The Uncanny X-Men #533

Emma, Fantomex, and Kitty must contend with a fully powered and fully pissed Shaw. Angel's team decides to crash Lobe's party, prompting him to give a little power to the people. 
 
The Good  
Land does a great job on this cover nice an action packed, sure it's deceptive, but then again, most tend to be.  

I like the  way Cyclops handles Lobe's "Angel". He gives her an excellent reality check about the nature of their powers. "These are our lives. It's not a game of dress-up for the terminally over-privileged." 
  
Fraction and Gillen's characterization of Lobe is great. He's really a slime ball and I can't wait to see him get his comeuppance in the next issue.  
 
I'll never tire of Pixie and Dazzler. Love how sensitive Dazzler is about the train wreck her career's become. Her reaction to Lobe's Dazzler impersonator performing at Lobe's party is really humorous. Pixie misses no opportunity to kick her while she's done. The smug look on her face when she justifies her actions by saying "Oh I've got bad stuff crammed in my soul! Some just leaked out!" is one moment where Land's art didn't make me want to club a baby seal.    

The Bad 
Everything I hate about Land's artwork is back this issue, and in spades. The cheesecake, odd poses, and inappropriate facial expressions are ever present and really bogged down the reading experience for me. I mean there's one moment where Emma's more or less cowgirling Fantomex. I'm sure with enough time and a thorough google search I can find the reference models he used for this pic... 
 
I know that Fraction has no clue about most of the X-Men characters and their established upper and lower power limits, but some stuff can't be forgiven. I didn't start reading X books consistently again until Second Coming, but I'm pretty damn sure that Shaw's not powerful enough to shatter Emma with his bare hands. Last I saw you had to precisely hit that sweet spot with precision and some Phoenix Force for good measure.  
 
Those character intro boxes have got to go...NOWISH!!! At first they were amusing for long time readers like myself and helpful for new readers who migrated into the titles, but now they've long overstayed their welcome.  
P.S. The little "humorous" comments in them are NOT FUNNY!!!     
 
What Lobe wants is utterly idiotic and creates a huge plot hole. He wants the rights to the mutant genome. Ummm okay...where to start here. First how the hell does one own the rights to DNA?! Now I looked into this and a friend of mine told me that this is actually in the works in real life. People are in fact trying to copyright DNA, but it's not legally recognized by the U.S. Patent Office. Ignoring that fact, under what authority (legal or otherwise) does Cyclops have to agree to these terms? Seems like Lobe's demands exist solely to provide a reason for he and the X-Men to do battle. He could've went about his business of selling powers without creating the plague which has affected Utopia and incurring the wrath of the mutant community. 
 
Storm has no lines in this issue and may as well be a lighting powered paper weight. Do something with her or remove her from the book. She could be put to much better use in another writer's hands.   

The Verdict 
Buy this issue only if you're already invested in this arc and have numbering OCD like myself. This issue's skippable, filler and is not worth buying if you're not already keeping up with the story. Its sole purpose is to serve as a segue into the big fight/finale next issue. Let's hope that Fraction/Gillen can make magic happen.