Comic Books

UNCANNY X-MEN #530

“QUARANTINE”

Is there anything worse than that slow, sinking, feeling like you’re getting sick? You can’t get warm. Your bones hurt. Your throat closes and your chest gets too heavy every time you breathe and then you know you’re doomed… so what if it happened to all the X-Men, all at once? The Sublime are back and they’ve unleashed a contagion on Utopia. To what end? Why now? And what’s next? Who’s left in San Francisco to deal with the Collective Man? Related: where does Dazzler get all her awesome outfits? Part 1 (of 5).

Writer: MATT FRACTION
Penciller: GREG LAND
Inker; JAY LEISTEN
Colorist: JUSTIN PONSOR
Letterer: JOE CARAMAGNA
Cover: GREG LAND & JUSTIN PONSOR

Price: $3.99
iFanboy Community Pick of the Week Percentage: 0.0%

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ComicBookGuy3711/30/10NoRead Review
comicBOOKchris11/26/10NoRead Review
Franktiger11/25/10YesRead Review
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Comments

  1. This is the first time since getting back into comics 5 years ago that I’m not picking up Uncanny.  I just can’t take Fraction anymore on this title, and I’m guessing that a 5 part arc with Sublime as the antagonist has a chance to be extra pointless.  Over/under for pages featuring the Science Club is set at 47 for this arc.

    The X-Men line as a whole is so bad right now.

  2. @cutty I’m totally with you man, I can’t stand Fraction’s writing on this anymore. I’ll probably be dropping this book after this issue. Which saddens me…

  3. I hope all the people complaining about Portacio’s pencils are happy now. Looks like I’ve got at least five issues of banging my head against a table.

  4. @slockhart – I’ll take Land over Portacio, but that is in no way a compliment to him.  This book consistently gets irritating art; I like Dodson, but he just doesn’t fit

  5. I never thought I’d see the day where I’d be HAPPY to see Land on art, rather that indifferent. Portacio made this book a true chore to read, and while Land isn’t perfect, his art has improved since his Sisterhood arc. This also seems to be focusing on Northstar, so I’m all for this.

  6. @ Chris – Ditto. When I clicked on this book I was thinking "Please someone other than Portacio! Please someone other than Portacio!" I haven’t been this glad for Land to be on a book since I first saw him on Nightwing a decade ago.

  7. I’ve been loving X-Men pretty much every issue since ’07 (though the Madelyn Pryor arc was confusing as fuck). Bring on the awesome!

     

  8. @diabhol – its funny, the Maddie Pryor arc was the only part of Fraction’s run that I’ve enjoyed.  Different strokes I guess

  9. Have always thought Greg Land’s art is amazing, his Ultimate FF and Ultimate Power work were unforgettable, guess the haters missed those, just can’t stand Fraction’s writing, might give this a shot cus of Land.

  10. I don’t know whats going on with this book, maybe it is the CO-Writting comming up, but I am out with this issue. I have been with this book since Bru’s Space "Epic." But now I am out. It has been a good run, but I think it’s time to fold. Unless I hear about a great Kitty story, I will be out for a long while.

     

  11. It’s funny that Gillen is helping out writting an issue here….

    But advance solicts show that he is going to be no where near this book once the new year hits. Strange.

  12. @Franktiger – Land’s work on Ultimate FF & Ultimate Power were indeed unforgettable, mainly because of how bad it was. That was about when people really started noticing his tracing. Trust me, the "haters" didn’t miss those.

  13. I loved reading the X-Men books over the Second Coming event; now, it’s just awful.

  14. @ActualButt – tracing?  What does he trace?  You’ll be saving 4 bones this Wed I’m sure then.

  15. @frank – seriously?  to say that its well documented is as big of an understatement as I can give you.

  16. So what are we saying, that he’s a fraud?  That Marvel condones whatever you guys are insinuating, and let’s him work on these titles regardless? 

    Have a feeling this is just more hate on great talent, reminds me of when "Man vs. Wild" first came out, peeps started accusing Bear Grylls that he was setting things up and it was all fake instead of recognizing and appreciating him for the real thing.  I mean peeps are still trying to accuse Lance Armstrong of doping after he won like a billion Tour de France races.  

    Lots of artists photo reference…sorry, ain’t buying that Land traces all his work. 

  17. @Frank – Certainly not hate.  Tracing doesn’t really insult me like it does a lot of people, I’m just not a fan of his art in general.

    Just type "Greg Land swipes" into Google and click on a few sites.  Greg Land tracing and swiping from other artists isn’t an accusation, its a fact.  I’ts been discussed and beaten to death a million times over

     

  18. @Franktiger While there is certainly a camp of people that like Land’s heavy use of photo reference and defend his work, among critics, pundits, and other internet scribblers of all size and ilk, Gred Land’s name is synonymous with tracing. It is not just a few haters. It is a lot of haters. I would describe that as the majority the opinion. Just type Greg Land and tracing into google. Another criticism is that he also reuses a lot of his own art with little to no changes. That is not necessarily unethical, but many feel cheated by the frequency at which he does it.

