These mutants just can’t stay away from time travel, and soon find themselves under attack from a familiar looking enemy, in “All New X-Men” #28.
Written by Brian Michael Bendis
Illustrated by Stuart ImmonenThe future Brotherhood of Evil Mutants make their next devastating step against the sanctity of the X-Men. Plus, more on the new mysteries surrounding Jean Grey!
The X-Men love time travel the way Keith Richards circa-1972 loved cocaine. It’s exciting, often leads to dark places, and they just can’t seem to stay away from it. Ever since the classic ‘Days Of Future Past’ storyline (now playing at a theatre near you!) popped the temporal bubble, time travel has become a mainstay of the X-verse. Recent events like the ‘Battle of the Atom’ and even the entire existence of “All New X-Men” hinges on these mutants inability to stay in their own timeline, and instead they jump around like Hugh Jackman at the Tony’s (google it). Brian Michael Bendis and Stuart Immonen are two of the premiere creators at Marvel, but they set up a tough challenge to make another story with time travel seem non-repetitive.
The All New X-Men have just returned from an outer space adventure with a synergentastic crossover with the “Guardians of a Galaxy”, and it takes about six hours for their headquarters to come under attack. Rather than pick up from the previous cliffhanger, this issue leaps years into the future to find an older, more animal-like Beast obsessively scratching away on and endlessly growing series of blackboards. He is interrupted by the arrival of two new characters in the X-verse: Raze, the blue-skinned and clawed future son of Wolverine and Mystique, and Charles Xavier II, who has inherited his father’s psychic abilities and hair line. They are there to forcibly recruit Beast to aid in their plot to travel back in time and destroy the X-Men, without Marty McFly-ing themselves out of existence of course. Soon they appear in the present and launch an attack on the teenaged X-Men and their allies, but they face the unexpected challenge of Jean Grey’s newly improved powers.
Brian Michael Bendis knows how to plant a story thread that will just grow for months. Back in “All New X-Men” #22, a scene featured Beast mapping the fractured and crisscrossing timeline of the Marvel U on a single blackboard, while six issues later it becomes apparent that this was the start of his obsession with time travel. The fact that Bendis planted this event so early on has a real unifying effect on the series, like there’s a plan for the title. Beast has been a long time fan favorite, a gentle soul with a monster’s visage, so having Xavier and Raze mentally torture him is a very effective way to set up your villains. Xavier using his powers to restore just enough of Beast’s sanity so that he is aware of their evil intentions but being powerless to stop them is particularly heart-wrenching, and allows Bendis to show the characters’ unique forms of cruelty. Bendis’ knack for snappy dialogue has found the perfect vessel in Raze, who has clearly inherited his father’s power for sarcasm.
This issue feels a bit unique, as the X-Men themselves don’t even appear until the halfway point. Instead the bulk of the book is made up of exposition developing the future world of Xavier and Raze, while hinting at the X-Men’s involvement in this dark turn of events. It’s a credit to Bendis’ vast experience that this doesn’t come across as a boring information dump, but instead using future calamities as motivating experiences for the characters feels much more natural. Things do get just a tad confusing when Xavier confronts the X-Men, and everything becomes a mix of flash forward and mind-projected psychic showdown, but anyone who’s peeked at a Grant Morrison comic should be able to figure it out. And the bit where Xavier and Raze get a letter from their future-past selves is pure genius on the part of Bendis.
Stuart Immonen produces high quality art at a fast and remarkably consistent rate, and this issue might just be the best yet. The opening sequence with future-Beast and his lab is amazing, and the enormous growing blackboard is a continuity nerd’s dream. Seriously, Immonen has crammed so many easter eggs into this image that it is guaranteed to put a smile on the face of any Marvel fan. Beast’s future evolution into more animal-like state looks much more natural than in other depictions. The horns on Beast’s head make him look strangely dignified, and there are close-up images of the character reacting to Xavier’s plan that are solemn and evocative.
There has been many a dystopian future depicted in the X-Men comics, so Immonen wisely keeps the big war scene down one double page spread. It’s enough to get a very impressive look at an action pact mutant fight, but not enough to feel like a retread of past storylines. Once the issue leaps to the present, the look becomes a bit more stylized, fitting a psychic showdown. Colorist Marte Gracia makes the art stand out by covering entire pages in light blue or a harsh red, expertly manipulating the tone. Immonen handles the big cast of characters very well, with no obvious discrepancies between panels and the action whirls around the pages. The last page is a destined to be an awesome poster, and really cranks up the excitement for the next installment.
Final Verdict: 8.5 – Buy. Yes, it’s another X-Men time travel story, but it’s shaping up to be a good one.
