Uncanny X-Men #508

"Matt, Matt... you're glib! You don't even know what Kwannon is!" That's what my inner Tom Cruise was saying as I read this issue. The thing is, Matt Fraction has a voice, a strong voice, in these X-Men books, the likes of which I haven't read in a long time. And it can be a little bit Holly-Go-Lightly at times. But it's the breath of fresh air that this title needed to break from the yoke that was sitting around it's neck.

I still get a kick out of the fact that the X-Men are smiling on nearly every page. And sure, some of that is the porn-star/publicity-photo referencing (read  tracing, if you wish) that Greg Land does. But y'know what? I don't care! This book is just too much fun for me to complain about it.

(Though I will point out that Colossus' one-panel  cameo  looks like it was drawn by Dodson. I can just hear Greg on the phone: "Hey Terry? Yeah, I don't really feel like  drawing Colossus. Can you fax me over a picture of him so I can copy it into my pages? Oh, and make it so he's smiling!")

I love the science team. I love that Fraction is bringing back convoluted characters like Braddock/Psylocke and the Goblin Queen, Spiral, Lady Mastermind and some other people I don't even know. It's more femme fatales. It's more X-porn. And still I find it fascinating. (And believe me, the mess that is Madeline Pryor's history and the Betsy/Kwannon weirdness is not something I'm vested in. at all.)  

This book is X-continuity with a wink and a nod and a smile.