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Uncanny X-Men: The New Age
Uncanny X-Men: The New Age, Vol. 5: First Foursaken
Here it comes Find out why and how Psylocke came back to life. Find out what Jamie Braddock is up to and why he's been popping up from place to place in the past year. Everything has been building to this. Don't miss it Collects Uncanny X-Men #472-474 and Uncanny X-Men Annual #1.
110 pages, Paperback
First published September 20, 2006
6 people are currently reading
85 people want to read
About the author
Chris Claremont
3,286 books899 followersChris Claremont is a writer of American comic books, best known for his 16-year (1975-1991) stint on Uncanny X-Men, during which the series became one of the comic book industry's most successful properties.
Claremont has written many stories for other publishers including the Star Trek Debt of Honor graphic novel, his creator-owned Sovereign Seven for DC Comics and Aliens vs Predator for Dark Horse Comics. He also wrote a few issues of the series WildC.A.T.s (volume 1, issues #10-13) at Image Comics, which introduced his creator-owned character, Huntsman.
Outside of comics, Claremont co-wrote the Chronicles of the Shadow War trilogy, Shadow Moon (1995), Shadow Dawn (1996), and Shadow Star (1999), with George Lucas. This trilogy continues the story of Elora Danan from the movie Willow. In the 1980s, he also wrote a science fiction trilogy about female starship pilot Nicole Shea, consisting of First Flight (1987), Grounded! (1991), and Sundowner (1994). Claremont was also a contributor to the Wild Cards anthology series.
Claremont has written many stories for other publishers including the Star Trek Debt of Honor graphic novel, his creator-owned Sovereign Seven for DC Comics and Aliens vs Predator for Dark Horse Comics. He also wrote a few issues of the series WildC.A.T.s (volume 1, issues #10-13) at Image Comics, which introduced his creator-owned character, Huntsman.
Outside of comics, Claremont co-wrote the Chronicles of the Shadow War trilogy, Shadow Moon (1995), Shadow Dawn (1996), and Shadow Star (1999), with George Lucas. This trilogy continues the story of Elora Danan from the movie Willow. In the 1980s, he also wrote a science fiction trilogy about female starship pilot Nicole Shea, consisting of First Flight (1987), Grounded! (1991), and Sundowner (1994). Claremont was also a contributor to the Wild Cards anthology series.
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Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews
September 1, 2021
This is easily the worst comic I have read from Claremont.
It starts with the arrival of Jamie and we learn of he First Fallen, the parallel of Phoenix and his Foursaken which includes him and his aim of world domination or cleansing, you know the usual messianic stuff and well Psylocke to save the day and something with Watcher coming in? And another story with Storm pondering whether she should accept T'challa's proposal and meeting figments of Forge, Jean and Kitty in her dreams and maybe fight her uncle Shetani and something?
This was so bad and felt like a rushed job and did not have any cohesion and felt all over the place and unnecessarily elongated and bloated. I am glad its over because the ideas while good, the execution was horrible. But regardless good character moments for Storm and a few for Jamie when he saved Betsy. And thus ends the short return of CC on Uncanny while it was cool, the last few story arcs have me questioning the whole run as a whole and the constant art changes was annoying.
It starts with the arrival of Jamie and we learn of he First Fallen, the parallel of Phoenix and his Foursaken which includes him and his aim of world domination or cleansing, you know the usual messianic stuff and well Psylocke to save the day and something with Watcher coming in? And another story with Storm pondering whether she should accept T'challa's proposal and meeting figments of Forge, Jean and Kitty in her dreams and maybe fight her uncle Shetani and something?
This was so bad and felt like a rushed job and did not have any cohesion and felt all over the place and unnecessarily elongated and bloated. I am glad its over because the ideas while good, the execution was horrible. But regardless good character moments for Storm and a few for Jamie when he saved Betsy. And thus ends the short return of CC on Uncanny while it was cool, the last few story arcs have me questioning the whole run as a whole and the constant art changes was annoying.
