Uncanny X-Men: Divided We Stand

Continuing my exploration of X-Men, I finished X-Men: Messiah CompleX, which did much to really revolutionize the status quo of the series. Following on from that story, I will be picking up the threads with Uncanny X-Men and the newly retitled X-Men: Legacy, as well as occasional interlinked stories not from those titles, and of course work on building up the back catalogue. Lots of work ahead! To start down that road, I picked up Uncanny X-Men: Divided We Stand, which picks up the pieces for the X-Men team after X-Men: Messiah CompleX.


After the shocking events to close out Messiah CompleX, the X-Men are on a bit of a hiatus. Scott Summers and Emma Frost are in the Savage Land on vacation, while Wolverine, Colossus, and Nightcrawler are in Russia, trying to help Colossus get over the grief of the apparent death of his love, Kitty Pryde (over in Astonishing X-Men, which isn’t reviewed here), and Angel, Iceman, Warpath, and Hepzibah head out west on a mission that is rather mysterious. However, no one gets the full relaxation that they need, as old enemies try to take advantage of Colossus and his friends, while the team that headed to San Francisco meets a powerful mutant force that seems to have turned the city back into the sixties.

Uncanny X-Men: Divided We Stand contains: Uncanny X-Men # 495-499

After the big blow-out extravaganza that was Messiah CompleX, the X-Men needed some down time. That was one of the highlights of Claremont’s run, showing us some of the time off for the X-Men. However, in Divided We Stand things don’t work out quite as well. The Summers/Frost storyline quickly pulls back to San Francisco, where the whole flower-power scene gets a little old after a while. The storyline just wasn’t as engaging as I would have liked it. However, it does come to a satisfying conclusion that sounds the call for a new home for the X-Men.

The Wolverine/Colossus/Nightcrawler story was much more engaging of the two, with great dialogue and good action. The story as a whole felt rather unimportant as a whole to the furthering of the X-Men storyline, but it was fun, and worth the read.

All-in-all, this one isn’t the best of the collections out there, but it is worth a pick up for fans of the series.

8/10

X-Men: Messiah CompleX by Ed Brubaker, Peter David, Craig Kyle & Chris Yost, and Mike Carey

Luke Reviews just explored Uncanny X-Men: The Extremists as we get caught up with today’s X-Men. The Extremists builds up to a major event that sets up a new status quo that informs the stories for the next few years, up through the just-finished X-Men: Second Coming. That event is the birth of a new mutant baby, the first after the events depicted in House of M. Thus begins X-Men: Messiah CompleX.


In Alaska, a baby mutant is born. The Reavers (focused on more in the X-Men series written by Mike Carey) and the Purifiers (seen predominantly in Craig Kyle & Chris Yost’s New X-Men) make the Alaskan town a battle zone in a fight to recover the baby, with the Purifiers wanting to kill the child as an act of religious fervor, and the Reavers wanting to use the child to further their mutant-dominant agenda. The X-Men find out about the birth, but arrive too late to get the child, instead trying to save the people hurt during the battle. As things play out, all of the major X-Men teams come together to try and save the baby, and give mutants and humans alike hope for the future.

X-Men: Messiah Complex contains: X-Men: Messiah Complex one-shot, Uncanny X-Men #492-494, X-Men #205-207, New X-Men #44-46, and X-Factor #25-27.

Crossovers hold a rather infamous place in X-Men and comics history, frequently being nothing more than a way to sell extra books, and having rather pointless storylines that are confusing if you aren’t reading every single x-book out there. Messiah CompleX proved to be the exception rather than the rule. While it is obvious as you are reading through that things have been building up in the other comics (especially in X-Men and New X-Men, it seems, far more so than in Uncanny X-Men), the major points and bits of information are covered, leaving even new readers with a good understanding of what is going on. While some background is necessary to enjoy this, being totally up-to-date on every book isn’t required.

The story is fast-paced, working through a huge number of different plot threads, yet managing to tie them all back together very nicely at the end. Everyone gets some face time, each of the teams plays a role, and the story flows right along without a hitch. The large cast of characters may seem overwhelming, but it works out well in the end, and is a lot of fun.

Those looking for a crossover with actual implications will find it here as well. New X-Men ended, and spawned the short-lived Young X-Men, while X-Men changed its name to X-Men: Legacy. We see the creation of X-Force, which gets its own series, X-Force, and Cable returns to a prominent role, entering his own new series, Cable. The whole status quo is revamped, and things are all-new all over again.

If you are looking for a fast paced story that wraps up old plot-lines and starts new ones, this is the place to be. Although perhaps not the best book for first-timers.

8/10

Uncanny X-Men: The Extremists by Ed Brubaker

Continuing the reading of X-Men, I finished Uncanny X-Men: Rise & Fall of the Shi’Ar Empire, which I loved. The ending left plenty still up in the air, with the team divided and the Shi’Ar Empire under new leadership. Those interested in following the story in space should check out the now out-of-print X-Men: Emperor Vulcan, then move on to X-Men: Kingbreaker, which is contained in War of Kings: Road to War of Kings, then move on to War of Kings and Realm of Kings. I moved on instead with the main X-Men group, and so continued on in Uncanny X-Men with Uncanny X-Men: The Extremists.


After an accident in the underground tunnels that are home to a group of grotesque and deformed mutants, one young mutant is kidnapped, while another barely survives, and makes his way to the home of the X-Men. His arrival leads to a team of X-Men, including “guest star” and returning X-Man Storm, heading underground to confront a secret mutant terrorist cult that wants to reassert mutants as a dangerous threat.

