The Dead have No Rights

• Writer - Chuck Austen
• Penciler - Steve Kim
• Inker - Mark Morales
• Inker - Dan Green
• Inker - Sandu Florea
• Colorist - J.D. Smith
• Lettering - Virtual Calligraphy
• Lettering - Rus Wooton
• Cover Art - Philip Tan
• Ass't Editor - Warren Simons
• Ass't Editor - Mike Raicht
• Editor - Mike Marts
• Editor in Chief - Joe Quesada

Summary

  Chuck Austen's second effort for this week is Uncanny X-Men #427. Fortunately, it's considerably better than Exiles.

  Somewhat unusually these days, this is a self-contained story. The basic idea is straightforward. After his rather pointless death two issues ago, Skin has been duly buried in the family plot. However, on realising that he's a mutant, the cemetery authorities decide to dig him up, since it's contrary to their religious beliefs.

  Now, I like that idea. That's a good little concept. It continues Austen's current theme of criticising religion, but in a much more subtle and persuasive way. Here, he's raising the perfectly valid question of just how much freedom religions should have to pursue their beliefs and the extent to which invoking a religious belief should give you special licence to perform acts which might otherwise be regarded as repellent. The authorities are presented in a thoroughly unsympathetic light, but at least they're not foaming at the mouth. It's got a point to it, and it's a sound enough start.

  The downside is that Austen reaches for his sledgehammer by having Warren head off to a local hospital to experiment with his healing factor, where he happens to save the life of a girl who just so happens to be the daughter of the guy who runs the cemetery. The coincidence is a bit of a stretch, to put it mildly, and the irony is very heavy handed indeed.

  This issue, the Random Artist Generator has produced Steve Kim. I've never heard of him, and I can't find anything on Google either. It's blandly okay, the main glitch being his take on the Angel, who looks way too young (undermining the "inter-generational relationship" subplot with Paige). The presence of three inkers suggests a degree of last-minute panic, by which standards it looks fine.

  Oh, by the way: "You mean Angelo Torres? This is about ANGELO TORRES?" Skin's name was Angelo Espinosa, guys. There are four editors credited on this book, and you can't even get the name of the dead guy right?

  All that said, the issue as a whole is melodramatic but basically acceptable, because for all its failings, it does have a decent idea at the centre.

  Rating: B