August 28, 2017
It always makes me slightly uncomfortable when the last part of a lengthy story arc is written by a different writer to the rest of the story. You know something has happened behind the scenes and that it probably wasn't nice.
It also usually makes for a clumsy ending to the story, which is definitely the case here. It's a shame as I was really enjoying this run right up until the end.
It also usually makes for a clumsy ending to the story, which is definitely the case here. It's a shame as I was really enjoying this run right up until the end.
September 27, 2020
3.25 stars. This run had been teasing Jamie Braddock by having him randomly pop up here and there. This volume brings that full circle. Jamie was the one who brought Betsy back to life as he would need her for an ancient coming threat. This was just ok. The second story, which spills into the annual, has Storm out in Africa looking to stop a warlord. A lot of small villages who had mutants protecting them were now left unguarded as the House of M event left those mutants without powers. This warlord took advantage an attacked these villages to recruit the kids as soldiers. Storm called in the X-men for back up and the fire fight began. I liked this arc the most. Over all another decent volume.
August 31, 2017
One of the better arcs to come out of this run. Jamie Braddock is always a fun character.
February 4, 2018
Continuing the great X-read of 2017 that has now stretched into 2018...
Okay. So I am way behind on reviewing these x-books that I have been reading. So I am going to just kind of ramble about all of them and copy/paste my thoughts. Which will make for a bit of a mess and I am sorry. Quick ramblings:
Cable and Deadpool continues to be surprisingly good though a little more scattered in these couple of volumes.
X-Men the Blood of Apocalypse was rushed in my opinion...
Phoenix Warsong was pretty decent. Melodramatic but not a bad story. (and when is a Phoenix story not melodramatic?)
New X-Men is a good series with some great characters that grow volume by volume.
Uncanny First Foursaken was not my cup of tea really.
Black Panther: The Bride was probably much better to BP readers. As part of an X-Men run, it can probably be skipped.
Wolverine Origins born in blood was not particularly memorable.
Astonishing X-Men will possibly get its own review as it is a reread and interesting as such...
Civil War was one of the first times in my life that I could say that the movie was better than the book. For the most part, it was really boring to me. The X-Men universe tie-ins were only slightly more interesting to me.
X-factor continues to be a delight.
Exiles continues to be great.
I need to get back to writing reviews of these as I finish them. Reading them in quick succession like this, I begin to forget what happened in individual books (which I suppose equally speaks to the books themselves and my memory...)
Okay. So I am way behind on reviewing these x-books that I have been reading. So I am going to just kind of ramble about all of them and copy/paste my thoughts. Which will make for a bit of a mess and I am sorry. Quick ramblings:
Cable and Deadpool continues to be surprisingly good though a little more scattered in these couple of volumes.
X-Men the Blood of Apocalypse was rushed in my opinion...
Phoenix Warsong was pretty decent. Melodramatic but not a bad story. (and when is a Phoenix story not melodramatic?)
New X-Men is a good series with some great characters that grow volume by volume.
Uncanny First Foursaken was not my cup of tea really.
Black Panther: The Bride was probably much better to BP readers. As part of an X-Men run, it can probably be skipped.
Wolverine Origins born in blood was not particularly memorable.
Astonishing X-Men will possibly get its own review as it is a reread and interesting as such...
Civil War was one of the first times in my life that I could say that the movie was better than the book. For the most part, it was really boring to me. The X-Men universe tie-ins were only slightly more interesting to me.
X-factor continues to be a delight.
Exiles continues to be great.
I need to get back to writing reviews of these as I finish them. Reading them in quick succession like this, I begin to forget what happened in individual books (which I suppose equally speaks to the books themselves and my memory...)
November 28, 2015
The storyline is mediocre at best, and feels a little self-indulgent on Chris Claremont's part. The only things that I liked about it were Chris Bachalo's art on some of the issues (which is excellent as always), the involvement of Cannonball on the team yet again, and Psylocke's prominent role, even if it was a little bit of a confusing one, but then again, I've never quite understood the crazy character of Jamie Braddock.
