THE UNCANNY X-MEN #11 – The Great Escape of Graymalkin

Creative Team – Gail Simone(writer). Javier Garrón(artist). Matthew Wilson(color artist). VC’s Clayton Cowles(letterer). David Marquez & Matthew Wilson(cover artists).

Published by Marvel Entertainment

CATCH UP WITH THE UNCANNY X-MEN #10 HERE!

The Story

After the exciting events that took place for the Outliers in The Uncanny X-Men #10, the mentors decide that it’s time to step up their training and make their own danger room for the young mutants. Wolverine and Jubilee are handling the Outliers with assistance from Nightcrawler, while Rogue and Gambit oversee. Rogue is worried that the kids aren’t taking this seriously enough and are viewing it as some sort of game, which they are. Rogue has Gambit get involved, and he takes out Jitter, and that’s when the game is finished. Jubilee is upset, but Rogue and Gambit know the threats that are out their waiting for the young mutants.

While all this is happening, something horrible is happening with the Shi’ar Empire. The Shi’ar Escort Cruiser C’rylari has been taken over by The Secret Alliance and upon that ship is Charles Xavier’s daughter, Xandra. Xandra has sent out a psychic distress signal to her father.

Speaking of threats awaiting the mutants, Rogue gets a call from Graymalkin Prison requesting her team’s assistance and stat! Corina Ellis realizes Charles Xavier is in emotional distress as it’s been pointed out that he’s crying. The prison is unaware that he’s receiving a distress signal from his daughter, so they take it as he’s dying, which leads to Ellis ordering Charles to be sedated.

Once the X-Men arrive, they find that Charles is in a very dangerous situation as he’s escaped cell and isn’t thinking straight due to the sedation and a mutant tumor he has. He’s attacking his former students, as he thinks the X-Men are imposters. Charles doesn’t care who he has to hurt, as long as he makes it through to be on his way to help his daughter.

The Writing

There are so many moving parts of The Uncanny X-Men #11, and they’re all handled with ease by Gail Simone. You have Charles in emotional distress, the X-Men trying to handle him with care while subduing him, the Outliers, some virus that’s affecting the workers of Graymalkin, and all of this adds to the great X-Manhunt event. This was a really strong start for the event, and I’m glad they started with The Uncanny X-Men.

Something I appreciated about The Uncanny X-Men #11 was that there was a point where Jubilee referenced Rogue being just like Cyclops with her manner of teaching. It seems that Rogue is coming into her own as a teacher and can understand Cyclops’ more militant ways of teaching. I’m interested to see where that goes as this is a sharp turn from how she handled herself being the leader of the Louisiana X-Men.

The Art

There are some pages in The Uncanny X-Men #11 that are simply jaw dropping. One good example of this is when the X-Men are trying to subdue Charles, and it ends with all of them unconcious with Nightcrawler is a particularly inconvenient position. The amounts of attention paid to details from Javier Garrón was very noticeable, as was the incredible use of contrasting colors from Matthew Wilson. Clayton Cowles really sealed with deal with his lettering, making each word feel like it was said with authority.

Overall Grade – 9.5/10

Let me know in the comments what you thought of The Uncanny X-Men #11!

This review was written by Megan from the Vigilante Vibes Podcast! If you liked my review, be sure to check out my other reviews! Let me know what you think of The Uncanny X-Men #11, or tell me what comics you’d recommend me trying out! Find me on my socials, and check out my Marvel podcast, Vigilante Vibes, by clicking here!