UNCANNY X-MEN #285-286: Down the Rabbit Hole / Close Call!

The X-Men get sucked into intrigue on an alien world!

X-MEN #5: Blowback

The X-Men hunt down Wolverine's abductors!

UNCANNY X-MEN #284: Into the Void!

The X-Men try to Avoid the Void!

X-MEN #4: The Resurrection and the Flesh

Wolverine runs afoul of his past

UNCANNY X-MEN #283: Bishop's Crossing

The X-Men meet their biggest fan

Coming Soon: The Not Totally New, Only Somewhat Different UNCANNY X-CERPTS

So!

For the past six (!!) years, I have had the pleasure of chronicling every issue of Uncanny X-Men in my unique way. I like to think this blog has its own vibe that allows it to exist alongside the constellation of X-Men readthrough projects, giving readers a really complete look at the content, form and message of every issue of Uncanny we've covered so far with one or two clever turns of phrase along the way. In fact, looking back I would say I have done more work than I ever intended or thought possible when I started up in 2017.

I always knew I would reach a crossroads sooner or later when it came time to launch the second flagship X-Men title in 1991, whenever that ended up happening. I was able to shrug off the launches of New Mutants and X-Factor (and X-Force) because as much as they contribute to the story they aren't "the main story" of the X-Men, and I only need address them when they collide. X-Men (as in the 1991 series) is a different beast (in fact, it features Beast.) It is as much "the story" of the X-Men as Uncanny is, featuring a separate but equal group of characters (boy that's a problematic phrase) that sometimes intersects with Uncanny.

I always planned to cover X-Men #1-3 as a farewell to Claremont, but beyond that I wasn't sure what would become of this blog.

Literally up until the last moment I've wrestled with how to address this: I don't have time to write 1500 words twice per week, but alternating these titles weekly will extend this project out until seemingly the end of time. I could ignore adjectiveless X-Men altogether and pay the price of sorting out confusion whenever the titles do intertwine, but I get so much pleasure out of writing and thinking about the X-Men that it seems a waste. This is especially because X-Men vol 2 is the place to see Wolverine (and Jubilee, and Rogue, and Gambit, and other characters I happen to like.)

So what's a guy to do?

Every write-up on X-Cerpts is pretty fulsome. I never have to force my way to 1500 words, I more or less just write organically and it usually comes out pretty long, sometimes longer or shorter. I dig deep into each plot element, for clarity and to do jokey-jokes about them, as well as feeling like I've fully explored the territory. It's work -- work worth doing, but work.

So maybe, if I want to cover the second X-Men title, I need to give myself a break.

You're going to see me experiment with the form a little bit over the coming weeks and months, to see exactly what the balance is. I still expect my Monday posts to be as long as enjoyable as they always were, but there may be additional posts throughout the week to supplement that as I figure out how to do less and make it count. I feel pretty good about this because these comics are good and worthwhile, but at the end of the day they are the product of an era where style was a bit more important than substance.

At the end of the day, I want to give you more X-Cerpts, not less, and I don't want to slow my already crawling pace through X-history to a near standstill where it takes me twice as long to get through a year of stories, when there's so much left to go.

This whole thing is about to become a little (maybe a lot) more elastic, but I promise I will at the very least continue to post nearly every Monday as usual. For more updates you should subscribe to our Substack, where I also muse off-topic about things and you get additional bonus content. It's free! What a steal.

I hope you enjoy what is coming up, as much as you have what I've been giving so far (or maybe even more!)

All the best

-Scotto

X-MEN #3: Fallout!

This is it, folks!