Comic book reviews for Uncanny X-Men #514, Uncanny X-Men #515, and Uncanny X-Men #516 by Matt Fraction
Uncanny X-Men #514 by Matt Fraction
Fraction is a writer who’s all about the set-up, and one of the few comic writers who doesn’t give it all away. There’s mystery in just what Cyclops is planning and who he’s bringing in.
We always knew Trask was a hypocrite. So it’s not surprising, he killed people to make them mutated bio-sentinels.
I felt Fraction’s Emma was off. Her words just weren’t quite right. I can’t figure out if it’s because she’s concealing her true words from those loyal to Osborn and the man himself or if it just wasn’t correct.
I did really enjoy the way Cloak and Dagger are portrayed here and how intimate their fighting together seemed. My vote’s on Fraction for a series about them.
Uncanny X-Men #515 by Matt Fraction
Wait, why do people listen to Cyclops? And why is he the only one really stepping up to run Utopia? Seriously, how many A-type personalities are this team? I can kind of buy Emma being distracted with the Void in her forehead. I mean, okay Ororro, Xavier, and Beast kind of question him. But all of them can be way more bitchy. Ororro is a freaking queen and goddess; I mean, didn’t she leave the X-Men because she butted heads with the Scott/Emma regime? Not to mention this is Xavier’s foundation.
And the extremely tedious two-page pissing match Scott tried to have with Emma made me happy to have not bought The Confession.
The first two pages were such a promising comic, but it didn’t end up that way. When Jean coming back again?
Uncanny X-Men #516 by Matt Fraction
Fraction’s plots are often slow-cooked for layered set-up so it doesn’t surprise me this book feels so sluggish. Okay, Magneto is one of the biggest X-characters so his return with powers probably does deserve an issue on its own. (When are he and Charles just going to kiss and make-out, I mean, make-up, already?)
This said, I really wish Land wasn’t the artist. I can’t tell any of characters not in uniform or who don’t have a very distinct appearance — i.e. Nightcrawler is blue with a tail — apart. The villains, I have no clue who they are. Some bad guys, perhaps?
The women are the worst. Dazzler, Emma, Pixie, random female baddies: they all look identical. Unless Land put name-tags on all of them, it makes it incredibly hard to follow this comic. And kind of pisses me off. It makes this a very hard book for anyone new to X-books to pick up when it’s confusing for an established reader.