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UNCANNY X-MEN #541

FEAR ITSELF TIE-IN!

The X-Men are used to being feared. When FEAR ITSELF finally reaches the west coast, they’re going to become well acquainted with the emotion first hand. The unstoppable power of an old foe renewed is heading their way, and they have all the time in the world to realize how little they can do to stop him. And even more time to think about exactly how he’s going to destroy San Francisco and everything it stands for.

Parts 1 and 2 (of 4)

Story by Kieron Gillen
Art by Greg Land & Jay Leisten
Colors by Justin Ponsor
Cover by Greg Land & Justin Ponsor

Price: $3.99
iFanboy Community Pick of the Week Percentage: 0.2%

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Comments

  1. Avatar photo mrfrost says:
    July 18, 2011 at 4:00 pm

    More Greg Land? ugh. I guess his last issue wasn’t THAT bad.

  2. Avatar photo JimBilly4 says:
    July 18, 2011 at 4:17 pm

    Greg has now been doing Uncanny since issue 500. That’s over three years. Yes, he has always shared the duty, but this is starting to be one of those extended artists runs fans are always clamoring for. The irony is thick.

  3. Avatar photo Conor Kilpatrick (@cskilpatrick) says:
    July 18, 2011 at 4:50 pm

    @JimBilly4  It’s not irony. Just because people want an extended run by an artist doesn’t mean they will take ANY artist.

  4. Avatar photo USPUNX says:
    July 18, 2011 at 4:56 pm

    Ummm…actually that is EXACTLY the irony. They wanted an extended run and when they finally got it, it was from an artist a lot of fans don’t like. See that’s the irony, they got what they wanted, but not the way they wanted.

  5. Avatar photo skeets says:
    July 18, 2011 at 5:28 pm

    conor’s point is that people don’t want extended runs from just any artist, they want them from specific ones, and I doubt anyone wanted one from Land.

  6. Avatar photo Franktiger says:
    July 18, 2011 at 5:34 pm

    Can’t wait to see more of Land’s great work in this.

  7. Avatar photo mrfrost says:
    July 18, 2011 at 5:53 pm

    I wasn’t suprised Land is doing another issue, just disappointed.

  8. Avatar photo KenOchalek says:
    July 18, 2011 at 6:10 pm

    And even though he’s been on the book since 500, how many of those issues are his and how many were by the Dodsons (or someone else entirely)? I suppose even 20-some issues is still kind of an extended run these days, but spread out over 3-4 years it isn’t saying too much.

  9. Avatar photo mrfrost says:
    July 18, 2011 at 6:16 pm

    @KenOchalek 
    These days, 5 issues is an extended run. I’d rather have the Dodsons back. 

  10. Avatar photo KenOchalek says:
    July 18, 2011 at 6:48 pm

    I got curious, so I did some research. X-Men 500 was published in September 2008, so when the series wraps up at 544 in October, we’ll have seen 47 issues of Uncanny X-Men in about 3 years (that’s counting in the 2008 Free Comic Book Day and 534.1 issues). Of those 47 issues:

    23 are by Land (plus 3 issues of X-Men Legacy during the Second Coming crossover)
    17 are by the Dodsons
    7 are by others (including Whilce Portacio and Yannick Paquette)

    So I’d say JimBilly4 is right for better or worse. With 23 (or 26 if you want to be inclusive) issues in three years, Land has had a fairly extended run on the X-Men.

    Now, I’m pretty sure the promo page in Schism #1 mentions Pacheco as the only artist on the new Uncanny title, so here’s hoping that Greg Land will be finding work elsewhere in the fall. 

  11. Avatar photo Franktiger says:
    July 18, 2011 at 7:53 pm

    I usually don’t follow books when I don’t like the art, and I usually don’t comment on books I don’t follow, so do peeps who have nothing better to do than to come on here and bash Land’s art really following books in which they don’t like the art?

  12. Avatar photo j206 says:
    July 18, 2011 at 8:04 pm

    @Franktiger – Because there are a lot of X-Men fans who like X-Men books. And who would prefer to not have to see the things they like look like crap. What about that is hard to understand?

