Uncanny X-Men #529 pg 15 (Tadeo inks, Fraction story) - 1st Appearance Primal

PRIMAL - Teon Savko

Conclusion to the FIVE LIGHTS saga (UCX #526 - #529), which introduced 4 of the 5 new mutants that Hope Summers shepherds in after the Messiah Complex and Wanda’s “No More Mutants”. At this point in the world of mutants and X-Men no new mutants were being born or having their X gene activated and Hope was the mutant Messiah that was helping to bring them back one by one. 5 new “lights” were found via cerebro, which represented the hope for mutants to start coming back.

The Five Lights were:
-Transonic - Laurie Tromette
-Velocidad - Gabriel Cohuelo
-Oya (aka known as Temper today) - Idie Okonkwo
-Primal - Teon Savko
-Zero - Kenji Uedo

The only real break out from the group has been Temper (Idie), every now and then we’ll see some of the other characters but she is currently on the main X-Men title (as of 2024 at least).

There were a few things that drew me to this page, I really enjoyed the 5 Lights saga, with Hope and Rogue going off to go find and save new mutants, in this dire time. Teon Savko (Primal) is a fun feral character and doesn’t hold back from his primal needs (food, sex, sleep, fight or flight). He’s fun and simple, made for some good comic relief and quick action when needed. And to top it all off, he is one of the only two Ukrainian mutants that I am aware of, being from Kiev (Kyiv), the other Cosmar (Natashia Repina) from a fictional section of Ukraine, Carnelia (since my partner is from Odessa Ukraine). So getting a page from Primal’s first appearance made a lot of sense for me.

And another big plus to this fun page, is that it is some really beautiful inking art from Edgar Tadeo. I’ve really enjoyed seeing him and others on the Next Comic Art group that Jiggy runs. They are some really talented artists and I didn’t been realize I owned a published piece of art from them til I started looking deeper into this page. For this issue, Edgar Tadeo inked over Whilce Portacio’s printed blue lines. This page features Rogue holding Teon down as Hope dominates him to regulate his powers which have gone a bit too feral. Tadeo and and Portacio create some dynamic panels of struggle and power play as Hope drives her powers into Teon, especially love that lower panel. A really great add to my collection.