UNCANNY X-MEN #284 – January 1992

Into the Void

Credits: Whilce Portacio (plot, pencils), Art Thibert (inks), John Byrne (script), Michael Heisler (letters), Glynis Oliver & Joe Rosas

Summary

Sunfire investigates a giant void in the Sakhalin Islands. Monstrous-looking aliens (who look nothing like The Predator at all) emerge from the pit and attack him. The X-Men see reports of the attack and arrive to help him. One of the aliens loses her mask and is revealed to actually be humanoid. The void suddenly turns into a black hole and sucks in the X-Men. Meanwhile, Bishop and his men execute more of the escaped future fugitives.

Continuity Notes

Sunfire’s ‘90s-era armor debuts in this issue. Byrne’s script has even Sunfire making fun of the ridiculous new outfit. I think he wore this thing for several years.

Jean comments that if she returns from the dead one more time, she’ll be walking cliché.

Professor Xavier speculates that the White Queen could’ve transferred her mind into someone else’s body, also. Her body is specifically referred to as a corpse, there’s no mention of her being in a coma.

Review

Another issue with a barely discernable plot. There’s really nothing I can say about this issue that I haven't said in the previous Uncanny reviews. I guess this issue is slightly better than the previous ones, if only because it doesn’t casually kill off dozens of established characters. As a kid, I didn’t notice the sometimes shoddy plotting of Jim Lee’s X-Men, but these Uncanny issues always struck me as awful. Lee’s plots at least pay some attention to the characters and (usually) establish his ideas clearly. Uncanny at this point is just a total mess. There’s absolutely nothing engaging about the stories at all, and nothing to make you care about the characters in any way. X-Force is actually a more enjoyable comic at this point.