Uncanny X-Men #16 Review

by Dylan Duarte, CMRO Contributing Writer

Uncanny X-Men

Issue #16

Written by Kieron Gillen, Art by Daniel Acuna

Published: September 2012

The X-Men never fail to disappoint when it comes to unhindered madness. Unfortunately, when it comes to a good story, they sometimes do disappoint. Mr. Sinister is back, something that I’m very happy with, as he’s a villain that I’ve always been fond of. He created an underground city, something I also think is pretty great. He’s also been cloning and modifying mutants, something I grow very, very weary of.

I will give writer Kieron Gillen due credit for some creative decisions regarding mutants like Gambit and Cannonball. Then there’s the Krakoa clone; it feels like something straight out of a 1950s sci-fi and I couldn’t be happier about it. But the story as a whole? Enough with the nonsense. Everywhere they turn, the poor X-Men are being forced to fight some disfigured version of a former friend/lover/teammate and enough is enough. At the very least, throw in a couple of quips about how “we do this stuff all the time.”

It’s bad enough that Cyclops, Colossus, Emma Frost, Namor, and Magik are now all part of the Phoenix and borderline unstoppable. They’re the X-Men, they’re allowed to enjoy a comically absurd decision every now and then. But taking that ridiculous premise and throwing them into this mess of a story just makes for chaos. Sometimes chaos is good, but this is messy, redundant chaos. Uncanny X-Men issue 16 is full of crazy, off-the-wall ideas and yet I sit here unimpressed. That should tell you something.

Maybe we haven’t been down this very road before, but they’re all starting to look the same. I will say that I’m looking forward to the next issue, which brings Magneto, Storm, and other mutants into the fray, all of which haven’t been tampered with. They need to clean this mess up and I’m not just talking about Mr. Sinister and his clones.