Uncanny X-Men #29: Inmate X & Graymalkin Wrapped

The Inmate X and Graymalkin Prison storylines have been uninteresting filler in Gail Simone’s Uncanny X-Men. These stories have been given so much momentum just to deflate time and time again since the 4-part Graymalkin crossover event that began in December of 2024. Two years, that’s how long it took to complete both of these ultimately pointless storylines that have had little effect on the characters or the titles they inhabit.

That brings us to whatever’s been happing to the Outliers. The explanation for this is so rushed and vague that it is confusing to try and discern why this story needed to happen. The only thing that makes this story begin to make sense is that Simone had this big graymalkin resolution in mind involving Inmate X and needed to slow down the pace of the storyline to molasses so the Uncanny X-Men could drag it out over multiple issues.

Several page turns are disorienting, poorly done scene transitions that change the pacing abruptly. Character work is almost nonexistent in this issue. For instance, Jitter’s epileptic attack is practically resolved off-page, while the facsimiles’ new mutants, are nothing more than a page stuffer for about two scenes until they’re tossed aside. Similarly, both Warren Ellis and Captain Ezra each suddenly develop a conscience for their atrocities within just a few dialogue beats, which undermines their roles as the villains in this story.

The constant use of flat single-color backgrounds with lines around the edges to depict motion is noticeably repetitive and a clear indication of lazy artistic direction. The backgrounds not only drag down the art and the colors, but the scenes themselves, which are already sloppy in their execution of a “storyline,” if you can even call it that. Many of the characters themselves feel stuck in the scenes, lacking that detail and the sense of motion that many action-filled superhero comics thrive on. The colors by Wilson do provide a texture to the otherwise lackluster scenes that also helps to enrich the storyline somewhat.