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.

X-Men: Battle of the Atom #2 – Review

By:  Jason Aaron; Brian Wood; and Brian Michael Bendis (writers), Esad Ribic; Giuseppe Camuncoli; Kristopher Anka; Chris Bachalo (pencils), Andrew Currie; Tom Palmer; Mark Irwin; Victor Olazaba; and Wade von Grawbadger (finishes), Ive Svorcina; Andres Mossa; Guru eFX; and Matt Milla (colors)

The Story: Fifty years ago, Professor Xavier assembled a team of young mutants, the original X-Men, to protect the world from evil mutants. Today, Xavier has assembled a team of young mutants to eliminate the original X-Men and protect evil mutants from the world. Happy anniversary, guys; hope you survive the experience.

The Review: At long last “Battle for the Atom” has come to a close. Can you believe that this event only started two months ago? At times it seems like it’s always been here.

When I opened this issue, I was surprised to see Jason Aaron’s name on the credits page. Brian Michael Bendis does manage to get the last word, but it’s Aaron who handles most of the heavy lifting. Bendis hasn’t shown his best self on this event, but Aaron was behind the rather abysmal last installment in Wolverine and the X-Men #37. Many of the flaws present in that chapter reappear here, but stronger plotting and more valuable subject matter allow this issue to escape the sins of its predecessor.

Though justifying the sheer amount of time and energy this story has subverted would require a pretty astonishing ending, taken on its own merits, X-Men: Battle of the Atom #2 is a strong issue that closes the book on one tale while writing the first lines of several others.

Uncanny X-Men #515 – Review

by Matt Fraction (writer), Greg Land (pencils), Justin Ponsor (colors) and Joe Caramagna (letters)

The Story: Cyclops struggles to deal with the day-to-day running of Nation X and tensions form between its leaders.

What’s Good: While it’s not always the most exciting thing to read, I do like it when comics focus on the logistics or common sense difficulties.  That Fraction actually has Cyclops grapple with the physical problems of establishing Utopia, explaining how the place gets its water and electricity and, hopefully, its food and medical supplies, is very much appreciated, as this is the sort of thing that could have easily been glossed over.  I honestly feel that paying heed to little issues like this ultimately make for a smarter comic.

There’s even a couple of alternately touching and interesting scenes involving what to do with the dead and the imprisoned; with the latter bringing back a Whedon-created character in a bit of a surprise, and the former working well through an odd balance between the touching and the pragmatic.

Much of this issue is spent on characterization through a series of conversations, all of which are fairly strong and do a good job of establishing roles for the characters in the story arc to come.  The dialogue felt intelligent, necessary, and logical.   Scott discussing his own weaknesses and vulnerability felt human and true to the character.  Emma revealing what the sliver of the Void is doing to her personality was also quite intriguing and very promising story-wise.

All in all, when this comic focuses on dialogue, it’s actually pretty good.  This issue makes for engaging character moments, new tensions, and interesting interpersonal dynamics.

What’s Not So Good: Greg Land.  While this isn’t the greatest catastrophe he’s ever drawn (thanks mostly to Fraction having most of the issue spent in quiet dialogue between level-headed characters), it’s still bad.  While it’s not his worst, Land’s trademarks are all here.  Static poses remain, as do Land’s poorly plotted action scenes.  There’s a frame early in the book depicting a kung-fu speedster that I still don’t understand.  The action scene, while again, not his worst, is more of a collection of single images than a flow.

Then there’s the old Land problem with faces.  As always, the man just can’t handle it whenever a character, particularly if female, has a strong emotion.  For instance, an exasperated Sinclair clutching her head ends up looking like a woman in pure sexual bliss tossing her hair back in Herbal Essences-fueled ecstasy. Whenever a character has a reason to dramatically change facial expression, Land misses the mark by a mile.

He’s also, dare I say, slacking off.   A lot of times, I noticed blank slates of color where a little more detail or shading could’ve been used.  For example, many of the female faces seem to have freakishly high cheekbones due to their faces essentially being two slabs of peach color.  A smiling Psylocke also has none of her teeth distinguished.  Land cuts corners on the little things detail-wise and hopes we won’t notice if he slaps on enough gloss.

Writing-wise, I’m still not digging Fraction’s Xavier, whose voice sounds too young and hip.  Also, though this issue does what needs to be done, this also leads to its being  pretty much all set-up, with an out-of-nowhere cliffhanger.

Conclusion: A fairly good issue with Greg Land drawing it.

Grade: B –

-Alex Evans

X-Men: Legacy #210 – Review

Mike Carey (Writer), Scot Eaton, Greg land (Penciler), John Dell, Andrew Hennessy, Jay Leisten (Inkers), Brian Reber and Frank D’Armata (Colorist)

First off, I must mention that I have only recently returned to reading X-Men comics after the Messiah Complex drew me back in. I mention this because it surprises me how much I have enjoyed the X-Men: Legacy story even though it is heavily steeped in mutant history and seems meant more for longtime readers. I have made an effort to catch up with said history that I have missed, but I can’t help but feel that Legacy wasn’t really written for people like me. With that said, however, I have to say that I am quite impressed with the story that has been told so far and this latest issue ensures that I will be keeping this series on my reading list for quite some time.

X-Men: Legacy #210 picks up right where the last issue left off – with Magneto and Omega Sentinel looking on as Exodus and Xavier square off on the psychic plane with Xavier’s mind, and sanity, on the line. As with previous issues, the story is told through three different types of sequences: The present situation involving the Acolytes, Magneto, Omega Sentinel, Exodus, and Xavier, the Mindscape situation involving the mental battle between Exodus and Xavier, and the flashback sequences that are being manipulated by Exodus in an attempt to break Xavier’s resolve. All three sequences are visually gripping in their own way. The choice to use a different art team for the flashback sequences continues to keep the book fresh while adding a distinctiveness of its own. Both art teams do an excellent job all around.

Mike Carey’s writing continues to do a fine job of conveying just how incredibly respected Professor Xavier is as both a powerful mutant and a leading figure within the shattered mutant community. Magneto, Exodus, and the rest of the Acolytes clearly look up to the mentally shattered Xavier and the dialogue that takes place between the characters and Xavier elegantly shows just how complex their relationships have become. The gravity of Xavier’s situation could easily come across as overly dramatic or even hokey, especially when considering how all the characters are intertwined, but Carey deftly handles the dialogue well enough that the book never seems to lose its way.

While both the art and most of the writing score high marks with me, I have some issues with the overall storytelling. To put it bluntly, not a whole lot happens as far as moving things forward. I like where it leaves off Xavier’s tale, but the small teaser of things (and characters), to come feels almost entirely disconnected from everything else. Another issue I have to mention is the appearance of Emma Frost and Cyclops that really doesn’t seem to fit into current continuity in any reasonable way – especially when considering that up until this point no one gave much thought to Xavier disappearing at the end of Messiah Complex. It could be a sign of things to come, but it still felt somewhat tacked on.

Overall, I really enjoyed this issue of X-Men: Legacy despite the few storytelling kinks. I really like Carey’s portrayal of the characters and the different sequences feature some strong artwork that keeps me hooked even if it’s regarding some X-Men history I have yet to catch up on. (Grade: B)

-Kyle Posluszny