Dark Avengers/Uncanny X-Men: Utopia #1 Writer: Matt Fraction / Artist: Marc Silvestri

For months, the pages of Uncanny X-Men have been building towards a new law regulating the breeding habits of mutants. Of course, supporters and opponents of the law have very different views on the ethics of it, resulting in fights and riots. The X-Men are caught somewhere in the middle of it: trying to keep the peace but also vehemently opposing Proposition X. Seeing that the X-Men's ability to maintain the peace may be corrupted by their biases, the President calls on the help of the Dark Avengers to sort things out.

One of the things Matt Fraction accomplishes is creating a valid reason for the Dark Avengers to be there. The X-Men are capable of handling the riots themselves, but the government sees them as part of the riots. They must be handled too. Who better to handle the situation than America's government approved Avengers? And handle it they do.

Fraction shows he has a clear understanding of the team, perhaps even better than he understands the X-Men. Moonstone is annoyed she's getting dragged into the situation and brings the rain down on riots. Venom is hungry and goes after the biggest prize of all, Colossus. And Ares, finally sounding like the God of War, begs people to try with him. Fraction writes the Dark Avengers as the imposing and unstable team they were meant to be.

Besides stopping the chaos, the other reason for the Dark Avengers being there is to establish a new X-Men team. Osborn wants people he can trust to keep things quiet in San Francisco and charges Emma Frost with the task. Her acceptance of the proposal is unjustified though. For years, she's been a member of the X-Men and is even in a relationship with Cyclops, but in the span of a few panels decides to betray them. Frost even dons black clothing for some unknown reason.

Marc Silvestri handles the art in the issue really well. From the beginning, when's he setting up an historic and riot-causing march on city hall, to the end, when he uses adjacent panels to show the turning of the tide, his work adds to the tension of the situation. Every character's attitude and appearance comes across effectively too.

Overall, this one-shot was a great read, but jumped from point A to B instead of leading us there. An appearance from the Dark Avengers was entertaining, however Emma Frost's defection was handled haphazardly. The creation of the Dark X-Men still comes across as uninteresting and unnecessary.