November 17, 2013
Not bad, not great. An average X Men adventure but one that can be safely skipped and not miss any plot. Worth buying though for the extra story at the back about Storm's adventures in Africa.
January 23, 2022
Eleven steps into marvelguides.com Road to Civil War, and I find myself in the company of the Uncanny X-Men.
The First Foursaken was another read I was looking forward to enjoying. Sadly, this tale is full of the irks that plagued comic books from this era.
Firstly, the story. Though the concept is good, the X-men's adventure needed more issues to do it justice. It is around three issues too short. Thus it feels rushed.
Secondly comes the artwork. Now, this has always annoyed me. I am an ardent believer in keeping the same artists throughout the story. It gives the issues continuity. If you have an artist you like, and in the next issue it is a less talented artist, you feel wronged. The worst is if they have a poor artist (which you can still settle into and enjoy the story with) then they swap them for a superb artist. The swap pulls you right out of the story and leaves you wondering why they did not use the better artist from the start? Multiple artists are the case with The Foursaken. And in a compilation, where you are more likely to read in one sitting, the differences are more compounded. The most shocking artistic faux pa was the watcher. One month he is the big blue omnipresent alien we all love, and next, he is a huge-headed, white, anorexic, silent giant. It was this transformation that ruined the story for me.
The stand-alone annual story, I Dream Of Africa, is the best of the two, though the opening panels are a trifle confusing. I thought an issue was missing between the two adventure yarns. However, the writers' relate the missing events in flashbacks, which feels a tad sloppy and disjointed. That said, I do have to praise them for utilising a dream-orientated self-healing process for Storm. It works perfectly to help her iron out the marital uncertainties she is having. It also allows us to revisit with some of her past friends and teammates.
The complete story is more of an aftermath of the "House of M" instead of a step on the Road to "Civil War". Though the Dream tale adds to Black Panther and Storm's side of the upcoming saga, and their Prelude to a Wedding story arc.
Not a great storyline, I have to say, and could easily be missed.
The First Foursaken was another read I was looking forward to enjoying. Sadly, this tale is full of the irks that plagued comic books from this era.
Firstly, the story. Though the concept is good, the X-men's adventure needed more issues to do it justice. It is around three issues too short. Thus it feels rushed.
Secondly comes the artwork. Now, this has always annoyed me. I am an ardent believer in keeping the same artists throughout the story. It gives the issues continuity. If you have an artist you like, and in the next issue it is a less talented artist, you feel wronged. The worst is if they have a poor artist (which you can still settle into and enjoy the story with) then they swap them for a superb artist. The swap pulls you right out of the story and leaves you wondering why they did not use the better artist from the start? Multiple artists are the case with The Foursaken. And in a compilation, where you are more likely to read in one sitting, the differences are more compounded. The most shocking artistic faux pa was the watcher. One month he is the big blue omnipresent alien we all love, and next, he is a huge-headed, white, anorexic, silent giant. It was this transformation that ruined the story for me.
The stand-alone annual story, I Dream Of Africa, is the best of the two, though the opening panels are a trifle confusing. I thought an issue was missing between the two adventure yarns. However, the writers' relate the missing events in flashbacks, which feels a tad sloppy and disjointed. That said, I do have to praise them for utilising a dream-orientated self-healing process for Storm. It works perfectly to help her iron out the marital uncertainties she is having. It also allows us to revisit with some of her past friends and teammates.
The complete story is more of an aftermath of the "House of M" instead of a step on the Road to "Civil War". Though the Dream tale adds to Black Panther and Storm's side of the upcoming saga, and their Prelude to a Wedding story arc.
Not a great storyline, I have to say, and could easily be missed.
May 16, 2022
Jamie Braddock returns to tell the tale of how Psylocke came back to life and more importantly, why she came back to life.
