Uncanny X-men: The Birth of Generation Hope

Uncanny X-Men (1963) #526-529

by Matt Fraction, Whilce Portacio

In the wake of Second Coming, the X-Men deal with the changes in their world. Friends have died, lives are changed-but is that a light on the horizon?

The new world begins here!

COLLECTING: Uncanny X-Men #526-529, Uncanny X-Men: The Heroic Age One Shot

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

120 pages, Paperback

First published December 29, 2010

About the author

"How he got started in comics: In 1983, when Fraction was 7 years old and growing up in Kansas City, Mo., he became fascinated by the U.S. invasion of Grenada and created his own newspaper to explain the event. "I've always been story-driven, telling stories with pictures and words," he said.

Education and first job: Fraction never graduated from college. He stopped half a semester short of an art degree at Kansas City Art Institute in Missouri in 1998 to take a job as a Web designer and managing editor of a magazine about Internet culture.

"My mother was not happy about that," he said.

But that gig led Fraction and his co-workers to split off and launch MK12, a boutique graphic design and production firm in Kansas City that created the opening credits for the James Bond film "Quantum of Solace."

Big break: While writing and directing live-action shoots at MK12, Fraction spent his spare time writing comics and pitching his books each year to publishers at Comic-Con. Two books sold: "The Last of the Independents," published in 2003 by AiT/Planet Lar, and "Casanova," published in 2006 by Image Comics.

Fraction traveled extensively on commercial shoots. Then his wife got pregnant. So Fraction did what any rational man in his position would do -- he quit his job at MK12 to pursue his dream of becoming a full-time comic book writer.

Say what? "It was terrifying," said Fraction, who now lives in Portland, Ore. "I was married. We had a house. We had a baby coming. And I just quit my job."

Marvel hired Fraction in June 2006, thanks largely to the success of his other two comics. "I got very lucky," he half-joked. "If it hadn't worked out, I would have had to move back in with my parents.

- 2009. Alex Pham. Los Angeles Times.

Reviews

[Terence · Rating 2 out of 5]

Five distinct lights have shown up on Cerebro indicating five new mutants, the first new mutants since Hope. The mutant Messiah Hope is traveling to each location to meet these new mutants.

Perhaps this volume is stronger in the overall storyline, but as The Birth of Generation Hope it's lacking. The highlight of the volume was Hope meeting the new mutants, but it wasn't too intriguing.



The additional storylines going on weren't very interesting.

Hopefully Generation Hope is more interesting.

[C. Varn · Rating 2 out of 5]

Generally, I have liked Matt Fraction's independent work with Image--it is critically acclaimed and fairly unique. Generally, Fraction's characters are strongly written and humane--even his female characters which can be a weak spot for some of the comic book writers of his generation and prior. I say generally because Fraction seems to be in autopilot for this series: Generation Hope sets off to undo some the plots where there are no new mutants with Cerebro finding five and Hope jumping off to get them. Yet, most of this book seems to be Emma Frost intrigue and not intrigue that moves her character much. Yes, it is in Frost's character as she has been written, but Fraction just doesn't seem to do much with her. Fraction's humor, generally his strong suit, just doesn't come out here, and he doesn't do high melodrama as well as classic X-men writers like Claremont and he doesn't seem to really play with the dynamics of the team in the same way that Morrison or Whedon did. There are rumors that these were ghost plotted by Gillian and was aimed to focus of a later run, but this just feels paint-by-numbers. Furthermore, Portacio's art is inconsistent--his figure work seems rushed here and there, and his faces are inconsistent. Key female characters are only differentiated by hair color or costume. Portacio also is stronger artist than this, but like Fraction, he just seems to be phoning it in. The whole run doesn't feel bad necessarily, but slightly tired and boring. There are key characters that have been removed from current X-men and this salve a certain nostalgia for them, but that is really the best I can say for it.

[Jonathan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Once I got past the horrendous rendering of Beast in the first few pages...



This was a decent if predictable story overall. I'm all for the creation of more mutants. Lord knows they seem to suffer loss more than most other factions within the MU. The underlying story of Emma Frost hiding Sebastian Shaw within Utopia seems to be gaining some steam leading into the next volume.

