Of Darkest Nights

• Writer - Chuck Austen
• Penciler - Salvador Larroca
• Inker - Danny Miki
• Colorist - Udon Studios
• Lettering - Virtual Calligraphy
• Lettering - Rus Wooton
• Ass't Editor - Cory Sedlmeier
• Ass't Editor - Stephannie Moore
• Editor - Mike Marts
• Editor in Chief - Joe Quesada

Summary

  While New X-Men is charged with the transition from Morrison to Whedon, you might think Uncanny might have something to do with Austen's own ongoing storylines. It doesn't, really. Okay, there's a role for Polaris, but it's basically dealing with the aftermath of Magneto's death in New X-Men #150 - and by bringing Professor X to Genosha, it would seem to be setting up for Excalibur.

  I'm going to cop out and reserve judgment on this one until seeing the second half. Most of the issue is devoted to Professor X trying to hold a memorial service for Magneto on Genosha, and Wolverine disrupting it to argue that Magneto is such a complete bastard that he doesn't deserve a funeral. While this would normally be ridiculously out of character (after all, Magneto and Wolverine were teammates for a while), I can let it slide on the basis that Magneto had just killed off Jean.

  Wolverine delivers the orthodox right-wing view that Magneto, as a terrorist, is inhuman and undeserving of empathy. Since Austen wouldn't know subtlety if it kicked him in the nuts, Wolverine illustrates this with a comically melodramatic sequence in which he singlehandedly destroys the Magneto memorial statue (despite the fact that it's ridiculous for him to singlehandedly tear up something that big with a few knives - what was the thing made of, papier mache?).

  But the basic idea is fair enough, even if the execution is over the top. The reason I'm reserving judgment is because Polaris, Wanda and Pietro turn up at the end of the issue promising to deliver the counterargument, and everything really turns on how well they put that case. If Austen's trying to do a two-parter with the arguments for and against treating terrorists as human beings, then that seems a perfectly good idea to me. (And if the pro-Magneto side are going on second, then conventionally that would suggest that they're going to get the upper hand in the debate - not much of a story if nobody changes their mind.)

  The art's noticeably better in this issue as well, with Larroca almost managing to pull off the ridiculous statue-demolition scene. Depending on how things go next issue, this story might actually turn out okay. If it wasn't for the final panel promising a rebuttal next issue, I'd be dismissing the issue as simplistic crap - but if Austen's setting it up to knock it down, I can live with that.

  Rating: C+