The Uncanny X-Men #21 // Review
Valentin’s father is pointing a shotgun at him. Valentn doesn’t appear to be allt that stunned by the situation maybe it's because he knows his father is capable of pulling the trigger. Maybe it's because he knows that he's got superpowers that would likely make any slug from a shotgun completely irrelevant. He’s about to get an offer from his father inThe Uncanny X-Men #21. Writer Gail Simone delivers a well-aimed one-shot story that is brought to page and panelt by artist Lucciano Vecchio and colorist Matthew Wilson. The team dynamic isn’t as big as it could be in this issue. It’s a tight, little focus on two characters, but it’s a lot of fun.
It's also possible that some of his lack of fear might have to do with the gentleman standing to his right. He's a short guy, but he's got an adamantium skeleton, claws to match and a crazy healing factor. Valentin’s farther isn’t really after him OR Wolverine. He wants them to find Valentin’s brother. Wolverine agrees to help, but he’s going to help because of Valentin...not his father. It’s a search that will find them, oddly enough, at a comic book convention...
Simone rather tightly frames a few father-and-son-style relationships in the course of a story that renders quite a bit of traditional family drama right along with the more traditional Marvel mutant drama. Power and authority of varying kinds ricochet across the page in a fast paced story that features quite a bit of energy throughout. We've had humor of the issue might feel a little silly. Nevertheless, it manages a certain amount of charm fat service has a charming accompaniment to the central drama, which actually ends up being very heartwarming in its own way. Quite a balance of various different elements.
Vecchio’s style relax, a certain amount of detail. That lack of detail makes the adventure feel a little bit vacant in places. There is a whole lot of atmosphere where they really should be a lot of it. This is, after all, comic book convention. There's going to be a lot of detail around the edges. The central action is executed quite well, though. The drama is powerfully present in places. Particularly as Valentin negotiate the twists and terms of his current situation.
The coming of age exploration in this particular issue feels a lot better framed than most of what had been attempted in the early days by Claremont in the first issues of the new mutants. Claremont didn't have a whole lot of patients to just let us single story move across the page. And so a lot of what he was saying somatically was submerged in a whole lot of other plot developments that were moving and cascading around the corners of any given issue of his run. Simone has a great deal more patience to explore just one particular relationship in this particular issue. And there's a great deal of energy put forth in it. That seems to be working quite well.
