Uncanny X-Men: Superior, Vol. 3: Waking from the Dream

Uncanny X-Men: Superior #3

by Cullen Bunn, Greg Land (Artist)

Collects Uncanny X-Men (2016) #11-15.

Someone is weaponizing mutants and turning them loose on the enemies of Homo superior! How will the Uncanny X-Men react? And what will Magneto's uneasy allies do when they discover that the Master of Magnetism hasn't been altogether forthcoming about the means he's been employing to protect his race? To find out what exactly he's been up to, the X-Men investigate — and the trail starts at the all-new, all-different Hellfire Club! But to stop a string of violent attacks, they may be forced to ally themselves with their (former?) foes! Meanwhile, Psylocke and Magneto increasingly don't see eye to eye. He's willing to do anything it takes to ensure the future of mutantkind. She believes there are some lines that shouldn't be crossed. Will there come a time when Psylocke is an acceptable sacrifice for Magneto to make?

Genres: Comics, Marvel, X Men, Graphic Novels, Superheroes, Graphic Novels Comics, Comic Book

106 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 25, 2017

About the author

Cullen grew up in rural North Carolina, but now lives in the St. Louis area with his wife Cindy and his son Jackson. His noir/horror comic (and first collaboration with Brian Hurtt), The Damned, was published in 2007 by Oni Press. The follow-up, The Damned: Prodigal Sons, was released in 2008. In addition to The Sixth Gun, his current projects include Crooked Hills, a middle reader horror prose series from Evileye Books; The Tooth, an original graphic novel from Oni Press; and various work for Marvel and DC. Somewhere along the way, Cullen founded Undaunted Press and edited the critically acclaimed small press horror magazine, Whispers from the Shattered Forum.

All writers must pay their dues, and Cullen has worked various odd jobs, including Alien Autopsy Specialist, Rodeo Clown, Professional Wrestler Manager, and Sasquatch Wrangler.

And, yes, he has fought for his life against mountain lions and he did perform on stage as the World's Youngest Hypnotist. Buy him a drink sometime, and he'll tell you all about it.

Visit his website at www.cullenbunn.com.

Reviews

[Paul · Rating 3 out of 5]

While I enjoyed the focus on Psylocke (I really like the way Cullen Bunn makes Betsy actually sound English) this felt a bit like a bridging arc, building with no real pay-off.

I enjoyed this one but it didn't really knock my socks off.... Plus I'm not a huge fan of Greg Land's artwork, although, to be fair, he seems to be lightboxing less these days, which is nice.

[Chad · Rating 3 out of 5]

The X-Men who are OK with killing people join the Hellfire Club. They fight these mutants that are being used by the Someday Corporation. It's never really clear what's going on. Psylocke gets fed up with Magneto's lies and leaves the team but not the book as she's going to watchdog the team.

The Good: A lot of people knock Greg Land's art but I love it. I'm not really why they don't care for it. His character work is outstanding.

The Bad: This story just meanders. There's no real point and just feels like we are just waiting for the next event to occur.

The Ugly: I'm actually looking forward to this book ending and moving on to a new direction. All of the current X-Men books are just boring.

[Chris Lemmerman · Rating 3 out of 5]

A lot of Marvel books these days feel like they have to squeeze in the stories they want to tell themselves in between tie-ins for other things. The X-Men books are definitely feeling this right now, as they pinball from Apocalypse Wars to Inhumans Vs X-Men. These issues that take place between the two events focus on Monet's continued struggle with her brother Emplate's influence, and the re-emergence of the Hellfire Club as they try to aid the Uncanny X-Men in their battle against the Someday Corporation.

Also hurting this book is the return of Greg Land on art, which is as always a shame. His super-light boxed artwork always distracts, and giving him people like Monet in an evening dress to draw is almost like tempting fate. Things pick up a bit in the latter half of the book when we move away from all that, but the damage is done by that point.

Uncanny X-Men is still the X-book with the most untapped potential right now, but I expect that, with another event on the horizon, we won't get to explore as much of it as we (or the writer) would like.

[Terence · Rating 4 out of 5]

Distrust is sprouting like weeds in the X-Men's garden.


Magneto has joined forces with the Hellfire Club.

When all mutant life is in danger any allies with overlapping agendas are good allies.


There is something about the writing in the Uncanny X-Men run that makes me enjoy it. Never before has Magneto been so unbelievably right about the dangers facing mutant kind and he's determined enough to save them from the brink of annihilation. I find myself increasingly interested in where this story is heading and I very much enjoy these darker X-Men.

