The X-Men regroup after the devastating Phoenix event in Avengers vs X-Men, with Cyclops taking the lead of his outlaw band of mutants and establishes the New Charles Xavier School. He, Emma Frost, Magik and Magneto collect new students from around the world, as new cases of teens gaining abilities out of nowhere are popping up all over.
The Avengers hear of Cyclops’ mission and try to stop him. Being partial to the X-Men, I feel that the Avengers came off as pricks with a holier than thou vibe. They got shown up when one of the new mutants used her powers to trap them, and the X-Men made their escape. The team head to the Jean Grey School for Higher Learning where they meet up with Kitty Pride, Wolverine and Havok who are leading a second school for mutants. Their differences are established, and it is sad to see such divisions among the former teammates, but a few students there switch over to Cyclops’ new school.
In the midst of this, we learn of a mole in the Uncanny team, and later are unsure if this team member is being truthful, or if there will be further double or triple crosses. Cyclops is torn about what he did to Professor X, and his culpability level as his, Emma’s and Magneto’s powers were compromised by the Phoenix. They need new mutants as much as the new students need their guidance. The last chapter concentrates on Magik and her connection to Darkchild and the demon world. A cliff hanger is set up and this new team has their work cut out for them.
Right off, I was at a disadvantage as surprisingly I have not read A vs X (edit, now I have!), so I struggled with my background knowledge. Most comics, including this one, try to fill the reader in on past events through dialogue between characters but I had to search some Marvel Wiki pages for info to fill in my knowledge gaps. What I probably should have done, is set this book aside until I read the other book, but I was on a time crunch and soldiered on.
Artist Chris Bachalo illustrates chapters one through four, while Frazer Irving takes over for chapter five. As the style changes dramatically in the last chapter, and not for the better, I was not happy. I liked Frazer’s backgrounds better with his swirling colors, but Bachalo’s illustrations of the heroes were far superior. If I am to read further into the series, first I must read A vs X, and then see if the art holds up in future volumes.
-Nancy
Graphic Novelty² 
April 6, 2018 at 12:06 pm
I wasn’t that keen on this version of Uncanny X-Men, for much the same reasons as you, because of that change of artists. You mention A V X, which precedes this. That was quite good, although the art also varied a lot, but I enjoyed the storyline. Will be interesting to hear youu views on it once you’ve read it from the library.
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April 6, 2018 at 1:03 pm
Considering I like X-Men more than the Avengers, I haven’t really read many X-Men titles in the last few years. I need to remedy that- first with A vs X!
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April 6, 2018 at 3:19 pm
I’ve always preferred to X-Men to the Avengers as well. Think that’s why I enjoyed AvX, certainly well worth checking out 🙂
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April 6, 2018 at 6:27 pm
I was really taken with the direction that this X-Men team goes in the aftermath of AvX. It feels really natural for Cyclops to turn into a revolutionary icon after the complete collapse of his San Francisco based mutant-PR project. I loved the Utopia years, and seeing Cyclops deal with all of his failures during that time is really compelling stuff. The new mutants that they bring on are really interesting too (I really want Goldballs, Tempus, and Triage to get more development, but they seem to be pretty strictly confined to this series for the few years that Bendis wrote it).
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April 7, 2018 at 5:37 pm
Ha- I enjoyed Goldballs, Tempus, and Triage too! It’s too bad when new characters are introduced just to have them ignored later in other story lines or by other authors.
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April 7, 2018 at 5:55 pm
I know! I’ve read a *lot* of X-Men comics, and I’m always disappointed when I fall in love with all the new characters but only a couple of them keep getting attention once their initial series end.
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