A battle spreads across the globe as the Louisiana X-Men face the Legion of Monsters and fight to save the souls of two teammates. Uncanny X-Men #25 is written by Gail Simone, drawn by David Marquez, colored by Matt Wilson and lettered by Clayton Cowles, with a backup story by Simone, artist David Messina, colorist Rachelle Rosenberg and letterer Travis Lanham.
Austin Gorton: I was listening to a podcast recently in which one of the two hosts didn’t realize that wolverines were unrelated to werewolves and an actual animal in our world (and not something like a dragon) until the other host incredulously attested that wolverines are, in fact, real. That’s all there is to this anecdote; it just feels relevant to this issue in which Wolverine becomes a werewolf-verine for a spell.
Adam Reck: Oh, so you listen to The Big Picture too? Love that show. I have to wonder if Jeph Loeb was listening to that conversation, equally confused about how Wolverines aren’t wolves. But yes, this is the third issue in an arc about monster analogs of X-Men and cowboy analogs of the Outliers and an Agatha analog to an … Agatha? What the heck?
It was (an) Agatha all along
Austin: Well Adam, last issue we surmised that the purple-adorned, mystically powered woman with a familiar named Salem and an obsession with the Darkhold was Agatha Harkness, and it turns out, we were half right, in that the character IS named Agatha, but is actually Agatha Timly, a character with one (1) previous appearance, in a Werewolf by Night story from the 1970s.
I guess you got us, Gail Simone!
Adam: I don’t usually love Gail’s online trolling, but it was at least interesting to see her calling out readers, denying the villain was Agatha Harkness only for the villain to actually be an Agatha. I don’t think the “joke” is necessarily funny, but I appreciate the effort! I also appreciate anyone digging deep into continuity and pulling out a rando like this for funsies. There’s no need for anyone to be angry about this bait-and-switch; this is just goofy, meaningless fun.
Austin: It does feel like a lot of work just for a gag, but in the grand scheme of things, yeah, there’s plenty more to get angry about. I do generally love when writers dig old characters out of the dustbin of history. Between this, Wyre and Astra over in Jed MacKay’s X-Men, it’s (apparently) the Mighty Marvel Age of Forgotten Villains!
The reveal of Agatha (Timly) represents the collapsing of the Outlier Western tale with the X-Men Monster Mash story, with Agatha the master of the Legion of the Unliving, who are keeping the X-Men occupied while she “recruits” the Outliers to serve as hostages (presumably to keep the X-Men in line while she executes her “turn New Orleans into a monster haven” plan).
Cowboys and creatures converge
Austin: Meanwhile, back at the abandoned amusement park (which, I’m just realizing, Simone probably chose as a setting for the monster fight specifically for the way it calls to mind Scooby-Doo stories), the X-Men are fighting their various monster opponents, with Werewolf Wolverine attacking Rogue.
Adam: This might be a good time to note David Marquez gets an art assist in this issue by the book’s alternate talent, Luciano Vecchio, and it works pretty well. I can tell the difference, but Matt Wilson’s coloring provides consistency so it’s not distracting. (Though I will say I like Marquez’s WereWolverine better).
Austin: The transition between the two is pretty seamless — it definitely helps that the pair have been splitting art duties, so both are familiar looks in the series.
Adam: Anyway, our heroes mostly start getting the upper hand, including Jubilee saying what we were all thinking about how silly it was for Morbius to think he could make Jubes back into a vampire and Gambit calling upon his recurring dragon pal Sadurang, who just straight up eats Manphibian.
Austin: Simone does an interesting thing here where she cuts away from the monster fight right as Werewolf-verine is about to attack Rogue just as Elsa Bloodstone gets a bead on her with a magic bullet, and then the next time we see the X-Men, they turn up at Haven House, having won the monsters over to their side as Rogue drains Agatha of her power. It all felt a little abrupt — particularly because it also seems like Gambit is fine now and NOT about to eat his teammates (which is where this whole thing started)? How did it work for you?
Adam: It certainly felt a little like the creative team ran out of time and just had to wrap things up. You could excuse Gambit’s cannibalistic tendencies due to his interaction with Sadurang, but it’s less interesting than continuing his ALF-like desire to eat cats. But as we’ve been saying throughout this arc, it feels more like a lighthearted chill time, so I’m not bothered by it simply because everything seems kind of Silver Age-y. Our team had an adventure, now it’s over, see you next month, etc.
Austin: Feeling like they ran out of time is a good way to put it. Which is all the more curious considering this is a slightly extra long issue with an extra story in it.
Bonus content
Austin: Because, as the solicits say, this is a special anniversary issue (i.e. is divisible by 25), we get an extra five-page story (at least, I’m assuming that’s why we got a random five-page story disconnected from everything else in the issue). It’s an Outliers-centric tale that isn’t likely to make the people complaining about the X-Men getting sidelined in their own book very happy (especially coming after the Outliers’ plot thread collides with the X-Men’s in the main story). In it, a couple of police show up at Haven House looking for help. The daughter of one of the officers has been kidnapped, and the Outliers spring into action to try and find her. What’d you think of this?
Adam: I’m only just now realizing this was a “special anniversary” issue and that’s why we got the bonus story. I went back and looked at the page count thinking they just came up short and asked for a quick fill-in. As is, the backup doesn’t add much or hint at anything new; it’s just a heroes-doing-hero-stuff thing. And that’s fine, but it definitely feels tacked on because they hit a number. David Messina’s art looks nice!
Austin: I absolutely did not immediately clock this as an anniversary bonus at first, and also merely assumed they ran out of story (despite the abrupt resolution to the X-Men/monster fight), in part because it’s such a straightforward story.
The Messina art is nice, unique in its own style but also of a piece with the Marquez and Vecchio art in the main story, such that the whole thing is broadly consistent visually. Given how central the Outliers were to the main story, it does feel a little redundant to spotlight them again here, but it’s ultimately a harmless story.
X-traneous Thoughts
- Not only does Agatha Timly only have one prior appearance to her name, the fact that she’s named Agatha comes from a Marvel Handbook entry on the Darkhold from 2007; in the Werewolf by Night story, she’s called “Andrea Timly.”
- After defeating Agatha, Rogue suggests contacting Graymalkin prison before deciding on Scarlet Witch, and it’s pretty bonkers that she’s still not only tolerating Graymalkin’s continued existence but willing to work with the people there.
- A response to one of the letters features another response from Tom Brevoort in which he acts like he’s too cool to answer a question related to Krakoa, saying the letter writer should ask the “previous guys” like Brevoort doesn’t work with them and have better access.
- Next issue promises “unexpected guest stars” and to reveal “who has been manipulating the Uncanny X-Men since the beginning?” Not sure what’s more unexpected than Agatha Timly, but I guess we’ll find out!
Buy Uncanny X-Men #25 here. (Disclaimer: As an Amazon Associate, ComicsXF may earn from qualifying purchases.)
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.
Adam Reck is the cartoonist behind Bish & Jubez as well as the co-host of Battle Of The Atom. Follow him @adamreck.bsky.social.