    Personally I think his photo referencing is very stiff and his references for female characters all look like the same porn star over and over again. The fact that he does seem to use a lot of at least nude, if not fully pornographic, reference material is offputting to say the least.

  19. @cutty, JimBilly4 – I googled it, saw the accusations and stuff, there’s some pretty weak evidence on there, a lot of it is a waste of time really, and just seems like a lame attempt to degrade the guy’s talent.  

    Never heard of this until now, but clearly people have different tastes when it comes to comic book art, but yea, noticed he does use a lot of the same poses and a lot of the female faces look similar, but never did I think he was tracing.  I like pornstars anyways, so don’t mind that part 😛

  20. @frank – well he definately traces, that’s not really up for debate.  A ton of comic book artists do though, the reason why Land is so hated is because he traces other artists’ work

  21. @cutty – really?  Who’s work does he trace, wouldn’t that be like plagiarism?  Don’t really think Marvel would condone that and allow his work to be published if that were true.  Hey, you said "not hate"!  

    Well now I’m doubting a little, thanks guys for ruining one of my fave artists…SIKE!  

    I’m still a believer, but you know, it’s really gonna be Fraction’s writing that’ll make or break this issue for me.  I despise, much less HATE, his writing.

  22. @frank – just spend some time on google.  Greg Land is a debate that’s been going on for years – not whether or not he traces, but why swiping is somewhat condoned by his employer.

  23. from the thread for issue #520: it’s weird because people say he just traces photos, but then I look at his art and see all this linework, and then I look at photos, and I don’t see lines like that.

    from the thread for issue #521: I’ve on more than one occasion argued that anything with cross-hatching cannot accurately be described as tracing photos.  

    from the Phototracing video show thread: here’s a thought: if you were lazy and unprofessional in your work, wouldn’t your employer and co-workers notice?  Greg Land still has work at Marvel and writers do not (vocally, but that’s all we can fairly go by) dislike working with him.  have you seen him using a lightbox?  where’s the video of him tracing?  an interview where he discusses his process?  I’m not just being argumentative here, I’m legitimately curious.  and his style is more iconic than you think.  photos don’t have straight, intersecting lines.  they have shading.  your features (eyes, nose, etc.) are not formed by hard lines.  there’s no dark line outlining your eye socket.  also, the people in porn that he supposedly traces are probably not wearing a superhero costume.  he’s not my favorite artist by a long shot, but I’m not entirely sure he gets a fair rap.

    I stand by all my earlier statements on this matter.

    @mitchster- the next arc will deal with Kitty.   it will feature Dodson art.

  24. @Franktiger: Greg Land is a notorious tracer, not only of photographs but of other artists work. Marvel employs him because he sells a lot of books for them. They don’t care. Quesada has said as much.

  25. @conor – find it hard to believe Quesada would sell out at the expense of artistic integrity, because the guy is an artist himself, and he’s as much a comic book historian as there is, sorry, don’t believe it for a second.  Show me the reference?

  26. cBchris – Just rumors, innuendo, and allegations in that one, and Joe says essentially nothing, much less about Land tracing. 

    Apparently there is a Cup o’ Joe where he actually defends Land, couldn’t find the specific one, just descriptions of it, does anyone know where to find it?  And then there are comments that say Land admits to it all in interviews, but again, nothing concrete, just second-hand stuff.

    I don’t know, feel bad for the guy, but I don’t entirely dismiss the accusations now; just still don’t believe the powers that be at Marvel would take the work of a hack if they knew for a fact that the work was just that.

  27. @Franktiger- the San Diego 2008 (Part 1) video show features a brief conversation on the matter with Joe Quesada.  just as he is answering Ron’s question about it, a screenshot of the interview where he defends Land is partially show.  part of his answer is cut off, but if you pause it when it is on screen, you can read what he has to say, then watch him talk about the same thing but not in as much detail.  and, from my perspective, nothing in either the written or spoken words is a concession by Quesada that Land does indeed trace and that it is okay.  maybe others took it to mean that, but I didn’t.  maybe people are going by another source.

    it’s easy for people on the internet to say this is what he does, but unless someone is physically in the room with Greg Land, watching him trace, I don’t think we can say for certain that this is how he works. 

  28. It’s called lightboxing, it’s not exactly a secret

  29. Again, there’s allegations that lightboxes have been found in his studio or where he works, which would be hard evidence for the accusations, but again, if that was the case, if that was entirely fact and not just more unfounded rumor, he wouldn’t be doing the work he’s doing for Marvel right now…I don’t know, call me an idealist, but I sincerely doubt Marvel would condone such a thing by publishing it just because it sells (which is probably a whole other debatable discussion).

