A lot of people seem to have a love/hate relationship with Matt Fraction's Uncanny X-Men. I see what posters say on iFanboy, or how they review the series on IGN Comics or other sites like that, and it seems that on an issue to issue basis many people think the title is dreadful one month but extremely promising the next. While I would say that the series has definitely had its highs (the issue with Beast and the Science Team going back in time) and lows (the issue where Magneto joins the team and acts way out of character), for me Matt Fraction's X-Men does have some very consistent qualities to it. Month in and month out I'm torn between loving the overall plotting of the series, the trajectories on which Fraction has sent the various mutants, yet hating the absolutely ham-fisted, cliche, stock, reductive character-turns and dialogue that Fraction foists on the mutants. On the one hand, what has been good about Uncanny X-Men over the last year in a half--the fairly original status-quo shifts and the compelling storylines about threats to mutantkind--are a result of the fact that Matt Fraction is a good writer. On the other hand, the problems with the series stem from the (perhaps shocking) fact, I believe, that Matt Fraction just doesn't know these characters all that well, and so the characters behave awkwardly within the otherwise interesting set-ups that Fraction designs.

A good example of out-of-character writing, and thus missed opportunities, comes in this issue with Fraction's handling of Fantomex. Yes, I know that many readers simply hate the character; I can see their point of view, but at the very least even Fantomex detractors would have to admit that the character always throws a wildcard in the mix. He's not your typical mutant superhero. (To those who dislike Fantomex, I would suggest considering the character in light of another Morrison creation: Damian Wayne. We're NOT SUPPOSED TO LIKE these characters; the aberrations they cause in our reading are the whole point. Also, the character of Fantomex is more complex than you might think. He's not your typical '90s Punisher/Cable-type rip-off. Check out his wikipedia page.) Anyway, a few months ago Fantomex appeared in a Wolverine story written by Jason Aaron. Early in that story, Aaron faithfully, instantly, presented the character's personality by having him remark snarkily that he "always knew atheists would save the world". And at the end of that story Fantomex pockets technology that might otherwise be used to cure every disease on the planet...because Fantomex would rather sell that technology for personal profit. That's who Fantomex is--not the most original or greatest character ever, but there's a bit of a sharpness and uniqueness to him.

So how does Matt Fraction use Fantomex in this issue of Uncanny? He turns him into another typical bleeding-heart mutant superhero do-gooder. For Matt Fraction, Fantomex is just another "white knight" mutant out there to help solve fellow mutants' problems out of the goodness of his heart. A downtrodden character comes to Fantomex, begs him for help, and is so greatful that Fantomex is there to help people "like [him]". "...You mean people like US", Matt Fraction's Fantomex replies, with immaculate self-satisfaction, as if he's dreaming of being presented a Nobel Peace Prize in the near future. "I help people like us..." he says, beaming with righteousness and selflessness that you as a reader are expected to eat up with a spoon and adore infinitely. So who IS this character in Uncanny 519 who looks like Fantomex yet acts more like Captain America at his most superficial? It's such a missed opportunity to use a character like Fantomex this way; the whole point of characters like that is that they AREN'T clear-cut heroes. Fraction just turns the guy into another shallow crusader for mutantkind. (Nothing wrong with the ANTI-anti-mutant angle--it's actually possibly my favorite aspect of X-Men comics, period--but it's just that Fraction already has, literally, over a hundred characters in this title who fight with their hearts on their sleeve for that cause.)

