{"id":10364,"date":"2024-09-11T22:10:43","date_gmt":"2024-09-11T21:10:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/?p=10364"},"modified":"2024-09-11T22:10:43","modified_gmt":"2024-09-11T21:10:43","slug":"uncanny-x-men-2-annotations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/?p=10364","title":{"rendered":"Uncanny X-Men #2 annotations"},"content":{"rendered":"

As always, this post contains spoilers, and page numbers go by the digital edition.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>UNCANNY X-MEN vol 6 #2<\/strong>
\n“Red Wave, part 2: There Was a Before, There Will be an After”<\/strong>
\nWriter: Gail Simone<\/strong>
\nArtist: David Marquez<\/strong>
\nColour artist: Matthew Wilson<\/strong>
\nLetterer: Clayton Cowles<\/strong>
\nEditor: Tom Brevoort<\/strong><\/p>\n

THE X-MEN:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Rogue<\/strong> thinks that it’s fallen to her little group to step up and be the X-Men. She flags that the Outliers were willing to ally with her when most of the former X-Men wouldn’t return her calls. The elephant in the room here is the state of her relationship with Cyclops. They’re clearly in touch and basically cordial – they spoke last issue and speak again in this one. At the end of issue #1 (which leads directly into this one) Rogue said that “Cyclops is building something up there [north], I think”.<\/p>\n

However… this issue includes Rogue’s side of her conversation with Cyclops from X-Men<\/em> #3. If so, this issue comes after X-Men<\/em> #2, where Cyclops’s team showed up publicly in San Francisco, and attracted some public attention. So did Rogue just miss all that? Or does she not regard Cyclops’ team as proper X-Men for some reason? The fact that she calls Cyclops “the last guy I want to talk to” might point in the latter direction.<\/p>\n

Gambit<\/strong> is apparently affected by the Eye of Agamotto which he obtained last issue. It’s described here as the “left” eye, which alludes to the fact that it’s the pair of the one normally found in the custody fo Dr Strange. (For more of the back story, see the Uncanny X-Men<\/em> #1 annotations<\/a> under “Sadurang”.) This plot is a bit odd, since the issue starts with everyone apparently aware of the issue, and I don’t see anything in issue #1 setting it up. Anyway, the Eye fires off an energy blast without Gambit wanting it to. He says he’s “picked up a hitcher” who’s “a bit twitchy”.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Wolverine<\/strong> initially rejects the Outliers’ request for help, surprisingly harshly. He gives two main reasons for that. First, he says that he doesn’t want to be a teacher again and says that some of his students are dead. When? It would have to have happened at some point after the fall of Krakoa – he says that they’re not alive, not merely that they died at some point. So maybe it’s an untold story from the time jump between volumes.<\/p>\n

His other reason is that the Outliers smell of death, so apparently he doesn’t take their pleas for help at face value. Still, he seems to relent after a while.<\/p>\n

Jubilee<\/strong> shows up direct from Free Comic Book Day: X-Men \/ Blood Hunt<\/em>, where she was casing the Graymalkin Prison and decided to join Rogue’s group.<\/p>\n

Cyclops <\/strong>cameos to give us the other side of the conversation from X-Men<\/em> #3. We don’t learn anything new here; it’s the same scene from different perspectives.<\/p>\n

THE SUPPORTING CAST<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Outliers\u00a0<\/strong>– as they’re called on the cover – are a group of superpowered teens who are on the run from “the Hag” – the creature we saw attack Fawn in a forest last issue. More of her in a bit. The Outliers say that a voice led them to the X-Men. The group raise other questions, though. They’re surprisingly effective in a fight despite a lack of formal training; the X-Men do beat them but it’s not a walkover. They come from wildly different parts of the world, which begs the question of how they met.<\/p>\n