The joined forces of the Uncanny X-Men and The Hellfire club look into Someday Corporation and realize just how dangerous they are. The storyline isn't quite what I had anticipated, but it wasn't shocking to see the story head the way it did.

3.5 out of 5 stars

[Baba · Rating 3 out of 5]

The trail for the missing 'sleeper' mutants reveals not only someone from Magneto's past, but some of the dark alliances the X-Men led by Magneto have made - causing one member to consider leaving. Some much better work in this volume especially around Psylocke. There's also Greg Land 'art' *shivers*. 7 out of 12.

[Robert · Rating 3 out of 5]

Probably a step up from the lows of vol 2, plus it gave us the cheap thrill of Sabretooth stalking and killing a Velociraptor. Still, I feel Bunn is just spinning his wheels plot-wise and passing the time making snarky jokes about the series' past eXcesses. It'll be nice to read an X-book that takes itself seriously again.

[Adam Stone · Rating 1 out of 5]

On the cover, the quote recommending the book says "You really can't say enough about the quality of this series." Because it wouldn't be poilite, and you certainly wouldn't put it on the cover of a book you were trying to sell.

After the last volume, I couldn't imagine this title getting much worse. The writing was lazy, the conceits were just rehashes of previous x-books, and the art was fine but nothing envelope pushing. Well, the bar has been lowered, and with Greg Land doing the art, this goes from bad to unreadable garbage. There is nothing salvageable about this.

It's basically a continuation of the Uncanny X-Force limply using The Savage Land, The Hellfire Club, Mystique, and Sauron. To what ends? None. The story treads water, even though it's only two inches deep.

Skip this book. Even if you're a continuity completist, this volume offers absolutely nothing.

[47Time · Rating 5 out of 5]

This volume gets back on track with the story from the first volume. Magneto team, especially Psylocke, aren't happy with his employing Mystique and Fantomex without telling them. Magneto's plans now involve the inner circle of the Hellfire Club - another reason to sow discontent in his team.

The Someday Corporation has weaponized the mutants - now named Sleepers - under their care. The X-Men are almost defeated before the Sleepers are teleported away from the battle. Psylocke mind-reads a captured Sleeper to reveal that they plan to strike at an anti-mutant rally to provoke the army into mobilizing. She stops before discovering who is behind the attack to prevent the Sleeper from dying. Monet pushes further for that information.

Exodus is behind it. He claims to have rescued the Sleepers from Someday and built an army in support of Magneto's cause. Magneto doesn't want to use slaves for his goal. He defeats Exodus and frees the mutants under his control. He has Xorn shelter them in his sanctuary. Unfortunately, Magneto loses Psylocke's support because of his secret machinations.

[Blindzider · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this more than the last volume and the tone matched more of the first volume which I liked. There's a sense of darkness and upcoming doom to it and this really is a band of ruffians, sort of a dirty dozen, that really don't get a long. Magneto clearly has a secret agenda and Betsy just won't be a part of it anymore. It's a shame Land is still drawing it because the guy who did the last issue was much better.

Bunn is doing much better on Uncanny than Lemire is on Extraordinay for sure. I feel if Bunn could just get an run uninterrupted by a crossover, we might actually get a serious, long form X-Men story that's worth reading.

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

Still not sure if I like this book or not.... but I keep reading it.

[Sesana · Rating 2 out of 5]

Almost entirely forgettable, plus it has Land's vile art.

[Craig · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a somewhat annoying book, but not really a bad one. It's not a starting place; it assumes you have a whole lot of knowledge of characters and their back stories. Other than a couple of weird incidents (like Sabretooth eating a dinosaur) it leaves you waiting for something substantive to happen, but there are no real resolutions. It's an unlikely Hellfire Club/X-Men team-up, with big parts played by Magneto, Psylocke, Monet, Mystique, and other characters with a nasty streak to their make-up investigating the Someday Corporation. It could've been written with a little more explanation and clarity, but it's okay. The art is fine, a little generic but bright and expressive. One thing I noticed was that all of the female characters are exactly the same. Their skin tones and hairstyles vary as needed, but their features and builds are identical. It reminded me of shopping for Barbie dolls for my daughter forty years ago; the plastic molds all produced the same head and body and then clothes and hair were attached. eXcelsior...

