In this review of Uncanny X-Men #17, a movie about a serial-killing mutant have consequences for everyone as things seem to come to life.
UNCANNY X-MEN #17
Writer: GAIL SIMONE
Artist: LUCIANO VECCHIO
Main Cover: DAVID MARQUEZ
Variant Covers: RON FRENZ, ROD REIS, EJIKURE
Page Count: 32 pages
Release Date: July 9, 2025
Gail Simone and Luciano Vecchio’s Uncanny X-men #17 poses an interesting question regarding intolerance and public expression, as the X-men deal with a Mutant slasher film controversy. Or rather, it would be an interesting question if this were twenty-five years ago. It’s not necessarily a bad book, but Simone skews way younger than what I know she’s capable of, and in truth it’s never good to have the movie inside your comic be more interesting than the comic itself.
Uncanny X-Men #17 begins with all mutants on full alert after the premiere of the newest horror blockbuster: Mutina. The prospect of a mutant-themed horror movie may prove to set the mutant tolerance movement back, but it raises a question regarding free speech and freedom of expression. While the grown-ups debate, the young Outliers go to see the film for themselves.
Left scared and hurt, they immediately begin to feel social pressure after being harassed both in public and at school. Calico and Jitter in particular are hit hard after being suspended from school for using their powers in retaliation. It turns out to be a big misunderstanding as Tommy, “the bully” was looking to help Jitter due to sharing a similar speech impediment.
Looking to rectify their current situation and get some answers, Calico and Jitter infiltrate the real Mutina’s green room, only to begin an all out brawl. We learn the actress who plays Mutina really has powers (mutant or otherwise) and hates how mutants can’t fit in. Before the two young heroes can get in over their heads, the adult X-Men appear, Gambit having located them with his Eye of Agamotto. X-Men young and old square up to finally take down the scream-queen of mutant hate…
Uncanny X-Men #17 is a lot of talking for a superhero action book. While I appreciate that Simone is well-regarded for her interpersonal character writing, and she does include a limited fight scene between the X-Men and Mutina, the teenage “drama” is pretty monotonous. Personality-wise, the Outliers are a mixed bag. Calico and Jitter’s relationship is endearing, even if I think Jitter’s stuttering could be portrayed a little bit better in the lettering.
Deathdream’s bit about wanting to see the animated film is very funny, but I fear he’s a caricature of neuro-atypical folks. Worst off is Ransom, who kind of slips into the background of the issue. Mutina is perhaps the most interesting of the new bunch, a legitimately flawed and nuanced character, save for her manic-pixie-Fortnite Character design sensibility. Why do I have the sinking suspicion that in five-fifteen years we’re going to see her on some kind of X-Men lineup?
How the mighty have fallen, the Mutants having previously secured immortality and their own global-intergalactic-socio-economic power to now living in fear of schlock cinema. It’s not a very interesting dilemma. While I appreciate that the othering of people through media going hand in hand with the mutant metaphor, “Mutant-exploitation film” feels more like the kind of thing the X-Men would embrace rather than feel oppressed by, in the same way Blaxploitation was made cool by black Americans in the 70’s and 80’s. And after all, as any horror afficionado can attest, your supposed to cheer for the killers in horror movies!
If anything, Mutina would make mutants more popular. Moreover, the plotting of the issue is pretty slapdash. All the mutant and horror-hero community are up in arms about a Mutant-themed exploitation movie, the young heroes go to see and feel the immediate social pressures from its problematic depiction, and then…Mutina is real and Calico and Jitter go hunt her? It wasn’t made crystal clear in the first half of the issue that Mutina was real and not just a character played by an in-universe actor.
The art Uncanny X-Men #17 is top of the line as far as mainstream, big two books are concerned. Vecchio’s figurework and facial features are well rendered, and everyone’s powers are readable, even the more abstract young heroes’. While his referenced likeness drawings of real creative industry talent are true to form, they are a bit distracting compared to his normal style. Rachelle Rosenberg brings her typical panache, but what really sticks out is the limited palette she chooses for the horror movie. Excellent stuff.
The prospect of introducing a new mutant villain to the line as in Uncanny X-Men #17 does spark some curiosity, but the fact of the matter is this feels more like an afternoon tv-special rather than a superhero comic. I still yearn for the halcyon days of Krakoa, where it felt like anything could happen and every book bled into each other. Instead, what we get is a just okay outing into the foray of the tolerance metaphor.
