Uncanny Spider-Man #1 Review *spoilers*

[RAWRlrus]

More inclined to think it was when she was fighting off Xavier’s influence, she started bleeding from the face. I wonder if this means Mystiques forgotten everything else at this point? Does she know who she is, remember Rogue or Destiny even.

That's an interesting point. Maybe something at the Gala plus the mental damage from Xaiver/the fall triggered an old memory that she's reliving?

[Tobinator]

Overall, I'd say it's not great, but it's leaps and bounds better than WoX, LoX, and SoX.

The attempts at humor felt too forced. Like, Kurt had to say "I'm going to tell a joke now!" and the jogger's dialog was absolutely bonkers. Actually, the rhythm of the "park" homonym joke reminded me of the beginning of Princess and the Frog when Naveen said "You're finally getting into the music! Do you get my joke? Because your head, it is in the tuba!"

I am still iffy on Kurt's crisis of conscience. Literally every X-man has killed someone while possessed; Kurt even killed his brother while in full control of himself and he didn't spiral like this. And "carrying the weight of an entire species," being the team "mascot," has again been Kurt's stock and trade since Wolverine convinced him to turn off his image inducer in 1986. Maybe I need to go back and read through Fall of X. Just going by the synopsis, I feel like Kurt didn't need the personal angst motivation, he just needed to be stuck on earth after FoX and decide to go superheroing because that's what heroes do, and his angst could have just been about the loss of his people and his being stuck there. It'd be kinda like the beginning of Excalibur.

Once again, it feels like Spurrier is trying really hard to make up for WoX by overplaying Kurt's sex appeal. Every girl's gotta call him a hottie. I'm surprised the guys didn't as well.

The book doesn't have a clear direction yet, but it looks like that's the point, because Kurt doesn't have a clear direction. Now that I think of it, that seems to be how Nightcrawler books usually start.

Still, Spurrier finally got Kurt's basic personality right---the jovial mask over the insecurities. So it's definitely a step in the right direction. I think this would work with another pass at the jokes and a better understanding of Kurt's motivation.

[Nicoclaws]

Claremont had every single woman in his books call Kurt a "cutie". I think even if Spurrier overdoes it, it's at least following a tradition

[Master of Sound]

Quick ask; Did any mutant besides Kurt and Mystique appear? This for the FoX mutants whereabouts overview.

[Su_Whisterfield]

Quick ask; Did any mutant besides Kurt and Mystique appear? This for the FoX mutants whereabouts overview.

Feral is being held by Orchis under The Vulture’s not so tender mercy. He has other mutants too, according to the dialogue but they aren’t named.

[Proxy]

Overall, I'd say it's not great, but it's leaps and bounds better than WoX, LoX, and SoX.

The attempts at humor felt too forced. Like, Kurt had to say "I'm going to tell a joke now!" and the jogger's dialog was absolutely bonkers. Actually, the rhythm of the "park" homonym joke reminded me of the beginning of Princess and the Frog when Naveen said "You're finally getting into the music! Do you get my joke? Because your head, it is in the tuba!"

I am still iffy on Kurt's crisis of conscience. Literally every X-man has killed someone while possessed; Kurt even killed his brother while in full control of himself and he didn't spiral like this. And "carrying the weight of an entire species," being the team "mascot," has again been Kurt's stock and trade since Wolverine convinced him to turn off his image inducer in 1986. Maybe I need to go back and read through Fall of X. Just going by the synopsis, I feel like Kurt didn't need the personal angst motivation, he just needed to be stuck on earth after FoX and decide to go superheroing because that's what heroes do, and his angst could have just been about the loss of his people and his being stuck there. It'd be kinda like the beginning of Excalibur.

Once again, it feels like Spurrier is trying really hard to make up for WoX by overplaying Kurt's sex appeal. Every girl's gotta call him a hottie. I'm surprised the guys didn't as well.

The book doesn't have a clear direction yet, but it looks like that's the point, because Kurt doesn't have a clear direction. Now that I think of it, that seems to be how Nightcrawler books usually start.

Still, Spurrier finally got Kurt's basic personality right---the jovial mask over the insecurities. So it's definitely a step in the right direction. I think this would work with another pass at the jokes and a better understanding of Kurt's motivation.

It’s not too clear on exactly what Kurt’s big angst is about just yet- could be he thinks all his friends are dead, that they lost everything and everyone after all their hard work…again. He’s seen the brutality of this fallout too many times before. Maybe that he was forced to kill (he’s supported and guided friends who’d done it before, but I think this is the first time it happened to him, that he wasn’t in control) Stephen wasn’t deliberate. Could be he’s feeling abandoned and betrayed by Margali and unsupported by his found family.

Or all the above. Kurt just seems tired and wants a break to do the small stuff and ignore the bigger picture until it inevitably shoves itself in his face.
Kurt doesn’t always take trauma on the chin, in Excalibur after he and Kitty thought everyone was dead, his training became reckless, so much so that Kitty pointed out he was trying to die and he didn’t deny it.

[Master of Sound]

Feral is being held by Orchis under The Vulture’s not so tender mercy. He has other mutants too, according to the dialogue but they aren’t named.

Poor Feral, I will add her to the list. Thank you.

[JB]

Spurrier had touched on a bit of what Kurt is dealing with in an interview last month.

Does he use being Spider-Man as a way of gaining his own personal freedom while also being able to cover up, potentially, the trauma he's experienced?

Yeah, exactly that. That subtext becomes text; couldn't have put it better myself. That's the crisis throughout the entire story: To what extent is doing street-level heroing valuable? To what extent does he have a responsibility to his people? His whole life, he's been a mutant, and because of all the awful things that have happened to mutantkind, he's suddenly feeling like he's just a mutant. That's all he'll ever be. That's all people will ever see when they look at him. It's just a mutant, and that's exhausting.

It's that quest to navigate being an individual, being a good individual, being somebody with moral righteousness, but also having a duty to represent your people to make sure that they are being looked after. All this is going on at a time when his people are scattered to the winds, if not dead, and he's not sure what's going on with them. He's simultaneously sticking his head in the sand, but doing his best while he's doing that.

[Proxy]

Spurrier had touched on a bit of what Kurt is dealing with in an interview last month.

Does he use being Spider-Man as a way of gaining his own personal freedom while also being able to cover up, potentially, the trauma he's experienced?

Yeah, exactly that. That subtext becomes text; couldn't have put it better myself. That's the crisis throughout the entire story: To what extent is doing street-level heroing valuable? To what extent does he have a responsibility to his people? His whole life, he's been a mutant, and because of all the awful things that have happened to mutantkind, he's suddenly feeling like he's just a mutant. That's all he'll ever be. That's all people will ever see when they look at him. It's just a mutant, and that's exhausting.

It's that quest to navigate being an individual, being a good individual, being somebody with moral righteousness, but also having a duty to represent your people to make sure that they are being looked after. All this is going on at a time when his people are scattered to the winds, if not dead, and he's not sure what's going on with them. He's simultaneously sticking his head in the sand, but doing his best while he's doing that.

Well said!

[Jwyatt]

Can't believe Marvel didn't name this series UNCANNY DEVIL SPIDER

[danielsan52]

Oh how I want Lightbright to show up.

[Huntsman Spider]

I really enjoyed this book! The art’s beautiful and the stories interesting. I am finding it more lighthearted and funny even though poor Kurt is still clearly traumatized and depressed. But he’s ignoring all those pesky feelings with constant hero work and do-gooding.

Mystique was an early surprise, I didn’t expect her to appear yet and it seems with brain damage or memory problems just as Su_Whisterfield predicted!

Loving all the attention Kurt is getting from the ladies.

I’m very curious about Ghost BAMF and its ability to hide from Kurt from sentinel detection, but also for being the literal poisoned imp of the mind on Kurt’s shoulder.


‘Aren’t you tired of being nice? Don’t you just want to go apeshit’.

That was my favorite page in this issue for capturing Kurt's turmoil. Yeah, Peter-as-Spider-Man can relate to how freaking exhausting it is just trying to be a decent person and do right with the power he's been given, but what separates him from the X-Men, or mutants in general, despite the kinship he's found with them for being feared and hated despite those very efforts, is that Peter/Spider-Man is misjudged and misrepresented primarily as an individual and has the privilege, such as it is, of not being misjudged or misrepresented as an avatar for his entire race.

[Thievery]

I've been a fan of the way that Spurrier has written Kurt during the Krakoan era, but I really wasn't sure about this comic when it was first announced. But, this was a fun issue to read. I ended up liking it a lot more than I thought that I would.

The humor didn't always feel the way that Kurt's humor does, at least in my opinion, but that was a good thing. It was funny to see Kurt try and make funny jokes the way that Spider-Man would and have them come across as the lame kind of dad jokes that Iceman usually makes.

As others have said the art was great.

[yogaflame]

Spurrier's work has never been enjoyable to me before this issue, so that's saying something. Still not a homerun, but the great art helped too. I'd rate this well above the Alpha Flight and Iceman series so far, maybe even above Dark X-Men, but Jean Grey and Children of the Vault's #1's were much better(CotV#2 wasn't quite as strong but also still better). It feels a bit lazy to graft Kurt into Spidey's wheelhouse, but at least in this issue, the results were better than expected. I loved the forum bit!

[Vegeta]

I thought this book was going to be great and I was not disappointed.

Good use of the Vulture, he had tried in the past to steal Spider-man's youth to extend his life so it makes sense that he of all villains would be jealous of the mutants newfound immortality. I also like Kurt trying to be witty like Spidey, and then pausing to explain his jokes!

It's crazy though that people in the MU seem to be fairly accepting of a perceived demonic character, but hate mutants!

Filles et Fromage!