#522 - Ghostly, The End Of The World And Everything After
Matt Fraction has grown up. My only problem with him as a writer was that his Iron Man work is like MUCH better, thoughtful and detailed than The Uncanny X-Men. It appeared that he could not keep the same and write at an adequate level two different comic books. And it makes it more surprising as he continues to amaze me with his every UXM issue.
This story - the most shocking, what happened to the series since Ed Brubaker's work on it. A very pleasant surprise was the absence of Terry Dodson and/or Greg Land on the artwork. Whilce Portacio was totally awesome in Hulk #18 and his art in this issue was one of the brightest spots. So, the plot is spinning around (SURPRISE!) Kitty Pryde's return on Earth. We all remember the horrifying ending of Whedon's run on The Astonishing X-Men & we all understand - her return was only a matter of time. I think, it took Marvel TOO long to enter the character into comics again.
The main advantage of #522 - it touches. Fraction created a great drama-story. This is particularly felt in the last pages, where there are panels without the words. I don't know how anyone could not like such so well-written story.
This week is rich in "must buy" issue. I still have some doubts about the Second Coming, but now I'm almost 100% sure that Matt will be able to pull out of shit almost any book.