Uncanny X-Periment # 91: "Revolution"

X-Men # 100-102, Uncanny X-Men # 381-382

Six months later and the X-Men are in a different state than we last saw them. The team (as we start out here) only consists of Shadowcat, Wolverine, Colossus, Psylocke, Rogue, Archangel (reserve member, basically), and newcomer pyrokenetic Neal Shaara, Thunderbird. In addition to this, changes have occurred. Something happened in Genosha. Psylocke and Jean did some stuff and now Psylocke has lost her telepathy, but has telekinesis while Jean has lost her own telekinesis (by the way, how did Jean even get telepathy back after the Psi-War?). Gambit has taken control of the Thieves Guild, which has pushed Rogue even further from him.

So, the X-Men are attacked by the Neo. The Neo claim to be a higher group of Mutants, basically the step above regular good ol’ fashioned Muties. Led by a woman named Domina after her daughter and their entire civilization was ravaged by the High Evolutionary’s weapon, the Neo hunt down the X-Men for revenge. The hit the now student-priest Nightcrawler, who takes refuge with Cecelia Reyes. Reyes takes him further into Brooklyn, where they conveniently run into Charlotte Jones, who is fighting a drug pusher named Delgado; his drug is called Rave and makes powers even stronger. Even more conveniently, they run into Archangel. Eventually, they all end up facing the Neo at Nightcrawler’s church.

Meanwhile, the X-Men proper are on board the High Evolutionary’s station, fixing it up. Kitty’s boyfriend Seth turns out to be a Neo agent and blows the place up. The X-Men manage to escape, leaving Kitty on board. She eventually uses a Neo armor thingy and makes her own way down to Earth.

Once on Earth, the X-Men track down the Neo to the church and the battle becomes joined. Wolverine eventually leaps in. The Neo then proceed to seal up the church and the X-Men depart, leaving behind Cecelia and Charlotte Jones.

At the same time, over in Venice, Phoenix and Cable are asked to join Gambit, Storm, and Beast in at the cajun’s request. Once there, they are attacked by Neo agents called the Shockwave Riders. While they are able to defeat the Shockwave Riders, they encounter some “Lost Souls” when Jean almost dies. The Neo then retreat and Gambit proposes a very important heist to his little group of X-Men.

Okay.

OKAY.

Deep breath.

DEEP BREATH.

In, out, in out, in out, in, out . . .

. . .

THIS IS AWFUL!

I’m sorry! I love Chris Claremont! But come on! COME ON! Where do I start? The costumes look horrible. The story is terrible with convenient plot points everywhere and crappy characterization! The X-Men leave their own behind?! TWICE?!?!? That’s not right! Not right at all!

Absolutely terrible. Every female has PMS, every male is a cliché. Yu’s art is awful.

Okay. Okay.

Let’s see . . . positives . . .

Well, really, Gambit’s team is a little better. The characters are a little more in their roles, with the exception of a suddenly very overly-militarized Cable. The banter between them is a little more natural as opposed to the forced stuff between Rogue’s team. I’ll even credit that the Neo are a fairly neat idea.

But everything was terrible in execution.

And the bad thing? I know it gets absolutely worse.

~W~