Editor's Note: Uncanny X-Men #509 arrives in stores tomorrow, April 29.

Plot: Beast and the X-Club noodle around for a cure to M-Day while a resurrected Madelyne Pryor plans to do… something… with Kwannon and Psylocke.

Comments: Before I get into the story of this issue and the many problems I had with it, I have to spend some time talking about the art and by extension the artist, Greg Land. His work in this issue of Uncanny is perhaps the single most distracting and detrimental element – some of the most lifeless and poorly-stage sequential art I've had the displeasure of seeing.

Before everyone whips out the pitchforks and torches to burn Land in effigy, I have to make a confession – I have in the past enjoyed some of his work particularly his stint on Ultimate Fantastic Four where the glossy hyper-reality was appropriate for the big, unsubtle, but fun world created by Mark Millar. It seemed conjecturally appropriate to have the characters in the world of President Thor be fit, perfect, constantly caught in Kodak moments with million-watt smiles.

But he's the wrong choice for this book and often hobbles the storytelling. It's been noted (passionately in some cases) that Land lightboxes much of his work. I don't believe this in and of itself is a cardinal sin. The sin is reusing the same photo reference endlessly, caught in some sort of horrible referential loop that keeps every character looking alike, wearing the same two facial responses of either coital ecstasy or an open-mouthed scream. When your photo reference comes from the same couple of sources, it leaves no room for distinct character faces or body types (hot-bodied model or buff dude).

This is a major problem when you're Matt Fraction and your book is ostensibly a series of character moments. Fraction's run on Uncanny has been nothing so much as the characters' reactions to being transplanted to another coast, to a new environment, and to a new series of challenges. In practice this requires more quiet moments with lots of talking heads poorly served by an artist unable to communicate human emotion.

As to the plot – well, it continues to chug along of its own accord without really accomplishing anything. How long have the new and sexy All-Ladies Hellfire Club been gathering and plotting their revenge? Why do we still not know their plans? Why are we dealing with M-day here when Messiah War in Cable and X-Force seem to be where the solution to that storyline will play out (although I much prefer Henry and his team of science misfits)?

There's little momentum and the disparate plot threads are spread so far apart that month-to-month it feels like one is reading installments from a couple of different comics.

Final Word: The book's many subplots have become so slow-burn that they generally stir very little interest month-to-month and coupled with the petrified-in-amber quality of Land's art, the book takes on another dimension of lifelessness.

If you liked this review, be sure to check out more of the author’s work at Monster In Your Veins

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