Gambit’s curse takes a terrifying turn, as legendary guests come to Haven House, and a sudden death throws the mutant world into chaos. Uncanny X-Men #27 is written by Gail Simone, drawn by Luciano Vecchio, colored by Matt Wilson and lettered by Clayton Cowles.
Adam Reck: A whole bunch of stuff happened last issue in the wake of the Nawlins X-Men beating Marvel’s version of the Universal Monsters. The Outliers had nightmares, Nightcrawler’s lady-friend came a-calling, and the kids ended up replacing the original New Mutants … somewhere. Am I missing any important plot beats?
Austin Gorton: Also, Gambit is maybe still a cannibal, and has a past with a Killer Croc-esque loan shark. I think that about covers it.
Adam: Then without any further ado, we’ll pick right back up where we left — wait just a minute now. We’re doing Graymalkin again?
Remember Graymalkin Prison?
Adam: Readers would be forgiven if they thought the whole Graymalkin Prison thing was just over. We haven’t checked in on the former Xavier Mansion or Podcaster (and Prison Warden) Ellis since a brief scene in issue #20, but here she is checking in on her dying “Avian” pal Phillip (AKA Scurvy). Phillip has enough left in the tank to let Ellis know she’s gonna get some comeuppance and to deny her generous present. Was it weird that the reveal of Xavier’s hover chair was given almost an entire splash page only to be pushed out of the room?
Austin: You could almost hear the comical swipe sound effect as it got quickly tossed off the page (Vecchio draws the hell out of it, though).
Adam: I’m guessing this stuff with Inmate X and Monet is all table setting for the next arc, where hopefully we will say goodbye to the least successful part of this volume of Uncanny. With luck, it’ll be swift!
Austin: I’m not convinced this is entirely disconnected from the A-plot. Given the way it kicks off the issue, it’s possible Simone wants us to have it in mind for what follows. It’s harder to tell since we simply don’t know very much about who Inmate X is, but I can see a scenario in which whatever is happening with the Outliers and the New Mutants is being caused by them (particularly given that, if memory serves, Inmate X is an Avian and all the Avians are telepathic). So maybe all this is just an elaborate telepathic ruse.
If that is the case, it would represent a smart and, frankly, surprising coming together of Simone’s two big defining plotlines in this book, the Outliers and the whole Graymalkin Prison business.
Adam: The simplest solution here is that Inmate X is either Proteus or Legion. But of course both of them are in the White Hot Room with the rest of Krakoa.
Austin: Not to turn this into a “Who is Inmate X” speculation article, but the other frequent suspect I see tossed out is Nate Grey (who, like Legion, has a past doing the kind of reality tweaking/rewriting we could be watching play out in this story). And of course, as loath as I am to see this era of X-books tap into that well, the continued presence of Moira MacTaggert in the Outliers’ portion of the story puts her on the suspect list, as well.
Devil Dino in the Danger Room?
Adam: Let’s shift our attention to the Outliers. They all seem a little scrambled as Moira guides them into the Danger Room, when SURPRISE! They are attacked by Devil Dinosaur and Moon Boy. I didn’t know I needed a Luciano Vecchio-drawn Devil Dinosaur in my life, but as a big Moon Girl fan, I was so happy to see the big guy, even if he’s a hard-light hologram robot.
Austin: I don’t know if it’s the presence of a big ol’ dinosaur or classic New Mutants aesthetics or both, but I was getting big Art Adams vibes from Vecchio in this sequence — Calico and Ember charging into battle as a medieval knight and mount seems like something that would have been right at home in New Mutants Special Edition #1.
Adam: I had the same reaction. You could really see the influence.
Austin: Similarly, Simone to her credit effectively channels a kind of old school writing style we sadly just don’t see much of anymore, using the Danger Room battle as a vehicle for exploring character through action. So we have Mutina as the wild card (drawing parallels to Wolverine) attacking first and asking questions later, contrasted with Jitter, who looks to end the fight by figuring out how to communicate with Moon Boy, even though it’s just a robot/hard light recreation of him. Both beats advance the action, but also tell us something about each character in the process.
Adam: The session is barely over when we get introduced to a bunch of stuff that makes this feel less like a hallucination and much more like we’re in a completely different timeline. First there are zombie Sentinels who don’t so much attack mutants as want to eat them. Nightcrawler has a retractable second set of arms. And we meet the rest of the X-Men, and I just know you want to tell us the roster, Austin.
Austin: So we’ve got either Thunderbird or Warpath (given the way this sort of parallels the All New, All Different team, I’m assuming the former), Siryn in place of Banshee, power-swapped Rasputin siblings (Illyana is fully armored and presumably super-strong, while Piotr is leaping out of a stepping disc wielding a big sword) and the reveal that the aforementioned professor is actually Professor S, everyone’s favorite jorts-wearing pterodactyl man, Sauron!
Adam: See, this is the kind of bonkers-weird stuff I can get into. Upon reread, you’ll notice that Moira did not specifically name “the Professor” leading up to this moment. It is a lot to accept that Sauron has enough restraint in this reality to not turn the rest of the X-Men into dinosaurs, but it makes the choice of Devil Dinosaur in the Danger Room make perfect sense.
Guess Who’s Coming to Breakfast?
Adam: Back in Nawlins, the X-Men are searching hopelessly for the Outliers only to find the aforementioned original New Mutants at the dining room table. This seems at first to be a simple swap between the realities, but no, these New Mutants seem to have been recruited by Rogue in their world for a very specific purpose.
Austin: To kill the Avengers!
It’s a fun twist, elevated, again, by Vecchio, who sells the transition from “on-model classic New Mutants” to “grinningly evil, ready to kill New Mutants.” Also, without knowing what’s really going on here, it’s potentially a really smart tweak of existing continuity: Rogue’s debut in Avengers Annual #10 comes not long before the debut of the New Mutants, and her joining the X-Men comes a few months (publication-time) after the launch of their book, so there’s actually a gap in time when a still-villainous Rogue, smarting from her battle with the Avengers, could have sought out the New Mutants.
Adam: Honestly, all of the crossing-timeline implications make me want to know everything I possibly can about this other world. But wow, last issue I thought I had a good handle on what was happening. This one? Nope. The list of suspects keeps growing longer. But I’m enjoying it!
Austin: I’m OK still being a little confused as to what’s happened when we’re on part 2 of X, particularly since it seems pretty clear we’re meant to still be confused, which is an important distinction. And if nothing else, everything looks simply amazing.
Adam: Vecchio is killing it. This is the most I’ve enjoyed the book since “Dark Artery.”
X-traneous Thoughts
- The Valley of the Gwangi is a 1969 dinosaur Western that features the final creature effects from Ray Harryhausen. Seems like a random reference for a kid Ransom’s age, but then again I did find the entire movie on YouTube.
- The Vig is here again, with Gambit offering 20% of T’ieves Guild profits if he can find the kids.
- There’s a seemingly weighted moment in the Danger Room battle when Calico says, “I guess that explains why my … horse, Ember, looks so dowdy.” That ellipsis sure seems to suggest we’re meant to question whether Ember is, in fact, a horse.
- Contrary to the solicit, Gambit’s curse does not take a terrifying turn in this issue, nor are there any sudden deaths throwing the mutant world into chaos.
Buy Uncanny X-Men #27 here. (Disclaimer: As an Amazon Associate, ComicsXF may earn from qualifying purchases.)
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.
