Uncanny X-Men #13 – Review

by Brian Michael Bendis (Writer), Chris Bachalo, Tim Townsend, Al Vey, Mark Irwin, Jaime Mendoza, Victor Olazaba (Artists), Marte Gracia (Colorist)

The Story: The bad X-Men from the future tries to send the past X-Men to their own time as the real X-Men from the future tries to prevent their plans from working.

The Review: There are things we kind of take for granted when it comes to serial storytelling. We always think that character development, story progression and genuine moments of entertainment shall be given to us with each issue. It is something that all issue and writers should strive to give, but sometimes some issues are more miss than hit, which can bring forward frustrating books.

This issue of Uncanny X-Men is unfortunately one of those issues, where a lot of what could make it worthwhile is simply absent. It is a mindless issue that seems to want to give us as many ”awesome” moments as it can, delivering plenty of action but little else, resulting in a read that doesn’t advance the themes or the plot in any significant way whatsoever.

X-Men #6 – Review

Brian Wood (Writer), David Lopez, Cam Smith, Terry Pallot (Artists), Laura Martin, Matt Milla (Colorists)

The Story: The real X-Men from the future warns the current X-Men about the other mutants from the future as some mutants from the present fights the impostor.

The Review: One of the major problems of huge crossovers is the incorporation of the major themes in the ongoing books touched by the bigger story. When themes which aren’t necessarily touched upon or characters who aren’t always featured appears in a book, it can sometimes kill the pacing or the subplots that drive it forward. It’s an evil that doesn’t seem that necessary in some case, which makes it all the more disappointing when it occurs in the worst of ways.

It’s a mixed blessing then that Brian Wood is really able to use some of the characters and themes brought by Battle of the Atom to his own ongoing in a way that surprises, but also make sense. Despite the whole time-travelling characters being pushed in this book, Wood is successful in moving forward both his own plot as well as the larger one of the crossover.

All-New X-Men #17 – Review

by Brian Michael Bendis (Writer), Stuart Immonen, Wade Von Grawbadger (Artists), Marte Garcia (Colorist)

The Story: Another team of X-Men from the future comes to the past to warn the X-Men from the present. There seems to be a pattern here…

The Review: Battle of the Atom is a strange beast. Acting as both an event and line-wide crossover between some of the various X-Men titles, it tried to unite various threads together to do an immense story where some of those threads would close. It’s also a bit unevenly paced, as it suffers from what I may call the ”Bendis disease”, with close to every event comics written by Bendis suffering from it. The ”Bendis disease” has symptoms like excellent settings and ideas, interesting characters but poor pacing and a propensity toward rushing things along for the climax, however awkward it might turn out to be. While this event seems to show signs of this particularly dreadful malady , does this issue seal the deal on what many might fear for the future of this crossover event?

Surprisingly, it really doesn’t as Bendis delivers not only a neat twist on his story, but he also delves deeper into some of the more fascinating elements that were introduced previously. One of them being the actual future and the events that lead the previous team of X-Men, the very reason and concept that started this whole story to begin with. Bendis plays a bit with the current themes of Marvel Now! with the future he presents, presenting new characters along with the current X-Men readers are familiar with.

X-Men #5 – Review

by Brian Wood (Writer), David Lopez, Cam Smith (Artists), Laura Martin (Colorist)

The Story: Cyclops and Jean are on the run as several members of the X-Men try to get them back.

The Review: Big crossovers are both a boon and a curse for any book. While many readers that aren’t normally picking up the book shall try out something different in order to gain the full story, the story they may want to read does not always mesh with what went before in this particular title. It’s a double-edged sword that is best handled with care and that may cause more harm than good sometimes.

Unfortunately, this is what happens here as Brian Wood’s X-Men book serves as another chapter in the Battle of the Atom big crossover. What is normally a team showcasing the strong and diverse females from this particular corner of the Marvel universe ends up servicing the story instead of focusing on what make it different. It results in something that tries really hard to please the X-fans and those who wants the next big thing, yet stumbles in some small parts.

It’s not all bad, of course, as there are some parts that continue the strong characterization that Wood is able to give to some of the cast, like Rachel and Kitty Pride, who discuss being left behind to watch the school as the rest of the X-Men goes in search of Jean Grey and Scott Summers. The conversation they have feels like a normal discussion instead of an exposition-heavy dialect that only serves the story and not the characters, which is always good to see in such a book. However, those characters soon come clashing against the story as they merely arrive to grind the story to a halt, give a good ”the reason you suck” speech to the others X-Men and this resumes their roles for the story in this issue. They are well-written, yet their purpose for this issue seems a tad forced and clash against the pace of the crossover a bit.

All-New X-Men #16 – Review

by Brian Michael Bendis (Writer), Stuart Immonen, Wave Von Grawbadger (Artists), Marte Garcia (Colorist)

The Story: In the second part of Battle of the Atom, the current X-Men from the Jean Grey school for higher learning interacts with the future X-Men.

The Review: Brian Michael Bendis is known for a great many things to the Marvel fans. His way of writing dialogue. his banter, his decompression, the way he seems to insert his own favourites in the titles he writes and so on. While he is, like many authors, always controversial in terms of appreciation by the fans, his events are in another category altogether. They always possess a strong basis, one that has potential for pretty good storytelling and action, yet never seems to properly fulfill it. While this isn’t exactly an event comic and more a huge crossover between the various X-Men titles, with two of them being written by him, does he succeed a bit more in telling a story that may satisfy the X-fans?

It’s a mixed reaction, as there are some very strong concepts at play here, with the future X-Men being the key to this issue’s fun. Bendis is never short of ideas, it seem, as he incorporate many elements from the Marvel universe and combine them together with the X-Men mythos to create a team that seems very interesting. The incorporation of characters like Molly Hayes from Runaways and Deadpool to classic characters like Iceman, Beast and Kitty Pride makes for a team that could easily fit into the X-Men continuity. The fact that they also come from the future to warn the present X-Men about the danger of the original five’s presence here also thematically fit into the story Bendis is telling and building up since the start. In term of ideas, this is a winner.

What’s also pretty strong is the characterization, as Bendis sure knows how to play teenage drama as he write the young Cyclops, Beast and Jean Grey being unsure about the whole deal and being generally rebellious. Many of the interactions manage to mesh together exposition with entertainment, making sure the readers aren’t being bombarded with information. The traditional Bendis dialogue is here, yet it does not lessen some of the impact between the interactions at all, which well done.