[Jesse A · Rating 2 out of 5]

A bit dull. Might have liked it more if I was more up on my X-men issues.

[Luke · Rating 3 out of 5]

Following the events of X-Men: Second Coming, Hope sets out around the world with some X-Men to discover her past while simultaneously helping some new mutants popping up around the world. There's also a subplot with Emma and a bunch of other characters.

I found the Hope storyline to be quite interesting and would have preferred if the whole book was about her. The Emma storyline was very difficult for me to follow. My friend tried to explain what was happening a few times, but I just didn't get it for some reason.

This book really serves no purpose but to push the story a few inches forward. Some interesting stuff is set up though, and I'm interested to see where these things are going.

[James · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.25 stars. Man it seems like every X-men run I read, Beast is drawn differently. Lol. Anyway, at the end of Second Coming, the X-men notice some exciting developments around the globe. Hope and a few X-men set out so check on these things. Some cool stuff there. However the 2nd plot and the most intriguing. Earlier in this run, Emma did some trickery and now she has to fix it before it brings ruin to the X-men. Definitely curious to see how that plays out in the next book. Side note......the end of this book also drops a little set up for Avengers Children’s Crusade. Time to pull that off my shelf soon to read it.

[ellis · Rating 2 out of 5]

this was all over the place...
hope: glad i have more grasp of her powers/origin!
idie: IDIE ORIGIN TIME!! but she's twelve but only drawn like a 12 year old once. does time pass?? why is she so much more mature, behavior wise, later. i didn't even realize it was her til someone called her name...

also, can we please get some consistency with ages/years. if idie is 12, this takes place... what, 4 or 5 years before the end of wolverine and the xmen? i must then assume emma is sarcastically calling kitty and colossus teenagers..
where's an xmen time/age master

[Becky · Rating 4 out of 5]

There's a LOT going on in this comic, that makes it feel a bit slow. Multiple plot arcs, multiple character developments happening. If I'm right, this is where Hope breaks off into her own run, so that had to be set up. But I really enjoyed this book. I miss the days when there was something to look forward to for the X-Men. I REALLY miss Scott, and I didn't realize how much I missed him until I went back to the Fraction run. I knew I missed Emma and Kitty, but man do I miss Scott.

Speaking of Emma and Kitty. I miss their relationship. I miss them hating each other so much but knowing when and how to put the claws away. I really loved their moments in this; Emma just back from being diamond all the time and having to emote again is such a bully, but Kitty is still Kitty and knows Emma is still Emma. So Kitty will keep an eye on Emma and Emma lets her, because that's why Kitty was there to begin with. And maybe Emma is dealing with even more guilt because of what happened to Kitty and that's why she lets her, but either way, there is a job to be done. Kitty doesn't give Emma a hard time for putting them in that situation, but she does ask why. And Emma tells her.
"I owe you an apology, Pryde. I owe you so many apologies..."
And then that's it. She explains a few things, but that's it for their relationship-building. They both know exactly where they stand.
And I love it so much. None of this high-school bickering about boys and so on. They have an acute understanding of each other, even while they hate each other's guts.
I miss this.

[Mike · Rating 2 out of 5]

Moves the plot forward, but glacially. Includes the requisite amount of angst and some intrigue, but somehow feels...flat. Like Fraction was just going through the motions? Or maybe the new artist just isn't making me *feel* the story - the art just feels a bit...distancing from the humanity of the story? I dunno - maybe I'm just in a low mood today, but that book did very little for me. I think what's disappointing is I really wonder if I'll care what happens in the next book. That hasn't happened in a while.

Or maybe it's the Chinese menu of powers these latest mutants seem to have. Maybe all the good heroes have already been created. These ones all seem to me a little to easily compared to existing mutants we've known for a while now.

[Arturo · Rating 2 out of 5]

Hope and a motley crew of X-Men search for these new mutants that are popping up, nothing new or special about that. Meanwhile Emma Frost has a meeting with Tony Stark and later on Namor. Also while helping Colossus and Kitty Pryde communicate. Kitty finds out about Emma's intentions to get rid of Sabastian Shaw who is jailed underground. .. And the story continues in Quarentine.
I don't want to say the art was awful but it wasn't good and might of played a big part in this whole story being so bland.

