Uncanny X-Men #23

by Tori B. on July 16, 2014

The Last Will and Testament of Charles Xavier is just about to be revealed and wont to the X-Men’s luck, it couldn’t have come at a worse time for any of them. Charles Xavier’s final efforts are about to either break the team when they’re already at loose threads, or be the push to bring them all back together again. 
 
 
Writer: Brian Michael Bendis
Artists: Kris Anka
Cover: Chris Bachalo
Publisher: Marvel
 
 
Honestly, there couldn’t be a harder time for the X-Men at the moment, everyone seems to be losing their cool, along with fighting against S.H.I.E.L.D., skrull attacks, fighting amongst each other, running away, etc. But in comes the levelheaded Jennifer Walters (thank goodness!) to keep everyone in check as she delivers some news that’s bound to throw everyone off kilter. Unfortunately that’s as far as we get in the reveal of The Last Will and Testament of Charles Xavier.
 
The issue itself flows more like a filler issue, with many little things happening and littered throughout. It is an Original Sin tie-in which probably is why it’s a little bit more low key than a normal major plotline issue would be, but considering the major draw in for the issue being Xavier’s Will, it’s a little disappointing how much page time was actually spent on that particular subject.
 
That being said, the actual subject matters dealt with in this issue, are still exciting, and not as tame as other filler issues we’ve seen in the past from the series. There are skrull attacks, some good inner turmoil suffering from both Cyclops and Dazzler, small team bonding moments, and of course the great She-Hulk makes an appearance – who gets the brilliant chance to make a jab at deaths in the comic universe. Major story points end up being of course the inner turmoil sufferings of Dazzler and Cyclops. Scott’s problems become directly related to what we’ll hopefully be seeing from Xavier’s will—as he’s haunted by event that happened during AVX, and Dazzler’s quest for revenge will undoubtedly carry forward into a future arc of Uncanny X-Men.
 
This issue also marks Anka’s return to the artistic team on the title, whom we last saw during the inhumanity tie-in. But he’s not just an event filler anymore, and we’ll definitely be seeing more of his work on the series, which so far proves to be a great addition as he bring great expression to each of the characters, a blow away moment definitely being when Dazzler is having a breakdown alone in a bathroom, the stylistic choices made are effective and bold and prove why Anka is such a rising star for Marvel.
 
While the story of the issue itself was great, it wasn’t nice to be strung along in thinking that this issue was going to change the future of the X-Men’s dynamics. Hopefully more of that will be addressed in future issues to come.

Our Score:

7/10

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