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Uncanny X-Men by Matt Fraction
Uncanny X-Men: The Complete Collection by Matt Fraction, Vol. 3
As Cyclops struggles to create a safe haven formutants on Utopia, Magneto suddenly arrives...and offers to join the X-Men! And to prove that he comes in peace, the Master of Magnetism undertakes a painful feat that might save another lost X-Man's life...or might just kill him. Then, after the events of Second Coming, the mutant race has Hope again - literally! Witness the stunning emergence of a new generation of heroes! Plus: things between Kitty Pryde, Emma Frost and Sebastian Shaw come to a head! And why are the X-Men all getting sick at once? The Sublime are back, and they've unleashed a contagion on Utopia. Can the mutants fight a microscopic foe, or will this be their final battleground? Matt Fraction's blockbuster X-Men run concludes! COLLECTING: Uncanny X-Men (1963) 520-522, Uncanny X-Men: the Heroic Age 1, material from Uncanny X-Men (1963) 526-534
336 pages, Paperback
First published March 23, 2011
5 people are currently reading
92 people want to read
About the author
Matt Fraction
1,220 books1,865 followers"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.
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.
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
August 2, 2023
Poor Matt Fraction forced(?) into lots of crossover issues and clumped(?) with an artist like Greg Land! I've nothing against Land personally but once you see/ notice his copy art, and facial expressions not matching context, you can't un-see, well I couldn't! All in all the Californian / Utopia experience has been handled well, and it's good to see a community not so intolerant. The cream of the crop is the continuing break down of personal relationships of some of the longer serving X-Men. I can see a schism coming (hee hee). 7 out of 12. Three Stars :)
2018 read
2018 read
October 29, 2014
On par with the rest of Fraction's run. So enjoyable, with some good moments and some uneven issues. By now, I've come to intensely dislike Land's art. I hate his samey-same, overly posed, overly sexualized, attempts at drawing women. His tracing (including, apparently, tracing from porn, photos of cosplayers, other artists, and even his own work) is very well known. I guess as long as it looks slick on the surface, he'll continue to get work and admirers. But to me, it just looks plastic.
October 2, 2025
Another solid collection of X-Comics that highlight life on Utopia, explore the new mutants awoken after Second Coming, and just kinda bop around pleasantly? Honestly, a lot of the plotlines here are forgettable, but they're fast and fun reads, often with good art (apparently, I have nothing against Greg Land).
Seeing Magneto dig deep to pull Kitty Pryde back from deep space was thrilling (even if I have no idea why she was blasting across the universe in a bullet). I liked the mutant flu/mutant drug arc (secretly by Kieron Gillen) even though it was deeply silly. Just about the only thing that left me cold were all the scenes of Hope helping new mutants settle into their powers. What exactly is Hope's ability here? It's not clear why she's so useful, though I guess they gotta give the Mutant Messiah something to do.
The Complete Collections were a lot of reading, but they flew by and managed to incorporate most events smoothly. A decent era of X-History, even if it's basically just "close-to-shore Krakoa."
Seeing Magneto dig deep to pull Kitty Pryde back from deep space was thrilling (even if I have no idea why she was blasting across the universe in a bullet). I liked the mutant flu/mutant drug arc (secretly by Kieron Gillen) even though it was deeply silly. Just about the only thing that left me cold were all the scenes of Hope helping new mutants settle into their powers. What exactly is Hope's ability here? It's not clear why she's so useful, though I guess they gotta give the Mutant Messiah something to do.
The Complete Collections were a lot of reading, but they flew by and managed to incorporate most events smoothly. A decent era of X-History, even if it's basically just "close-to-shore Krakoa."
December 5, 2017
I'm confused why this wasn't already on my "Read" shelf, because I'm pretty sure I finished this series. Oh well, I'm mostly a completest so I read it again, just in case.
Utopia, Magneto, Kitty P, etc. etc. there is a lot going on here. The "new mutant" trust fund babies storyline isn't that great and resolves fairly quickly, the rest of the volume is pretty solid. I *want* to like the art; I like the faces and general drawing but feel the women all closely resemble each other and are way, way objectified. Blech. Yes, Emma is a stone-cold fox but I think we know that without her DDDD's being twice as wide as her waist.
Utopia, Magneto, Kitty P, etc. etc. there is a lot going on here. The "new mutant" trust fund babies storyline isn't that great and resolves fairly quickly, the rest of the volume is pretty solid. I *want* to like the art; I like the faces and general drawing but feel the women all closely resemble each other and are way, way objectified. Blech. Yes, Emma is a stone-cold fox but I think we know that without her DDDD's being twice as wide as her waist.
