Uncanny X-Men #334Issue(s): Uncanny X-Men #334 Review/plot: The issue starts with Juggernaut in a lake? river? that is apparently right next to the X-Mansion. He destroys an underwater camera. The scene switches to Bishop, who is warming up to Gambit (despite in the past always suspecting him of being the X-Traitor). A security alert warns them that the camera's been smashed, but Bishop detects no mutant activity and they wonder if it's just be a glitch. I appreciate the nod to the sometimes-forgotten fact that the Juggernaut isn't a mutant. Luckily, they investigate anyway and find Juggy. He knocks them out easily. Then Jean Grey shows up, and he tells her that he wants to help the X-Men with Onslaught, but he needs her help to do it. So no real Juggernaut/X-Men fight, sadly. Most of this issue is like a clearinghouse of references to recent events in other X-books (as seen below). So while X-Men #53 padded its issue by having a page or two devoted to not moving various subplots forward, this issue has a page or two to having a character contemplate an event that happened in another book. At least there are footnotes, but it's a good case for the the criticism that the X-books were so mired in "continuity" that they were impenetrable. It's a little more nuanced than that. The books aren't really "impenetrable" - Lobdell's scripting is readable enough and gives you the information that you need to understand what was happening in the other books, and Joe Madureira's art is inviting and fun. The real problem is that so much time is devoted to all of that, there isn't much room left for moving anything forward. So the Juggernaut's arrival, which is all that happens here, takes forever. We also see Xavier getting increasingly crazy, so that's not nothing. And in addition to all the Reference scenes, there's a bit where we see Bastion clearly (possibly for the first time?). With hindsight, you can definitely see the similarity to Nimrod, but i wonder if anyone noticed at the time. Quality Rating: C- Chronological Placement Considerations: Takes place between X-Men #53-54. References:
Crossover: N/A Continuity Insert? N My Reprint: N/A Inbound References (2): showCharacters Appearing: Angel, Bastion, Bishop, Cannonball, Cyclops, Dark Beast, Gambit, Graydon Creed, Iceman, Jean Grey, Juggernaut, Onslaught, Professor X, Psylocke, Storm, Wolverine Comments are now closed. |
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