This was a solid finish to a hit and miss crossover. For some perverse reason, Fraction paced things so that nothing ever happened in each issue of Uncanny X-men. You had to wait for the Dark Avengers issues to have things actually occur. This was doubly perverse because this was entirely an X-men event. Don't be fooled by the dual billing; this was all about the mutants and how they will fit into the new status quo. The perverse answer seems to be that they don't. They will all go and live on an island separate from Dark Reign, thank you very much.

Anyway, this issue delivered the goods in terms of a major dust-up between the X-men and Dark Avengers. Asses are kicked and Osborn has to return home, his tail tucked between his legs. If you didn't see your favorite X-man kick an Avenger in the face, then you probably had two pages of your comic stuck together (and why is that?). Most of my complaints stem from earlier story flaws, like why exactly Cyclops had to tell us 15 times that he couldn't tell anyone what the plan was. There was no time! And then we sat and waited. It seemed like there was time.

The one thing from this series I hate the most is the Dark X-men who now seem doubly contrived with Namor, Emma, and Cloak and Dagger jumping ship. I would like to formally request the money I spent Dark X-men: The Beginning returned forthwith. Of course then I am reminded that I am an X-men whore and I ask when the Dark X-men ongoing is coming out and will there be alternative covers available. Sigh.

The art (Deodato and Dodson) was very good at times, with only the occasional hiccup you generally expect from the last issue of crossover event. The art was in credibly inconsistent across the whole event, so a little artist swapping in this final issue will not
even be noticed come trade time. As a final note I think Fraction needs to pull back on the number of characters he is trying to juggle. It works ok for an event, but a regular storyline just can not support this number of cast members. Team books are hard as it is. Covering the entire mutant race might be pushing it.