I'll skip quickly over Uncanny X-Men #430, since this is only part two of a six-parter and there's not a great amount to add to what I said when I reviewed the previous issue.

With this issue, the theme of the storyline becomes glaringly obvious.  Nightcrawler's off with his long-lost father on the cornily-named Isla Des Demonas; Polaris has decided to re-open the question of whether she's Magneto's daughter; and up in Toronto, Sammy's dealing with his abusive father.  And, of course, abusive fathers were the subject of a discussion between Xavier and the Juggernaut last issue.  The Juggernaut's not actually in this issue, for understandable pacing reasons, although that didn't stop them putting him on the cover.

The coincidence of three separate plotlines involving abusive fathers coming along simultaneously does seem a touch heavy-handed, but at this stage none of the three are inherently objectionable.  It's the same sort of competent-to-dull averageness which tends to mark the early stages of Austen plots, where there's still time to speculate that the ideas might turn out interesting.  Quite why Austen wants to reopen the question of Polaris' parentage, I have no idea - the point was settled back in 1969.  Isn't this precisely the sort of story that modern Marvel don't do, reopening thirty-four year old subplots?

The biggest glitch here is a very odd scene where Xorn, of all people, turns up to accuse Annie of anti-mutant bias.  If Austen is going to keep having characters say that, perhaps Annie ought to actually demonstrate some anti-mutant bias from time to time.  Otherwise it just makes other characters look stupid; and the relentlessly passive Xorn is the last character in the world who makes sense bitching about this.  (In fact, going by the rumour mill, I have a strong suspicion about why Xorn was chosen for this scene - although it's a bad reason.  But we'll get back to that after New X-Men #146.)

Philip Tan's art is still proving irritatingly erratic; the mixture of babyfaced manga females and pernickety detail often seems awkward, and there are a couple of truly awful panels.  Worst of all is a double-page spread which is, apparently, meant to show an invading army approaching through a glowing portal.  What it actually shows is a half-page of scribbling with a glow effect around it. It's a dreadful page which doesn't convey the action at all and should really have been redrawn.  Tan also seems to have serious problems with keeping his character models consistent from panel to panel.  There are parts of his work that I like, but I'm increasingly convinced that he's not ready for prime time.

It's the art that poses real problems for this issue.  The writing is flawed and uninspiring, but not too objectionable.

Rating: C+

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