Uncanny X-Men #1

With Wolverine and many of the younger mutants leaving Utopia to return to the ruins of Professor X's school, Cyclops begins to rebuild by putting together a team he believes is a match for the Avengers and should be able to take on any threat they come across, whether that's to save humanity or save mutants from humanity.

The Extermination Team includes Magneto, the Juggernaut-cursed Colossus, Storm, Emma Frost, Danger, Magik, Namor, and Hope Summers. The team is put together to not only save the world but to show humanity how powerful and useful mutants can be towards the greater good (and that you really, really don't want to piss them off).

The team's first mission comes when Mister Sinister starts tampering with the dormant Celestial in Golden Gate Park. Although the team stops the initial chaos caused by Sinister, the villain is able take control a vast number of citizens in San Francisco and remake them in his image.

Although not the most interesting storyline of the relaunched X-books, Uncanny does contain most of the X-Men characters I care about (with the exception of Danger, and possibly Namor depending on how large a role he will have here). If they brought back Nightcrawler and threw Beast, Deadpool, and Rogue on this team I would be set. I like Storm's inclusion on the team as Scott's conscience but her early joke about the number of super-villains on this squad, although funny, seemed out of character.

Uncanny X-Men #1 is a good first issue that reintroduces the core group of characters and defines how this book will be separate from the legion of other X-titles. It didn't wow me, and I'm not sure Mr. Sinister is the best choice of villain to start off the series, but it gave me just enough that I'll probably stick around for another issue or two to see what happens. Worth a look.

[Marvel, $3.99]