Uncanny X-Men: The Extremists contains: Uncanny X-Men #487-491

Brubaker follows up his epic-scale space opera with a much shorter tale that lies closer to home, featuring the return of a number of characters. This tale manages to be fun, although it also at times feels like a short tale to fill the space between Uncanny X-Men: Rise & Fall of the Shi’Ar Empire and X-Men: Messiah CompleX, working as a bridge that moves the different characters where they need to be for the next major confrontation.

Regardless of that, however, Brubaker delivers a tale that is fun and a fast read, and will leave you excited for the next installment.

8/10

Uncanny X-Men: Rise & Fall of the Shi’Ar Empire by Ed Brubaker

As Luke Reviews fans know, I’m digging into X-Men, trying to get caught up to the current releases, and exploring the stuff I loved at a much younger age. My last stop was Ed Brubaker’s X-Men: Deadly Genesis, which was good, if not great, but seemed to do quite a bit to set up Brubaker’s run on Uncanny X-Men. After wrapping up Deadly Genesis, it was time to see the next title, Uncanny X-Men: Rise & Fall of the Shi’Ar Empire, Brubaker’s first under the Uncanny X-Men banner.


After the events of X-Men: Deadly Genesis, Vulcan flies out to space, intent on wreaking revenge on the man who killed his mother: D’Ken, the comatose former emperor of the Shi’Ar Empire. Professor Xavier doesn’t want to add more carnage to the wrath of his greatest mistake, so he gathers a team of X-Men consisting of Marvel Girl, Warpath, Nightcrawler, Havok, Polaris, and Darwin (introduced in Deadly Genesis) to race against time to warn Empress Lilandra that her Empire will soon fall under attack from one of the most powerful, and most dangerous, mutants alive.

Uncanny X-Men: Rise & Fall of the Shi’Ar Empire contains: Uncanny X-Men #475 (“Plan B”), #476 (“The Things They Left Behind”), #477 (“Vulcan’s Progress”), #478 (“Castaways”), #479 (“Double-Edged”), #480 (“Vulcan’s Progress (Redux)”), #481 (“Crossing the Rubicon”), #482 (“Imperial Rescue”), #483 (“Vulcan’s Descent”), #484 (“In Exile”), #485 (“The End of All That Is”), #486 (“Endings and Beginnings”), as well as sketches, a diagram of the ship used by the X-Men team, and an interview with Ed Brubaker and artist Billy Tan from an uncredited issue of Marvel Spotlight.

After the okay but not stellar performance in Deadly Genesis, I was a little hesitant about diving into this rather large story, but it turned out that I had absolutely no reason to be. Brubaker has created a fast-paced story that still maintains an epic scope. His storytelling is spot on, throwing wrenches into the plans of the X-Men at every turn, mixing action and solid plot together very well.

His characterization is also spot on. He reworks old character Warpath, and makes him a very engaging and exciting person to follow, and his work on new character Darwin is also top notch, making him a solid addition to the X-Men team, and very much an individual. His exploration of Vulcan gets a bit better, although it still felt a little weak for a villain taking up such a huge amount of the X-Men’s time.

Uncanny X-Men: Rise & Fall of the Shi’Ar Empire is space opera at its most fun, with an engaging cast of characters, plenty of space flight, and no lack of action and excitement. A very fun read.

9/10

X-Men: Deadly Genesis by Ed Brubaker

Everything is all about energy. So when millions of mutants with the power to alter and control Earth’s energies lose their abilities, where does all of that energy go? This was hinted at in the final pages of Brian Michael Bendis’ House of M, and Brubaker’s first story as scribe of the X-Men picks up right after House of M, with that same question, and its dark answer.


After the drastic change of the status quo of the Marvel Universe, a large wave of energy is released, the culmination of the powers lost by the former mutants. This wave tears into a space shuttle, killing everyone, but also has an effect less apparent at first. It hits a large mass in space, and awakens someone living inside it. Shocked at the date, he heads to Earth. The X-men, meanwhile, are still living with the realities of a post-House of M world, and things begin to heap upon them as ghosts of the past appear before their very eyes. After reading a strange energy source, a team heads out to find it, and finds far more, starting a fight that will tear open old wounds, expose betrayals, and set up a new era for the X-Men.

This volume collects X-Men: Deadly Genesis #1-6, which includes the main story, plus five back up stories that add more depth and character background to the new characters introduced, “Petra,” “Darwin,” “Sway,” “Kid Vulcan,” and “What Emma Doesn’t Know.”

Brubaker has gradually been garnering a name for himself in the comics world, so there was a lot of excitement when it was announced that he was moving to Uncanny X-Men. He wanted to start things out with a bang, shaking up the major mythos of the X-Men canon with his opening mini-series. While he has indeed done that, digging back to old storylines from decades ago, it wasn’t the smoothest work it could have been.

Vulcan comes across as a very flat villain, no real emotional rationale for his actions. He seemingly takes on all of the X-Men simply because he is angry with one person, and his plans seem a touch contradictory at times.

However, the story itself is fun, doing a good job of getting new readers up to speed, and reacquainting old readers with the status quo. The characters seem to stay in character, the action is fun, and there is plenty of drama to keep the story moving along, while at the same time introducing a number of new characters.

The story does end without a very solid conclusion, which works well to start the next installment, Uncanny X-Men: Rise & Fall of the Shi’ar Empire, but means that this one doesn’t stand alone very well.

A fun story, and a nice introduction to a new run on Uncanny X-Men, although not the best work from that series. Worth a look to get started on the road to getting caught up.

7/10