Uncanny X-Men: The Complete Collection by Matt Fraction, Vol. 1

Uncanny X-Men by Matt Fraction

by Matt Fraction, Ed Brubaker, Terry Dodson (Illustrator)

The X-Men head west, founding a new home for all mutants in San Francisco! But they soon find themselves tangling with Magneto, Sentinels, and the all-new Hellfire Cult! Then, heartsick over losing Kitty Pryde, Colossus looks for something to stop his pain...and finds a nightmare from his past! Plus, Angel and the Beast gather the most unique minds on Earth to jump-start the mutant race, even as Emma Frost forges a dark alliance. Finally, who are the Sisterhood? How can they be led by Cyclops' late wife Madelyne Pryor - and why is Psylocke on their side?! Things get ugly for the X-Men as Eisner award-winner Matt Fraction turns up the heat! COLLECTING: Uncanny X-Men (1963) 500-511; Uncanny X-Men Annual (2006) 2; material from X-Men Unlimited (2004) 9, X-Men : Divided We Stand 1

Genres: Comics, X Men, Graphic Novels, Marvel, Superheroes, Comic Book, Fiction

384 pages, Paperback

First published June 10, 2009

About the author

"How he got started in comics: In 1983, when Fraction was 7 years old and growing up in Kansas City, Mo., he became fascinated by the U.S. invasion of Grenada and created his own newspaper to explain the event. "I've always been story-driven, telling stories with pictures and words," he said.

Education and first job: Fraction never graduated from college. He stopped half a semester short of an art degree at Kansas City Art Institute in Missouri in 1998 to take a job as a Web designer and managing editor of a magazine about Internet culture.

"My mother was not happy about that," he said.

But that gig led Fraction and his co-workers to split off and launch MK12, a boutique graphic design and production firm in Kansas City that created the opening credits for the James Bond film "Quantum of Solace."

Big break: While writing and directing live-action shoots at MK12, Fraction spent his spare time writing comics and pitching his books each year to publishers at Comic-Con. Two books sold: "The Last of the Independents," published in 2003 by AiT/Planet Lar, and "Casanova," published in 2006 by Image Comics.

Fraction traveled extensively on commercial shoots. Then his wife got pregnant. So Fraction did what any rational man in his position would do -- he quit his job at MK12 to pursue his dream of becoming a full-time comic book writer.

Say what? "It was terrifying," said Fraction, who now lives in Portland, Ore. "I was married. We had a house. We had a baby coming. And I just quit my job."

Marvel hired Fraction in June 2006, thanks largely to the success of his other two comics. "I got very lucky," he half-joked. "If it hadn't worked out, I would have had to move back in with my parents.

- 2009. Alex Pham. Los Angeles Times.

Reviews

[Sesana · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a great big chunk. And surprise surprise, it's a little uneven overall. But it's definitely worth reading, and it's an important part of X-Men history that I'm sadly behind on. Some of the storylines are less than engaging, but the characters seem really solid to me. I'm actually sad that I missed out on reading this when it was happening.

[James DeSantis · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was pretty damn boring.

So the start was interesting. The X-Men move to San Fransisco and the storylines begin to play against sexual hate crimes against homosexuality. On top of that we have Cyclops not being a little bitch anymore and also dealing with using the X-Force behind everyone's back. Oh and get some more Peter storyline because...well who the fuck asked for this?

Good: I liked the start. The storyline had a upbeat feel and fresh. I also thought them depiciting the hate crimes of beatings that sadly gay people go through was tough to watch but faithful. I liked a lot of that in the first few issues and then...

Bad: The rest of this book seems aimless. Characters go nowhere, neither does the story. I hated all the storyline with Peter, was dumb as hell. Our ice queen seems like a baby here. I thought the sulking around more than usual by the end was bad. The dark reign storyline in the middle of it messed up the little flow it had.

Overall this started off interesting but fell quickly down. A 2 out of 5.

[Molly™☺ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Attempting to juggle one too many stories at once, there are some individual character arcs and moments that make the rest worth the read. If it didn't have to tangent and flip-flop around so much, it would work a lot better than the disjointed narrative that's been created. The dynamics work for the most part and many of the well-known roster make an appearance, but it's lacking both cohesion and flowidity. However, as is customary when it comes to me, bonus points for some great Emma Frost content.

