Uncanny X-Men #15.INH
Writer: Brian Michael Bendis
Art: Kris Anka
Colors: Rain Beredo
Lettering & Production: Joe Caramagna & Chris Eliopoulos
Review by Joey Braccino
Don’t let that awkward .INH tag on the end of this week’s Uncanny X-Men numbering fool you; Uncanny X-Men #15.INH is one of the best comics on the stands this week, if not this month.
As the spectacular Kris Anka-cover boasts, it’s GIRLS’ NIGHT OUT for the Uncanny X-(Wo)Men! The last few months have been tough for our merry mutants, so the Cuckoo Sisters and Tempus rope Jean Grey and Magik into a night of shopping and fast-fooding. Before hitting the town, the girls cautiously coax Professors Emma Frost and Kitty Pryde to join their little party. And the hilarity ensues.
From quips about Jean Grey’s ‘60s ensemble to awkwardly staged sleeping sequences featuring “Ice Queen” Emma Frost, Uncanny X-Men #15.INH is one hilarious comic from cover to cover. Bendis brings the wit hard as our X-Ladies tour London. Kris Anka’s animated art mixes Olivier Coipel and Stuart Immonen’s cinematic stylings with Nick Bradshaw’s poppy dynamism. For those unfamiliar with Anka’s wonderful artwork, take a gander at this lovely X-piece that floated around the interwebs earlier this year:
Even with all the humor and light-hearted fun, Bendis doesn’t forget that this is an Inhumanity tie-in, and the pertinence of the Terrigen fall-out from Infinity to the X-Men results in some exquisite drama to round out this issue. For what it’s worth, I’m really interested in how the explosion of Inhuman “mutants” will affect our X-mutants. Having not one, but two isolated and persecuted parties in the Marvel Universe opens the door to so many potential stories: hope, collaboration, fear, intimidation, blame, etc. The climax of this issue, which sees the X-Ladies meeting one of these new Inhumans (who, it just so happens, is also terribly mutant-phobic), is juxtaposed expertly with the relative nonchalance and “Finally, some fun”-feel of the Girls Night that takes up the first half of the pages. Wonderful.
Verdict
Buy it. Read it. Laugh and think. Uncanny X-Men #15.INH is an Inhumanity tie-in insomuch as the emergence-of-superpowers-as-a-metaphor-for-the-painful-process-of-self-discovery is quintessential X-Men stock-and-trade. Brian Michael Bendis knows this, and this issue promises a whole new world for our merry band of mutants. Kris Anka’s artwork is wonderfully classy. This issue is simply stunning on all fronts. Check it!
