With a little bit of a story out of the way with volume five's closure, the Uncanny X-Men is taking a different turn as it opens its six volume with a rather direct message to the reader that so far we don't really know anything about the younger group of X-Men that suddenly made their way into the lives of the older survivors. There was one volume which quickly went over their backstories, briefly albeit. Something that just told us a little bit about their pasts but nothing major that could be considered some genuine character depth and development. With volume six it was clear that the story wanted to change that a bit, and I mentioned in the review of the fifth volume that I was actually hoping the comic would set aside some of the action for a short while and give us some character development, regardless of who it was about. It has been quite an action heavy story throughout these five volumes, and more depth and reasons to care for our wide range of characters is always welcome. I enjoyed the ways in which the comic had already displayed elements of emotion and personality into some of its characters, especially with the villain we faced for a few volumes. But Rogue had been the main focus up until this point. While her character is great, there's a lot of other ones I had been wanting to see more from. This volume really did give everyone a bit of time, it was quite refreshing how it managed to throw a bit of everyone in to some degree and made the story feel a bit more larger, less structured. Less like characters were only used when they needed to be.
With very little action in this volume, I have to say that I actually really enjoyed it. Though the only major downside was the very evident change in art direction with the temporary switch away from the usual Marquez that had been drawing all the other volumes leading to volume six. The art direction was a massive dive with much of the appeal coming from Marquez and his style, which I think felt much more clean and dynamic, even down to the perspectives and how characters were drawn. I felt that some of the details were missing and that the art felt more lazy and rushed in comparison, where Marquez seemed to have a better grasp on composition and ensured even the more difficult ones still had facial structure evident to them. But the more cartoonish style still had its moments, especially when it came to the backgrounds, of which I think this volume's artist does have quite a good grasp on. I quite liked that side of things. Just the characters were the larger problem for me. That being the only real problem with this volume makes it over all a pretty good one. I enjoyed the focus that was more on the characters, and the way it did have a bit of a tonal shift from the last five volumes which felt like their own story. Whereas this felt like something had been rebooted to some degree, as if some time had passed and things were anew, rather than just a sudden follow-up on the previous events. Perhaps the change in artists also contributed to this feeling.
This tonal shift saw the comic go into something a bit more slice-of-life feeling, with the younger mutants being sent off to school while the adults were just sitting around talking for the most part. Logan having a bit of a mental breakdown to which Rogue announces he clearly has PTSD having lost all of his friends, now left with an alcoholic drink that they had passed down to each other and claimed that the last one would have to drink it. Logan in this state of denial over being the last of his old friends left alive, telling the others that they should bury the drink with him or pass it down. So far Logan's character has been rather numb, one that isn't really happy about being alive nor the last of the old ones. While the character development on his side has been thin, it does make sense that the little we see of him is just sadness. A little more careless and willing to jump into the fights, less worried about the outcome. I would like to see more of this developed, though I'm not sure whether that'll be the case or not. There are only (maybe just in its entirety) eight volumes so far. But some focus on his character and perhaps him finding some purpose again would be nice, something to start and end with. Gambit also had a brief bit of purpose in the story, dealing with one of the younger mutants, though I don't think he really did anything to help, just a brief bit of dialogue. I wouldn't say that was really any development on his end.
With now nine (as of writing this another volume was released) volumes currently out, it still doesn't feel like it's a story that has really established itself so far. Things still feel rather introductory. At a level in which it has told a few mini stories and set up a few characters but not quite the main event just yet. There are some hints here and there with the people that are occupying the former mutant's school and sending the creatures to hunt down the remaining X-Men, but not a whole lot that screams central narrative. I'm curious as to whether this will change or not, I don't mind these smaller narratives popping up here and there, but I do wonder whether the story will turn into something a bit larger down the line.
Still really fun to read despite the artist changing, I did see that it was only for this one volume and Marquez returns as the main artist for the next one. It had its strengths in art and story at least. Though I do think it's a bit odd to have suddenly changed artists for one volume, removing us a little bit from the characters we had been connected do on a more visual level. It was almost like a different story in a way due to that change. Still, a pretty good volume again. But where is that story heading, exactly?
It looks interesting!