Uncanny X-Men #15

By Cullen Bunn, Greg Land, Ibraim Roberson, Jay Leisten and David Curiel

If there is one thing that makes a comic book run great, it’s consistency. The ability to consistently put out a decent product is something that will keep fans coming back and critics happy. For proof of this, look no further than Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo’s epic run on Batman. They consistently had great stories and art and you would be hard pressed to find someone who didn’t love that run. This brings us to Uncanny X-Men. Cullen Bunn’s run has been the best X-Men run of this new batch of titles released post Secret Wars. As we move forward, and the possibility for team shake-ups start to happen, we get a solo Psylocke story that shows us her frame of mind after her splinter from Magneto last issue.

Cullen Bunn’s time on Uncanny X-Men has been a pleasant experience for anyone who loves classic, character driven X-Men tales. He’s taken the time to flesh out all the characters on the roster and give them each something to work with. This issue is all about Psylocke. Bunn’s internal monologue of her thoughts is great. We see Betsy question if she is going through this list of villains of her own free will or if she was manipulated by Magneto the entire time. Bunn also gives fans the chance to see Betsy just whoop some serious butt as she takes out some formidable foes by herself. One of the more fun things about Bunn’s run has also been his use of C-list characters; we get appearances by Sauron and the Nasty Boys this issue, how cool is that? After an issue like this, we have to really question what Magneto really had his hands in. If there is one thing we know, it’s that Bunn loves Magneto and writes him well, so him being a big part of the issue without even being in it, shows how important he is to the X-books. An overall well written issue that gives the reader good insight into the mind of Psyocke as she drifts away from the team.

The pencils this issue are handled by Greg Land with Ibraim Robinson, inks by Jay Leisten and colors by David Curiel and Jay David Ramos. For the most part, the pencils were good, but you can tell the difference in style between Land and Robinson. The issue is drawn well and you would be hard pressed to find bad panels. This is an issue that consists of several battles, all of which look good. Who hasn’t wanted to see Sauron take a psychic knife to the face before? The violence is fine, as hands get lost and swords penetrate people with a good amount of blood. The inks by Jay Leisten make the panels smooth and really give the images a nice clean look. On colors, Curiel and Ramos do a nice job here too. The dark shading in the first couple of pages as Psylocke battles sentinels is impressive. As a severed hand goes flying into the darkness, we see bright red flying toward darkness, which is cool.

Uncanny X-Men 15 is another wonderful issue to add to Cullen Bunn’s run on the series. The art, despite having several hands on it, is consistent and good. You really can’t say enough about the quality of this series.