The "X-Men Reload" event gets underway with this title (and this week's issue of Exiles), marking a new direction for the book. I'm pleased to discover that the "new direction" pledge is indeed true, that it's not just a new creative team picking up where the last one left off. Mind you, the term "new creator" isn't one that comes to mind when one considers Chris Claremont and Uncanny X-Men. Alan Davis neither, for that matter. Claremont's name is synonymous with this title, and this is Davis's third stint with Marvel's mutants (fourth, if one counts Excalibur v.1). The premise here is a solid one, but the execution leaves a lot to be desired. I am encouraged that efforts are made to offer an accessible read, but the writer doesn't quite attain that goal either.
Whereas once, the X-Mansion was home to a handful of mutants who protected the planet's populace in a shroud of secrecy, it is now home to an entire community of mutants, many of them young ones who are learning how to use their powers and integrate into society. Furthermore, the X-Men no longer operate out of the shadows. They've been sanctioned as a mutant police force by international authorities, and have been dubbed the X-Treme Sanctions Executive. The X-Men now carry badges and help to police the world. Sometimes, they're welcomed with open arms, as is the case with a terrorist assault in Africa. But closer to home in Washington State, they discover some still cling to old prejudices.
Davis does an excellent job of conveying how the X-Mansion and the community living within it have grown. There's a real sense of a broadened scope at play. Furthermore, I love how he brings out the joy the heroes experience in a simple afternoon ball game in the opening scene. Davis also deserves credit for his update of the Silver Age Marvel Girl costume for use by the Rachel Summers character. Mind you, the same can't be said of all of the costume designs. Cannonball's is terribly boring, and Nightcrawler's look doesn't mark an improvement either. The design for the radiers in the Sahara robs them of credibility as well.
The notion of the X-Men as a sanctioned, international police force is a fascinating one, and it marks a radical shift in how they've been protrayed. I love that they've got badges; it adds plausibility to the concept. Claremont's take on them here strikes me as somewhat similar to how the Legion of Super-Heroes have portrayed over the years, as a huge group that breaks up into smaller ones to handle different missions.
One of the biggest problems holding this book back, though, is accessibility. The characters are all identified clearly, but newer readers are bound to be lost as to their significance. Rachel Summers's background isn't directly explained at all, and those who didn't follow X-Treme X-Men are bound to have questions about Sage's background and Bishop's as well. Claremont doesn't even fully explain why some X-Men might have a mad-on for Emma Frost. Sure, there are too many characters at play here to provide detailed backgrounds of all them in the script, but some further exposition is required. And not just for characters either. Claremont doesn't really get into how the X.S.E. came to be.
The generic nature of the antagonists here isn't that interesting at all, one could say the same for the typical Danger Room scene, one we've seen far too many times in the past.