    Marvel, please put Greg Land on Deadpool so I can be able to ignore both simultaneously. Both have inexplicable support and fans for whatever reason (I guess we can call it ‘Transformers 2/Two & a Half Men’s Law’).  I’d be willing to guess that there is a decent amount of overlap amongst the two groups. So how bout we make everyone happy? 😉

  13. Avatar photo Franktiger says:
    July 18, 2011 at 8:40 pm

    @j206  when you’re a fan of a comic book, being a fan of the art is an integral part of that, so it doesn’t make sense to be a fan of a book when you don’t like the art, understand?  Following your logic, guess Marvel hates the X-Men as much as you hate Land.

  14. Avatar photo thompsonlive says:
    July 18, 2011 at 8:50 pm

    OMG GREG LAND kill it with FIRE!!!! PHOTO UNREALISTIC FIRE EVEN!!!

  15. Avatar photo player1 says:
    July 18, 2011 at 9:24 pm

    Picked up the (mostly) Dodsons’ stuff starting with #534.1 and dropping it after issue #540. Not getting any more now that Land is back.

  16. Avatar photo KenOchalek says:
    July 18, 2011 at 9:28 pm

    @Franktiger There are lots of reasons to like a comic, and sometimes those reasons can help you overlook the book’s shortcomings. I’m not wild about Greg Land’s artwork, but I really like the X-Men characters and I’m enjoying Kieron Gillen’s stories thus far. I like both the characters and story enough that I can suffer through some art I don’t care for on this particular arc.

    But I get what you’re saying. If this were a case where Land (or any artist whose work I don’t care for) was the regular, every issue artist for a long run, I probably wouldn’t be reading Uncanny X-Men. But since there’s a rotating art team, I can deal with it.

  17. Avatar photo Smutty says:
    July 19, 2011 at 1:42 am

    I actually don’t mind Land.
    My main concern is Gillan, he’s shaping up to be the worst Uncanny writer since Chuck Austen

  18. Avatar photo markish says:
    July 19, 2011 at 6:34 am

    @Smutty  It’s “Gillen” and I heartily disagree with the invocation of Austen’s name. It still makes me shudder.

  19. Avatar photo USPUNX says:
    July 19, 2011 at 11:01 am

    I think Gillen’s done a pretty good job. He seems to understand the characters better than Fraction did. Still too early in his run to really make a statement about his overall quality.

  20. Avatar photo USPUNX says:
    July 19, 2011 at 11:02 am

    @skeets: Yes, and that’s the irony. What is so confusing about this?

  21. Avatar photo cubsmodano says:
    July 19, 2011 at 3:18 pm

    @Smutty  Brubaker and Fraction were both poor fits for this book, IMO.  So far, Gillen’s created interesting stories and character moments better than anything in the entire previous runs.

    That said, it’s amazing how different views can be on the same aspect of a book.  To each their own I suppose.

  22. Avatar photo JimBilly4 says:
    July 19, 2011 at 4:50 pm

    @conor I stand by my statement that it is ironic.

    @Franktiger Uncanny X-Men is one of those titles that a certain subset of people are going to collect forever, no matter how awful it becomes. It was so good, so long, for a formative period for so many comic collectors that unless the Marvel Editor-In-Comes to their house and beats their dog to death with a rolled up copy of it, they are going to keep buying it. I am one of those people. So we arew going to buy it. And if you are buying and reading something, it is my opinion you have full right to complain about stuff you don’t like in it. It is a lot different (to me anyway) than people trolling books they have no interest in/don’t buy/ hate.

    I don’t hate Greg Land. I find his stuff stiff and his female characters indistinguishable, but some of it is sexy and slick. I just think (as do many) that Uncanny has been in doldrums for a while. Some stuff bad, some stuff good, but mostly just nothing to get really excited about. Bringing in a new writer, but leaving the same artistic team does not seem like the proper recipe for making this a book people want to talk about again. This book needs new and Land is not it.  