[Baba · Rating 2 out of 5]

Lovelorn Colossus, creation of the X-Club, the coming of the Sisterhood and more... but there's also Greg Land's art... once you know about his tracing, you can't un-see all those facial expressions that don't match how a character is feeling or talking! But still a good see a positive and uplifting X-men team / situation, so gets a lucky 7 out of 12 from me.

[Emmett Spain · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really wanted to like this, but it just didn’t land on me at all. In trying to figure out why, I paged back through the book, looking for reasons that I was wrong not to enjoy it … but what I found just confirmed and validated my experience.

For starters, Greg Land’s art. Everyone be smiling like they’re on a poster for soda. Big old cheesy grins all the time. It’s weird. Unless you’re a woman, though, in which case you’ll stare sexily at the reader as if to tempt them into carnal imaginings, or contort your frame to pose your massive tits, skinny waist and/or curvaceous ass at the reader. It’s just shit, really.

Matt Fraction’s writing here is … uneven. There’s a bunch of sex jokes, plenty of harsh put downs, and that’s fun and all, but only some of it works. Combined with a cast of dozens of characters, a bunch of plot threads that feel aimless and somewhat dull, it all feels like a great big mess. A mess with sparks of brilliance in there? Yes! But a mess, nonetheless.

The biggest reason for the 2 star review though is that it wasn’t at all memorable. I’m struggling to recall basic details after reading it. It just … didn’t work.

A shame, as I like Matt Fraction on other books. But not Greg Land, though. His horny pencils can go jump.

[Lesley]

This was my first foray into X-Men. I figured Fraction was a safe way to go. I didn't count on Greg Land forcing me to abandon it halfway through the first issue. Wow.

[Dakota Morgan · Rating 3 out of 5]

So strange to jump back in time to late 2000s X-Men, but I guess this is where the rest of the X-Men were during War of Kings, so it sort of makes sense. I'll never get used to seeing Cyclops and Emma Frost as an item, though. Blegh!

This first collection is all over the place, both in terms of storytelling and with the artwork. Cyclops sets up shop for the X-Men in San Francisco after they've been hounded out of basically everywhere else. Quickly, what was simply supposed to be a new home for a few X-folks becomes an X-city, which naturally mean foes arrive in force.

One of those foes is Magneto (totally forgot he was a big villain once), though he's quickly dispatched (to space, where he's working with the High Evolutionary to restore his mutant abilities). Other foes include a local gang run by Empath and the Red Queen. That devolves into a convoluted saga where the Red Queen aka Madelyne Pryor builds a team of villainous babes to resurrect dead mutants (welcome back Betsy Braddock aka Psylocke). Can't say I loved any of that story.

The better pieces of this volume revolve around Beast gathering smart mutants who can help him figure out what's going on with the X-gene post M-Day (probably should have read that comic first). Colussus's battle with his past was a decent character piece. Plus, it's always engaging to watch the X-Men interact and slowly build a new mutant society, even if they're constantly being interrupted by silly battles.

Now, the art. Terry Dodson works on the middle of the book, and that stuff looks fantastic. Greg Land starts and finishes the collection, though, and boyyy now I get why everyone hates him. It's that photorealism of Salvador Larrocca, except everyone's super-duper sexy.

I guess I'll read the next complete collections, but I did sort of expect this to be better.

[TV’s Kevin Lanigan]

Can’t imagine a star rating for this run. It’s so strange and uneven but also overflowing with ideas. X-Men!

[Adam Williams · Rating 3 out of 5]

Matt Fraction actually did a better job with the writing than I expected based on generally middling ratings of this run, but I almost couldn't notice it past how bad Greg Land's art is. Land apparently alternated story arcs with Terry Dodson, and this collection sadly has two arcs of Land. I thought the criticism of how porny Land draws women was exaggerated a bit, but nope. Every woman is identical, they all have constant ear-to-ear smiles in total contrast to expressing any character, and even the teenage Pixie is porny. It's a serious shame, Matt Fraction's writing SEEMS worse filtered through the bad characterization Greg Land spews all over the page.

