Okay, Uncanny X-Men.

I still have mixed feelings about Chuck Austen.  I've read some stories by him, such as last week's Nightcrawler one-shot, which were very good.  And other times, he seems to be totally unimaginative.  It's not that he's phoning it in; he seems to be putting in the planning.  It seems to be more that he's got a rather hidebound idea of the genre rules he needs to work within, and the result is an extremely unadventurous comic.  At times, Uncanny seems to have been plotted by extrapolating from existing storylines and character arcs with a graph and a ruler.  It makes reasonable sense, but there's little spark to it.  And those elements which don't come from the past - such as Warren inexplicably developing a healing power - feel random and arbitrary.

This issue rounds off "Dominant Species", and never really gets round the central problem - those werewolves are dull characters.  We're never really given any explanation of why werewolves had overrun a Worthington Enterprises subsidiary in the first place, save for some stuff about them killing Warren's father.  As I recall, Warren's father has been dead for about twenty years now (in fact, I think a contradictory explanation has been given for his death in the past).

But regardless, are we seriously being told that a major part of the family business has been overrun by psychotic werewolves for all this time, and nobody noticed?  And, for that matter, the werewolves don't even recognise Warren by sight?  For god's sake, he's got a twelve-foot wingspan!  He's an easily recognisable individual!

On the plus side, Kia Asamiya does turn in some pretty good action sequences.  The werewolves' visual design plays to his strengths, and his Juggernaut is nicely reminiscent of Simon Bisley's work (though Austen has conveniently massively depowered him for plot purposes, which somewhat undermines it).

Nonetheless, this is not one of Austen's better pieces of writing, and Asamiya's characters still frequently look awkward.  Plot problems abound, and the central ideas are uninspired.  The series remains a chronic underachiever.

Maybe the next book will lift my spirits?

Rating: C

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