[C · Rating 3 out of 5]

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

It astonishes me how much of a non-entity that Hope was/is immediately after coming to the "normal" timeline. For so much build-up for this "savior" of the mutant race, it seems like none of the writers really know what to do with her.

[Shannon Appelcline · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn't find the actual discovery of the "five lights" that interesting, but everything else herein is great character work that really brings these people to life.

[Kris Shaw · Rating 2 out of 5]

I haven't been fond of the X-Men for some time and have just kept buying it out of habit. Somewhere along the way the characters that I grew up loving died and were replaced with these fan fiction counterparts. I was reading the modern titles pretty regularly, then stepped back and took a look. I didn't like what I found. Most of the changes that Grant Morrison made on his vastly overrated New X-Men run have stuck. The White Queen (Emma Frost) as an X-Man still grates my nerves. She was such a terrific villain, and I thought for sure that they would've undone that by now, but no.

Matt Fraction, whose work I usually enjoy, produces some cringe-worthy dialogue here. His writing is 'realistic', bordering on Bendis-bad, folks. If you are going to ape someone's writing style, you should at least ape somebody good. I am glad that I came to this conclusion to jump ship on the X-Men on my own, since the recent news that Bendis will be the new X-Men writer would have forced me right off of the book anyways.

Dr. Nemesis seems kind of okay, but isn't given enough screen time for me to really form a solid opinion on either way. The Sub-Mariner and Northstar as X-Men are interesting choices, but again, no real screen time other than having conversations. I guess that I find people in costumes sitting around talking to be boring. I like story, character development, and action...all in the same comic book. Not four issues of talking, 1 issue with 6-8 pages of fighting.

So yeah, the X-Men that I grew up with are long dead and gone. Sitting here reading the stories with these characters is like talking to someone you knew 20 years ago. Sure, there are some recognizable traits, but these people have grown and changed in such ways that they are not the same people they once were. Not even close. I will still buy classic collected editions of X-Men titles, but I am out for the modern titles. I enjoyed Astonishing X-Men and the occasional arc here and there over the last decade, but I am done.

[Jesse · Rating 3 out of 5]

So I'm aiming to read all of Kieron Gillen's Marvel work (having read both his Thor and Iron Man earlier this year). The biggest project left by far is his X-Men. I've already read the first chunk of it, but that was quite a while ago. I'm planning on binding it when I'm done, so I need to have read it all through again. This is the first few issues (except for his SWORD miniseries, which I will be putting first, but didn't feel the need to re-read.) Well, actually these issues are written by Matt Fraction, but I hear they were "ghost co-plotted" by Gillen, which makes sense as they set up the characters who will dominate his run later; namely Hope and her team of "the 5 lights", new mutants from all over the world.
So.... these comics are really only ok. There are a handful of spots that showcase Fraction's humor, but are mostly pretty dour and by-the-numbers. Emma Frost feels especially out of character here, but that may just be me not remembering her context at this time. Scott is pretty good. Otherwise they're all pretty uninteresting unfortunately. And the art.... is pretty dang bad. By someone I don't know, but their art looks scratchy and angular, but without the basis in good anatomy and composition that can make that work (i.e. by someone like Bill Sienkiwicz or Alex Maleev). It's just ugly. It actually makes me look forward to the next arc, which will be done by Greg Land (the horror!). HOWEVER, the first issue, which was a one-shot "X-Men: The Heroic Age" was the exact opposite. The writing in that was pure Fraction, funny and poignant. The art was split between three artists, including Jamie McKelvie (Gillen's often-art-partner), and it was all great. Plus, one of the storylines directly referenced the SWORD series. So at least there was that. The opening issues of my bind will be good at least.

[Adam Stone · Rating 3 out of 5]

The follow-up to Second Coming is a fairly humdrum Getting The Team Together book where Hope adjusts to the world that sees her as a messiah, and the X-Men gather the first people to have their mutant gene activated after Hope's arrival.