The mischaracterizations continue later in the issue when Charles Xavier refers to a comatose Scott Summers as "the subject"--at which point Emma Frost bitches at Xavier for being so cold. The problem is, Charles Xavier would NEVER refer to an ill Scott Summers as "the subject". It's well-established that Xavier thinks of Scott, whom he's known since X-Men #1, as a SON. It's clear that the whole point of that comment was so Fraction could give Emma, in contrast, a reason to make an impassioned expression of her love for Scott. But how ham-fisted is this? Is it worth giving a completely out-of-character line to Xavier just so Emma can respond in a way that tells us something the rest of the story SHOWS us anyway, namely that Emma cares about what Scott is going through? Fraction pulled a similar routine a few issues ago, when he had Xavier, Scott and Magneto all act out-of-character (to varying degrees) just so Magneto could join the team. The mischaracterizations weren't worth what they achieved then, and they aren't worth what they achieve now. Xavier had always refrained from proactively taking Magneto down--and the time he mindwiped Magneto after Magneto pulled out Wolverine's adamantium was a major regret--yet Fraction had Xavier attack a totally non-threatening Magneto JUST so Scott Summers could seem reasonable in then rebuffing Xavier's actions and letting Magneto stick around. Here again in the current issue, the blatant out-of-character moment is totally not worth it; it's too easy of a solution. If Fraction had thought harder he could have given us an IN-character scene that we had never seen before: Xavier and Emma BONDING over their mutual concern/affection/respect for Scott.

Two more out-of-character moments before I recount the positive: First, Xavier says that Scott has "never had to face evil incarnate within the walls of his own mind." Uh, that's completely false, because right before Morrison's run Scott was possessed by Apocalypse and it was a huge deal for a year. Fraction just DOESN'T KNOW THESE CHARACTERS or their histories all that well. (To go back for a moment, he obviously had never read the incredibly popular issues in the '90s where Xavier mindwiped Magneto; because that incident, and the regret that followed, has been such an important touchstone of the Xavier-Magneto relationship since that NO WRITER who knew about it would nonchalantly throw out, as Fraction did, a panel where Xavier just mentally attacks Magneto again for no reason.) Second, later in this isssue Angel asks "Who do we go HIT?" ...Do I even have to say anything about this? Angel does not "hit" anything, really. Warren Worthington III does not have "hitting" powers and, more to the point, that's not how Warren Worthington III speaks or thinks. "Who do we go HIT?" is a line you give to the Thing or the Hulk, or maybe to Wolverine, or to a dim-witted bruiser villain . . . not to a millionaire playboy with average strength. Lines like this really make me believe that Fraction is concentrating his efforts more on his other titles and not on Uncanny. It's like he just thinks he needs to have [x] character in a scene, and thinks he has to have [x] character say SOMETHING, so he gives [x] character a throwaway comic-booky line. Too bad the line is completely out of character.

There are things I like about the writing in this issue, though. Like I say, overall Matt Fraction is obviously a good writer, and right down to some of the dialogue that's evident in this issue. The scene with the Science Team discovering the invading dust nanobots in the air is excellent, and the concluding line of dialogue, "They're here to LEARN", is interesting, thought-provoking and foreboding.

A few of Cyclops' lines are great as well. "What can I say? I'm an expert at REPRESSION." That's a solid line. To an extent, Fraction DOES have a good grip on the characters . . . but it's like he only started really reading or paying attention to X-Men comics in 2005 or so. "I dated the most powerful telepath the world has ever known for, like, YEARS, man." That's another good Cyclops line in that it seems to bespeak the where the character's been at based on the last few years of continuity . . . But on the other hand, having Scott use "like" and "man" that way seems somewhat off, especially in a sentence in which he's referencing his lost love Jean Grey. So I have a few slight reservations, but overall I have to say that Fraction's use of Scott Summers is a definite positive.

And if Fraction's script told Dodson to draw the mental-plane embodiment of Emma Frost as wearing a commando outfit, then he should get props for that too. Buxom Emma Frost wearing a white commando outfit that looks like it's out of an old GI JOE cartoon? That gets (at least) two thumbs up from me. Just an awesome element in the issue.

Yes, the Dodsons' artwork is fantastic. That almost goes without saying, at this point, and I'm not sure how much I can expound upon it. Next to my habitual interest in the main characters, the Dodsons' presence on this book is the single biggest reason why I continue to follow Uncanny X-Men. In this issue in particular their panel layouts are fantastic, especially the angular panels falling away during the staircase scene. The page designs themselves are really creative and elegant, for the mental plane sequences especially. It's great art.

Overall: 3/5