Uncanny X-Men #28

By Brian Michael Bendis and Kris Anka

To say things have been tough for the Uncanny X-Men is a bit of an understatement. Cyclops is still a wanted man, Emma frost is no longer with Scott, but still on the team and Magik has problems of her own. All of that aside, they’ve just found out that Charles Xavier, their one time leader, has even more skeletons in his closet. At some point things have to get easier, it just won’t be this month.

This issue Brian Michael Bendis gives us some pretty awesome moments. Beast admitting that Scott Summers was right is pretty classic, although he does get a little carried away with his name. The scenes between Cyclops and Matthew were very good as it showed Cyclops’ more human side. Many assume that he is a cold militant character, but Bendis has really done a nice job of showing his softer side. Bendis has really built up the relationship between Scott and Illyana throughout this series and their friendship and trust is displayed in this issue. It’s one of the more enjoyable parts of the issue and of the series in general.

The art duties are handled by Kris Anka and are a bit uneven. In some panels, like the evolution of the X-Men teams, Anka is extremely effective and his work looks great: but there are other panels where characters are misshapen and look very odd. Beasts’ realization that Scott is correct is handled very well and Storm’s reaction is excellent, but again, a flashback showing Xavier walking in on a crying Cyclops is underwhelming. Anka turns in a decent performance, but not a great one. His colors are very light and work well with his artistic style. His flashback scenes are honestly the best images in the book and he deserves a great deal of credit for that alone.

Uncanny X-Men #28 is a pretty good issue with some decent art. We get to see Cyclops really extend himself to another mutant and continue his crusade to help those in need. Brian Michael Bendis continues his run with consistent character moments and quality story telling. Kris Anka has turned in better performances than this, but it was by no means a terrible issue art wise. Uncanny X-Men is by all means the premier X-Men book and will continue to be that way as long as Bendis pens the title.