Uncanny X-Men Annual #1

Writer: Chris Claremont & Tony Bedard
Pencils: Clayton Henry
Inks: Mark Morales
Colors: Christina Strain

Storm has summoned the X-Men to Africa to assist her in taking down a ruthless despot. But when the despot learns of the imminent attack he sends out his own mercenaries, armed with strangely sophisticated weaponry, to bring the X-Men down. Now the team is scattered and Storm is trapped under the debris of an exploded building, experiencing a vivid dream that is connected to the marriage proposal she received from T’Challa, the Black Panther.

Barring my distaste of X-Men comics in general, especially those associated with Chris Claremont, this was actually a good read. There’s plenty of great X-Men-type action mixed in with a little inspiration from Black Hawk Down, as the mutants find themselves surrounded by hundreds of deadly and heavily armed militia men with a scared and abused civilian population caught in the middle. Even Storm’s dream-sequence wasn’t all that bad and it was interesting to watch as she shifts from one stage of her life to the next, encountering old friends and trying to figure out if she really wants to marry the Black Panther or not.

Perhaps I liked it more than I expected I would because it wasn’t actually written by Claremont but Tony Bedard working from Claremont’s plot. Sure there are some missteps and plot holes, but it’s an X-Men comic and that sorta stuff just comes with the territory. But it wasn’t loaded with too much melodrama, confusion or painfully over-the-top dialogue. Clayton Henry’s art was definitely a plus and really added to my enjoyment of the book overall. It was beautifully illustrated and Henry has obviously come a long way in his time at Marvel. I was particularly fond of the interesting penciling and coloring techniques used in the dream sequences.

I’m not sure I can highly recommend this book to anyone unless they’re a hardcore X-Men fan or possibly someone following the story of Storm and the Black Panther’s upcoming wedding. It’s definitely a fun X-Men comic with some cool action and good art but it’s also part of a larger story and definitely not the kind of comic you’d want to jump into if you’re a new reader.
 

Special thanks go out to Jeremy Shorr, owner of Titan Comics for allowing us to use his advance preview books for review purposes.
 

Comic Review Index