The X-Men have been in a weird place lately, I think at least that much we can all agree upon. With the recent wave of Terrigen placing mutants once more on the brink of extinction, and the X-Men themselves more fractured than ever, everything old seems new again. Mutation it seems brings with it the metaphor of change and I have always marveled at how the thematic arcs that have served as milestones and metaphors for our merry mutants in a way reflect their biological nature.

That said, as an X-Men fan I have always worried about stagnation, there are only so many permutations and remixes of past themes we can endure until we must ask. What is the purpose and Mutantkind in the Marvel Universe? where are the mutants headed? 

I must admit after the years long storytelling of Hope Summers’ birth and return to mutant kind, and the subsequent reinvigoration of Mutantkind, seeing the X-Men back in the throes of extinction has been a bit of a concern to me. It seems that both the X-Men and Mutantkind are consigned to a Sisyphean quest to stave off extinction.  Hated, feared and endangered has always been the watchword for the X-Men,  but I must ask will this always be the predicament? Will we be stuck in an eternal loop where this is concerned?

I tend to judge author runs and story arcs by what landmarks it has introduced, and character developments it has fuelled. Uncanny X-Men #15 did not disappoint in this regard despite my misgivings on the status quo. I have always loved these little one off issues that take a break from the current goings on, and really zero in on character development. This issue focuses on Psylocke who takes some time since her departure from Magneto’s X-Faction to do some clean up, handling some classic loose ends from the X-Rogues gallery. No discredit to the current writer but this issue really had me feeling nostalgic. The tone and pace of this particular story hearkened back to an era I recall fondly when Matt Fraction and Kieron Gillen. This was a bit around the 500+ issue era of the and featured many changes and milestones both individually and in the landscape for X-Men.

There is an encounter between Mystique and Psylocke in this issue that I would be remiss not to address. This encounter is a significant turning point on years of story telling. Psylocke seemingly cures mystique of a physical side effect caused  by her shapeshifting powers. I thought this was an interesting development which hearkened back to the day’s monumental events frequently happened to x-characters that spurred interesting character development.  I’m reminded here of when Emma frost was stuck in diamond form containing the void after Utopia. This is not a singular occurrence as we have seen with recent happenings with M. But it is nice to see the author taking a page from earlier storytelling elements that have worked. It’s little moments like this that really shape the X-Men as a whole. I’m happy to so a return to this. So often monumental shifts are relegating big events which are quickly shuffled off in the next editing cycle. (Whatever happened to all the free food / energy and dismantled instruments of war courtesy of the phoenix five btw??)

Psylocke’s spotlight in this issue was long overdue. Over the recent years, she has really emerged as an interesting character, interesting because of her penchant for carving out unique paths. Her character really caught my attention during the past schism between Cyclops’ and Wolverine’s  factions for not falling squarely within either camp and always taking her own bold approach to Xavier’s dream. Calling it now, solicits notwithstanding, I am predicting a leadership role for Ms. Braddock in the near future.

Uncanny X-Men #15 feels like a return to form and a refreshing promise given the familiar yet daunting landscape are X-Men find themselves in. Most importantly this was a return to storytelling that works for the franchise. Again I’m very blasé on Greg Land‘s art, but that’s yet another old story.

Story: Cullen Bunn Artist: Greg Land
Story: 9.0 Art: 7.0 Overall: 8.0 Recommendation: Buy

Marvel provided Graphic Policy with a FREE issue for review