Uncanny X-Men #30: Mars? Never Heard of It

The concept of “Mars Needs Mutants” is plastered on the cover and promoted in the solicit, yet no storyline actually begins in this issue. We get two scenes that are part of a potential alien storyline, but nothing is clarified, and instead the issue switches its focus half a dozen times. We jump from two random police officers to the Outliers leaving school, to Gambit, then to Nightcrawler, then back to one of the Outliers, then to Penance and her team at Graymalkin. In other words, the pacing is a mess.

There is the foundation for an interesting storyline here, although it has nothing to do with the advertised but unseen Mars. Instead, Gambit’s brief scene with Calico sets up a potential mentor-student dynamic, while Ransom’s scene with the Vig hints at actual character development for the first time in several issues for Valentin.

Then there is the dialogue, which is awkward from the first few pages all the way to the last. It feels like Simone wrote in placeholder dialogue, meant to revise it, and just never did. Everything we learn from that dialogue is told to us through the artwork instead, which does a better job at actually telling us the story. Clayton Cowles does a good job of spacing the text balloons out and giving the art the room to tell the story poetically all on its own.

After several issues of lazy writing and inconsistent artwork, although the writing didn’t give the previous artist a lot to go on, Rogê Antônio’s art is a welcome change to Uncanny X-Men. The visual presentation of this issue carries the writing a considerable distance, bringing precise line art with an excellent panel structure and a strong command of visual spacing. Even in scenes where the aforementioned dialogue is nearly nonsensical, the art is able to convey the general purpose of the scene and enhance the overall reading experience significantly.

Matthew Wilson’s colors also bring a lot to the visuals. Gambit’s energy glows in the panels with a distinct flair, while Nightcrawler’s teleporting bamfs splash color onto the page and visually disrupt scenes in a way that makes the brief action sequences more of a spectacle. The colors do not blend into one another or feel inconsistent across page turns or panel transitions, and the diverse color palette feels immersive.