While Danger is preoccupied with Madison Jefferies, Emma Frost plots to put Sebastian Shaw out of the picture permanently.
The Good
Fraction's dialog positively drives this forward. From the new mutant's "primal narrative" to Fantomex's subtle "hypnosis" on Madison Jefferies to Emma Frost's characteristically-prissy ennui, the exchanges in this are almost like helpings of a juicy steak you just can't resist chewing on. Actually, it was his characterization of Fantomex that won me over. I've loved the character since he was introduced during Morrison's run and was, thus, pleasantly surprised to see that another writer can handle the archfiend just as well.
The Bad
When I was set to review this, I didn't realize that Uncanny was a separate book from Legacy. While "adjective-less" X-Men has a identity whose distinctions are easy to see, I seriously wonder if this title might benefit from some re-purposing to further set it apart from Legacy. It shares so many characters with other titles (even including New Mutants) that I wouldn't be sure how to describe it aside from it just being another X-Men title.
The Verdict - 4/5
This is something of an "in-between issue" - - something to get us from point A to point C and set up a lot of threads in the process - - but it's an exceptionally well-done in-between issue. I should comment, as well, that I've enjoyed how Portacio's art is evolved. Perhaps a lot of it has to do with the inker and colorist, but I've never seen his art look this crisp.
