Book of the Week 1/4/08 Uncanny X-men #494

Written by Ed Brubaker
Pencils by Billy Tan
Inks by Danny Miki and Allen Martinez
Coloring by Frank D'Armata
Letters by Joe Caramagna

This was a pretty light week and I know I've been raving about Messiah Complex but Uncanny was truly the best book that came out this week and that is due to the twists and turns that this story is taking.


When Marvel started teasing this event months ago they told us there would be a lot of twists and you would see certain characters do things that you wouldn't expect but I have truly been shocked by the last two issues.

The last issue ending with two very powerful revelations. The first being that Bishop may be a traitor to the team and the second being that the alternate future that Jamie and Layla are in is the same future that Bishop came from. In Mike Carey's X-men run you saw Sinister and the Marauders taking out any mutants with time-traveling capabilities or knowledge of the future but Bishop wasn't on the list and while I noticed it then, I thought he was just being overlooked as a character because he often is.

Well he clearly was not overlooked and Lucas Bishop seems very determined to kill this new mutant baby and we have no idea why. It's been 10 issues so far and while I still don't know what's going on, I'm loving this ride and this issue really seemed like it was a turning point and we're heading into the downward spiral.

Brubaker seems to have the strongest issues in this crossover so far but the whole story has been splendid. Tan's art seems to be improving with every issue and he's really growing on me. (now if he could only figure out how to draw Scott's visor like it's not the most ridiculous thing in the world).

So we're almost to the finish and I loved the last page of this book and I'm excited about what it's going to mean to the rest of the story. As an African American male I'm a big fan of Bishop and hope he has his reasons for his actions, but it's not looking good for him at this point.