3. Matt Fraction
After Ed Brubakers brief run on Uncanny X-Men, he was succeeded by Matt Fraction, his co-writer on The Immortal Iron Fist. At first glance, this might seem like a good idea. Fractions creator-owned work prior to Marvel included an excellent little series called Rex Mantooth: Kung Fu Gorilla and at Marvel, his work on Iron Fist as well as The Invincible Iron Man and The Order showed he had a knack for writing entertaining stories. Unfortunately, that didnt translate so well to the X-Men. Fraction had an affinity for cringe-worthy captions introducing the characters and their powers in each issue, and trying hard to come off as hip or amusing. Here are a few examples: Xian Coy Mahn - Karma. Psychic possession. Wasnt crazy for the wrap-up of Battlestar. Dr. Henry McCoy - The Beast. Beastly. Intellectual. Dr. Kavita Rao. Human. Mutant geneticist. Superb dancer of tangos. Warren Worthing III - Angel. Wings; wealth. Turn ons: Betsy Braddock. Turn offs: science. Bobby Drake - Iceman. Man of ice. Brutal three-point shooter. Dr. Nemesis. PhD in nemesising. Fantomex. Watched Danger: Diabolik one too many times. Currently flying his symbiotic ship. Alison Blaire - Dazzler. One who dazzles. Pop star! Megan Gwynn - Pixie. Teleportation, flight, stabby, Welsh. And this isnt including the running gag about Cyclops and his damn jetpack. Fraction ballooned the cast to include just about every X-Man ever. The dialogue was painfully hip and sardonic, sacrificing characterization in favor of supposed wit. The only real characterization was of Cyclops, and it was basically regressing the character, throwing out all the great development he underwent in recent years and just turning him into a total dick. While Brian Michael Bendis has been doing a great job with the whole Dark Cyclops thing, it had some extremely poor development by Fraction.