Hellish dreams come to Haven House! Who has been manipulating the Louisiana X-Men since the beginning? Uncanny X-Men #26 is written by Gail Simone, drawn by Luciano Vecchio, colored by Matt Wilson and lettered by Clayton Cowles.
Adam Reck: Whoa — another two-week turnaround, and here we are with not only a new issue of Uncanny X-Men but also this volume’s first Annual! Last time we talked, our heroes had just beaten some monsters for funsies and we got a bonus Outliers adventure. Austin, how are you feeling about this bombardment of Uncanny X-content?
Austin Gorton: It … feels like a lot? I mean, I’ve kinda gotten used to the erraticness that comes with a 16-issue-a-year release schedule, but I continue to question the wisdom behind stuff like dropping the Uncanny Annual the same week as a regular issue. It feels like it would sell better if it came out during a week with no Uncanny, to essentially put an additional “Uncanny week” on the books. But I’m sure Marvel has all kinds of internal metrics proving this is the best way to maximize revenue.
Adam: Beats me. Why don’t we start with issue #26, and then we can circle back to the Annual.
Date night
Adam: It’s date night for Rogue and Gambit, and their conversation takes an interesting turn: Since they’re already acting like parents to the Outliers, what if the couple adopted them? This is a really natural extension from the conversation these two had in Tini Howard’s Excalibur about having kids, which was a great extension from work Kelly Thompson did in Rogue & Gambit/Mr & Mrs X. I don’t know if Simone is explicitly trying to continue that thread, but for longtime readers, this seems like a logical what-if for the couple.
Austin: It is, and this is the sort of thing I like to see in my long-form serial narratives: plot and character threads continuing across series and creators. I don’t need all my fictional couples to become parents as their next step, but this is a discussion that makes sense for these characters in the context of their history and their current circumstances (as Gambit rightly says, Rogue already basically is the “Mama Bear” of the Outliers). I also appreciate that it’s Gambit raising the matter vs. Rogue.
Adam: And lest we think all is well, a bystander is being mugged nearby! Our heroes jump to the rescue (Gambit’s call to action — “I always carry protection” — is legitimately funny), only to find out this was some kind of wannabe audition for the T’ieves Guild! The victim isn’t even grateful to be saved. She’s terrified of Gambit and repeatedly calls him a “canibal!”
Austin: So, two things. One, I legit loved this little mugging action sequence. It reminds me of classic X-Men issue construction, when you’d get a little scene like this that is mostly about characterization, but still has a little action in it (Storm fighting some muggers in Uncanny X-Men #180 is another example of this), plus it’s always nice to see X-Men doing baseline heroic stuff that doesn’t deal with their survival or cause or an attack targeting them specifically.
Two, I guess we’re not done with Gambit the Cannibal? It seemed like after his last chat with Sadurang in the previous issue (and the fact that he was no longer inclined to chomp on Rogue’s flesh while she’s sleeping) he had moved past whatever was cursing him, but now it seems like it’s just in remission? Which makes me wonder even more what the point of the previous story was.
Adam: That’s funny, because I didn’t think that was resolved at all!
Austin: I mean, he stopped trying to eat cats/people, and the X-Men never resumed their interrupted-by-monsters intervention, and now he’s out in public on a date with Rogue, so…
Nightmares & near-nude Nightcrawler
Adam: The next sequence is where it’s worth noting the excellent artwork of Luciano Vecchio. Luciano’s last round on the book looked great, but here he’s really stretching his legs, experimenting with page layouts and visualizing dream logic as each of The Outliers has a very bad dream about their very bad past. What’s causing this awful night for everyone? Could it be Nightcrawler’s girlfriend, MacKenzie, who just happens to be downstairs in the middle of the night?
Austin: Look, this isn’t my first rodeo, so MacKenzie’s sudden appearance (after pointedly dodging his calls since the Mutina attack) seems suspicious, but more importantly, yes, Vecchio’s art is, as the kids would say, Sigma (do kids still say that?). [Ed. note: I asked my son, a 14-year-old. He said no.]