  30. Please just spend 5 minutes searching on the internet.  I don’t want to be a dick, but you could not be more wrong

     http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_rzdB5a4kLAo/SGGNtPMZe2I/AAAAAAAAHLc/mdGnOh9dYkE/s1600-h/GregLand_Wolv2.jpg

     

  31. Hahahaha Well I love Greg Land drawing my X-Men. I know there are much more talented artists out there in Marvel, but his art is different from others which I enjoy.

    I did like Matt Fraction’s run on the Sisterhood storyline, but I am really tired of him writing about the X-universe when he has a limited scope. Can we get Christopher Yost or Craig Kyle to jump on this book? Seriously. Let one of them write one.

  32. The masterminds behind Second Coming? Yeah, no.

    Let Gillen eventually take over.

  33. I liked this way better when it was Grant Morrison’s second arc. This nearly put me to sleep it was so dull. I honestly can’t think of anything since issue 500 that’s been interesting or exciting.

  34. The cover to this… is terrible. Also, lols to the Greg Land debate here. At the end of the day, you like him or you don’t, but dude relentlessly rips shit off. I don’t know how you could try to argue otherwise.

  35. The novelty of Land’s art worn out its welcome a few pages in…I forgot how tired it gets. A solid 2, if there ever was one.

  36. It saddens me to say that I will not be picking up Uncanny for a little while… I don’t know much about Art and different Artists but I do know a boring and shit story comic when I read one… what a waste of my money this issue was.

  37. Man this title has crap art. I thought this was supposed to be the flagship X-Men title? Who was Pamela Anderson supposed to be with the sparkly hair? Is that Dazzler? I am genuinely confused because the writing doesn’t clarify it. 

    Although I thought Tranny Storm was an interesting take on a character I had long assumed to be female. 

  38. lolol

     

    This wasn’t awful but it wasn’t great. Also, Greg Land traces. He’s notorious for it. It sucks because his art actually used to be quite good on Nightwing back in the day. 

  39. As lame as Sublime is, I enjoyed this.  I hate Fraction’s run on this book, but this was a very well put together issue

  40. This truly isn’t the strong flagship book of the X-books anymore. It has been usurped by Uncanny X-Force and X-Men Legacy…both which came out this week and had MUCH stronger issues than this.

  41. I also find it funny that despite all the sexy women Land tries to draw, none of them hold a candle to Jerome Opena’s beautiful Psylocke, which was featured in Uncanny X-Force this very week.

  42. @cutty  not familiar with the Sublime Corp., and just learned from The Weekly Crisis that that was The Collective Man, another character I don’t know too much about, but agree, liked how the issue was put together.

    Uncanny will always be the main X-title for me, no matter how strong the other X-books are, cus was the title I grew up reading and made me an X-Men fan for life. 

  43. @comicBOOKchris  I hear you, but I can’t call UNCANNY X-FORCE the flagship at all.  To me its all about pushing the overall mutants storyline.  I actually thought of Kyle and Yost’s X-FORCE as the flagship before that got retired.  I hope Mike Carey steps it up, it’s good to see him playing with A-Listers and running the upcoming event.

  44. I don’t know…it seems a little counter-productive to consider a book more important or better than a better written/drawn book just because “it matters more” or “it was good when I was a kid”.

  45. I just don’t think we should all start sucking each others’ dicks quite yet with the new X-Force book.  Any title that prominently features Deadpool and Fantomex as major parts of a small team is more periphery to me than anything as far as the overall X-Men narrative goes.

    I know what you mean though, Ive been more critical on UNCANNY for a longer time than anyone.

  46. Don’t see anything wrong with putting more weight on an X-title that had set the standard for you as a fan of the X-Men, it doesn’t mean you have to under-appreciate great work on another X-book, and it doesn’t mean Uncanny won’t suck at times, but think it’s more of a waste of time to say since one X-book is good right now, it surplants another on the totem pole of some imaginary hierarchy of X-books.

  47. If nothing else this is a very consistant book.  The story is always boring or below average and the art is a train wreck.

  48. I thought this was better than the past bunch. While Sublime is weak, the idea of the Faux original X-men is entertaining. I like the Collective Man, but he is such a throw back it is hard to take. Have you been to China in the past 20 years? It is still a totalitarian, repressive state, but there don’t appear to be any communists left. That is a capitalist country, for certain. Also, the front material hinted that we already knew the Collective Man was in San Francisco, but I don’t remember that. Reminds me of putting Kitty in the suit, which also seemed to happen off stage and then just get delivered to us. Odd.

    On the art, I thought it was better than a lot of other recent Land stuff. He still has one single Porn actress he uses to model every female character, making it impossible to tell them apart. It is starting to feel like a weird horror story, where the crazed artist doesn’t even realize they are doing it.

  49. STORM?!?!?  OMG, finally!  A team of Northstar, Dazzler, Angel & Storm?  I think I might be in heaven!!!  (Can you tell I prefer lower tier characters?)  Please let this story arc last for the rest of the year.

  50. Greg Land is atrocious, but the cover told a more compelling story than the writing. I do not hate Fraction’s other work, but his X-Men has no forward momentum.

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