[Travis Duke · Rating 3 out of 5]

I still have hope for this series because I like this uncanny team but this isn't much better than vol.2. Magneto and crew lead us to the end of the some day corp story arc and it is just O.K. we find out who is pulling the strings and it's nothing special for me, their end battle is strange. Magneto has also enlisted the hellfire club to help with his dirty work and obviously Psylocke isn't too happy about another secret. Towards the end we kind of get a mini Psylocke conclusion and this was probably the highlight, she preemptively stalks villains and dishes out punishment. Mystique also goes toe to toe with Psylocke and that was a sweet battle to see. The art continues to be a huge part of why i like this series, Greg Land and crew are sharp and detailed. Like I said, I still have hope for the series but at vol.3 and marvels track record maybe we get 2-3 more volumes. hopefully 1 more kick ass big story arc?

[Quentin Wallace · Rating 3 out of 5]

When the Terrigen Mists were released, a group called the Someday Corporation offered a solution to mutants: cryogenic sleep until the mists were dissipated. For a price, of course. But there was more to the story, as the corporation was weaponizing the mutants without their knowledge. This volume shows Magneto and his X-Men deal with and we find out who was behind it all. In a blast from the past it was Exodus

The Greg Land art was great as he can really draw beautiful people, especially the women. The art is truly the saving grace of the volume. But the story left something to be desired as after the big build up we got a battle that lasted less just a few pages.

I'm left with the same feeling Ive had for most of the X-Men volumes recently. It wasn't terrible, but it wasn't especially good either.

[Frédéric · Rating 2 out of 5]

2,5*

At least the Someday Corp. subplot concludes.

But it's still wordy, as in back-in-the-80's wordy. Only Magneto and Psylocke are really involved, the rest of the cast only have a walk-on part. The opposition between the 2 is not uninteresting but kind of drags on forever and gets finally boring. Magneto plays so much M. Mysterious (I could tell you but then...) it's almost laughable and Betsy monologuing and becoming paranoid gets old after a while.

Maybe Bunn can't develop his characters and his stories because the series is cut by crossovers but I'm not convinced that's the real reason.

Greg Land on the drawing board. Innocuous. Perfectly in the tone of this volume.

[Judah Radd · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cullen did a great job with these characters, especially Mystique and Psylocke. It was also cool to see Exodus again after like 20 years.

The problem is twofold;

#1: he’s completely boxed in between Apocalypse War and Inhumans vs X-Men, and it leaves very little room for him to cram in his own plot.

#2: Greg Land.

Those two factors majorly diminished what should have been some good UXM issues. It’s unfortunate, because there really are some very good things in here.

[David Cordero · Rating 3 out of 5]

Magneto schemes his way into Someday Corp. and confronts a former disciple.

[Villain E · Rating 3 out of 5]

And I continue to call bullshit on the premise that the Terrigen mist is "suppressing any new mutant manifestations" and yet every X-book introduces new mutants.

Psylocke continues to not trust Magneto, who turns out to be the White King of the Hellfire club. Mutants who signed up to go into suspended animation to wait out the whole Terrigen thing are turning up in fights. And a powerful old acquainence returns.

The plot is treading water until the end. The art is mostly okay, except when Greg Land inserts the unnecessary coquettish smile.

[Rolando Marono · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tras un desastroso segundo volumen, la historia se recupera un poco y trata de agarrar vuelo. De los cambios que vimos al final del volumen anterior, es muy interesante ver que lo referente a Arcángel es dejado a un lado por completo en este tomo. Aparece en una página al principio y no vuelve a aparecer en el tomo, lo que es una pena porque esto repercute en el desarrollo de Psylocke. Lo referente a Monet si se aborda en este tomo pero es un poco anti climático ver el cambio de personalidad de Monet tan radical.
La premisa del tomo gira en torno a lo que vimos en el primer volumen con la compañía Someday. Esta compañía está utilizando mutantes dormidos para hacer armas. Lamentablemente, introducen tantos personajes nuevos que no te queda claro quién es quién, no tienen nombres, ni poderes claros, etc. Los mutantes despertados de Someday son meramente recursos para mover la trama no personajes. Alguien está utilizándolos para traer una guerra ante los humanos radicales y las mismas personas de Someday. La revelación de este villano es muy interesante y nos da buenos momentos de construcción de personaje de Magneto.
También es interesante ver como la tensión entre la relación de Psylocke y Magneto, alcanza un punto máximo en este tomo.
El equipo liderado por Magneto se alía con el Hellfire y es interesante ver a este equipo liderado por adultos de nuevo pero las razones por las cuáles se alían no son muy claras. Entiendo que lo que Bunn quiere hacer es mostrarnos que aunque Magneto está tratando de ser un héroe, todavía está dispuesto a tomar decisiones moralmente grises para alcanzar sus objetivos, lamentablemente eso queda claro por los diálogos repetidos una y otra vez que encontramos en este tomo pero no por ninguna acción concreta.
Esta historia, del primer tomo hasta ahora, pudo ser muy interesante como el X-Force de Remender, lamentablemente se nota que las decisiones tomadas por Bunn en el aspecto narrativo no fueron las indicadas.

