Customer Reviews

House of M: Uncanny X-Men

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

The Uncanny X-Men's portion of the most recent of the endless tides of "Universe-Shattering" cross-overs from Marvel that aided their financial near ruin in the late 1990s pretty much is a sales gimmick for the new Excalibur series. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed it, but it was NOT an X-Men story, and from the crossover stand point, added little to nothing to the "House of M"; but don't get me wrong, it's a good read, but one should know what to expect from this book before buying it.

Skipping over the House of M back story but, in the altered world in which mutants rule as the highest class, the Braddock's have been made the royal house of the United Kingdom. Capt. Britain (Brian Braddock) begins the story off-world, and is a first-hand witness of the damage caused by the change in earth's "reality" to the rest of the universe. For the sake of the Universe, Roma (guardian of order, etc...) must obliterate the Earth, but Capt. Brit. has one small shot at saving his world and all of reality therein.

However, once he reaches his native, though now drastically altered, world, Capt. Britian falls to the influence of the reality-warping effects. What follows is, for the most part, a reunion of Excalibur in the world of the House of M, and their mad dash to save all reality from the damage that has been wrought by the warping of their world.

Pros: The story is great, and as a fan of the old Excalibur series and the House of M, I rather enjoyed it. It's the sort of over-the-top yet still light hearted that made the early issues of Excalibur so much fun to read (the period in which Chris Claremont was writing the series). It breaks away from the heavy-handed, "reality-driven" themes that have gained precedent in Marvel Comics of late, but does not drown its self in campiness or continuity. Plus, Rachael Summers (who keeps switching names with her mommy) and Betsy Braddock (Psylocke) are two of my favorite X-Men that get all too little exposure.

Cons: This story was the least involved, in my opinion, of all the House of M stories with the over-riding plot that the cross-over brought to the table. Also, the desperate struggle for our heroes to save all reality from an esoteric hole in space is about as innovative and idea as killing Magneto.

Over all I recommend this if you read House of M and are already a fan of the X-Men, but its Excalibur fans who will absolutely LOVE this!

One of the most effected books from Brian Michael Bendis' House of M was the various X-Men books, but you wouldn't tell by reading this tie-in. House of M: Uncanny X-Men follows the saga of Captain Britain as he finds himself trapped in the alternate reality world where mutants are the dominant species. There's a side story as well involving Marvel Girl and Psylocke, but the total effect of the TPB is just plain boring. Since legendary X-Men scribe Chris Claremont made his return to the X-books, there have been a number of ups and downs, and while this isn't his lowest point (X-Treme X-Men anyone?), he has certainly done much better than anything to be found here. In all actuality though, this is actually more of a setup for Claremont's New Excalibur series than anything else really. Alan Davis' artwork is always worth the price of admission though, so this isn't a complete loss. All in all, this is one House of M tie-in that's better left on the shelf.

The House of M was my return to the comic world. I have been a big fan of the series and have liked most of the stories.

As stated the Scarlett Witch has the power to change reality to the point of where she becomes a threat to existence itself after she looses her mind. Professor Xavier and Dr. Strange try to help but fail. The Avengers and the X-Men meet to decide her future but before any plans can be made; Magneto at the urging of QuickSilver moves to save her by having her recreate the world. Mutants are in control and the Homo Sapiens are the oppressed.

This particular story was ok. I have not read the Excalibur series nor had I followed Captain Britain and I suspect this would have increased my liking of the story.

In this reality Captain Britain is in charge of Great Britain. He observes a situation where it appears the universe will be destroyed. He then sets out to save his particular universe(there are hints events will affect other universes).

Overall, this is not a bad story. If haven't followed Great Britain or Excalibur, then it's hard to say whether or not you will like this story. I suspect previous knowledge will greatly enhance the story for people.

If you have only followed the House of M, you might find yourself wondering where this fits in. There are side stories and this one is more of a periphery story.

I'm afraid I have to agree with the negative reviews here ... unless you're a Captain Britain fan, not even psylocke and rachel summers can save this graphic novel from itself. Mediocre at best and not necessary for enjoyment of the entire House of M experience ...

I disagree with the one-star scrooges! This book is a nicely crafted alternate reality tale that spins out of HOUSE OF M. In fact, the two spin-offs I have read, the other being HULK, were BETTER than the mini-series event they were tied to. Yes, there's Captain Britain on hand, but he's a part of the X-Men mythos going back TWENTY years via the x-book EXCALIBER. Plus we get Psylocke and Rachel Grey/Marvel Girl, and a whole mess of alternate reality versions of your fave Marvel characters. All this and there's the incomparable Alan Davis on art alongside Chris Bacchalo's unique stylings.

Anyone can tell me which graphic novel that has Uncanny Xmen #466-471? (the New Age Series) There is a new graphic novel of Volume 5, but it begins at issue #472. I have been trying to find it. Help me? Thanks.

First of all, the majority of these 4 issues are not really about the X-Men. This is really a setup for New Excalibur, which would be fine if the story was any good, but it's not.
Keep in mind I am not a fan of the original Excalibur series, so if you enjoyed that series, you may like this as well. I never cared for Captain Britain as a character, but I stick to core X-Men books. But despite that, on it's own this story has a lot of problems. First of all, it's set in the House of M universe, so almost everything that occurs is pointless, except for maybe establishing the charcters that will appear in New Excalibur. But let's ignore that too. The plot is extremely hard to make sense of (in part due to Chris Bachalo's extremely convoluted artwork) and especially the conclusion, which involves one of the characters doing some kind of power thingie to bring an end to the situation, but having to leave and disappear in order to do it. Aside from the details of who it was and what the situation was, there is no real explanation on what happens. What said character did, how it worked, and why they disappeared are left completely in the dark.
Uncanny issues #466-471 are collected in Uncanny Vol. 4- End of Greys, which for some reason does not appear to be sold on Amazon. That is a much better story written by Claremont, I'd say some of his best work since returning to the X-books in 2000. If you're not a completist or Excalibur fan, I recommend skipping House of M: Uncanny X-Men and tracking down this one.

The X-Men are the group most affected by the events of House of M, further proof of which you can find in Decimation and The 198. They play a big part in House of M, so an Uncanny X-Men tie-in seemed redundant. I can agree that if you're an Excalibur fan you may want to pick this up, but I didn't find that it helped with the House of M storyline.

Claremont is totally washed up. I'd compare everything he's written in the past 5 or 6 years since coming back to X-Men to what it would be like to watch a bunch of 60-70 year old hall of fame professional athletes come back and play against a current batch of all stars. He used to have the stuff, but he's spent. I've read better fan fic than the overexpository horribly rambling and dated dialogue that he puts out. Sometimes it's better to go out on top of your game. Obviously Claremont doesn't agree.

Frankly this book is terrible and I wasted my money on it. Capt Britain is the lamest character ever and it is only named Uncanny X-men to sell the books i'm sure.