Uncanny X-Men is shipping two issues this month, as part of the push for new writer Chuck Austen.  The second part of "Hope" continues the direction established by the first - a return to fairly standard superhero territory, but done quite well.

The kid from last issue gets shoved somewhat into the background this time round, as the plot focuses instead on the Juggernaut.  After the obligatory misunderstanding fight, it turns out that the Juggernaut sent them a genuine distress call because he wanted help for his regular partner Black Tom Cassidy.  Wolverine takes this as a cue to annoy the Juggernaut by insinuating a gay relationship, which oddly enough would work rather well for those two characters.

The catch, as last month, is that it all seems to have settled a little too comfortably into the safe zone.  There are plenty of stock ideas here - misunderstanding fights, Black Tom Cassidy mutating out of control and so forth - and although Austen and Garney do a perfectly acceptable rendition of it, the central plot has a distinct "seen it all before" quality to it.

Much the same could be said of the subplot, in which Alex Summers turns up alive and not very well in a mental institution.  This seems an odd book to use for Alex's return, bearing in mind that one of the most closely affected characters in Scott, and he's on the Morrison roster.  To be honest, I'm deeply sceptical that Alex is a character worth bringing back at all - he hasn't been used in a decent story since around 1994, and I would have been perfectly happy to leave him in limbo after Mutant X was axed.  There's nothing particularly wrong with the use of the character in this issue - all he does is sit and drool - but Austen will have to go some way to persuade me that there's anything more of interest to say about this character.

Perfectly okay but a little bland and safe.

Rating: B-

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