“From the Ashes” continues as Rogue, Gambit, and Wolverine welcome a friend back, just in time to face four uncontrollable and wild mutants in the swamps of Louisiana! But with the mutant community disheartened and fractured, will even the Uncanny X-Men be enough to stop them? Uncanny X-Men #2 continues to set things up but relies too heavily on an old, worn out trope.

Written by Gail Simone, Uncanny X-Men #2 is an interesting second issue. There’s a lot packed into it as the series continues to lay the groundwork for what’s to come. Broken up into three distinct storylines, the issue deals with Charles Xavier in the past, Rogue, Gambit, and Wolverine in the present, as well as what’s going on at the former X-Mansion.

In the past, Xavier deals with a mysterious woman. We’re not given much to work on for this and it’ll be interesting to see where it goes but it feels like the filling in of “yet more history we don’t know about,” something that most recently was done to death with Moira McTaggert. This takes place before all of that and so far, doesn’t go much of anywhere… yet.

In the present, Rogue and her crew are fighting with the new mutants who have shown up. Yes, I said fighting. It’s the same ole trope of the two groups of “heroes” battling it out before they figure out they can work together. The build up to the battle is rather thin and the setup rather awkward but, it gives readers an easy way to learn about these new mutants and their powers. While the motivation for the fight is a bit eye rolling, ie not really existent, it does allow readers to quickly learn about these new characters. As far as that goes, there’s a lot of potential here. The introduction of the new crew has a very Generation X vibe about it and each seems like there’s a chance they could become popular additions.

Finally, there’s the prison aspect. That has very 00s X-Men vibes to it, and that’s not a bad thing. The villains are still learning about the secrets of the X-Mansion as they bring in more prisoners and clearly have plans of their own. It’s one of the better things to rise from the ashes so far giving a vibe of a classic villain in many ways.

Uncanny X-Men #2 looks solid with David Marquez‘s art. Marquez is joined by Matthew Wilson on color and lettering by Clayton Cowles. The new characters’ powers are cool and Cowles’ lettering becomes key for at least one of the characters. It’s solid work introducing the new characters visually and setting the tone for what they bring to the table. The prison too has a great vibe to it with flashbacks to the days of Bastian but at the same time, a hodge podge of an operation getting going from scratch.

Uncanny X-Men #2 is a second issue that continues to build from the debut. It’s a lot of setup and introductions to get the story moving. But, with two issues in doing that, it feels like we really need to get the ball rolling as things also feel like they’re dragging out a bit as well. But, the issue builds a nice mystery in what it teases and doesn’t reveal. There’s a lot of potential here for things to come.

Story: Gail Simone Art: David Marquez
Color: Matthew Wilson Letterer: Clayton Cowles
Story: 7.0 Art: 8.0 Overall: 7.0 Recommendation: Read

Marvel provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review

---

Purchase: TFAW – Zeus Comics – Apotheosis Comics – Kindle