The Age of Revelation is upon us, but you wouldn’t automatically know it from reading Unbreakable X-Men this week. Brought to us by Gail Simone, the scribe behind Uncanny X-Men, and the ever-talented Lucas Werneck, fresh off of his work on Storm, Unbreakable X-Men introduces us to the future of the Uncanny X-Men team in Louisiana.
The issue begins with a jump to 7 years into the future, rather than 10. Galactus is menacing the Uncanny X-Men team in search of a new herald, and it’s up to the Louisiana X-Men to stop them. There are some notable changes to the team. Ransom has been deemed the team leader, while Calico and Jitter are nowhere to be seen. Temper, a member of the Alaska X-Men, is part of the Louisiana team alongside her husband, Ransom. The showdown with Galactus is sudden and odd, and ends tragically.
The remainder of the issue explores Gambit’s grief. After surviving his wife’s passing, Gambit is a shell of his former self. He loses his sight, ages significantly in 3 years, and takes care of his cats in relative quiet in the Haven House as life goes on. Temper and Ransom have a son, and Jubilee and Nightcrawler leave the team. It’s a sombre issue in that regard. But the strange plot jumps don’t end with Galactus. Atlantis and the Dark Artery play a role, too. There is a brief action sequence involving zombies, and Henrietta from Simone and Marquez’s Dark Artery story reappears, promising fresh terror to the world, straight from Louisiana.
If that feels like a brief summary, it’s because it is a brief issue. It’s no shorter than any other, but the issue feels oddly quick and light for all that happens. Much of it is narrated by Gambit. And while his grief is understandable and well depicted in parts, it does become a bit tiring to read, at the risk of sounding insensitive. What’s more, the inclusion of Galactus and Atlantis feels extremely out of place in the story Simone had previously built, to the point of being jarring additions. Nothing in Uncanny X-Men has really hinted at either being a factor in the story, and while alternate futures allow for big swings, this felt like too big a swing.
Honestly, this book doesn’t feel connected to the broader Age of Revelation event. There’s no real reference to Revelation or what has become of the world in the time that has passed, which feels like a strange decision. Age of Apocalypse was successful because all the writers were working in tandem. Age of Revelation already has stories pulling in multiple different directions with little connective tissue. The continuity itself is an issue, as Cyclops and Beast appear in the issue, unscarred and unchanged, despite it being 7 years in the future.
The art by Lucas Werneck is the saving grace in the issue. Werneck draws and colours the full issue, and the characters are rendered beautifully, with unique and cool costumes that befit them 10 years in the future, and with a truly awesome sense of scale when Galactus appears. Atmosphere and beauty are things Werneck excels at, and it’s on clear display here.
Ultimately, Unbreakable X-Men is not a bad story in its own right. Still, it feels out of place in this event, unconnected to the broader Age of Revelation story, and even disconnected from the story Gail Simone was telling. The art, however, is excellent, and some pages of Gambit’s grief are quite moving, even if it is dwelt on for too long.
‘Unbreakable X-Men’ #1 Galactus, Zombies, and the Louisiana X-Men
Unbreakable X-Men is not a bad story in its own right. Still, it feels out of place in this event, unconnected to the broader Age of Revelation story, and even disconnected from the story Gail Simone was telling. The art, however, is excellent, and some pages of Gambit’s grief are quite moving, even if it is dwelt on for too long.
