Uncanny X-Men #18: Funfair

This issue begins in horror, with the mental meddling of the fearsome Mutina as she torments Calico in her sleep. This gave Gail Simone a (welcome) excuse to show off Rogue’s nurturing side. However, the plot quickly progresses to Nightcrawler’s slowly unfolding flirtation with a single-mom and her attempts to help foster a safe space for mutants within her city. It was good to see Kurt finally playing more of a role in the plot.

It was also nice to see Jubilee occupying a more adult role. Many writers seem to forget that she is a parent, and although parenthood hasn’t dimmed her sparkle, it has complicated her character. We don’t see much of Jubilee in this story, but what we do see reveals much more depth than the character is usually afforded.

Simone has a knack for balancing quiet character moments with knuckle-whitening action, and this issue allowed her to flex her talents. Following the tonal shift (from horror to family-friendly fun — a trick that is difficult to manage without jarring the reader, but which Simone fully landed) the story ticked along nicely even as the mutants’ fun day out progressed to the inevitable perilous revelation, namely a fire, mysteriously set within a children’s hospital. This threat was, of course, satisfactorily resolved, while still planting seeds for further plot developments.

Luciano Vecchio’s art is usually a bit too stylized (in a cutesy way) for my tastes, but it was very appropriate here. He’s a tremendously skilled artist, and he brought a lot of flair to this story — especially during the carnival scenes. His visual lexicon works very well with Simon’s perky narrative tone.

This was an extremely fun, tonally complex story. Simone and Vecchio packed a lot of narrative bang into these pages.