Uncanny X-Men: Rise and Fall of the Shi'ar Empire

Collects Uncanny X-Men #475-486, written by Ed Brubaker with art by Billy Tan and Clayton Henry.

This book takes over right where X-Men: Genesis ends. Professor X, feeling slightly responsible for the whole Genesis/Vulcan debacle, convinces a bunch of X-Men to go with him into space to stop Vulcan before he does something bad to the Shi'ar. Meanwhile, a coup against Lilandra involving none other than Deathbird is being planned in Shi'ar-land, and the Vulcan and the X-Men pretty much stumble their way into this. The story is an action packed race against time with several sides aiming for their own agendas. As is usually the case with these kinds of stories, the whole thing ends with a big shebang involving all the players, and when the dust settles everything is back to normal, except in this story that is not the case, but nothing has happened that will make your eyes pop out.

This is an epic story with focus aimed straight at surprising turns of events and keeping the action flowing. Attention to dialogue and characterization is lacking, but that just goes to show that Brubaker can do action as well. The plot is split up into two parallel story lines drawn by two different artists. The main story line follows the X-Men while the other story line follows Vulcan, and in the end the two story lines become one, as all participants get together and start fighting This is a great way to keep a long story interesting and keep the story moving.

I guess it's a matter of taste, but I can't get myself to like Billy Tan's art. He's obviously out of the gritty Image school of comic artists, and all those angry faces and dark lines makes my head hurt a little. He does action scenes pretty well, though, and those do play a big role in this book, so it's not all bad. But before doing X-Men again he should at least learn how to draw bald guys...

Tan handles the art of the main story line, while the art on the other story line is handled by Clayton Henry, whose art I like a lot better, although he should hire someone to do backgrounds for him, because he doesn't seem to bother doing them himself. His characters, however, are excellent and give the feel of classic superheroics without seeming dated.

Criminal, Captain America or Daredevil this is not, but sometimes a 200+ pg. brawl in space is just what the doctor ordered. If you're in the mood for something like this you are pretty sure to be entertained, if not, go read something else. The art is a matter of taste, but it does kind of suit the story. I recommend this book for those who are looking for a long drawn out action story that won't make their brains spin too hard.

6/10