I don't find any of the new characters interesting. The character beats between Rogue, Cyclops, Hope, and Magneto are...fine. Really, the highlight of the book is Matt Fraction's irreverent narration boxes. A sort of loving parody of Stan Lee and Chris Claremont's styles, used somewhat sparingly.

Whilce Portacio's art is also a refreshing change from Fraction's work with Greg Land. All the character designs are basically the same, and the coloring makes it seem very Land-ish but if Land still actually drew. The facial expressions are actually natural here and the art leans into the storytelling instead of fighting it with static images and porn faces.

While I didn't love this collection, I definitely recommend it for fans of Hope or anyone who's enjoyed the Utopia era of the X-Men.

[Alex E · Rating 3 out of 5]

In this volume, we meet the "five lights" that appeared after Hope returned to the present.

And while it was interesting to meet and learn about each new mutant, this volume does come off as a bit stale. Because, we have seen this type of story before. New mutants, the X-Men go recruit them, their powers are out of control, etc, etc... But what does make it interesting is the Hope twist who's powers appear to be to mimic or somehow control other mutant powers. So she basically has to be there in order to calm the new mutants down and help them with their powers. There is also a sub plot involving the secret of Emma Frost and her secret prisoner: Sebastian Shaw. This story seems to be picking up quite a bit of steam, so we should see some movement on that front soon.

Overall, this was good, but nothing that we haven't seen before. However, the art is quite good, and the plot is good as well - as long as you haven't read much X-Men before. Recommended for new X-Men readers.

[J. · Rating 2 out of 5]

While the story here is fine, it's definitely been done before. The 'gathering a team of mutants' storyline is a classic X-Men standby, but this volume doesn't do anything particularly memorable or new with it, and I'm not even sure exactly what's happening. (Hope has to physically touch the mutants for some reason? Or something bad happens?) I'm going to give this a pass, since presumably it could be sorted out in the next volume. Unfortunately, this volume is also hampered by art that--while not actually bad--doesn't make any of the characters look like they should. Unless they're wearing something iconic, like Namor's green underpants, I'm left wondering who I'm looking at. This is particularly problematic for such a large-cast book.

[Roman Colombo · Rating 2 out of 5]

So, I remember liking this a bit more, but this was pretty underwhelming. Faction just never had a good handle on Hope Summers. He writes her as a slightly more serious Pixie, but doesn't come anywhere close to how Duane Swierczynski developed the character, and her developments in Second Coming. There was one decent scene where Hope meets her biological grandmother...but it ends too quickly.

[Sananab · Rating 2 out of 5]

I enjoyed this in spite of the low rating I'm giving it. It was good enough to read to the end, with a few moments I really liked. It's just... not anything? There's very little story, and what little there was told very slowly, and padded out with lots of bog-standard X-Men stuff. I just finished reading it and I can barely remember what it was about.

[Vikas · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

[E. Rickert · Rating 3 out of 5]

Polite pass.

[Emmett Spain · Rating 2 out of 5]

Average stories, average art. Not loving this.

[ginnyfresi · Rating 3 out of 5]

está bien, emma frost perfecta, todas sus apariciones eran lo mejor y más interesante del cómic, el resto.. do better y lo de la relación de kitty y coloso dios mio.... kill it

[Jacob · Rating 2 out of 5]

I do like to read things by Matt Fraction and I knew going into this library copy I've missed a lot of his prior X-Men books/chapters. I now understand why the mutant books have fallen in sales. This book has fine cover art by the terrific Dodsons, but the inside is a mess. Some of it is good, some of it is awful and it's all because there isn't a consistent artist on the title giving the reader the author's intended vision. I'd like to think the writer just stretched himself too much writing too many titles a month. The last time I read an X-Men book it was by Joss Whedon or Ed brubaker and even Whedon could sustain only a solid 6 issue run, of 18. I don't like the mix of A list characters mixed in with new. It just doesn't feel like an X-Men title. And the plots go no where, characters die and come back. Instead of Colossus being dead, it's Nightcrawler. I guess something must have happened to Rogue, because that was not the same character I remember reading stories about. I guess I've become like so many other bittered readers wishing to return to the grand old days when Claremont was in charge and things were new and different. Not recommended.

