I'm really fond of the Classic backup stories. I've always loved the quiet issues of X-Men, and this series has a lot of that. And some of the character work is amazing. As great as Uncanny X-Men is as a serialized story, I also love many of the self-contained stories from this run; it has a lot of my favorite X-Men single issues. (There are some clunkers, but fortunately not for a while; the series starts out strong.)
The main artist for the series, John Bolton, is great with quiet scenes and emotions. He's a great choice for behind-the-scenes slice of life, which isn't all this series is but is definitely one of its strongest points. His superheroes are less convincing—aside from Nightcrawler, who doesn't have the problem for some reason, I kind of sigh when someone shows up in costume, because it tends to hit a kind of uncanny valley for me. (Especially during the second to last scene here—Jean and Logan are in street clothes and look convincing, Angel and Storm are in costume and don't quite, and it's a bit jarring. I didn't want to include a whole page to show what I meant about that, but if anyone wants I can upload one elsewhere and link to it.)
The Classic run gave a lot more attention to Thunderbird. Not enough to take attention away from the continuing characters, but these stories gave his arc and character a bit more depth and tragedy, and I really appreciated it. For me, it took him from "well, it's probably good that one character in this franchise actually stays dead" to "and I'm sad about it and kind of wish he'd stuck around and been developed with the rest of the cast."
I also like the increased focus on Jean, who's going to be absent from the main series for a bit and then come back as a central character. It's nice to see more exploration of what she's going through, and I liked seeing more of her similarities to Professor X (both keeping telepathic watch over the mansion, without interfering in the drama going on) and their relationship.
Sunfire is conspicuous in his absence from this story. Either he already left, or he spent the night in a guest room plotting his dramatic exit. I prefer to think the latter.
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Date: 2019-01-06 07:40 pm (UTC)The main artist for the series, John Bolton, is great with quiet scenes and emotions. He's a great choice for behind-the-scenes slice of life, which isn't all this series is but is definitely one of its strongest points. His superheroes are less convincing—aside from Nightcrawler, who doesn't have the problem for some reason, I kind of sigh when someone shows up in costume, because it tends to hit a kind of uncanny valley for me. (Especially during the second to last scene here—Jean and Logan are in street clothes and look convincing, Angel and Storm are in costume and don't quite, and it's a bit jarring. I didn't want to include a whole page to show what I meant about that, but if anyone wants I can upload one elsewhere and link to it.)
The Classic run gave a lot more attention to Thunderbird. Not enough to take attention away from the continuing characters, but these stories gave his arc and character a bit more depth and tragedy, and I really appreciated it. For me, it took him from "well, it's probably good that one character in this franchise actually stays dead" to "and I'm sad about it and kind of wish he'd stuck around and been developed with the rest of the cast."
I also like the increased focus on Jean, who's going to be absent from the main series for a bit and then come back as a central character. It's nice to see more exploration of what she's going through, and I liked seeing more of her similarities to Professor X (both keeping telepathic watch over the mansion, without interfering in the drama going on) and their relationship.
Sunfire is conspicuous in his absence from this story. Either he already left, or he spent the night in a guest room plotting his dramatic exit. I prefer to think the latter.