I really want to like this story.  Matt Fraction is a strong writer.  The concept of a dark X-Men team that may or may not be working with Osborn is somewhat intriguing.  The reemergence of Mimic, Cloak, Dagger, Hellion, Avalanche, Adam X, and others is kind of cool, but I feel that Fraction’s story is too big.  While I was a little bummed out about who lost powers and who kept powers way back when Marvel did the Decimation/198 storyline, I think it did do a good job of turning the X-books into a more managable cast.  Yes, you still had lots of fringe characters, but they’ve been used pretty sparingly for the last few years.  Now.  Well, now we seem to have everyone that isn’t did (and, of course, some who are) shuffling around Matt Fraction’s X-Verse.  We just finished a story involving The Sisterhood of little used X-characters, and now we’ve got a “goon squad” trying to mix it up with the Dark X-Men.

There are also a lot of questions I have about how this connects to other series, as characters who pop up here were last seen in dire straits; or else were in dire straits when last they appeared, and are now just sort of hopping around the Marvel U.

My main problem with this issue, though, is the art.  For the most part, it’s average.  And I do like that Emma Frost’s face is pencilled very smoothly, while everyone else gets loads of lines.  But the actual lines?  Ugly and unnecessary.  Way overshadowed.  I’ve mentioned before that a lot of Marvel titles have characters who look like they’re constantly under an assortment of stage lights, so that their features get all moody looking.  Or, maybe the artist is just saying mutants have oily skin (except Emma), I don’t know.  I just know it’s distracting to me, and I hope the trend stops soon.