Uncanny X-Men 488 By Hervé St-Louis Sep 4, 2007 - 10:23:56 PM

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Marvel Comics
Writer: Ed Brubaker, Mike Carey
Penciller: Greg Larroca, Mark Bagley
Inker: Greg Larroca, Andrew Hennessy


Storm, and a few X-Men are looking for the people responsible for yet another Morlock murder in the sewers of New York. Elsewhere, Professor X has discovered that the American government knows the whereabouts of Magneto. He enlists Nightcrawler to find the villain.

I don’t understand how the X-Men can complain that there are no mutants left, when virtually every mutant that existed before is still appearing in this book. I mean, hardly anyone would have missed the Morlocks, yet many of them continue to exist with their mutant powers. It stretches credibility. Worse, is when every issue, a new villain or character is introduced, and you know they are mutants.

I have other questions about the Morlocks. How come they have been left alone by Iron Man’s Registration enforcers and how many times have villains decimated the Morlocks, yet there are still more left?

Now that this is out of the way, I must commend Brubaker for a simple but effective story. It’s a basic premise, but all the elements of a good mutant mystery, intersected by many other subplots working way to a main storyline in a few issues. I remember reading some of Roy Thomas’ Westcoast Avengers years ago, and the way he would introduce subplots always seemed forced and didn’t flow naturally with the story.

I like the inclusion of The High Evolutionary as a solution to solving the dwindling mutant problem. After all, the High Evolutionary is a surrogate father to Wanda Maximoff, who took away the powers of all mutants. I’m hoping that the writers will make the links later in this storyline and that it will tie in with Maximoff, her brother Pietro and their father, Magneto.

Larroca is a good artist for the X-Men. His work is like that of a modern Paul Smith. Each character has a unique face and look. They even have differing body types. I didn’t like the storytelling very much though. Some scenes could have been rendered better. For example, the subway sequence, while mostly quiet is not exactly clear. An artist drawing a silent comic book scene has all the storytelling weight of the story on his shoulders. He should use no shortcuts to make the reader understand what’s happening at first glance. Larroca will have to work harder at doing this in future issues.

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