Ultimately Matt Fraction's script was pretty clever, Terry Dodson's art is much more respectable, and the stories reminded me of classic-style Uncanny X-Men stuff, enjoyable if not profound, so I'll probably read volumes 2 and 3. I'm just bracing myself hard to get past Greg Land next time. Marvel should be embarrassed to keep giving him work.

[Aildiin · Rating 4 out of 5]

These are more mature x-men with sexy art and all in all it's rather good.

[Garrett · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fraction's got them during the bright and shiny Cyclops period, just after Whedon and Cassaday made them awesome again, and while Land's people are pretty, they seem to smile inappropriately, and they wear the eyes after a while. Like the Dodsons on X-Men, and love the way they're written here, with big future plans and layers of character story.

[Jeff · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love that my public libraries carry graphic novels and trade paper back of comic book series. This allows me to catch up on things like the X-Men.

This series follows the Children of the Atom as they make the cross country trip from New York to San Francisco. The mayor and overall community of the City by the Bay welcome them and it is a bit of a difference for the group of super heroes who protect a world that hates and fears them.

Cyclops is leading a team that is facing the repercussions of M-Day (where the Scarlet Witch de-powered most of the world's mutants) and the entangled situation where the first mutant birth since Wanda's actions had taken place. This is not your father's X-Men (or yours if you are like me and grew up with them in the 1990s).

It was fun catching up with the X-Men, but the overall collection was choppy and not the best paced. You could tell that other things were either building up or happening in other corners of the Marvel U (especially for someone like me who thoroughly enjoyed Dark Reign) and to me if you didn't read outside of the X-books, you could feel a bit lost.

The Sisterhood story arc felt to be highly built up and an overall fizzle. The actually conclusion lacked the spark that has happened in other arcs.

It could be the fact that I really haven't read the X-Men since the late 90's (with the exception of Whedon's run on Astonishing) or maybe the fact that the overall paring of art and story wasn't may favorite. Not to say that the overall experience was horrible, but this probably more of a 2.5-2.75 on the star scale, but since I do have a long standing appreciation of Marvel's Merry Mutants I rounded up.

[Freddie · Rating 4 out of 5]

The changing art styles are annoying at best, but this is American comics in a nutshell. Although this seems to be a collaboration of art styles (some absolutely terrible I may add.) it is a story that doesn't get boring or bland in any way. I kept reading just to see what would happen, and I feel like the Sisterhood (a collection of powerful female x-men) has to be one of the greatest antagonists I've ever read about. Talk about femme fatale. I loved seeing so many strong female characters in this collection alone, from pixie, to chimera, and even Emma the frost queen herself.
The only thing that really bothered me about the storyline was the abrupt jumps in time. Sometimes a page would be spliced into five different scenes, alternating to past/present/to past again. At times it was hard to follow the story line and the current present happenings. I would be thrown into the past and not even realize it. Because I have not read the past x-men comics, I didn't understand who some of the characters were. I looked up information for the characters that were named, but there are three characters that were never called by name who I have no freakin clue who they are, or why they are important (the two sisters in the sisterhood, and then the Indian cook at the end.) overall though, I loved this collection.

[Christina · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was my first, real comic book. I never had a legitimate copy, so the experience of going to the comic book store was really exciting. X-Men seemed like a good place to start, so I got this book. However, it was not the one I intended to buy. I confused it for the original Uncanny X-Men series and was slightly disappointed when I made the realization. Even so, I kept it.

Well, all I can say is this was simply okay for me. The art was great to look at! I loved the colors and the style employed, but it was the execution of the story that wasn't all that wonderful. Some of the dialogue did not feel natural or realistic to me, almost as if a first-time writer was hired for the script. A lot of cliches, I felt, were used. The pace was a bit slow in some parts, and in other arcs of the narrative I felt lost. I won't peg the confusion totally on the story though, as I am in no way an X-Men expert. I am not familiar with the stories. Even so, it felt like points of the story were not tied together all that well.

