Uncanny X-Men #22

By Brian Michael Bendis, Chris Bachalo and Tim Townsend

Uncanny X-Men is wrapping up a big arc in which S.H.I.E.L.D. has been targeting mutants and starting an unnecessary war. In the meantime, Cyclops’ revolution team has been secretly getting attacked by a mysterious character with a Mysterio-esque mask on. All of the mysteries and problems are solved this issue and wrapped up nicely.

There aren’t very many areas where Brian Michael Bendis doesn’t excel as a writer. He really wraps many of the plot points up nicely this month and several characters get redemption, like Dazzler and Hijack. There could also be some potential foreshadowing, as Scott and Hank work together for the first time in years. Bendis gives us some good character moments this issue as well, Cyclops and Hank are a huge highlight, but Dazzler asking for her walkman is an awesome scene too. One gripe though is how incompetent the S.H.I.E.L.D. employees come off, Maria Hill especially. They have been in the dark the whole arc and Bendis writes a great scene where Cyclops says exactly that.

The art is done by Chris Bachalo, and it has it’s ups and downs. One of the big downsides to this issue is the lack of detail in many panels. At times characters look very crude and almost unrecognizable. As the identity of Dome Head is revealed, the reader will have to wait for the dialogue to say who he is, because he looks odd. Bachalo does shine in action sequences with the Sentinels and he also has nice panels when characters are drawn close up. His style is always very interesting, but can often be rough when he is rushed.

Bendis did a very nice job tidying up this story and getting many things back to normal. For the most part the characters were well written and came off great. Chris Bachalo’s art continues to take you out of the story as it is just mediocre this issue. That being said, overall this was a good read and Bendis continues to give us X-Men stories that matter and do the characters justice.