Uncanny X-Men #32: Watered Down

The past few issues of the current Uncanny X-Men run have been a bit hit or miss, especially with the Gryamalkin storyline and now the current Nur storyline. This issue is, unfortunately, more of the same. To put it simply, it almost feels like pages were cut out and replaced halfway through.

The issue both opens and concludes with a lot of narration that does a whole lot of nothing. So much that it covers half of the panels with narration boxes, which slow the pacing and distract from the visuals of the story. Eventually the issue moves to the battle we saw begin in Uncanny X-Men #31 after the Louisiana X-Men confronted the Nur.

During the battle, the Outliers do the heavy lifting and clash against the Brood, while Nightcrawler and Rogue team up against the Nur. Wolverine and Jubilee are barely a part of the battle, only seen narrating the battle and then fighting in one panel. One scene during this whole battle stands out, as Gambit finally transforms into the Wyvern, a creature who has been teased constantly over the past ten or so issues, even appearing in cover art. Gambit’s transformation is sudden, happens at a point that makes no sense in the story, and then ends off-page without an explanation.

Okay, let’s get to the biggest problem with this issue. Warning: Spoilers.

At the end of the issue, the Outliers are rebranded as the New Mutants. The actual New Mutants have no say in this? “You earned every bit of this.” No, they did not. These characters have been nothing but stand-ins for the writer with shallow storylines and rushed development.

Calico says, “I don’t even know who the New Mutants were, but I love this.” Which is like… exactly the problem. I liked the Outliers a lot at first, Hotoru in particular felt like a character with a fresh idea behind them and rich ground for development. However, over time they have done less and less for the story, and so far they have done nothing to earn this.

Characterization has been a problem in several past issues. Gambit’s story arc has been all over the place for a while, Jubilee is relegated to a background character half the time, and the way Wolverine has been portrayed feels like something Wolverine would make fun of.

Having three artists on a single issue is a bad sign. The art in this issue feels basic and unfinished, the characters are easy to recognize, but the line art is poorly weighted, making their facial expressions look bland and unrealistic. There are genuinely good scenes, such as Rogue knocking down the alien spaceship, which feels appropriately destructive.

The backgrounds, however, are bland and lean heavily on the colors. Matthew Wilson’s colors do salvage the artwork somewhat, providing scenes with decent lighting and the heroes with flashy abilities.