Uncanny X-Men - The New Age Volume 1: The End Of History TPB (Uncanny X-Men)

Rating:
Summary: I miss the old days
Review: Chris Clairmont returns to the Uncanny X-en in an arc featuring a stellar line-up and a first rate villain, but follows with a tedious arc that brings back Murderworld and convinced me to drop the title. In "The end of History", the newest team of Uncanny mutants (consisting of Storm, Rachael Gray, Nightcrawler, Wolverine, Bishop, Cannonball, and Sage) go up against the Fury, a nigh-indestructible being that has seemingly killed Brian Braddock, Captain Britain. This arc is full of action and great character moments, but introduces plot threads Clairmont leaves dangling for far to long. The second tale, focusing on Murderworld, is uninspired and utterly pointless, feeling more like a filler arc than anything else. It does feature Oliver Coipel art though, so it isn't a complete bust. Alan Davis handles duties (wonderfully) in the first story.

Should you buy this? I couldn't say one way or another. The first four issues of this six-issue trade are a lot of fun, but its flaws do show the more you look at it. If you're a die hard X-Men fan Clairmont's return is probably something you don't want to pass up.


Rating:
Summary: The End of His Story
Review: Just when I thought Chris Claremont's work on X-treme X-Men was the absolute lowest he would be permitted to fall, Marvel editors decide to place him on a creatively struggling book (my opinion) he once made great, with one of the great comic artists alive, Alan Davis. It sounds like a good idea, doesn't it?
It's not good.
Davis is an excellent artist - his character designs are smooth, sexy, powerful, fun (with the notable exception of Storm's hideous outfit). His work flows from page to page, ably taking us to new locations, threats and conflicts both external and internal to the X-teams. (I will say I am already tired of the new generic middle-eastern terrorist villain.)
The failure in the partnership is Claremont's. His plotting is all over the place - character's utilizing their powers in bizarrely cosmic ways; character's changing their perspectives, language, concerns, abilities, desires for no discernible reasons; character's who apparently no longer have their established histories. In short, Claremont has a large enough ego that he throws out all other creators' work (including his own) and refashions these Uncanny X-Men as if he created them today. I guess that's what the title of this arc means: The End of History. There is, literally, no other explanation in the book (unless Mr. Claremont is petty enough to refer to Grant Morrison's exit from the X-Men, and Marvel's decision to forget the run ever happened). The threats are NOT world-shaking, cosmic or even worth worrying about: a lost foe of the Captain Britain book from Marvel UK (the once-terrifying Fury now reduced to a bumbling sentinel), Wolverine's ex-wife with an E-bay purchased slightly-used Murderworld, nanites (the inhibitor fields of the 21st century -- does anyone believe how apparently easy and available nano-technology is?), and of course mind-controlled X-Men. The baseball game that opens the book is perhaps the most exhilirating conflict in the book; Nightcrawler's waltz with Storm above the mansion perhaps the most fun segment; Marvel Girl's powers perhaps the best realized visually (though her new capacity to create localized black holes seems a bit much).
This is not good X-Men. This is why I dropped the book awhile back.
And I'm still looking for reasons to pick it up.

Rating:
Summary: The return of Chris Claremont
Review: The X-Men: ReLoad event may have been highlighted by Joss Whedon writing the new Astonishing X-Men book, but one of Marvel's biggest announcements was the return of legendary X-scribe Chris Claremont on the title that he made famous. Collecting the first six issues of Claremont's return to Uncanny X-Men, this TPB opens with a baseball game at the school featuring every X-Man on the roster. It's something Claremont has used plenty of times before, but this is a homecoming for the much criticized scribe of X-Treme X-Men (which has been scrapped and replaced with a new Excalibur series also written by Claremont and worth checking out as well). Wolverine, Storm, Bishop, Sage, Nightcrawler, Marvel Girl, and Cannonball find themselves taking on an enemy called the Fury which may have killed Captain Britain in the first arc, and the second arc focuses on Murderworld. The first arc is undoubtadly the better of the two, featuring gorgeous art by Alan Davis (his rendering of Rachel "Marvel Girl" Summers is luscious to say the least), while the second arc is average at best, but the art by Oliver Coipel is solid. While dialogue has never been Claremont's strong point, his storytelling is still great, and it's fantastic to have him back on Uncanny X-Men. All in all, old time X-fans who tuned out in the mid-90's and felt burned by X-Treme X-Men will want to give this a chance.