  23. Avatar photo Franktiger says:
    July 19, 2011 at 5:47 pm

    @JimBilly4  when Uncanny was in it’s prime, it was with one consistent writer, but it was a writer that established this book as it is now that a lot of peeps now love and will read despite having issues with the art.  With that said, I think changing the artist isn’t the solution to the book’s “doldrums,” unless you’re talking about the art when you talk about the good stuff and the bad stuff.  I think the very reasons people love this book is the very reason it’s hard for Marvel to find a consistent writer to satisfy the spoiled masses, so it’s easier to change artists to showcase the immense talent some of them have, i.e. when they rebooted with Jim Lee.

  24. Avatar photo MrFurious says:
    July 20, 2011 at 5:06 pm

    I used to love Greg Land’s work in Sojourn.  I even liked it in Ultimate Fantastic Four.  But WTH?  Since when did Uncanny X-Men become a glamour catalog?  Pass.

  25. Avatar photo mrfrost says:
    July 20, 2011 at 5:10 pm

    @MrFurious  
    Sojourn was amazing! I don’t know what it is but, it just doesn’t look as good as it did in Sojourn.

  26. Avatar photo PhantomPhrenemy says:
    July 20, 2011 at 11:17 pm

    I wasn’t familiar with Greg Land’s work until last issue.  I then noticed I was being charged 3.99, and so I dropped the book.  I had just started back on Uncanny 534.1 totally based on iFanboy’s review, and I was really enjoying it.  I had been reading it around #475, for the Rise and Fall of the Shi’ar Empire, the Billy Tan art was gorgeous.  I just realized I had been put off by the art about issue 500, then realized apparently, I am familiar with Greg Land’s work, I just didn’t choose to learn his name.  I’m really liking the Kieron Gillen run, but I’m not digging the extra buck to look at something I’m not enjoying looking at.  I want to have a regular X book.  I’ll check it out after Fear Itself arc.

  27. Avatar photo Jollyboy says:
    July 21, 2011 at 12:05 am

    Just read this and thought it was great! Wow, just loved it!

  28. Avatar photo malloc says:
    July 21, 2011 at 2:14 pm

    they are using the mayor too much for me, she seems to ditzy and sorta annoying.  And when you think about it, it doesn’t even make sense they keep consulting her so much, all the other books with conflicts the heroes talk to SHIELD, or a government guy like Henry Grinch, or even a the police/police commissioner.  The only heroes I can think of who get orders from a mayor are the power puff girls …

  29. Avatar photo thompsonlive says:
    July 21, 2011 at 3:23 pm

    Enjoyed the story on this but OMG i would literally pay an extra dollar or two per issue if I could get a promise Greg Land’s art would be nowhere near it! Story = 4 Art = 1

  30. Avatar photo ResurrectionFlan says:
    July 21, 2011 at 10:09 pm

    Hey the mayor is played by that hacker girl from NCIS. Cool. 

  31. Avatar photo TheRealVenom says:
    July 22, 2011 at 2:25 am

    “not plan B, Plan 2. Plan B implies we only have 26.”

    Gillen is the man. straight up. 

  32. Avatar photo USPUNX says:
    July 22, 2011 at 11:26 am

    Anyone else notice the f-up on the first panel on page 14? On the previous page Scott says “Deploy the scond team. Storm, Psylocke, Angel, Dazzler.” The very next panel on the very next page shows that battle. Problem is its Storm, CANNONBALL, Angel, Dazzler. No Psylocke in sight. That is just sloppy art and editing. Great writing in this book and I don’t mind Land’s art as much as some, but errors like that are just inexcusable.

  33. Avatar photo RahUniQue says:
    July 22, 2011 at 1:43 pm

    @TheRealVenom  That WAS  a bad ass line.

  34. Avatar photo EddyDisaster says:
    July 28, 2011 at 11:36 pm

    this issue was fucking AWESOME!!!

    im definitely buying the next issue, cant wait!

  35. Avatar photo FaceCrunchMcGee says:
    July 29, 2011 at 5:49 pm

    So… Am I the minority for thinking that the story and art on Uncanny as of late has actually been pretty good?

  36. Avatar photo JimBilly4 says:
    August 17, 2011 at 2:27 pm

    I thought this was some of Land’s better work of late. The action sequences were pretty damn good. It still drives me nuts to see the same porn star over and over, but this was a fun Juggy fight, no doubt.

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