After enduring the awkward and tangential AvX tie-in involving Sinister, Uncanny corrects course and delivers a fantastic story that runs concurrent with AvX #11. Colossus, the giant metallic mutant, possessed by the mystical Cyttorak, and until recently a host of the Phoenix force, is dwarfed by a true monster: his sister Illyana. Magik is sick enough to destroy the person who has cared for her more than anyone else on Earth; this betrayal is terrifyingly written by Gillen.

His other achievement is the perfectly executed encounter between Emma and Scott. The premise that the Phoenix's omnipresence allows them to have dinner while fighting the X-Men and the Avengers, conveys their endless might. Emma's confession culminates a plot thread that had been dangling for a long time, and combined with his killing Charles Xavier, it looks like the final push Cyclops needed to be taken over the edge. These last few seconds inside Scott's head are the perfect complement to his actions in the battlefield. Nice issue!