Fraction is writing what, for me, Uncanny X-Men should be. This is not a book that requires encyclopedic knowledge of the X-universe, like the other X-titles, nor is it the pocket universe character study that Whedon's Astonishing X-Men was.

Rather, this is a book that reports the longitudinal interweaving of a variety of well-known characters who come in and out of each others' lives. What they share is the beauty and the difficulty of mutant life. In this weeks issue, Beast and Angel, characters who are critically important but not ultra-powerful, seek to recruit new allies in their quest to save mutant physiology. In a thread that could not be more different, the formidable but tortured Colossus is attempting to bring down a criminal from Mother Russia. In doing so, he saves victims of human trafficking. Cyclops and the others at the new X-base are dealing with former mutants and their families who have become the equivalents of refugees.

Fraction writes these quite cleverly, yet the book is not great. It is failed by its art. Greg Land may be unpopular, but Terry and Rachel Dodson are simply not right for this book. The facial expressions are embarrassing (witness Colossus's face after freeing the captive women). I often enjoy broad lines, but they do not do justice to these characters, most of whom we have known for three decades or more. Sorry, folks, but Emma Frost in diamond form does not look like Bret Michaels (especially not the beat-up ex-rocker version from reality TV). That's just sad.

So I will keep reading Uncanny, and all I can hope is that the art gets better or that the writing stays good enough to offset the art.