Uncanny X-Men #1: Fragments Shored Against The Ruins

Gail Simone and David Marquez have returned the flagship X-Team to top-form. This story harkens back to the very best of the Claremont era (featuring the team as a close-knit family of outlaws, starring in a superhero soap opera, and working to make life better for ordinary people, even as they face global threats), almost entirely free of the detritus of Krakoa, without sacrificing any of the progressive beats that redeemed the weaker points of the island books. The mansion might be remodeled into a brutal gulag, the stars might be horribly traumatized by failure and loss, and the world might hate all mutants again, but hope is hard to kill, and though it might falter, faith isn’t prone to failing. Rogue, at least, is one woman who is difficult to knock off her feet, and she’s got a husband, a brother, and a father-figure there to back her when the battle gets too rough.

The story opens with an ominous look at the future, followed by an explosive brawl, featuring a prophetic dragon; a creature who cannot be punched into submission. Luckily, Remy is there to do a little bargaining and a little winning of boons. Next, the team heads to a hospital, where the Make-a-Wish gift organized by Nightcrawler (who has resumed his priesthood, despite Si Spurrier’s incompetence, and much to the benefit of the book) unfortunately takes a detour into the realm of the tragic. Finally, we are introduced to the threat which (alongside the aforementioned gulag) promises to carry the next few issues of the story.

This threat seems both substantial, fun (for us, obviously; I expect the characters would have a very different perspective), and very well thought out. What we’ve seen of the big bad is appropriately creepy. I, for one, appreciate the Southern-Gothic horror vibes. Whoever Mother is, she’s got some amazing Not-A-Deer (it’s a cryptid,; look it up) energy, and I’m excited to see the manner in which she blows everything up.

You might have noticed that I’ve yet to mention a certain slang-slinging former mall-rat (and absentee mother). Jubilee hasn’t turned up yet. I suppose that we can expect her to come in swinging in issue two.

It goes without saying that David Marque’s art is better than approximately 90% of the sex. He balances intimate character moments (with fine, exquisitely-rendered emotion) with explosive battle scenes and backgrounds that firmly locate this story in our own branch of reality – or at least on one that is closely adjacent. Marquez’s sense of place brings his storytelling to another level, one which few (if any) artists can meet.

After the brutality of the past few months, Simone’s X-Men emerges as a breath of fresh air, and a return to everything that makes these heroes stand out.