So over the course of the last few issues of this book, Jamie Braddock has been doing quick appearances here and there. Claremont teasing the character seemed to denote the fact that something big with Jamie was going to happen soon. I guess this was it? The story was a bit of a let down to be honest. It was convoluted and to be honest, felt really rushed. I feel like Claremont is known for laying down these intricate stories that grow over time, and I guess he tried to somewhat do that here, but it just ends up falling flat and not making much sense. Suffice to say that Psylocke is brought back to fight some gods or something that only she can touch. ... yeah... not much more too it.
Along with that story there is a story about Storm finding her fighting spirit again as she recants the events of her life while stuck under rubble after an attack by a mercenary group in Africa. She is trying to reconcile the with the fact that T'challa wants to marry her, and what kind of life would that leave for her and also - is she worthy of that life. I thought this story was way more interesting and introspective, and a good character study on Storm.
This volume was pretty lackluster if I'm being honest. I would recommend this to die hard X-Men fans only.
So over the course of the last few issues of this book, Jamie Braddock has been doing quick appearances here and there. Claremont teasing the character seemed to denote the fact that something big with Jamie was going to happen soon. I guess this was it? The story was a bit of a let down to be honest. It was convoluted and to be honest, felt really rushed. I feel like Claremont is known for laying down these intricate stories that grow over time, and I guess he tried to somewhat do that here, but it just ends up falling flat and not making much sense. Suffice to say that Psylocke is brought back to fight some gods or something that only she can touch. ... yeah... not much more too it.
Along with that story there is a story about Storm finding her fighting spirit again as she recants the events of her life while stuck under rubble after an attack by a mercenary group in Africa. She is trying to reconcile the with the fact that T'challa wants to marry her, and what kind of life would that leave for her and also - is she worthy of that life. I thought this story was way more interesting and introspective, and a good character study on Storm.
This volume was pretty lackluster if I'm being honest. I would recommend this to die hard X-Men fans only.
November 22, 2019
This comic was pretty good. It had as it's main character Psylocke, a character that when I read about her in the 90's was mostly just there for eye candy for the male readers. However in this comic she is kicking ass and taking names as she battles at the Xavier Institute all the way to an alternate dimension and back to Earth again.
The artwork is top notch and the story keeps you interested. The backup story of Storm fighting an evil dictator in Africa was also enjoyable and it gave us a lot of insight into her character and what she wants out of a relationship.
Any fan of the X-Men will enjoy this comic. Check it out!
The artwork is top notch and the story keeps you interested. The backup story of Storm fighting an evil dictator in Africa was also enjoyable and it gave us a lot of insight into her character and what she wants out of a relationship.
Any fan of the X-Men will enjoy this comic. Check it out!
August 28, 2020
Seemed short. Two stories: (1) The origin of Jamie Braddock (does he have no superhero name?) It winds up being a little bit of a weird magic reverse Apocalypse thing. Jamie is some times fun in the manic energy he brings (and other times unpleasant). Here, after he does his magic appearance, the story kind of dries up.
Then there's a second story but I don't remember it. Oh, now I do remember it. It's essentially a Storm solo story (with the team in it) in whcih she fights real gunman and mental demons to make the decision to marry the Black Panther. It's also fine.
Then there's a second story but I don't remember it. Oh, now I do remember it. It's essentially a Storm solo story (with the team in it) in whcih she fights real gunman and mental demons to make the decision to marry the Black Panther. It's also fine.
August 5, 2022
The 3 stars are all for the inclusion of Jamie Braddock (who is fun) and the annual storyline involving Storm, which I quite enjoy even if it's inclusion here feels odd (it's more related to the Bride of Black Panther storyline than the stuff going on in Uncanny). The Jamie storyline is pretty cut and paste, they have to fight the big cosmic entity that is the polar opposite of the Phoenix. Very wheels spinny and without much payoff. There are like 4 fun panels that involve Jamie, and the rest is worth a miss.
July 7, 2017
This volume had two pretty good stories, but the First Foursaken was way too rushed. It could have used another issue, maybe two. The story was too big to handle in just 3 issues. The Storm one-shot was also pretty good, as she navigates her fear of family.
The art was good in both stories...but the colorist in the first issue was bad. Storm looks white. Like, unrecognizably white.