[Michael Hicks · Rating 4 out of 5]

Waking From The Dream is a big step-up from the Apocalypse Wars in volume two. This one's tighter written and returns to the plot threads revolving around Someday Enterprises that were introduced in the first volume. Rather than merely allowing mutants a high-priced escape from the terrigen mists by way of hibernation, Someday has been turning them into sleeper agents to launch terror campaigns against humans.

It's a neat concept, and Cullen Bunn does a nice job showing us all the various pies Magneto has his fingers in and how that causes strain on his kept-in-the-dark team, especially Psylocke. I dug the corporate warfare element that's been running through this book, and Bunn wraps it up satisfactorily enough. We even get a brief return of the Omega Sentinels - cybernetically enhanced humans turned mutant killers - that were shown in the first issue. Oh! And, we get a nice segment of Sabertooth versus a velociraptor in the Savage Land. That's pretty freaking glorious, and Nolan Woodward's coloring on Greg Land's pencils are an absolute beauty. There's a really marvelous interplay of light and shadow during Sabertooth's hunt through the jungle. Beautiful stuff, man.

With another X-Men line-wide crossover up next with the Inhumans vs X-Men, this series hits its finale with the next trade. It's a bit of shame this book's run was so compressed, and that so many issues were devoted to editorial mandates for various events. I really would have liked to have seen more about Someday Enterprises. There's also a few niggling details about Monet's current status that I'm hoping will be explored in the next volume. We shall see!

[Tomás Sendarrubias García · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pues visto lo visto en las otras dos colecciones de mutantes, Cullen Bunn realizó la mejor de las tres historias, muy por encima de Hopeless y Lemire, y con todo, esta segunda parte de la historia, posterior a las Guerras de Apocalipsis, da bastante bajón, quizá porque la colección ya se dirigía a ese sumidero que parecía ser Inhumanos vs Patrulla-X.

El caso es que en este caso Bunn continúa con la historia que estaba contando y se centra especialmente en las relaciones del grupo, y su entorno, con M y Dientes de Sable haciendo frente a Émplaca, pero sobre todo en las tensiones entre Magneto y Mariposa Mental, con el primero participando en la recreación del Club Fuego Infernal, en el que también participará una M "fusionada" con Émplaca. Además, juntos el equipo de Mariposa y el Club Fuego Infernal descubrirán que tras la corporación Someday se encuentra ni más ni menos que Éxodo, y que está convirtiendo a sus clientes, que se congelan para evitar la Viruela-T, en soldados bajo su mando.

Quizá no sea el uso más creativo que se haya visto para un personaje que, más allá de los años de su creación, en los durísimos 90s, ha sido una y otra vez vapuleado, como es Éxodo, pero insisto en que quizá después de la lectura de las otras colecciones esta ha salido ganando mucho. Por cierto, no voy a hacer reseña de los números dedicados a Inhumanos vs Patrulla-X, siguen siendo números sueltos y cada uno cuenta una historia de dudosa calidad.

En fin, Imposible Patrulla-X llegaba aquí a su fin de momento, demostrando la solvencia de Cullen Bunn, que ha sido lo mejor de esta etapa de los mutantes.

[Alex E · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Uncanny team tries to find out what the Someday Corporation is doing with mutants. However in order to do so, the team allies with one of their oldest villains, the Hellfire club.

I really feel that this book has so much potential and its not being realized. I mean don't get me wrong, the book is fine. But it should be much more than that. It's freakin Magneto leading a team of murder-is-on-the-table members. It should be one of the greats but, instead its fine.

Anyways, so the team allies with the Hellfire club, some of the team, such as Monet actually even become members of the club, in order to get info on the Someday Corporation. Which actually works, because they find the mutants and realize that they have been weaponized. This all doesn't sit well with Psylocke who is the "conscience" of the team and is like, why are we dealing with the freakin Hellfire Club?!?!? And to top it off, they take one of the mutants hostage and basically fry his brain so they can get more information. So after that she is done with the team, but pledges to keep an eye on them and more specifically, Magneto.

All and all, and good volume, but not great. The art is by Greg Land and while its not my taste, its perfectly serviceable. I would recommend this for fans of the X-Men, just don't expect any great revelations or big mysteries.