Like, it’s almost a crime that Uncanny gets two top-notch artists in Vecchio and David Marquez, and honestly, I’m getting to the point where I prefer Vecchio.
Adam: Bold of you to assume I know what the kids say, Austin. Nightcrawler recovers pretty quickly from the pity party he was throwing in the previous scene and appears in his briefs (with a handy hole for his tail) to make up and make out with MacKenzie.
Austin: So how do we feel about Nightcrawler being a tighty-whiteys guy? Does that track?
Adam: I assume he sleeps in the nude, but that the next most appropriate thing for a Marvel comic that can’t show him “hanging out” is the briefs. Anyway, only Waffles seems to know what’s really up and alerts Jubilee that — gasp! — the kids are missing!
Austin: We’re *so close* to Jubilee getting something substantial to do!
New Mutants Redux
Adam: And boy oh boy, this is where the issue starts really getting weird and interesting. Because the Outliers aren’t just missing, they seem to have traveled back in time and taken the place of the New Mutants in their first outing. Not only that, but the presence of one Moira MacTaggert made my Spidey-Sense go haywire.
Austin: Same, though I *think* it’s just a coincidence born of the fact that Moira played a role in assembling the original New Mutants. If nothing else, the current X-office seems to turn up its nose at anything Krakoa-related that can’t be effectively monetized to sell an additional one-shot or two per year, so I have a hard time thinking Simone wants to wade into that particular pool.
Adam: I agree, but it’s great bait for speculation, not to mention a likely diversion from whatever I assume MacKenzie is doing here. The entire sequence of the Outliers as stand-ins for Rahne (Jitter), Sunspot (Ransom), Cannonball (Calico) and Karma (Deathdream) is done really well, with just enough context to make sure those in the know get the references but those who have never read the New Mutants’ first appearance in Marvel Graphic Novel #4 will still get that something weird is going on. Of course, Mutina is also here.
Austin: Yeah, she sure is. I’ll guess we’ll just have to wait and see what that’s all about.
Also of note in this sequence: There’s X-Men afoot. In addition to Moira finding Jitter a la Rahne, Cyclops is at the Sunspot/Ransom soccer match, Wolverine and Beast are en route to the Cannonball/Calico mine cave-in, and Nightcrawler rescues Deathdream. Obviously, the actual X-Men at the time the New Mutants formed (not including Beast, who wasn’t on the team then) were off in space fighting the Brood and presumed dead, so that’s another “things are different here” deviation.
Whatever’s going on, I like it so far. Simone’s run has been occasionally criticized for how insular, in terms of its connection to the history of the series, it is, and this story has been offered up as a counter to that. In execution, it smartly balances her “new stuff” (i.e. the Outliers) with a bit of X-Men lore (the formation of the New Mutants) in a slightly more complicated way than just dropping the characters into the past and the actual events of an old comic.
Adam: I agree! I really enjoyed this folding-in of past continuity and teasing out what exactly is going on here based on what we know as readers is true. What exactly is going on here or why remains to be seen, but I’m interested!
OK, let’s move on to the other Uncanny story this week.
REGULATORRRRRS, mount up!
Who are the Regulators, the turn-of-the-century mutants who once called Haven House their home? And what secret connection do they have to Wolverine? Uncanny X-Men Annual #1 is written by Gail Simone and Mikki Kendall, drawn by Francesco Mortarino, inked by Elizabetta D’Amico, colored by Mattia Iacono and lettered by Clayton Cowles.
Adam: I think we both agreed that one of the boldest things Simone has done in Uncanny was to expand on mutant mythology in the Jim Crow South via Henrietta’s story in the “Dark Artery” arc. I also recall that even though we agreed she pulled it off, we were initially worried because Simone was writing a tale of Southern Black experience as a white woman. So I’m happy to report that this Annual, which expands on the idea of the Regulators, has a co-writer in Mikki Kendall, the essayist most known for her book Hood Feminism. Also in tow is the welcome return of former NYX artist Francesco Mortarino. Austin, what were your impressions of this first annual from Uncanny Vol. 6?
