Chronological X-Men - Part 06 Review

Part six!

(The Uncanny)X-Men #27 Re-Enter The Mimic-

This issue sees the return of quite a few characters: Mimic, Quicksilver, Scarlet Witch, Zelda, Vera, Ted and Puppet Master (who appeared in the Fantastic Four/X-Men crossover I covered in part 5.) With Warren wounded, Jean in college and Scott doubting his place within the X-Men Charles uses his powers to reach out to Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch in an attempt to get them to join the X-Men’s dwindling ranks – they decline, next Charles uses Hank and Bobby to try to reach out to Spider-Man (his first appearance in the X-Men universe) only to be declined as well. Eventually whole visiting jean at college the X-Men meet up with Calvin who now has his abilities back and is taken back to the Xavier Institute to join the X-Men on a trial basis.  I guess at the end of the day the issue was good, it moved the plot along- it’s not exactly a self contained story, but it’s not a multi-issue storyline even though certain plot points do extend into other issues. The issue sort of feels like the whole point of it was to tie up several loose ends that had developed over the past 10 issues or so, which I guess is a good thing.

(The Uncanny)X-Men #28 The Wail of the Banshee!-

With this issue we still have Jean ‘away at college,’ Calvin still a member of the team, and Warren still recovering from being wounded by Scott a few issues ago. Ted Roberts is still hanging around, which makes me think that they might be planning something with his character because the X-Men cast isn’t too vast at this point and the only real ‘hangers-on’ are Zelda and Vera, everyone else introduced has served a purpose except for Ted. We meet The Ogre (who isn’t a mutant but has a mind control device that is forcing Banshee (Sean Cassidy) into working for a mysterious group called Factor Three. There was a big mistake here, and it was on the artists part, Jean hands Hank a screwdriver but she tells Hank she’s giving him a pair of pliers, and Hank thanks her. That tells me it has to be a mistake on the artist’s part because someone as smart as Hank certainly knows the difference between a screwdriver and a pair of pliers. The whole thing about something hidden behind the oak door in the mansion’s cellar seemed a bit odd, but I guess they’re going to go somewhere with that eventually.

(The Uncanny)X-Men #29 When Titans Clash!-

Jean is still away at college, Calvin is still a member of the X-men (although he is officially kicked off of the team by the end of this issue. I’m actually sad to see Mimic go, I liked the idea of not everyone on the X-Men being a ‘goody goody,’ and I know I’m not alone in that because if it weren’t for love of the jackass/troubled anti hero type of character we wouldn’t get X-Men like: Hellion, X-23, Wolverine and many others through the years. This time the X-Men fight an android that calls itself ‘The Super-Adaptiod’ who once it comes within contact with someone for a certain amount of time it obtains their powers- it had previously met the Avengers and obtained Captain America, Hawkeye, Goliath and The Wasp’s abilities. In an attempt to gain Mimic’s powers the two sort of short circuit themselves out and Calvin ends up losing his powers, but his sacrifice sort of resolved his conflict with the X-Men, but without his powers there wasn’t a place for him on the team any more. I wouldn’t call it a mistake, but clearly a large chunk of time has passed between this issue and the last one since it was summer in the last issue but now it’s winter time. This issue felt more like a filler issue than anything else, but that’s not actually a bad thing, I just wish that there was more to it than simply a plot point to remove Calvin from the team.

 

(The Uncanny)X-Men #27 Re-Enter The Mimic: B

(The Uncanny)X-Men #28 The Wail of the Banshee!: A-

(The Uncanny)X-Men #29 When Titans Clash! B