Uncanny X-Men #10 - Marvel Comics

UNCANNY X-MEN No. 10, April 2025

Containing plenty of pulse-pounding punch-ups, and an enthrallingly tense political nightmare for the highly dislikeable Corina Ellis, it’s arguably easy to see just why this particular issue of “Uncanny X-Men” was the fifteenth best-selling comic of February 2025 – at least according to “ICv2.Com”. In fact, some bibliophiles may well have expected “Off The Leash” to have done even better, as Gail Simone’s script manages to deliver a nail-biting battle between the Outliers and “a new, vicious and unstoppable anti-mutant weapon initiative” without just resorting to the rookie super-heroes unthinkingly battering their robot opponents into submission.

This decision to have the mutant recruits outwit their dog-based Sentinel foes really lies at the heart of this book’s successful storytelling, with Jitter’s decision to imbue herself with all the knowledge and wisdom of a combat medic causing the ‘X-Babies’ to work together as a team, rather than just’ smack the snot’ out of Larry Trask’s latest creations. Furthermore, the American author generates a real, palpable sense of danger for the potential X-Men recruits, with all four of the adolescents coming within a whisker of being savagely slaughtered by their assailants’ “chainsaw-like teeth.”

Enjoyably though, a good portion of the pleasure readers should experience from this twenty-page periodical’s plot doesn’t come from the aforementioned sense-shattering shenanigans either. But is somewhat surprisingly generated by the Warden of Graymalkin Prison, who completely loses her mind over the unauthorised assassination attempt, and furiously berates the likes of Captain Erza, Jerry Greentree and Trask when she realises the strike has “gone and made them [the Outliers] all heroes” with both the press and general public. Indeed, Ellis’ rapid meltdown may well be the highlight of this comic for some within its audience, considering how conceitedly calm and unpleasantly confident the malicious Doctor ordinarily is; “I want him running in the Danger Room by morning. Punitive mode.”

Also well worth a mention is Andrei Bressan, who along with colour artist Matthew Wilson, does a solid job in sketching all the highs and lows of Sofia Yong’s trip to the local shopping mall. The Brazilian illustrator is clearly capable of drawing some incredibly tender moments, such as Miss Deneer graciously thanking Nightcrawler for saving her daughter’s life, as well as create this comic’s more intense action sequences, and definitely helps add to an already stressed situation by prodigiously pencilling all the combatants with some highly emotional facial expressions.

The regular cover art to "UNCANNY X-MEN" #10 by David Marquez & Matthew Wilson