by Randy Lander

UNCANNY X-MEN #404 "Army Ants" Neutral (3/10) Marvel Comics Writer: Joe Casey Artist: Sean Phillips Colors: Hi-Fi Letters: Comicraft Editor: Mark Powers Price: $2.25 US/$3.75 CAN I don't know what disappoints me most about this issue: The weakness of the story from the creators of the excellent Wildcats series, the repetitive and predictable plot or the failure of the story to even live up to the slight potential it had in the first place. Casey's team has never quite gelled, and having the confront an equally nebulous villain has resulted in a story that can best be described as aimless. The general goals and themes of the story are clear, but they're hidden behind overly familiar plots and a rotating artist team that never lets any artist get comfortable enough to put their stamp on the book. While New X-Men is taking familiar elements and creating new stories with it, Uncanny X-Men is telling the same old stories with the same old elements, and it pales by comparison to the rest of the X-line. Casey and Phillips delivered one of the most unusual and interesting takes on a super-hero team with the "non-team" approach of Wildcats, so I was quite disappointed to see them delivering such stale fare in Uncanny X-Men. The notion of a more extreme hero team causing discomfort for the good guys goes back to the Punisher's first appearance, and it's been used many times in X-Men as well. The notion of villains seemingly reforming has been addressed as well, notably when the Brotherhood became Freedom Force, and given that several members of that team are members of this one as well, it doesn't help alleviate the feeling of familiarity. Of course, there are no truly original plots left, and Morrison is certainly using familiar elements in New X-Men as well. The difference is, Casey's approach isn't much different than the one Claremont took back in the day. Moral ambiguity, and storytelling ambiguity, abound, so that not even the reader is sure who is on what side. In addition, since this team of X-Men hasn't really worked together much anyway, the last thing we needed was a bunch of other characters who don't get much distinctive characterization either. There are some ideas I like a lot in the X-Corps. The basic idea of a giant organization designed toward being a pro-active mutant group is pretty neat, and the use of Madrox as ground troops, administrative assistants and everything else is exceptionally clever. Unfortunately, there are also plenty of ideas that either aren't communicated well or I just don't really appreciate. Generation X and Banshee being a part of X-Corps makes little sense, and no effort is given to explain this change of heart save some handwaving about Sean's loss, and the telepathic Lady Mastermind is never well-identified for readers, making most of the Chamber sequences in the book a complete loss. Phillips is a terrific artist, but his work doesn't always click with me. He seems to require a really good script to draw the best out of him, and this issue doesn't feature the best script. Leaving aside overly dark coloring, the artwork in this issue is still a bit murky and lifeless. The sequence featuring the Madroxes confronting the A.R.M. troops is pretty spectacular, but in general I don't get the sense of excitement that I got from Phillips's Wildcats work. Email Randy Lander comments about this review, or discuss it on the Fourth Rail message board.