Up to this point, UNCANNY X-MEN has been on a real roller coaster of quaility. Issue #516 was a pretty low point, featuring a lackluster script staring an out-of-character Magneto and an even more out-of-character Proffesor X. Then out of nowhere comes issue #517, which skyrocketed up the track with great action scenes and suprisingly servicable art by Greg Land. It’s because of this that I now no longer know what to expect from this title, as the story can go from great to crap between a few issues, which are all in the same story arc. So naturally, I had no idea whether or not I’d be enjoying #518 or if I’d be wanting to rip it up before I bought it.

My reactions after reading it? Somewhere between praise and dislike. I didn’t hate #518, but I certainly didn’t love it. This issue features the return of Terry and Rachel Dodson to art duties, which is kind of fitting as this issue is sort of a spiritual successor to a recent issue they drew where Emma was exploring Cyclops’ head, and it resembled a hotel featuring all the X-Babes. In this issue, the tables are turned, and Cyclops must enter Emma’s head to investigate that pesky Void parasite that has become a part of her at the end of the Utopia crossover. Which brings me to my major gripe about this issue: I fucking hate The Sentry. I hate his character, I hate any issue of any comic which revolves around his complicated mental state involving The Void, and I hate the fact that Fraction found it necessary to bring this “character” into UNCANNY X-MEN. I feel that The Void is not a well explaned character (or parasite, or whatever it is), and his inclusion really drags down any story he’s involved in because a good chuck of the issue always involves trying to explain to the reader what he is, and the explanation is always vauge.

So naturally, since The Void was a major part of this issue, I couldn’t fully enjoy it. I did, however, like other aspects of it. The Dodson’s art is well done, as always, and they depict the psychic plane quite well. It’s also always a delight to see Beast contribute to the story, as it’s evident that Fraction knows how to write him well. I don’t think he has a good handle on writing Magneto, however, and there’s something that rings phony about he recent depictions. I always saw Magneto as more willful and headstrong than Fraction has been writing him, as he appears to be a bit of a wishy-washy wimp. Who knows though, perhaps this is just a facade he’s putting on. Either way, I hope he becomes more exciting.

So while I really hate all the Void-centric plot points that have been in the issues lately, it didn’t completely damper my liking of UNCANNY X-MEN #518. It was a fine servicable issue that moves the overall story along in a decent manner. Like I mentioned before, this series has become the real wild card in my pull list, so who knows whether or not the next issue will be outstanding or just plain crap.