January 16, 2020
Too many of the plot lines were left unresolved (maybe the collection was truly "complete"). However, the artwork was stunning, and I particularly enjoyed the inclusion of pathology and biological warfare. It was a fresh take on conflict within the superhero genre.
Read
January 20, 2022Nothing distracts from great writing like Greg Land’s plastic dead-eyed tracings. Anyway, nice job, Fraction.
October 13, 2019
I flew through this trade. It practically read itself.
Matt Fraction’s run on Uncanny X-Men was really, really good. In many ways, it was a spiritual successor to the elevated X concept started with Morrison’s New X-Men and continues through Whedon’s Astonishing X-Men. This had a similar feel. It was character focussed, Frostcentric, and even managed to resolve plot threads from both (Kitty’s Astonishing arc and Sublime’s NXM arc, for example.)
Greg Land, who I usually am not a fan of, did pretty good work with this title. His clear and nonjumbly style complimented Fraction’s calm, well paced, non combat focussed narrative.
The humor was just right, the drama, the social commentary... all on point. This run was a pleasure to read, and this third trade volume was a great way to cap it off.
I give this an E for Essential.
Matt Fraction’s run on Uncanny X-Men was really, really good. In many ways, it was a spiritual successor to the elevated X concept started with Morrison’s New X-Men and continues through Whedon’s Astonishing X-Men. This had a similar feel. It was character focussed, Frostcentric, and even managed to resolve plot threads from both (Kitty’s Astonishing arc and Sublime’s NXM arc, for example.)
Greg Land, who I usually am not a fan of, did pretty good work with this title. His clear and nonjumbly style complimented Fraction’s calm, well paced, non combat focussed narrative.
The humor was just right, the drama, the social commentary... all on point. This run was a pleasure to read, and this third trade volume was a great way to cap it off.
I give this an E for Essential.
January 14, 2020
Like Vols. 1-2, I liked some of Fraction's clever writing here, although not every idea lands. But I just so often wonder what this run would have been like without Greg Land dragging the whole ship down. I don't know who did worse things to the X-Men, Greg Land or Chuck Austen.
January 8, 2026
Review: ❌❌❌❌ 3.5/5
Matt Fraction's Uncanny X-Men brings back Kitty Pryde after she got shot into space inside of a giant bullet (Comics. Just go with it.)
I liked this run. Even though it felt a bit all over the place, it's still a decent collection.
Narratively, the book fills in some missing fragments from previous stories I've read. It shows us what happens after Whedon's Astonishing X-Men and, more importantly, it explores the aftermath of Second Coming. How Cyclops is handling his role as leader despite all the atrocities he's commited by employing X-Force (a group of mutant assassins). It's a continuation of his gradual descent into darkness, and it’s genuinely interesting to watch.
But one of my favorite parts of this collection and what I believe is its biggest strength, is its character interactions.
I especially love an endeering conversation between Beast and Molly Hayes, a 12-year-old mutant trying to process the idea that their species might be going extinct soon.
We also get a great interaction between Hope (the mutant Jesus) and Franklin Richards, the son of Reed and Sue from the Fantastic Four. Both are incredibly powerful children with a lot of expectations placed on both, so it's really nice to see them developing a small bond.
Another fun detail is the hint at Emma Frost's connection to Iron Man. It's funny to read in hindsight, knowing they eventually become a couple, though I'll always prefer Emma with Scott. ( I love the Krakoan Era, but putting Scott in a throuple with Jean and Wolverine and pushing Emma away from him was a really poor decision. At the same time, however, I low-key kinda love the idea and think it's funny as hell, so I have complicated feelings about it.)
One of the central plots is: since Hope returned, the X-Men detected a couple new mutants around the world. With her help, it is time to approach and help them. I honestly don't care much for this storyline. Luckily, it's far from the only thing happening.
Emma is forced to work with Kitty Pryde (currently stuck as a ghost) to get rid of Sebastian Shaw, whom she kept prisoner in a basement ever since Utopia was created. And as if that wasn't enough, an epidemic begins spreading through the city. This is a clear parallel to the AIDS crisis of the 80s, particularly how the LGBT community was dying and nobody cared because it wasn't initially affecting the straights. The same happens here and it is shown during a press conference, where one of the journalists asks whether the disease is affecting "real people".
