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X-Men
#469
UNCANNY X-MEN #469 Wand'ring Star (Part 1) Writer: Chris Claremont Art and cover: Billy Tan How often do you find a Malaysian artist working on a Marvel title, much less on one of their top books? Starting with #469, Wand'ring Star is a three-issue fill-in by Malaysian artist Billy Tan and writer Chris Claremont. From issue #475, Tan will be working on the title with writer Ed Brubaker. In the X-Men universe, Rachel Grey (aka Marvel Girl) is a marked woman. The galaxy-spanning Shi'ar Empire fears that Rachel may possess the same genetic potential as her mother, Jean, to bond with the cosmic force called the Phoenix. To counter this potential threat, they have ordered the complete extermination of the Grey family genome. The story opens with Rachel living under the protection of the Xavier Institute but her movements are under scrutiny. In the meantime, Paige Guthrie (Husk), who is subdued through the use of a sleeping gas, and her brother, Cannonball, find life in the Institute restricting. Reflecting on recent events, Rachel talks to Hank (Beast) and her father (Cyclops) but she still has some tricks up her sleeve. The cover, featuring the book's main cast, is ripe for framing. The opening pages, featuring Rachel getting out of bed are attractive and have no problem drawing the reader in. Still, one wished there was more reason to celebrate the publication of the Uncanny X-Men #469. Given the talky script, there isn't much to showcase Tan's work - one can only do so much with the (comic) panels. There is effectively one action page where Paige is pitted against some soldiers. Like everything else about this issue, this page certainly works well as a teaser and one looks forward to more of such pages. Overall, Tan's work here is probably close to the Jim Lee school of art, with clean lines and a direct story-telling style, which comes across as a breath of fresh air, according to a report on the internet, when compared to the messy style in the past couple of issues. It is still too early to see how the Wand'ring Star issues fit into the X-Men universe and, more importantly, how they reflect and perhaps shape Tan's work on the series. But like all X-Men fans, we await the next issue. - Stephen Tan For more... email singbigo@singnet.com.sg with the message, "Put me on your mailing list."
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