Well, apparently I'm not immune to the Marvel ".1" initiative, as I'm now picking up the newest issue of Uncanny X-Men after picking up last week's 534.1, in which a PR team is sent in to work on Magneto's image before the public finds out about the former villain being a member of the team.
This issue, the second written only by Keiron Gillen, is in many ways a sequel to Joss Whedon and John Cassady's Astonishing X-Men run, where the X-Men traveled to Breakworld and did battle with their evil race. This issue serves as a nice introduction to the story, and sums up the previous journey Breakworld for those unfamiliar with it. The opening of the issue is very well done, with Colossus and Kitty Pride sharing a "romantic" lunch, despite the fact that Kitty has been trapped in her intangible form since she was brought back to Earth in a giant bullet (yes, you read that right). The X-Men have been holding onto said bullet, and Magneto is getting antsy because he can't figure out why he cannot control it. Conveniently the head of S.W.O.R.D. shows up and requests the aid of the X-Men, as Colossus defeating the Breakworld leader has caused a vaccuum in power on the planet.
Terry and Rachel Dodson handle the art issues on the book, and since their work is some of my favorites, it factored heavily into my decision to pick this issue up. The characters look great, and I particularly like their version of Magneto. Gillen and the Dodsons have finally given me a reason to pick up Uncanny X-Men again, and my hope is that this issue is the start of something good.
Wait, what happened in the previous issue of Carnage? Making this miniseries a bi-monthly title is killing it.
Oh that's right, Cletus Kasady was revealed to be alive and well. The penultimate issue of the return of Carnage reveals how Cletus survived being ripped into shreds by The Sentry, and it's a pretty cool revelation. Essentially the symbiote allows his lungs to use carbon dioxide to breathe, which in turn allows the symbiote to survive. Unfortunately, Carnage's dialogue in this issue is pretty terrible. Maybe it's Zeb Wells' script, but the "quips" that Carnage makes while attacking Iron Man and Spidey are some of the worst I've ever read.
Bad jokes and quips aside, this issue offers some pretty cool revelations regarding Carnage, and the armored guards who showed up in the previous issues. The company that employs them was also the same company that recovered Carnage when he returned to Earth. Of course, being greedy scientists, they decided that the smart thing to do would be to harness parts of the symbiote to power their armored suit technology. Of course Carnage can realize this, and proceeds to rip them apart. We also get more of Shriek and Doppelganger Spider, as well as a revelation regarding a certain "bundle of joy" on the way. Although I'm pretty sure the already forgotten Toxin fulfills that character slot in relation to Carnage.
The art by Clayton Crain is great at first, but once Carnage absorbed himself into one of the other guards it became very messy and hard to follow. Despite this, there are some great action scenes, like when Iron Man drops the truck on Carnage, are great, and if you've already picked up the previous three issues, there's not point in stopping now. Even if you may need a few minutes to remember what happened when issue 5 comes out.
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