Paul Smith

Uncanny X-Men Omnibus Vol. 3 keeps Chris Claremont’s mutant epic moving through space, intimacy and team fracture, with Dave Cockrum and Paul Smith giving the book different kinds of elegance. It is a volume where the X-Men feel both cosmic and painfully personal, often within the same arc. This is Claremont’s X-Men as a living ensemble: space opera can sit next to quiet character damage, and the book trusts the reader to care about both with equal intensity.