The art was good in both stories...but the colorist in the first issue was bad. Storm looks white. Like, unrecognizably white.
July 30, 2025
Updated Review From 2025 Reread:
This book suffers for being Claremont continuity porn. Positively no other X-writer includes references to Vargas, Jammie Braddock, or Charlotte Jones. And while I appreciate his bringing Jones back into the X-verse, I can't imagine I'll ever care about the C-list characters from his Excalibur and X-Treme X-Men runs.
As usual, Claremont creates a massive Earth-shattering, Universe destroying threat that seems to disappoear by accident. It's kind of like how The Doctor in Doctor Who is constantly running into twenty-year old women who are The Most Important Person In The World and then has to destroy their lives before he trots off to find another twenty year old. After two or three of the stories, you recognize the pattern and stop really caring for any of the characters.
If you loved his Excalibur and/or X-Treme X-Men run, you might enjoy this. I suspect that isn't quite the case with people who loved his 80s run on X-Men.
***
Original 2018 Review: This is another convoluted Claremont X-book with too much going on, and not enough rational explanation. The pacing is off, the characters are jumbled, but Chris Bachalo's art, at least, keeps it looking good.
This book suffers for being Claremont continuity porn. Positively no other X-writer includes references to Vargas, Jammie Braddock, or Charlotte Jones. And while I appreciate his bringing Jones back into the X-verse, I can't imagine I'll ever care about the C-list characters from his Excalibur and X-Treme X-Men runs.
As usual, Claremont creates a massive Earth-shattering, Universe destroying threat that seems to disappoear by accident. It's kind of like how The Doctor in Doctor Who is constantly running into twenty-year old women who are The Most Important Person In The World and then has to destroy their lives before he trots off to find another twenty year old. After two or three of the stories, you recognize the pattern and stop really caring for any of the characters.
If you loved his Excalibur and/or X-Treme X-Men run, you might enjoy this. I suspect that isn't quite the case with people who loved his 80s run on X-Men.
***
Original 2018 Review: This is another convoluted Claremont X-book with too much going on, and not enough rational explanation. The pacing is off, the characters are jumbled, but Chris Bachalo's art, at least, keeps it looking good.
December 22, 2010
I may be rating this a little low, and it may be my fault for having missed all the preceding installments of the story arc and been continually distracted by questions like "Rachel who?" "Phoenix had a daughter?" "When did so-and-so die?", but it seemed to me that if one is going to use yet another of the recurring immanent-destruction-of-the-universe plots the story and action should be, well, bigger. This wasn't complex or intense enough. That said, it was enjoyable and I appreciated not having some of the darker elements that often appear in these stories. I'll have to go back and find more of the numbers with Psylocke's brother so I learn more about she died and he brought her back.
October 26, 2013
Well, now we know why Psylocke is back. I can't say I'm very satisfied, or that I even understand, but I guess I know. This plotline is very cosmic and very, very abrupt. It's got good art, but the plotting is sort of a mess. It's pretty safely skipped, but if you're a completist, then hey: it's not terrible.
February 8, 2022
Psycho Jamie Braddock is back trying to get the X-men to help him. A wierd entity has 4 of all the races from around the galaxy living in a land of peace and goodwill. Jamie's friends try and help, with the X-men, and he sacrifices himself to save all of their hides. BACHALO!!!
March 16, 2011
Finally we find out about Betsy's brother, and what happened in Africa. Seemed a very straightforward, no surprise, storyline.
July 18, 2013
Flojísimo final de la etapa de Claremont, en el que intenta explicar la resurrección de Mariposa Mental y la partida de Tormenta del grupo.
July 17, 2015
Two stars may be generous, but I didn't actively dislike it. It seems like a lot of Claremont's return run is like that.
July 9, 2015
First Foursaken.
February 24, 2016
Top art ( even the issue not illustrated by Bachalo). not top story however....
This concerns the digital edition.
This concerns the digital edition.
September 23, 2018
Reread, average. Not exactly standalone.
Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews