit stealing the other Eye of Agamotto from the dragon Sadurang where he finds out that his continued possession of it may cause him to eat the ones he loves.

So there’s still a lot of superhero business still going on in this volume even as it fleshes out the unfortunate history of mutants in the Marvel Universe.  That makes it a solid story overall, though, I think some additional detail regarding the jailer god would’ve made the story better.  While Miss Henrietta makes for an appealing public face to all this, Shuvarak comes off as a fairly blank slate.  We don’t know where it came from or how it got stuck doing this, but it’s been slotted in as a hugely powerful antagonist for this arc and that’s about it.

At least returning regular artist David Marquez makes the fighting and the character work look good for his issues.  His detailed art is still appealing as is the occasional cuteness that shines through when he’s depicting the younger characters in the cast.  The other artists in this volume also provide solid work with Andrei Bressan handling the opening two-parter, Javier Garron doing the “X-Manhunt” issue, and Gavin Guidry doing the Gambit story (with Luciano Vecchio pitching in for part of the final issue of this collection).  Marquez is still the standout, and if I’m being honest the tag team of Ryan Stegman and Netho Diaz on “X-Men” is delivering the better art of the two flagship titles so far.

So while I generally enjoyed what I read here in this second volume of Simone’s “Uncanny,” I really can’t say that I was blown away by it.  Both it and “X-Men” clearly have their own stories to tell and are pursuing them with their own strengths and weaknesses.  Back-to-basics has been the order of the day in the post-Krakoa Era and that hasn’t been a terrible thing as far as this title has been concerned.  There’s just a general feeling that the floor and ceiling of quality are a lot closer together these days.