Uncanny X-Men #523 jumps right into the Second Coming story arc. This is Chapter 2 in the arc. I have some major problems with this. 

The last issue of Uncanny left Kitty Pryde stuck permanently phasing through everything she touched, Colossus waiting anxiously by her side as she underwent some tests. Colossus is now out in the field. Did he protest with Scott about this? Was there some sort of farewell? I have no idea, I didn't read the BIG CROSSOVER EVENT BOOK THAT CHANGES EVERYTHING FOREVER AND KILLS SOMEBODY OFF ALSO.

It seems odd to set up the event this way. Event books work better when one big event happens in a main book, and then books take what happened most recently and build their own story around it, with their own characters in their book.

As an example, a couple weeks ago I leafed through Avengers: The Initiative in my local comic shop. It used Asgard falling apart in Siege as well as the arrival of the Captain Americas on the scene to have implications for two characters. It wasn't a great book by any means, but it was an excellent use of the events of Siege #3.

This format however features the work of Matt Fraction and Terry Dodson in chapters 2, 6 and 10 of a larger story. Despite my bitching and moaning, this is a really excellent comic. Dodson draws great expressive faces and does incredible work on the characters, they really pop off the page thanks to him, inker Rachel Dodson and colorist Justin Ponsor.

The story is well told, especially the parts that involve Cable and Hope. The stuff about Nightcrawler seems like just part of the larger story, something there to make sure he goes along with the plan for the arc. There's a lead in to something that will be happening in New Mutants as well.

All in all this is another good Uncanny X-Men issue, it's just a shame that to get the whole story you have to drop money on 4 X-books a week, something I'm not quite willing to do.