The Uncanny X-Men Fear Itself tie-in story has been the event’s only mini-series that has really interested me. The idea of a Serpent possessed Juggernaut marching towards San Francisco on a mission of destruction with nothing standing between him and the city but the X-Men just opens the door for some cool, old-school X-action. The previous two issues have really set the story up nicely as Cyclops scrambles to formulate a series of plans intended to stop the threat while the San Francisco population’s mutant discomfort is heightened after Juggernaut makes a proposal to spare the city. There are several interesting dynamics at work and for the most part issue #3 expands on them

Writer Kieron Gillen’s story gets a little more complex and branches out into a couple of new directions. We get numerous one panel depictions of various Cyclops plans awry. These feel a little cheap as I felt shorted with the lack of action that could have came from these battles. But the most enjoyable moments of the issue are found on the pages that cover “Plan 13”. I won’t give anything away but these scenes lead to two very exciting final two pages. But other than that, the story does advance but not as much as I had hoped. Gillen does put together some good dialogue and it all has a slick, cohesive feel to it. But this issue lacked the enthusiasm and anticipation of the previous two.

When you mention Greg Land you get a wide assortment of reactions. Here Land’s art doesn’t give us pages of weird female poses and out of context smiles. He’s much more controlled and focuses more on storytelling. But other than on a couple of pages, this issue lacks the large eye-popping panels that I’ve enjoyed. But I do like the overall look of this issue. Land avoids most (not all) of his usual shortcomings and delivers a polished, well-rounded issue.

While this issue didn’t impress me like the previous two it still managed to be very entertaining book. Gillen’s story touches on many familiar X-Men angles but doesn’t milk them dry. More importantly the book really sets up some really interesting possibilities.It’s not a great issue but a solid one..