Uncanny X-Men Special #1 isn't a bad way to kick off Marvel's latest three-part crossover storyline. If a bit lacking in terms of conflict or danger, this chapter allows Ryan and Ackins to have fun with the X-men and further flesh out the younger team members. Hopefully the remaining two chapters will do a better job of emphasizing the other two pillars of the crossover. Read Full Review

The art is more of a mixed bag. Ron Ackins seems to be a relative newcomer to comics, and there's an issue with consistency here, though I can't quite tell if it's down to Ackins, or the three different inkers on this book. There are some great pages here, and I like Ackins' work with facial expressions. The action scenes are choreographed cleanly and clearly. However, the backgrounds vary wildly. There's some pages where there's beautiful touches like having band aids hold down some cables on a spaceship or Benjamin subtly growing a goatee when he meets Iron Man. But there's also panels with either a lot of big blank empty rooms or no background at all. What I will say is that this is clearly an early work, but it shows a whole ton of promise, and Ackins has got some game that with a few more books under his belt, will prove him to be a solid talent. Read Full Review

Overall though, this isn't required reading, nor is it something I'd recommend just giving a try unless you're a fan of the all the characters involved (X-Men/Iron Man/Nova). For $4.99 to get the 1st third of a story, choose how you want to invest your comics buying $ wisely and get this if the premise sounds really good to you. Read Full Review

Uncanny X-Men Special #1 may not be the cream of the comic store crop but for fans it's the start of an adventure that might just turn into something really fun. Recommended. Read Full Review

"Uncanny X-Men Special" #1 is not off to a memorable start. Both writing and art are just all right, with a certain sameness rubbing off on all of the characters. Maybe the remaining two installments will pick up the pace, but at $4.99 a pop, it might be a hard sell to get readers to jump for the chance to buy the remaining issues. This is, unfortunately, nothing special. Read Full Review

Overall I feel bad for this creative team. Being the intermission act for Bendis and Bachalo is a tough gig. Its unreasonable to think I was going to pick up this issue and think whoa, this opening act is better than the headliner! However, I think the occasion could have been risen to a little bit better than it was and Im not sure Im going to stay to see all three issues of their set. Read Full Review

With a mixture of sub par and uninspired art as well as a crossover that doesn't seem feasible in the Marvel Universe right now, this is an event I'm pretty sure everyone can skip picking up. Read Full Review

This was a bit of a disappointing start to the crossover, but it did offer some decent moments. That being said, it is not worth the $4.99 price tag. If you are a huge X-Men fan then give this a try, but for a casual reader it is pretty skippable. The addition of Nova and Iron Man could boost up the rest of the crossover and make it more interesting. Sean Ryan did a decent job, but a lack of good character moments led to this issue not meeting expectations. The art also needs to improve as it slipped as the book got into the latter pages. A disappointing start that can be rectified by two good issues to help boost this crossover. Read Full Review

Not a bad book, and worth a look. But the whole Summer's brothers bit was bizarre, and so far seems a really poor plot choice in my opinion.