Publisher: Marvel Comics (Trade Paperback – 2 July 2019)

Series: Uncanny X-Men (2018) – Volume 2

Writer: Matthew Rosenberg

Artists: Salvador Larroca

               John McCrea

               Juanan Ramirez

Colour Artist: Rachelle Rosenberg

Length: 136 pages

My Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

Amazon     Book Depository

Prepare to enter a whole new era of X-Men comics as writer Matthew Rosenberg and artist Salvador Larroca bring forth a second volume in the new series of Uncanny X-Men and focus on the aftermath of the latest disaster to befall mutantkind.

No More X-Men!

For years, the X-Men have tried to fulfil Charles Xavier’s dream of unity between mutants and humans by being the shining examples of their species as superheroes, protecting even those people who hate and fear them. However, in one devastating moment, that dream has been smashed. The godlike mutant X-Man, in an attempt to remove all opposition to his messianic desires, combined his powers with that of the reality-bending mutant Legion in order to end all the X-Men who stood against him. In a single instant, nearly every mutant who had served as a member of the X-Men was gone, and the world reacted accordingly.

In the aftermath of this loss, Mutantkind is on the brink of extinction. Already suffering from years of losses caused by the Genosha genocide, the M-Day Decimation, the Terrigen Mists and Disney’s wrath for being owned by Fox, the remaining Mutants are now left without their protectors. With public opinion firmly against them, government agencies hunting down and imprisoning any surviving mutants and the new mutant vaccine being made mandatory for the entire population, this looks like the end for the species. However, one mutant is desperate to change this: the original leader of the X-Men, Cyclops.

Having been recently returned from the dead, Cyclops attempts to find his way in the new world, where all his X-Men comrades have disappeared. After an encounter with the mysterious mutant Blindfold, whose cryptic visions now contain nothing but despair, Cyclops will try to do what he always does, attempt to save his species. However, with no allies willing to help and even the Avengers turning against them, Cyclops is finding it hard not to give in to despair. In a desperate move, he makes a televised plea for any remaining X-Men to join him at the remains of the X-Mansion. While at first it appears that only the X-Men’s enemies have turned up in order to kill him, one X-Man answers the call, the last person Cyclops expected to come to his aid, his long-time rival Wolverine.

Having also just come back from the dead, Wolverine is reluctantly drawn back into Cyclops’s orbit. In their recent past these two legendary X-Men have fought, gone to war and nearly killed each other over their ideals, the future of mutantkind and the heart of Jean Grey, but now they can agree on one thing: the X-Men need to come back. Pulling together a rag tag team, including Magik, Wolfsbane, Havok, Dani Moonstar, Karma, Chamber and Jamie Madrox, Cyclops and plan to go after the biggest mutant threats they can find on order to stop additional escalations against mutants and to leave the world in a better place if this is truly the end of mutantkind. But what happens when they are forced to go up against old friends such as Banshee or Hope Summers, as they attempt to obtain their own form of justice leading a new version of the Mutant Liberation Front?

The second volume of this new series of Uncanny X-Men, Wolverine and Cyclops, is a fantastic and enjoyable comic that does a wonderful job introducing a cool new version of the X-Men following the major changes that occurred in the first volume of the series, X-Men Disassembled. Featuring issues #11-16 of the 2018 series of Uncanny X-Men, this volume does an excellent job of showcasing the new, darker version of the Marvel Universe following the disappearance of the X-Men.

Cyclops and Wolverine is written by Matthew Rosenberg, who has been working on a number of cool series for Marvel lately, including the extremely entertaining new Punisher series. In a nice sense of continuity, Rosenberg returns to write this second volume of Uncanny X-Men after completely changing everything with X-Men Disassembled. After setting up the cool story in that book, Rosenberg now puts his thoughts to exploring the aftermath of this tale, not only in this volume but in a number of future entries. For this second volume, Rosenberg is joined by artist Salvador Larroca, who provides the art for most of this book, while veteran artist Rachelle Rosenberg serves as the colourist for all the issues in this volume.

After the previous entry in the series, the creative team was left with the interesting problem of how to run an X-Men series after you sent away all the X-Men (probably to the universe featured in the various Age of X-Man miniseries). What they came up with was a fantastic story that featured a new end of days for mutantkind and a new version of the iconic team. Since the events of the last volume, the whole world has dramatically changed for mutants. While they were never popular, now they are being actively hunted down, captured, experimented on or exterminated by government-sanctioned groups and there is no one able to stop them until this new team of X-Men come along. I really liked one of the ideas broached in the story that the X-Men, despite their attempts to be peacemakers, really only stopped this sort of government attack because they intimated the government, and now that the X-Men gone, there is nothing stopping them from ensuring there are no more mutants. As a result, this is a really interesting setting for a new X-Men series, and Rosenberg has come up with a really cool story. This is a much grimmer version of the classic X-Men story, as the team no longer has a high-tech base, matching uniforms or an advanced jet. Instead, they are a small team of rebels, hiding out in a bar and getting involved in fights for survival. This first volume contains a number of big plot moments, including the additional deaths of several mutant characters (which probably won’t last that long), noteworthy character developments (one character’s code-name gains a whole new level of significance) and the formation of an intriguing new team of X-Men.

