All New X-men #27 – Review

by Brian Michael Bendis (Writer), Stuart Immonen (Artist), Wade Von Grawbadger (Inker), Marte Gracia (Colorist).

The Story: The Children of Mystique from the future cause havoc for the X-men in the present.

The Review: There is a lot of misdirection occurring in this current arc of All-New X-men as the Brotherhood of the future return to plague the X-men, including the members who apparently died during the Battle of the Atom storyline. With telepathic trickery and a shape-shifter loose in the New Xavier school its hard to tell exactly if what is presented is what is actually happening at any given time. This creates a lot of uncertainty, keeping the reader on their back foot and achieving a sense of claustrophobic chaos and suspense which I must commend the creative team for.

With the Brotherhood returning, Bendis begins to peel back the curtain on a few of the all new creations, specifically Xavier, who we discover in this issue is not in fact the grandson of Xavier as he had been claiming. Half of his parentage is revealed explicitly while the other half is suggested strongly, however with all of the uncertainty and trickery afoot its hard to tell if what is strongly implied is indeed fact. I’m sure readers will be desperate to see the events that led up to Xavier’s conception as it is a pairing that seems both obvious but also impossible at the same time, How and when this coupling happened is of great significance not just to Xavier but to readers and the X-men as a whole.

The marriage of the casts of All-New X-men and Uncanny X-men has been working really well in this book lately, it’s nice to see the events from both books reflected and referenced in both as its reminiscent of the Claremont era when New Mutants and Uncanny would interact closely. It’s a small thing but it really does help to make this universe feel a little more real and special. Something incredibly important occurs with Triage in this issue that will no doubt come back into play down the line in Uncanny as his power set is expanded and explored.

Uncanny X-Men #17 – Review

By: Brian Michael Bendis (writer), Chris Bachalo (pencils & colors), Tim Townsend w/ Al Vey & Jaime Mendoza (inks)

The Story: The newest X-Men battle chickasaurs, carrot people, Shelob, and S.H.I.E.L.D. while simultaneously acting in the greatest Verizon commercial never made.

The Review: In the past few months Uncanny X-Men has become a home for some of the best one-in-done stories in modern comics. After a look at the women of the New Xavier School and a spotlight on Magneto, Brian Michael Bendis gives us a, debatably, more traditional team story.

Another interesting trait of this title is Scott Summers’ emerging habit of putting his students in life threatening danger for training. While the issue hints that Magik is keeping an eye on them, it’s certainly in keeping with his mutant revolutionary status and differentiates his teaching style from Wolverine’s. Indeed, rather than retread classic X-Men ground and send his squad to the Savage Land, Bendis explores a newer locale. In the end the actual difference is pretty limited, but it’s an apt metaphor for what’s going on here.

This is the first issue of Uncanny X-Men where the teaching staff is largely absent. For the first, and the long overdue, time the success or failure of this issue rests entirely on the New Xavier’s students and, fun as a book about Scott, Emma, and Ilyanna can be, these kids are entirely up to the task. Likewise, while we all love a good Savage Land story now and again, Tabula Rasa presents a feeling of mystery and possibility.

X-Men: Battle of the Atom #1 – Review

by Brian Michael Bendis (writer), Frank Cho & Stuart Immonen, Marte Gracia (colors),  Frank Cho & Wade von Grawbadger (inks)

The Story: Yeah, yeah, it’s the start of a big event, there’s a big Sentinel battle, the fabric of time and space are unraveling, that’s all great. But deep down, you know the real reason to buy this comic: the X-Men fight Catholic dracosaurs!

The Review: Brian Michael Bendis is often at his best when his stories compel him to keep things moving. In such instances, he often finds ways to breathe essential character into otherwise mindless fight scenes and compress his well-loved writing style into a couple of choice words.

Luckily for us, X-Men: Battle of the Atom #1 is one of those stories.

Anyone worried about a slow start to this event have nothing to worry about. Though a couple of pages at the beginning serve as a cold open of sorts, after that and the recap page it only takes two more to move the original X-Men from a charming scene in the Jean Grey School to an all out battle in Phoenix, Arizona.

Something of the lighting-in-a-bottle energy that ushered in All-New X-Men is back this week. The youth and exuberance of the original X-Men is on display and finds a strong counterpoint in the skilled Professor Pryde, once the very face of youth and exuberance, herself. Whether that takes the form of their lunchroom interactions or their battle banter, the five of them just feel like a well-established team.

In fact, the issue acts as a fine sampler of what Bendis’ X-titles are capable of, complete with a helpful logo to let you know which pages belong in Uncanny X-Men. The interaction between teams seems primed to be a major focus of this event, so it’s nice to see how well Bendis illustrates the dynamics between the two mutant schools. Bendis really sells the complex feeling of falling into old patterns with friends you’ve grown apart from. It’s less the X-Men and Brotherhood and more the New Mutants and Hellions.