Comics / Comic Reviews / Marvel Comics

Uncanny X-Men 482

By Geoff Hoppe
January 8, 2007 - 09:34

In this eighth installation of the “Rise and Fall of the Shi’ar Empire” arc, the X-Men link up with the Starjammers and reveal to Corsair that—guess what?—he actually does have a third son. Lilandra informs the X-Men that the problem at hand is much greater than they think, and a nasty blast from the past awaits the team…

 

Ed Brubaker continues to propel the plot too quickly for my tastes. The reader consistently gets the sense they’re missing information. It’s an unfair comparison, but these stories lack the balance of character development and plot that Chris Claremont always gave the X-Men. If you want an example, just look at that famous issue (number? I forget—I’m such a poor scholar) where the 1975 X-Men first encounter the Shi’ar Imperial Guard. Ed Brubaker is a good writer, no doubt—just look at what he did with Steve Rogers in “Winter Soldier”—but this issue is too action-heavy, and lacks genuine character development.

 

We measure an X-Men penciler by how well he draws Ch’od. Well, not really—but I always hope an X-penciler has a halfway-decent vision of those perennially cool space pirates the Starjammers. Billy Tan draws cat-humaniod Hepzibah with particular relish. Tan’s work gets better and better. Look, for instance, at Lilandra’s graceful, regal body language in this issue. That attention to detail makes “Rise and Fall of the Shi’ar Empire” a great story arc to follow, not to mention the joy with which Tan illustrates the rookie X-Man, Darwin. In this issue, the layouts brilliantly establish tempo (which, ideally, is what good layouts should do).

 

Worth the money? Heck yeah. Billy Tan gives the X-Men a visceral energy that makes the narrative barrel ahead like a teenager on an off-ramp.   

Last Updated: November 29, 2025 - 16:51