Editor's Note: Uncanny X-Men Annual #2 arrives in stores tomorrow, January 21.

"White Queen, Dark Reign"

This used to be my favorite title (when I was a child and the Claremont/Byrne team started), but now I have a hard time working up any excitement for it these days. I returned to the X-Fold when Morrison arrived, and I left when he did. This title has been good since Brubaker took over, it's been better since he teamed with Fraction, and now that Fraction's on his own, it's the best it's been since Morrison.

And yet, I still find myself barely caring.

And I know it's not the characters that put me off, because I'm loving Warren Ellis' take over in Astonishing. But that comic has decided to take a very different approach to the characters and their world, making it fresh and exciting.

Uncanny is fairly traditional, even though Fraction has a much more contemporary sensibility when it comes to his narrative style. It's still a soap opera with powers; it's just a very good soap opera with powers. I think that might be what's putting me off.

Take this issue, for example. Fraction does an excellent job taking the absurd Dark Reign concept and doing something fun with it. He takes two of the characters that I had the most trouble accepting being at that stupid table in that ridiculously cramped broom closet, and creates a past relationship, whole cloth. This is all new stuff here, and it fits perfectly with all the established continuity, providing a nice layer of subterfuge, actual character development, and nuance to Bendis' simplistic bullshit scenario.

Fraction even takes Bendis' "Do you always smell like that?" line (which, granted, was a good line - especially given the chubby, hung-over looking Namor we were given in that one-shot), and one-ups it with Namor's reply. You see, that wasn't just an insult. Fraction has made it a call-back to an earlier time. Well played, Mr. Fraction. Well played.

So what we get with this issue is the secret story of how Emma and Namor first met. It's well plotted, the characterizations are consistent and believable, and while I wasn't sure about the ending on my first read, it works much better than I originally thought.

My favorite part, though, is the psychological portrait we get of Emma as she's preparing to meet with Namor. Calling Scott on the phone rather than telepathically in order to maintain an emotional distance, and then hanging up on him as he says he loves her seems a bit cold at first, but think about it. You're about to go make a very dangerous deal and you fully expect to have to sleep with someone (not your significant other) to get it done. You have to put yourself into a certain mindset, and the last thing you want as you're heading out the door is a reminder of what you're willing to betray. It's for a greater good, but the guilt is still there. It's subtle and nicely done.

That's enough plot for you, since this isn't out yet. Instead, let's turn to the art. Mitch Breitweiser and Daniel Acuna team-up to tell this story, although team-up may be stretching it. Breitweiser tells the contemporary story involving Emma's meeting with Namor after the Dark Reign one-shot. It's rough edged and scratchy, as though he's using a brush, or at times a marker or chalk, rather than pens to ink his pencils. I like the effect, however he does it, as it gives the current situation a much more realistic and psychologically edgy feel.

Acuna's art is Acuna's art. He tells the flashback story of Emma's and Namor's first meeting at the Hellfire Club. I want to like it a lot, and to be honest, I loved it back when he did DC's first current Uncle Sam and the Freedom Fighters mini. Since then, though, he's failed to impress me. Oh, there are glimmers of greatness during Eternals, but never enough to make me fall in love again. There's just something about the way he overlays elements of his art as though they are photoshop layers (and I don't know, maybe they are) that puts me off. They rarely seem to be aligned properly, especially the women's eyes.

However, together, Breitweiser and Acuna provide a nice contrast, with Acuna's opulence nicely representing both the Hellfire Club's and Namor's arrogance and power, as well as the beauty and innocence of memory, while Breitweiser brings the modern moment to us with a tactile realism that reflects the emotional, and psychological, manipulation that is occurring. It's like having a wooden bench next to a big, fluffy couch. The couch may be more attractive, but the wooden bench is better for your back.

I don't know what that's supposed to mean.

Anyway, great jobs all around! While I'm still not really excited about Uncanny X-Men, especially since it's being molested by Dark Reign, this is an excellent issue and it bodes well for what's to come.

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