[Dean · Rating 2 out of 5]

I liked this story but a dip still.
the art and colours dipped also.

psylocke is still at odds with magneto and after he admits he's joined the hellfire club and he allows Monet to psychically take information from a mutant who had been used by the SOMEDAY company (they hibernate mutants until the terrigen mists hopefully disperse). however, EXODUS had taken dozens of them under his control to lead a mutant revolution I'm the name of Magneto. magneto defeats exodus and the Mutants are free. he takes them to live with xorn in Tibet.

first few issues, or maybe it was last trade Monet absorbs her brother empath who is now in her right hand and leading her astray, giving bad advice abd manipulating her. it seems her personality has changed due to this.

after leaving psylocke is hunted/watched by Mystique, they fight abd psylocke reverts Mystique to a more sane version of herself as her mind is flexible/fluid she had lost herself.

not a fan of Mystique changing into everything abd having tendrils making herself huge abd monstrous like a symbiote. I like when the characters have limits. I think it qas the BKV run that established this extra powers.

[Jay · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was somewhat surprised to read some other reviewers’ comments about Greg Land’s art as I personally did not find it so bad. On the contrary, I found the art equal or better compared to some of the other Marvel titles that I have read recently.

I appreciate that the work lacks the sense of haste and sloppiness that one sometimes comes across as a result of the artists having such tight deadlines. This is demonstrated well by most of the panels having a lot of detail and there being very few if any instances where the picture has been simplified in order to save time. Some pencillers cut corners by occasionally compromising the background of the panel, in the most glaring examples by omitting it completely and leaving the background white. That is not the case here.

But Land does not overdo it either, there is a good balance in the composition and panels are not cluttered. I also find the characters quite realistic looking although there seems not to be much variety which may lead to some repetition. But all in all: solid work.

[Michael Church · Rating 2 out of 5]

After being away from comics for so long, boy was this a letdown to come back to. I already wasn’t excited because I can’t stand Greg Land’s art (it seems like everyone looks exactly the same to me), but the writing didn’t do anything to help it. Which was surprising, considering how much I’ve liked some of Bunn’s other work.

The art, though, was a constant obstacle. There are still characters that I have no idea who they are. If it weren’t for Woodard and Curiel on colors, I wouldn’t be able to tell Psylocke and Monet apart at all.

The plot is weird and rushed and almost incoherent. It’s more about trust and the character relationships than what’s actually happening, which I suppose is on-brand for an X-book. It does make it hard to cultivate interest, though, when most of the character building is about why people don’t like these characters.

[Scott Lee · Rating 3 out of 5]

Psylocke works, almost nothing else does. I was frustrated with the first volume of this series, more impressed with the second, and now, the third is back to meh with the exception of the handling of a single character.

Why three stars instead of even lower than that after the mini-tirade? Because Bunn does do a fantastic job with Betsy, and I'm interested in her as she comes out of this book at least.

I will probably read at least the next volume in trying to figure out IVX before moving on to X-Men Blue and X-Men Gold.

[Mitchell Friedman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not bad, just a little bit boring. Kind of the downside of a book revolving around characters I don't care about. And combat. And then in the end Psylocke wanders off on her own. And has a bit with Mystique. And that section worked which was a surprise because in general I'm not much of a Psylocke fan. It sets up Mystique to be a little bit different for awhile though I don't expect Marvel to make consistent use of it. In the end it was a mixed bag. Art was fine though though not a fan of the Hellfire Club art.

[C · Rating 2 out of 5]

Continuing the great x-read of 2017/18...

This one kind of meanders. It has a point or two against it from the beginning (for me) for being part of the Inhumans vs X-Men mess, but it just doesn't do a lot to rise above that storyline. It sort of feels like a story that doesn't quite know where it wants to go. There are interesting character moments (and at least a few moments where characters act very unlike themselves...) and the Someday corporation plot was decent.

But over all, it felt pretty weak to me in the end.

[Sean · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cullen Bunn's Uncanny X-Men is getting better in my opinion. We're slowing getting shown how the team came together and Magento's mindset. The best thing Bunn has done is shown Psylocke to be an absolute star. She's not just sexy, or a ninja, or a telepath. She's all these and so much more. Its commendable. I expected the series to be Sabretooth heavy and its not. He's been used in small doses and they've worked (except flirting with M). Greg Land's work here was good here, especially in the Magento/SPOILER fight scene. Overall, a nice X-Title going in the right direction.

[Adan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Psylocke finally has enough of Magneto and goes off on her own, but this collection was filled with some weird, handwavy bits. How long has M been the White Queen of the Hellfire Club exactly? Why is Exodus super powerful when running his army, but weak as hell against Magneto? And I guess we don't really care about Archangel anymore? Sigh. I expect better.