The story in itself was not bad. I found it interesting at certain times. The references to civil rights, politics, and hate-groups were fascinating to see, but I would have liked the story have more subtlety, so it would not have this forced feeling to it.

[Des Fox · Rating 2 out of 5]

What a train-wreck.

I love Matt Fraction, but this book screams of try-hard. It has no focus with a cast that is way too big, terrible pacing, and some of the sloppiest story telling I've ever read. A lot of that is in no small part due to Greg Land's art, which made this a real slog for me. Land's art hits every bad note it can. Models are re-used constantly, frames are re-used, every time he draws the Stepford triplets he just copy paste them, whisping hair and all. It's just lazy, and bad.

The three redeeming factors of this whole endeavor are: 1)Pixie is cool. Clearly a Fraction favorite, she got a lot of screen-time and was the most interesting character in this whole bland affair. 2) Dr. Nemesis 3)Sam Keith shows up at the end of the trade to do a tiny Wolverine one-shot, and I always get 90s-starry-eyed when I see his art.

[Renata · Rating 3 out of 5]

man there's SO MANY COMICS in this volume, some of which I liked more than others! I really like the fairly explicit parallels between mutant rights and gay rights that were playing out here, especially with the move to San Francisco. I loved Pixie and Dazzler!! I was kind of ehhh about some of the psychic resurrection stuff but honestly like, 95% of the time I prefer X-men just dicking around to X-men having to solve big weird problems, so.

[Gregory · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mid-to late 2000s Marvel at its finest. Definitely the sweet spot of Marvel for me, when they were firing on all cylinders. Fraction never misses a beat. I gave it four as I am not a fan of Greg Land's art.

[Ryan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I admit, I never had read any single comic of the X-Men, despite the popularity of the franchise on film and TV. I came into this series with only the knowledge I had on the characters and potential storylines from said movies and animated shows I grew up with as a kid. Matt Fraction's storyline here is that the mutants move to San Francisco to start all over, due to Scarlet Witch's spell that erased all X genes currently. However, while their arrival is welcomed by the mayor, hate crimes on both mutants and other minorities rise exponentially. When a victim comes for help, the entire crew goes out to stop the main target, the Hellfire Cult run by a mutant named Empath and his mistress, The Red Queen. While they managed to subdue the cult, other storylines unravel with the Sisterhood, Peter's depression, and Emma's past.

So while my knowledge on the comic history of the X-Men is barely anything, the first arc presents best what I know about them: a superhero series that represents reality of fighting against prejudice and inequality. I see other reviewers say the events with the Hellfire Cult is a shout-out to the hate crimes done to the LGBTQ+ community going on at the time (2009). While I can't say much on that, I will say it was what got me hooked in, as a good starter. Cyclops, Wolverine, Angel, Beast, Emma, and Peter are presented very well here. But the series is not just famous for integrating the real world problems, but also known to be very soap opera-like, given its large cast. The next couple of stories are more on the melodramatic side, which is fine, as not every comic needs to be heavy on monstrous action and fights against supervillains. However, in terms of the overall volume, it does make it uneven. Almost a little like episode fillers in the animated counterparts. Some of them were better than others, as I enjoyed Peter's spotlight moment while Emma's backstory with Namor was just a dud for me. The Sisterhood arc reinvigorated my interest, thankfully, with the ending of volume one implying that all secrets everyone's keeping is being let out.

Matt Fraction's writing, to me, was decent. A little weird in some areas, but good enough for me to pull through. Similarly, the art was good also, though I did notice how some character models were a little too similar to others at times, while others were not up to my liking. One other thing I was annoyed at was that some of the "heroic" characters were more like jerks. Now I know not superhero has be the all-loving hero, but showing some of the Marvel characters in here, seems to imply that a lot of them are very arrogant pricks. Just a minor nitpick, but I likely wouldn't read much of other Marvel icons, save a few. So while I felt this first volume was okay, and somewhat a good start in the series, I am a little split on whether I should continue forward with the rest of Matt Fraction's input here. If I do go into the second volume, I hope the pacing improves from how it went off from here at least.

[Tomas · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was just OK. If this was the first X-men book I ever read, I would not have been hooked the way I did with Claremont's original run when I was growing up.
After enjoying Fraction's Hawkeye and FF work, and even his Defenders, which was admittedly a bit of a mess, I was looking forward to reading his take on the X-Men, but I think maybe he just hadn't found his footing yet as a writer at this point. The focus was mostly on Cyclops and Emma Frost while also giving a few other characters like Colossus a chance to shine (badump-tsh). Unfortunately, none of the characters were really given much development. After reading Jason Aaron and Rick Remender showcase how much of a leader and complicated character Wolverine can be, this take on him was pretty disappointing. He seemed almost childish and calling Pixie "girlie girl" just made me cringe. Also cringeworthy were the little snippets introducing us to each character. I guess they were supposed to be funny, but they fell flat. We did get to see the beginnings of the scheming "villainous" Scott but I could have used some more of that. Sadly all the villains were quite 2-dimensional and the heroes weren't much better. The highlights were probably Beast and Angel's recruitment of a "science team", as nerdy as that sounds, and seeing Namor's first visit to the Hellfire Club.
As for the art, I am delighted to read anything drawn by Terry Dodson. His characters look like glorious Greek gods and goddesses, and this was no exception. At first I couldn't understand why so many people complain about Greg Land's work because I had only seen his covers but after reading entire issues drawn by him, I can see why. You can tell he uses a lot of photo references but there is always something off with his proportions or the dead look in someone's eyes, which makes his drawings a bit creepy. Uncanny X-Men meet the Uncanny Valley.

[Nate]

Really good. Matt Fraction takes up the reins on Uncanny from Ed Brubaker, whose run was fine but too serious for my taste and kind of bland. Right off the bat, Fraction inserts more levity and quirky dialogue that recalls the great X-Men runs by Morrison and Whedon. The issues in this collection are lots of fun to read and have a definite bounce in their step. Storywise, this marks the beginning of the X-Men's tenure in San Francisco, where they set up a community center for mutants and their families. The mayor welcomes them with open arms but threats remain, including the Hellfire Cult (a militant offshoot of the Club), Madelyne Pryor, and others. Fraction starts things off straightforwardly but adds multiple subplots as his run progresses. It can feel fractured at times. I don't mind the different plotlines, they're all interesting, adding complexity to the story and giving depth to characters. The Emma Frost annual is especially well done.

Elsewhere, Pixie is a great addition (love that scene of her and Logan in the car). And I adore Beast's science club, especially Doctor Nemesis who steals every scene he's in. Beast might be my favorite X-Man during this period (2000s, early 2010s). I love how he's become the nerdy uncle of the team.

Now let's talk about the elephant in the room: Greg Land. His use of porn for photographic reference and copy-paste tracing is well-documented. It's definitely jarring and can be uncomfortable to see. All the women are impossibly hot, in impossibly hot poses. His realistic art does look good in parts though. It is what it is, I guess.

[Ronan The Librarian · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5

This is tough to rate because as a big collection, there’s ups and downs. There are definitely parts I liked, but I’d say about half of it is a slog to get through. One big reason for that is Greg Land. I know it’s become low-hanging fruit to shit on Greg Land’s art, but this was my first extended stay with it, and yeah— no thanks. It’s emotionless, repetitive, not fluid or kinetic at all, and you can tell the whole tracing thing. It also gave a creepy vibe, what with all the women in weird poses and weird facial expressions...just no, liked nothing about it. I generally liked the parts drawn by the Dodsons, like the Piotr story. I was waiting for him to get some shine because I feel like he’s skipped over as the muscle most of the time. Divided We Stand was also a surprisingly good collection of stories detailing the fallout with specific characters. That was the best part of the book. While Fraction did have good issues, even with Land, a lot of them felt completely uninspired and very much like filler. Too much of the book I was trying to skip past because I didn’t care to warrant a higher rating. Maybe read if you can tolerate the Land-fill?

[Judah Radd · Rating 5 out of 5]

Yes!! Loved it.

This follows in the spirit of Whedon’s Astonishing X-Men. Not only is the art similar, but it focuses on similar characters and continues many of the narrative beats established in AXM.

With the exception of a really great, Frost-centric Dark Reign tie-in, this stays mainly in it’s lane. It’s not encumbered by any crossovers, events or big arcs. These stories are largely self contained adventures that last 2 to 3 issues each, with some overarching shit keeping it all together.

Some BIG BAD villains are back. Get ready for the Goblin Queen to take center stage in the rogue gallery.

One of the things I loved about this is the breathing space. Fraction tales great care to not make this a crisis to crisis race to the finish. There’s down time. Quiet parts. Moments where characters can interact and develop.

Emma is a big focal point, which is great because she’s become one of the most interesting mutants over the years.

Fraction knows what he’s doing here. This should be on everyone’s X-Men reading list.

[Matt · Rating 3 out of 5]

Big fan of Fraction, but this isn’t his best by a long-shot. It starts off with the X-Men relocating their headquarters to San Francisco to create a sanctuary for the few mutants remaining after M-Day. The X-Men quickly learn that intolerance is inescapable, when the Hellfire Cult violently targets the newest edition to the team, Pixie. Magneto is working with the High Evolutionary to get his powers back, while Beast forms a “think tank” to save the mutant race. A plot involving the Red Queen pushes sexual boundaries with Emma and Scott, leading to a convoluted story centered on Psylocke’s body being used as a vessel for something to come. Many are critical of Land’s art, but it doesn’t detract from the story.

[Corey Allen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wow, there is a lot here. Like a lot.

And like all of these collections some is good, some is bad. Although, the art I was not a fan off at all. Half of everyone looks like there on an old Coca Cola poster.

Also, can I say that I am not a fan of Emma stone(I think that’s her name?). I don’t really get her character and most of the stuff with her went nowhere. Well, there actually was a lot of stuff that went know where. I guess I was expecting more since Hawkeye is probably my favorite comic ever and the reason I got into comics in the first place.

Oh well, I’d probably recommend it anyways.

Also, thanks to Chad for recommending this to me!

[Jesse · Rating 4 out of 5]

Matt Fraction's run begins in earnest here, with the X-Men finding their feet in San Francisco. The art ranges from terrible Greg Land to wonderful Terry Dodson. Most of the characterization is spot on, I love Fraction's Emma and Scott, and Beast, especially. Some interesting plots, some forgettable ones, some that just begin here and pay off much later on. Good stuff.

[Connor's Comics · Rating 2 out of 5]

several talented writers and artists: wow we have some pretty good stuff planned out here, hope nobody fucks this up

greg land, carrying several playboys and a sheet of tracing paper: hi

[Christian Lipski]

Oh boy do I dislike Land’s art. It takes will to ignore his plastic people and focus on Fraction’s writing.

[Patrick Moran · Rating 3 out of 5]

Easy to read, mostly engaging, a few silly, dumb or unresolved sidetracks that started out interesting. Gentle nods to plot threads in other ongoing series are present, but don't cause FOMO. Soft-core animated porn isn't very engaging for me, and there is a bit present. Comfortable banter between long-time X-teammates is fun and rewarding. The two issues tacked onto the end of this collection don't contribute to the established storyline. Despite everything, I want to re-read this more than most.

[Mitchell Friedman · Rating 2 out of 5]

Confused and scattered but not wholly bad. Though some of the art and some of the writing is awful. The bit with Peter trying to get over Kitty and everything is pretty good. And I kind of like Pixie. Emma Frost was good as always which unfortunately means she was awful in all ways. But Alison Blaire was drawn and written wrong. The X-scientist team that Hank was putting together was pretty interesting but still done badly. I'd say one page in ten was good and maybe 4 pages in ten were okay. Somewhere out there should still be decent X-men comics.

[Claire · Rating 4 out of 5]

I actually genuinely think this is, hands down, the best X-Men graphic novel I've read so far. The fact that there was so much story in one book was a big check in its favour, the characterisations were very enjoyable, and the art (save for one section at the back) was fantastic. I really enjoyed the story and all the threads leading off from the main arc, it made me want to read more, and it was a shame when I ran out because I just wanted it to keep going. This is one I would definitely recommend to any fan or even a newcomer because it just ticked all the boxes for me.