Issue: Uncanny X-men Issue 302
Publication Date: July 1993
Writer: Scott Lobdell
Pencils: John Romita JR
Story Synopsis
The villainous Trevor Fitzroy attacks the mutant
Forge in an attempt to gain favor with the cabal known as "The Upstarts". The
X-men are alerted to the attack and rush to thwart it while Professor Xavier remains at the x-mansion watching over Colossus’ dying sister.
Writing
The more I read Scott Lobdell’s work on the X-men,
the more I appreciate how he weaves character motivation into his plots. This
issue would probably be best characterized as an “action-centric” story, but
the action works in the service of character development. There are two action
set pieces in the story and both evolve their participants into more
well-rounded individuals. The first action scene shows Storm and Iceman fending
off a riot. Storm apparently has a troubled romantic history with Forge but is
still rushing to his aid while Iceman is shown pushing his powers to limits he
hasn’t before reached. The second scene is of Forge, Bishop, and Colossus
fending off Trevor Fritzroy’s attack. Bishop is forced to confront how his view
of lethal force differs from the rest of the X-men’s while Colossus’ anguish
over his dying sister pushes him to act with greater violence than normal.
Art
John Romita Jr does a great job on interiors
once again, but seems to turn in pretty lazily conceived cover art. The
cropping of Iceman and Bishop holding back a furious Colossus feels way to claustrophobic. The more cynical portion of my brain says that the cropping is
deliberate so that the artist doesn’t have to draw a background or anything
above the waist. The cover art could be a side-effect of the cover artist being
the same guy doing the interiors, so I wouldn’t factor out deadlines as being partially
responsible for the end result.
This issue did impress on me how much I enjoy Romita’s
interior page layouts. When he’s not drawing for the cover, his pages show a
number of dynamic, full-body depictions of the main characters. Storm, Fitzroy,
Bishop, Forge, and Colossus all get at least one panel that clearly shows them
and their costume clearly and dynamically. John draws a number of his panels as
if they are pin ups with dialogue and I like that. Some of my favorite comic
book artists have wonderful art styles ( I’m looking at you Chris Bachalo) but
they crop their panels in such a way that you never get a clear view of the
entire character. Romita’s work here avoids that annoyance. If you compare this
issue with Uncanny X-men #300, you’ll see how each X-men character gets at least
one pin-up-worthy panel without breaking the flow of the story. The only
drawback is that Romita has a habit of doing a sideways double page spread every
couple of issues that comes across as being 50% awe-inspiring and 50% annoying because it breaks
up the page flow. He also continues to have a deft
ability to use ink to convey motion or visual sensory effects.
Atmospheric / Impressionistic Inking
I really enjoy how he uses loose inks to create buildings
and landscapes in his establishing shots.
Sideways 2 Page Spread
Here’s the dreaded sideways two-page spread. Sometimes it’s
awesome and sometimes it’s annoying.
I like how Romita popped Bishop out of the middle panel
on this page. It aids in panel progression and gives the reader a chance to
soak in Bishop’s character design.
This scene is beautifully written. It’s a single-page poignant
character beat for professor Xavior.
Effective Inking / Coloring = Cinematic Atmospheric Effects
Romita’s loose inking combined with appropriate coloring effectively
simulates a flare’s blinding light. Good stuff!
The staging of Bobby’s use of his ice powers in these two
pages is awesome! And the banter between him and a rioter are pithily amusing. The coloring on Bobby is also notable. I love the blues/green color scheme.