Austin: On the one hand, I definitely liked seeing more of those characters. The way Henrietta was positioned as the heavy of the group was a fun bit in particular. On the other hand, I could have done without it also being a stealth Wolverine flashback/solo story.
I get that “Dark Artery” established Wolverine and Henrietta knew each other, but I didn’t need that tale told immediately, in the first return visit to the Jim Crow-era mutant mythology setting. I certainly didn’t need it revisited in the context of yet another “Wolverine meets up with the descendant of someone he knew/loved/saved/was saved by in the past” story, which is a pretty standard Wolverine trope at this point. Heck, Saladin Ahmed just did it (in the context of a mob family) in Wolverine’s solo book last year.
Adam: I would’ve appreciated a standalone story too, but given how everyone in the Marvel Universe seems to know Wolverine, I guess it’s to be expected. Where wasn’t he? What makes it more of a problem is having Wolverine in the present saying he’s going to watch over this descendant of Freedman, when it’s more than likely we won’t see her again.
Austin: Another well-worn Wolverine trope (both the “I’m going to watch over you” bit AND the “yet we’ll never see them again” part)!
Adam: I think the overall story itself is rather bold. The look into the past starts with Slaughter shooting white robbers trying to loot his son’s coffin and ends with the entire team saving two children from being lynched. I do think it’s a little iffy in who pays for the violence, particularly in that the sheriff gets to live for some reason and his hillbilly partner in crime gets put down, but overall I’m impressed that this takes a swing at placing these characters in this historical setting and makes it work.
Austin: Agreed. The Mortarino art, while not on the same level of Marquez or Vecchio, is still pretty solid here as well. In particular, Elisabetta D’Amico’s inks give it a bit of a raggedy, granular look that suits the setting well.
And I have to say, I like the idea that, if Marvel is going to do annuals, however irregularly or randomly (in terms of which books get them), then they do something “bigger” with them than just telling a standalone story with some extra pages. The X-Men Annual last month was a fun Ryan Stegman-led artist jam, and this is our first extended look at this fascinating new era Simone opened up. Neither of those things are HUGE deals, but they’re enough to justify the books’ existence.
Adam: I just hope this isn’t the last we see of these characters and this world. In the right hands, it could be a fascinating arena for storytelling.
X-traneous Thoughts
- Vecchio adds great details to everyone’s bedrooms including:
- Kurt’s circus poster of himself in his room. Odd choice, but OK.
- Jitter is not only reading a copy of Brute Force #1 but appears to have seen a TV adaptation and owned cute stuffed animals of the team.
- Deathdream has an Otter Party poster and a stuffed animal of a lobster from the movie.
- A clue something weird is going on? Ransom’s soccer opponents wear jerseys with the same color and style as the Hellions.
- If Deathdream is the Karma stand-in, does that make Mutina the Dani Moonstar analog?
- Waffles referring to Deathdream as “Boy,” as in “Where is Boy?” is adorable.
- The three Hellfire mercenaries in the Deathdream sequence are wearing red uniforms rather than blue ones, suggesting they may be the pre-Reavers (but still cybernetic) Cole, Macon and Reese (the Hellfire goons Wolverine almost killed during “The Dark Phoenix Saga”), who were working with Pierce in the original version of Marvel Graphic Novel #4.
- Is it possible Wolverine was worked into the annual just so the cover could accurately homage the cover of the first issue of this Uncanny volume with Wolverine’s claws front and center? Probably not, but maybe!
Buy Uncanny X-Men #26 here.
Buy Uncanny X-Men Annual #1 here.
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Adam Reck is the cartoonist behind Bish & Jubez as well as the co-host of Battle Of The Atom. Follow him @adamreck.bsky.social.
Austin Gorton also reviews older issues of X-Men at the Real Gentlemen of Leisure website, co-hosts the A Very Special episode podcast, and likes Star Wars. He lives outside Minneapolis, where sometimes, it is not cold. Follow him @austingorton.bsky.social.