The difference here is that this illness was engineered by a corporation to blackmail mutants in exchange for the cure. What do they want in exchange? Mutant DNA so they can create a drug that gives humans mutant superpowers and sell it for billions. It's capitalist criticism at its best. The plan even includes an addictive mass-market version, like cigarettes, alongside an exclusive premium version for the 1%.
It's a great concept, though it goes against the whole "humans hate mutants" dynamic that is always present in the X-Men stories. I suppose at this point in time, mutant acceptance was slowly growing, which creates this possibility. Besides, there will always be rich people willing to pay for anything, no matter how unethical.
Overall, it's a 3.5 that can be rounded up to a 4 I suppose. I love so many interactions in this book. Pixie and Dazzler were adorable, for example. But there was too much happening at once and not enough depth given to some of the concepts for me to give it a higher score. It is still a great read for any X-Men fan for sure, I just wouldn't recommend it to casual readers, since it assumes you already know a lot of the lore behind the X-Men.
Matt Fraction's Uncanny X-Men brings back Kitty Pryde after she got shot into space inside of a giant bullet (Comics. Just go with it.)
I liked this run. Even though it felt a bit all over the place, it's still a decent collection.
Narratively, the book fills in some missing fragments from previous stories I've read. It shows us what happens after Whedon's Astonishing X-Men and, more importantly, it explores the aftermath of Second Coming. How Cyclops is handling his role as leader despite all the atrocities he's commited by employing X-Force (a group of mutant assassins). It's a continuation of his gradual descent into darkness, and it’s genuinely interesting to watch.
But one of my favorite parts of this collection and what I believe is its biggest strength, is its character interactions.
I especially love an endeering conversation between Beast and Molly Hayes, a 12-year-old mutant trying to process the idea that their species might be going extinct soon.
We also get a great interaction between Hope (the mutant Jesus) and Franklin Richards, the son of Reed and Sue from the Fantastic Four. Both are incredibly powerful children with a lot of expectations placed on both, so it's really nice to see them developing a small bond.
Another fun detail is the hint at Emma Frost's connection to Iron Man. It's funny to read in hindsight, knowing they eventually become a couple, though I'll always prefer Emma with Scott. ( I love the Krakoan Era, but putting Scott in a throuple with Jean and Wolverine and pushing Emma away from him was a really poor decision. At the same time, however, I low-key kinda love the idea and think it's funny as hell, so I have complicated feelings about it.)
One of the central plots is: since Hope returned, the X-Men detected a couple new mutants around the world. With her help, it is time to approach and help them. I honestly don't care much for this storyline. Luckily, it's far from the only thing happening.
Emma is forced to work with Kitty Pryde (currently stuck as a ghost) to get rid of Sebastian Shaw, whom she kept prisoner in a basement ever since Utopia was created. And as if that wasn't enough, an epidemic begins spreading through the city. This is a clear parallel to the AIDS crisis of the 80s, particularly how the LGBT community was dying and nobody cared because it wasn't initially affecting the straights. The same happens here and it is shown during a press conference, where one of the journalists asks whether the disease is affecting "real people".
The difference here is that this illness was engineered by a corporation to blackmail mutants in exchange for the cure. What do they want in exchange? Mutant DNA so they can create a drug that gives humans mutant superpowers and sell it for billions. It's capitalist criticism at its best. The plan even includes an addictive mass-market version, like cigarettes, alongside an exclusive premium version for the 1%.
It's a great concept, though it goes against the whole "humans hate mutants" dynamic that is always present in the X-Men stories. I suppose at this point in time, mutant acceptance was slowly growing, which creates this possibility. Besides, there will always be rich people willing to pay for anything, no matter how unethical.
Overall, it's a 3.5 that can be rounded up to a 4 I suppose. I love so many interactions in this book. Pixie and Dazzler were adorable, for example. But there was too much happening at once and not enough depth given to some of the concepts for me to give it a higher score. It is still a great read for any X-Men fan for sure, I just wouldn't recommend it to casual readers, since it assumes you already know a lot of the lore behind the X-Men.
