Uncanny X-Men: Alan Davis Omnibus

Uncanny X-Men: Alan Davis Omnibus

By Chris Claremont and Alan Davis

(Marvel/Panini UK)  ISBN 1-905239-40-8

(A BRITISH EDITION RELEASED BY PANINI UK LTD)

Alan Davis has been a feature of the US comics scene — and a source of pride to his fellow Brits — for over twenty years now, so a compendium of his work is probably long overdue. It is, then, with mixed feelings that I have to say this is a joy and a disappointment as a package.

As always, his beautiful and influential picture-making is well worth the price of admission, especially when inked by his long-term collaborator, the masterful Mark Farmer, but the editors, by selecting such recent material (Uncanny X-Men issues #444-447, 450-451 and 455-459, – all from the last three years) have deprived newer readers of some wonderful tales. Not to mention ignoring the fact that Mr Davis is a writer of no mean ability himself.

Still, what is here is pretty good, as Chris Claremont scripts some rip-roaring tales featuring time-warps, Sentinels, an unstoppable robot Fury, a teenaged girl Wolverinette, and an all-out Battle Royale in the antediluvian Savage Land against the dinosaur counterparts of the Mutant superheroes for the fate of humanity on Earth, all of which show the range and versatility of the artist. Now if we can just work on a second volume…

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