The X-Men/Dark Avengers crossover seems to be affecting the two participating books in two completely opposite ways. For Dark Avengers, the crossover is marginalizing the book even further, as it’s becoming less of an Avengers comics and more of a Norman Osborn comic. Uncanny X-Men, however, has become revitalized by this crossover, being as how the X-Men are facing the first real and interesting threat in the Fraction Era.

In this issue, we see the Dark X-Men really come alive in a characterization sense, and see how they operate together. They remind me of the bad guy groups in cartoons of the 80’s, like Cobra or the Decipticons, in the sense that they are very uneasy allies. Whereas the Joes or the Autobots seemed to be allies and best friends, Cobra and the Decipticons were always bickering, fighting amongst each other, and planning ulterior motives. Almost everyone here has a hidden agenda, including Emma & Namor’s secret pact and Mimic’s fame hunting. Daken seems to get on everyone’s nerves (including us readers), and Weapon Omega seems to be completely uneasy with his part in the bigger scheme of things. The only real sense of comradeship is between Cloak and Dagger, who already have an extensive backstory together and also feel uneasy with being on the team.

This analysis may be a bit extensive, but it’s evidence that Matt Fraction is doing his job in telling an engaging story. For the extent of his run, Fraction’s characterizations were top-notch, yet his stories were always uninspired and fell flat in the conclusion. The characterizations are still here in the crossover, but now it seems like the shit has really hit the fan for Cyclops and the X-Men, and now I’m truly on hinges wondering how they will get out of this pickle. The Dodson’s art is fun, as always. They seem to have a nice balance of cartoony art and down & dirty action portrayals, and its always a plus to see them billed on this book.

It’s a great time to be an X-Men fan now, seeing as how a talented writer like Fraction is not only writing gripping stories featuring Marvel’s merry mutants, but writes them as great characters that you truly care about.

This analysis may be a bit extensive, but it’s evidence that Matt Fraction is doing his job in telling an engaging story. For the extent of his run, Fraction’s characterizations were top-notch, yet his stories were always uninspired and fell flat in the conclusion. The characterizations are still here in the crossover, but now it seems like the shit has really hit the fan for Cyclops and the X-Men, and now I’m truly on hinges wondering how they will get out of this pickle. The Dodson’s art is fun, as always. They seem to have a nice balance of cartoony art and down & dirty action portrayals, and its always a plus to see them billed on this book.

It’s a great time to be an X-Men fan now, seeing as how a talented writer like Fraction is not only writing gripping stories featuring Marvel’s merry mutants, but writes them as great characters that you truly care about.