With Magik's powers on the fritz, the X-Men are seemingly helpless when they're pulled into Limbo and must face off against the demon Dormammu. Meanwhile, S.H.I.E.L.D. has recruited Dazzler to be their mutant liaison and her first assignment isn't what she thought it would be.
Uncanny X-Men Volume 2: Broken collects issues #6-11 of Brian Michael Bendis' Uncanny X-Men.
The focus on Magik and Limbo within the first couple of issues in this collection was a stroke of genius. Dormammu makes for a surprisingly good villain for the mutant sorceress and the change of setting shakes things up a bit. Unfortunately, the rest of the issues are inconsistent in pacing and lack the high-stakes tension the earlier issues had. While the fight with the powerful Blockbuster Sentinel towards the end is quite suspenseful, it felt a little predictable. Bendis also struggles with the development of the characters outside of Cyclops' inner circle. Emma, Magik, Magneto, and Cyclops are great, but the other characters all fade into the background.
As a long-time Dazzler fan, I couldn't have been more thrilled to have seen the character back in action. She made some notable appearances during Matt Fraction's run on Uncanny X-Men and appeared in the dimension hopping title X-Treme X-Men, but neither helped to improve her standing on the D-list. Since Brian Michael Bendis has a history of bringing attention to obscure characters (re: Luke Cage, Spider-Woman), having him write the character into this title as a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent was nothing short of brilliant. She even got a stylish new outfit (one of her best, in my opinion). This could have ushered in a new era for the character and would have helped to introduce her to a wider audience as a veritable super spy. Unfortunately, it was all a fake out. At the end of her first assignment, she is poisoned and replaced by Mystique. It's an eye roll worthy moment that is especially frustrating since Bendis is recycling his character arc for Spider-Woman from New Avengers and Secret Invasion. In it, Jessica Drew had become a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, but was secretly a shapeshifting Skrull. It's a stale and predictable move that does the character no favours. If that weren't enough, he has Cyclops treat Dazzler like a traitor for teaming up with S.H.I.E.L.D. before hearing her side of things. Cyclops would do well to remember that Dazzler was the very first mutant to willingly come out as a mutant and is a pioneer in mutant rights. While he was off getting married, having a kid, and then cheating on his (first) wife with Jean Grey, Dazzler was public enemy number one and had to go underground in order to survive the scrutiny she was under. Cyclops, have a few seats.
After the first couple of arcs of Uncanny X-Men, it's quite clear that the narrative is losing steam. While Cyclops' team of X-Men continue to delight with their strong personalities and electric chemistry, the new mutants he's introduced are all fairly generic. Aside from Tempus, this new batch of mutants are altogether forgettable. Bendis also squandered the potential he had with Dazzler, instead using Mystique once more after having depicted her as a Big Bad in All-New X-Men. At its core, Broken is a series of plot threads that have yet to be tied. The title's characters are in desperate need of development and the source behind the overarching conflict is still being hinted at. While this collection is quite entertaining, it doesn't reveal nearly enough and doesn't live up to its full potential.
Rating: B-
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