August 2, 2019
I picked this up because the cover says “the complete collection,” so I expected a full story, but it turns out this is “the complete collection […volume 3].” Caveat emptor, obviously, but still disappointing. Luckily I was familiar enough with the “Utopia era” premise that I could pick it up, and they provided one of those quick summaries at the start. The ideas were fine. I liked his characterizations of Emma Frost’s weaponized sexiness and supervillain instincts adapting to being on the sympathetic side. Other than Emma, I found the art either unnecessarily and awkwardly trying to be sexy (Greg Land, though the rest of his art is pretty nice) or unnecessarily Whilce Portacio (who is the poor man’s Jim Lee when he’s at his best, and this isn’t his best). It felt imbalanced from focusing so much on Cyclops and Emma in what is supposed to be a team book. You have to give me a good Beast in an X-Men book, and this just didn’t have enough of the rest of the cast. Maybe it’s just that it’s late in his series, and I’m sure it lacked some punch due to missing 2/3 of the story beforehand, but I didn’t see enough here to make me excited about going back to get that context.
Read
October 5, 2024Fractions’s run ends as it began: quite good, with a definite pep in its step. This collection does skip the Second Coming crossover, which takes place between issues 522 and 526, so be sure to read that (it’s great). I enjoyed all the surrounding storylines. The Kitty Pryde plot from Joss Whedon’s run gets resolved (or at least continued) here. Then the X-Men track down the five mutants who emerged at the end of Second Coming. The last arc is about a virus that infects mutants, and the guy (Lobe, from an earlier Fraction storyline) who planted it. He has a weird obsession with the X-Men and creates his own team with enhanced abilities mimicking the original five. There are some great moments in the last issue with Emma and Scott, the undisputed MVPs of Fraction’s run.
Even with Greg Land’s art dominating this book (and the fill-in artist being subpar), I had a good time with it.
Even with Greg Land’s art dominating this book (and the fill-in artist being subpar), I had a good time with it.
February 23, 2021
Fraction’s X-Men run was...uneven as a whole. At times it feels like different writers completely (not just the issues where Gillen is credited either). The good stuff was pretty decent. The bad stuff, was really bad. This collection, for example, was decent for the first half, and straight up terrible in the second half. When I read the good I’m glad I did, but reading the bad makes me feel like the whole thing was a waste of time. Not the least of the problem is Land’s art. It makes it hard not to skip pages, it’s somehow offensive.
*IF you decide to read Fraction’s run (because some relevant continuity does actually happen), don’t feel bad for skipping around the filler. This book for example, read until ~#525, and throw away the rest.
*IF you decide to read Fraction’s run (because some relevant continuity does actually happen), don’t feel bad for skipping around the filler. This book for example, read until ~#525, and throw away the rest.
January 1, 2019
Fraction wraps up his run with the return of Kitty from space, (which had me a little misty, I ain't gonna lie) and the designer drug X-Men, which was the "Quarantine" storyline that I had read already. Other than that, there's some other good stuff in here, and the whole volume reads a little more smoothly than the previous two. I enjoyed this massive trek through the Fraction X-Men more than I thought I would.
July 21, 2014
oh god I fell victim to cataloging on this one: my library catalog listed this as "Uncanny X-men : the complete collection" and so I put a hold on it, and then I got it and it was volume 3, and I was like, whatever, I know X-Men, I'll read this?
IDK, I do know X-Men stuff pretty well, but this is a WEIRD volume to jump into the middle of. But the #cool thing about comics is that even though I did not know about all of the weird shit that was happening, it didn't really matter. What matters is that Matt Fraction & Kieron Gillon are really masters of humanizing these archetypal characters.
That said, I'm definitely uh, ordering volumes 1 and 2 for my library and reading those ASAP. Continuity WHAT??
IDK, I do know X-Men stuff pretty well, but this is a WEIRD volume to jump into the middle of. But the #cool thing about comics is that even though I did not know about all of the weird shit that was happening, it didn't really matter. What matters is that Matt Fraction & Kieron Gillon are really masters of humanizing these archetypal characters.
That said, I'm definitely uh, ordering volumes 1 and 2 for my library and reading those ASAP. Continuity WHAT??
August 17, 2013
I'm baffled. After reading Fraction's run on Iron Man, which I absolutely loved, this entire X-Men run was such a complete turn down garbage lane. The tone was uneven at times, the pacing all over the place (no doubt because it so often had to have crossover BS tied in), plot lines were dropped or added at will, and I rarely felt any connection to any of the characters. It's unfortunate to see things fall apart so badly when Fraction was given so much time to work with these characters.
July 30, 2024
Another re read and not that impressed with some of these stories. Seems that they're thrown in for fillers and use up all the characters that have copyrights coming up. More soap than fun but it is the ending of Uncanny.
January 15, 2016
3.75 really
October 10, 2016
This volume concludes the rather really good run of Matt Fraction on Uncanny X-Men.
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews