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Colours:  
Letters: 

Editor:

X-Men #80 
"Children of the Atom - Part Two" 
  

Yes, I think that it's safe to say that X-MEN and UNCANNY X-MEN are in good hands.  Already this summer, Kelly treated us to the Psi-War, a fabulous little two-part story that previous regimes would have turned into a boring,  overly long, all-summer cross-over.  And now we get *another* nice two-parter, which *also* would have been transformed into some pointlessly huge cross-over.  Kudos to Kelly and Seagle for telling good stories ... quickly.  

Speaking of the story, it was quite good.  I was both hesitant and curious about the introduction of a new team of X-Men, but Kelly and Seagle pulled it off masterfully.  They were all quite interesting characters that made a very competent team.  It's kind of a shame that they probably won't be around to menace the X-Men any more.  

Finally -an X-title had *mystery* again !  When almost all of the major plot points have been spoiled in publications like PREVIEWS or Wizard, this is fantastic.   It seemed like most of the promotional push went towards the "new" X-Men, leaving the mysteries of the plot (who is Xavier ?  What's the deal with the launch ?) to be revealed in the pages of the comic, rather than in the pages of PREVIEWS.  Speaking of the launch mystery ... that part was a bit of a letdown.  A mutant detection system in space ?  Fanatical, bigoted humans ?  Seems like we've seen all this before ...  

And, while I do like the new line-up quite a bit (it's great to see Colossus, Shadowcat and Nightcrawler back on the team), I must admit that there are two problems with it.  For starters, how did the X-Men get down to just four members, as seen in the beginning of UXM #360 ?!  Reyes was given a plausible reason for her departure ... but what about Beast and Maggott ?!  Their absences weren't explained at all, a major failing point. Secondly, they way that Storm, Wolverine, Rogue and Marrow and Colossus, Nightcrawler and Shadowcat got reunited was a bit contrived.  It did made for some good drama, though.  

Beyond those problems, the only others I had were ones that the editor probably should have caught.  In #360, Rogue is wearing a green costume, while in #80, she's wearing a purple costume that she stopped wearing about nine (real-time) months ago.  The second problem is that in #360 the Xavier impostor ordered Shadowcat to be put into storage ... but in #80 she *still* hadn't been put into storage !  I suppose one could assume that she *was* put into storage in #360, and that she just escaped sometime between then and #80, but if this was the case, it wasn't very clear.  

Finally, the art was ... well, good.  Not *quite* as stellar as the writing (particularly Kelly, whose dialogue far outshines Seagle's), but good nonetheless.  I *really* enjoyed Chris Bachalo's art in #360, although the multiple inkers did make some parts not as good as they could have been.  But I still like Bachalo's quirky style, different panel layout and unique storytelling.  It's refreshing, in my opinion.  I'd still rather he go back to the style he used in the early issues of GENERATION X and in GENERATION NEXT, but I like this style, too, so whatever he chooses is fine with me.  It's too bad that Carlos Pacheco left and that Adam Kubert couldn't start a month earlier, because Brandon Peterson's art didn't do anything for me.  It varies between pretty good and pretty awful, usually falling into mediocrity, and saved only by Liquid!'s colours.  Of course, I'm more than willing to pin the vast majority of the bad pages on Panosian's inks, which are, in my opinion, some of the worst in comics.  Why Marvel continues to give him work is beyond me.  

The X-Men are back to a level of quality not seen since the Claremont days. And it's fun as hell to be along for the ride. 

Score (UXM #360):  B

Score (X-MEN #80):  B+
  

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