I really enjoyed the way that the creative team set out this story in the first volume and I particularly enjoyed the first issue of the volume (Issue # 11). This issue does a wonderful job introducing the new Marvel Universe, and showing Cyclop’s difficulties coming back to such an altered world, bereft of hope for mutants. As the first issue continues, Cyclops meets several former friends and allies, such as Blindfold, Chamber, Ben Urich, Jamie Madox and Captain America, each of whom try to convince Cyclops that the X-Men are dead and that his mission is over. All of these encounters, including a second tragic meeting with Blindfold, drive Cyclops to his former home at the X-Mansion, where it appears he is truly the last X-Man, and only his enemies, such as the Reavers, the Purifiers and the Sapien League remain. However, at the last second, it is revealed that Wolverine was also on the scene and joins the fight, teaming up with Cyclops to defeat the mass of foes in the front of them in a particularly satisfying fight sequence to end the first issue. The volume then goes on to show two mini-stories, which show the reader that Wolverine had been following Cyclops for a while and had actually been helping him without the reader or Cyclops knowing it. Another story also shows why Blindfold had gotten involved and adds a whole new layer of tragedy to the story. The rest of the volume unfolds in a pretty logical way; without going into too much detail, Cyclops and Wolverine manage to form a team of X-Men, and in the following volumes they face a variety of different threats and find new allies, all of which will set up some interesting storylines for the next few volumes of the series. I liked where the story went towards the volume, and there were some really interesting developments that did a fantastic job following the strong opening issues.

While this volume features a number of great characters, as the name suggests, the story is mostly focused around Cyclops and Wolverine, who team up again for the first time in years. These two are probably two of the most iconic X-Men ever created, and the longstanding rivalry and dislike between them has long been a recurring X-Men story arc. However, in recent years, this dislike has turned into direct antagonism, especially after the events of the 2011 miniseries, Schism, where a fight of their respective ideological differences saw them split off and lead two separate groups of X-Men. This antagonism continued through several major X-Men arcs, including Avengers vs X-Men, but it was ultimately left unresolved due to Wolverine’s death in 2014. As a result, this volume is the first time Wolverine and Cyclops have both been alive in nearly five years, and it was interesting to see the two of them finally come together again. I really enjoyed their reconciliation in this volume, especially as all it took for these two to get on the same page was two simultaneous resurrections, the complete destruction of the X-Men, one cathartic fight against a group of bigots, and a one-word greeting on the battle field.

The rest of the volume continued to build on their relationship as they work together to reform the X-Men. It is a fun return to the pre-Schism dynamic, as Wolverine once again follows Cyclops’s lead, and the two have a fun, banter-laden relationship built on mutual respect. However, Rosenberg does not ignore some of their prior conflict; rather he incorporates it into their relationship. Cyclops is fully aware that much of the X-Men’s current issues are due to his past actions, such as pushing for a more militant approach while he was the mutant leader, going to war with both the Avengers and Inhumans, and killing Professor X. As a result, he starts to rely on Logan’s opinion a lot more than some of the other X-Men, such as his brother Havok, as he knows that Wolverine won’t just agree with him if he is in the wrong again. This new era of cooperation between Cyclops and Wolverine forms a fantastic heart of this volume of Uncanny X-Men, and it was great to see these two characters back in action again after their lengthy absences.

I rather enjoyed the artwork that was featured in Wolverine and Cyclops, and the artistic team of Larroca and the colourist Rosenberg do a good job producing an interesting art style for this volume. I personally liked the darker artistic tone quite a lot of the scenes had, which I felt reflected the tone of the series and which was also a result of the X-Men trying to remain hidden by doing their missions at night. I also liked the interesting character designs that featured in the book, as the team is forced to wear a mismatched bunch of scavenged uniforms from across the various X-Men eras, which really helped highlight the low resources and support they have. There are a number of detailed and exciting action sequences throughout the book that the artists do an amazing job bringing to life. I was particularly fond of the first major sequence, in which Cyclops and Wolverine took on the anti-mutant soldiers near the X-Mansion. It was a particularly brutal couple of pages, and I loved seeing the two main characters in action again. I also really liked the scene where Wolverine first reveals himself. The look of horror and resignation of several characters’ faces when they hear “snikt” was just beautiful. Extra art done by John McCrea and Juanan Ramirez for the two background stories, Wolverine Returns and The Last Blindfold Story, added an interesting new element to the volume, and it was cool to see their different art style in the middle of the book. Overall, this was some great artwork, and I cannot wait to see what this team produces in the future.

Wolverine and Cyclops is a bold new direction for Uncanny X-Men that I really enjoyed. With a darker universe, some interesting story directions and the return of two of the team’s most iconic characters, the X-Men have entered a brave new era, and I was glad to be there for the ride. This new creative team for Uncanny X-Men did a fantastic job reintroducing these two amazing characters, and they have proven that they have some intriguing ideas. The next volume of this series is out in October and is already one of my top comics to buy later in the year.

Amazon     Book Depository