"The Rise and Fall of the Shi’ar Empire: Chapter 1—Plan B"
Writer: Ed Brubaker
Artist: Billy Tan (p), Danny Miki (i)
Publisher: Marvel Comics
There is so much possibility of where Uncanny X-Men will go after the first issue of the 12 part "The Rise and Fall of the Shi’ar Empire." What’s going on with the X-Men titles is going to be bigger and better than Civil War. For now, all we see is Professor X hand picking a team to get between Vulcan and the Shi’ar.
Superficially, this is a great team with Professor X, Marvel Girl, Warpath, Polaris, Havok, and Nightcrawler. If Brubaker wanted to, he could have this a kick-ass team. That’d probably be boring. Professor X not only has lost his powers (supposedly), but is showing signs of a feeble mind as he picked some of the most dysfunctional X-Men for this team. Marvel Girl is fearsome, one of the most powerful to pick from, but she has been portrayed as almost high-school aged, and has yet to establish herself on the level of someone like her father, Cyclops (Fanboy note: I know her long history, but this is how she is being portrayed). Warpath is in the same pool, minus the potential power. Polaris is a force, but her pseudo-mutant powers are admittedly fritzy at best. Havok brings in a lot of baggage, being a Summers (their current target is his brother Vulcan) and having a one-way romantic interest in Polaris, plus nearly shooting Warpath in their first battle as a team. Nightcrawler seems to be the most reliable…although he is the son of Lucifer. None of these traits are damning, but they have to fill twelve issues, and it’d give all the characters life-long credibility to watch them go out in the middle of nowhere, f’ up repeatedly, and then overcome their weaknesses in one of the most ambitious arc lengths. The only thing better would be to bring the whole Shi’ar mess with the Uncanny team back to earth to join the giant "Apocalypse" mess that’s about to be created by Sinister (with Sunfire, Gambit, and hopefully the new look Chamber). Throw in a Dark Phoenix sighting (via Marvel Girl), and one of the biggest X-Men storylines will be coming together at once.
Getting back to the issue itself, I honestly had no idea what was going on the first time I read it. After a trip to the shop and internet research I reread the issue and enjoyed it. My problem with it is that there is no exposition, not even the "Previously in X-Men" synopsis. The continuity of multiple X-titles (but not Uncanny, ironically) has been combined here with no explanation of what was going on. Exposition can be annoying, but it is also necessary (luckily a TPB of Blood of the Apocalypse will be out this week, which is important to Polaris’s story). In the opening, Polaris is getting chased by a bunch of well equipped Egyptian cannon fodder, and I had no idea why (even after she said “They’re some kind of anti-Apocalypse cult…been on my trail for a week.”). At least the scene between Warpath and Prof. X at the institute offered insight into who he is and an idea of what his back story is. Most of the other characters are going to seem out of left field to someone who has not been following the X-Men titles, so if you were planning on jumping into X-Men now as they begin this huge story, you should back track with the other titles.
Another insight into what’s to come is provided by the book Nightcrawler reads when Professor X recruits him: Origin of Species by Charles Darwin. A message is being sent by Brubaker, I think. There are so many possibilities of what he's hinting at (especially with the title being "The Rise and FALL of the Shi’ar Empire") that I am just pointing it out as something to think about. Would a genocide of the Shi’ar be broadcasted in the first issue this way?
My emotions are mixed by this issue. Obviously, I am excited thinking about what could happen next, but I can’t ignore that a complicated and confusing storyline begins with an issue that is vague and confusing. No doubt this is an important issue to buy for any X-Men fan. It is just a wretched starting point. Because I think it was poorly plotted out and wasn’t excited by the art, I only give it
, but I still strongly recommend buying it, along with some of the stories leading up to it.What did you think of this book?
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