[Jeff Lanter · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really enjoyed reading Second Coming a couple of years ago and just could never scrape enough money together to read more of Uncanny X-Men. Thankfully, I now have that chance thanks to Marvel Unlimited. Generation Hope has two parts to the story. One part is finding new X-Men which is fun to read. The second is building and re-building characters in the wake of the event. Some of these plotlines are short and too choppy. Emma Frost is mostly the focus of these. Generation Hope reminded me how much I enjoy her as a character, because she isn't even at her best in this story, but she still entertains.

The art is not amazing, but grew on me after the first issue. Initially, it seemed like too many characters were grimacing as they talked. As the issues went on, it got better and better. I will say that the covers are somewhat misleading and indicate some big things will happen when they don't at all. Generation Hope is definitely not one of the best X-Men stories ever written and serves more as a bridge from one event to the next story, but I enjoyed it and am looking forward to reading more.

[Aaron · Rating 3 out of 5]

Oddly, this book is very readable for what feels an attempt to stall for time. While nothing major happens in this book (it's almost 100% setup), Fraction just has such a flare for dialogue and a creative approach to comics storytelling that you can't help but enjoy it.

Following Second Coming, Hope is dealing with the weight of being the "mutant savior." Much of the book is spent showing her struggle, and ultimate acceptance, of this mantle, while setting up other storylines that seem like they will payoff later. Emma Frost is trying to figure out what to do about Sebastian Shaw; Kitty Pryde is still stuck in her phase state and wants out; various new mutant activations occur around the world and must be addressed. It's a little slow, but it all still feels important somehow. I'm interested to see what the next entry brings.

[Adam Fisher · Rating 4 out of 5]

Coming straight from the pages of Second Coming, Hope continues to explore her powers (which turn out to be a proximity power mimicry of sorts) and decides to find her family. After spending an afternoon learning about her mother from her grandmother (the relation never revealed to the old lady) she joins a team of mutants to track down "The Five Lights", who are the new mutants born since the manifestation of Hope's powers. The first four seem cool so far, though Hope did have to help them control their burgeoning powers with a touch from her (yet another of her abilities!).
From here the story branches off to the Generation Hope title, which I am not sure I will read yet, but I do look forward to seeing how the new "hero" status of the X-Men will help them grow. Especially with "Fear Itself" being my next huge Marvel event to catch up on....

Recommend.

[William Thomas · Rating 3 out of 5]

For the past few years, the writers of the X-Men have been punishing the mutants with plagues of biblical proportion. And oftentimes the problems facing the X-Men are right out of the bible, like the Jew of the old testament. And now as their messiah has come, they are as Christians in Rome- trying to spread their influence while still being despised and hounded.

This is the transition-period piece that accompanies most big crossovers. It takes the time to humanize the characters once again while foregoing the blockbuster action scenes in order to focus on characterization.

I hope that this girl, Hope, is worth all the fuss. I can see this whole generation Hope stuff turning out to be a complete flop in the vein of the New X-Men.

[Sean · Rating 1 out of 5]

Coming off the strong storyline in X-Men: Second Coming I had really high hopes for this. The idea of new mutants reappearing was good considering the recent past but this was pretty run of the mill. Matt Fraction usually has this sly sense of humor that, when mixed with the action, is a great blend on this book. Here, almost all of the that was totally missing. Scenes that I thought would be entire arcs were wrapped up in panels and vice versa. Added to the downside was the art by While Portacio. I associate his name with bad 90s art that I hated then. Thinking time heels all wounds I hoped for better. What I got was what I should have expected. Strange looking faces, weird anatomy, and unrecognizable characters. Overall people should probably avoid this one.

[Ryan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book really does nothing more than move a few plot points forward. Beyond that we have choppy quick cuts through different plot lines that don't linger long enough to have much impact. Also, we have some disappointing art. This is too bad because I remember reading X-Factor when Portacio started the book long ago. His art was mind-blowing 20 years back. But now it looks like he hasn't improved much over the years. Also, I found myself re-reading Fraction's dialogue a few times to make some sense out of it. What the hell? Looking forward to some X-stories written by more talented writers...