Uncanny X-Men #319Issue(s): Uncanny X-Men #319 Review/plot: And when they get there, Iceman gets into a fight with his bigoted father. And Archangel and Psylocke go out on a date and agree to go steady. Also, Professor X has another dream conversation with Magneto. The conversation gets to what would have happened if Professor X's time hadn't been taken up with conflicts with Magneto, and then it turns out that Xavier is really talking to his son, Legion. Beast wakes Xavier from his dream. Xavier tells Beast that Legion's fractured mind is whole again, which makes him more dangerous. This of course is leading into Legion Quest, which begins next issue. It's interesting how this book basically alternates between action-free soap opera and mega crossovers. It's not necessarily bad, and it's certainly better than if Iceman and Rogue got into a random fight with the MLF or something on their way to Bobby's parents. Quality Rating: C+ Chronological Placement Considerations: Despite the vague footnote, the MCP have the Rogue miniseries taking place after this. References:
Crossover: N/A Continuity Insert? N My Reprint: N/A
CommentsNote that Warren says that although he still owns businesses (like the club which he and Betsy go to), Worthington Enterprises is no more. Unfortunately, we'll see writers act like Warren still owns Worthington Enterpises in a few years. Posted by: Michael | March 21, 2018 4:30 PM I didn't know Epting ever drew the X-Men. Those inkers aren't doing him any favors, though. Where's Tom Palmer when you need him? Posted by: Andrew | March 21, 2018 5:32 PM @Andrew: I do feel that during Epting's tenure penciling Avengers at times Palmer's inking was a little too overwhelming. The way that the published artwork appear in this issue is probably closer to how Epting's penciling actually looked, and I think it is quite nice. I suppose it's all a matter of opinion. Posted by: Ben Herman | March 21, 2018 8:18 PM I was also thinking that it was nice to see Epting's work without Palmer being smudged over him. Anyway, I remember liking this issue for the friendship developing between Iceman and Rogue, which thankfully remained completely platonic. For a while it seemed like the original team tended to not fraternize with the newer members even after re-unification (especially for Warren and Bobby), so here is where that starts to change (as well as Archangel and Psylocke getting involved, above). Posted by: Vincent Valenti | March 21, 2018 10:16 PM The last scan actually has a rather Silvestri feel, circa Fall of the Mutants. Particularly the landscape panel and the Legion reveal. Posted by: Matt | March 22, 2018 12:51 AM I agree on Palmer. He's good, but a bit too harsh on some pencilers's style. Posted by: Bob | March 22, 2018 2:09 AM Is this the first time Iceman’s father is portrayed as a bigot? Posted by: Lecen | March 22, 2018 6:38 AM Nope. And it certainly won't be the last... Posted by: Andrew | March 22, 2018 7:20 AM Way too many downtime issues around this era. Posted by: Lucas | March 22, 2018 10:00 AM @Lucas: I expect that both Scott Lobdell and Fabian Nicieza utilized "downtime issues" so often because they were frequently staring down one editorially-mandated crossover after another. It's difficult to set up complex storylines when every few months you have another crossover coming along. Especially at this point in time... "The Phalanx Covenant" wrapped up two months earlier, and already the X-Men books are getting ready for "Legion Quest" which leads directly into "Age of Apocalypse." As I recall that was why I dropped nearly all of the X-books in late 1994, because I had gotten so tired of all the crossovers. Posted by: Ben Herman | March 22, 2018 1:56 PM I once went on a forum about reprints of old Marvel stuff and they seemed to think that if Marvel ever included X-material from after Claremont left in their various reprint series, they should package Uncanny and Adjectiveless in a single reprint series at least for the Lobdell/Nicieza era, because they're supposedly so tightly linked. Which is to say that they spend so much time crossing over with each other and with other books that, despite the intentions of the decision to split the teams, they never really develop an identity separate from one another, and any reprint series of one would have to include so many issues of the other there'd be no point in keeping them separate. I don't know if they ever really became effectively a single biweekly book the way the Spider-books became a single weekly book during the Clone Saga, but at this point it's easy to miss that they're supposed to be about different branches of the team. Of course, by the time Adjectiveless has become New X-Men under Morrison and Uncanny has become complete crap under Austen, the two books (and others besides) do develop more of an identity separate from one another. (I don't know off the top of my head to what extent Austen's Uncanny run overlaps with Morrison's New run, but it feels about right to me and I couldn't make that gag otherwise.) Posted by: Morgan Wick | March 22, 2018 7:32 PM @Morgan: Uncanny and Adjectiveless do effectively become a bi-weekly book a few times over the years, but not really right here. It's hard for me to remember off the top of my head (and I'm not at home so I can't check easily), but between Age of Apocalypse and Onslaught, I think they had a mixture of interconnected plots and separate stuff, and then they were effectively a bi-weekly book for several months for about a year after Onslaught. The clearest example of the two books being effectively a single bi-weekly book (albeit with alternating art) was when Alan Davis took over the plotting around Uncanny 360 and X-Men 80 and then that continued until around 380 and 100. Oh, and Austen's Uncanny run is pretty separate from what Morrison was doing, as was the Joe Casey run that preceded it (I think most people forget that, in the early part of Morrison's run, Casey was on Uncanny, probably because Austen had so many questionable stories during his run, and Casey's stories were largely forgettable). Posted by: J-Rod | April 12, 2018 6:16 PM Comments are now closed. |
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