I have grown tired of time travel stories. I also have not been impressed with Bendis’s previous efforts on team books. As you can imagine, I was incredibly skeptical when “All-New X-Men” was announced… and now it is one of the few Marvel NOW! books that I am reading, and perhaps the one I enjoy most. Funny how that happens sometimes.
Also, Marvel is playing Two Truths and a Lie in those solicits, but that’s typical.
Written by Brian Michael Bendis
Illustrated by Stuart Immonen• The Original Five X-Men get new costumes!
• Series main-artist Stuart Immonen returns!
• Mystique makes her big move.
It’s funny — the thing that Brian Michael Bendis is most heavily criticized for in some issues is also what he is most praised for in others. We are talking, of course, about his dialogue, and this issue leans more toward the former. The problem with Bendis’s sometimes overly Mametian dialogue is that without the actual voices sounding in our ear, the characters can end up sounding like a single person saying the same thing over and over again. When Bendis avoids the “You hit him?” “I hit him.” “In the face?” “I hit him in the face.” that fans sometimes deride him for, though, he’s a true master at communicating character through dialogue. The main cast is no less than seven characters — the “all-new” team themselves, Kitty, and present-day Beast — and the supporting cast is massive, and yet Bendis has no difficulty in making the characters sound distinct. This is especially impressive when you consider the complications presented by having past and present versions of the same character in a single book; as a writer, Bendis has to get accross the very difficult impression that character A and character B are the same person, only at different points in their life. It leaves room for only a small margin of error, and yet Bendis hits it right on the dot, especially with Scott and Hank. As often happens, a lot of the conflict in this issue is dialogue-driven, and shows us some interesting sides of the characters involved: a Scott who doesn’t know which way to turn, a Jean who is determined to right wrongs, and a Kitty who has developed from the child that Claremont and Byrne introduced into an incredibly strong, wise woman (though not without her playful side). This is Bendis in his element, and a strong example of the theory that execution can trump concept.
That being said, this issue is almost all character. Readers who have been following writers for a while are used to issues like this one: they follow up the threads from the previous issue, set up the next one, and perhaps end with cliffhanger (three for three, there), but nothing really… happens. I hate saying that, because it is only a step away from those who dismiss perfectly good comics because they aren’t “important,” but that is sometimes the impression one gets. Now, it isn’t so bad in this case: between the “Sentinel attack” at the beginning and the jailbreak of a certain foe, there is enough action going on to entertain the reader until next month (or is it next week with this book’s wonky schedule), but it still seems like something to hold you over until things hit the fan next issue. It’s a common problem in modern day, arc-based serialized storytelling: you want the comic to work well both as part of a whole, but you also want it to work as an individual issue. Sometimes, you can’t have both. This one doesn’t fail in the first regard, but it most certainly will read better in trade, unlike previous issues of this series. When you’re paying four bucks a pop for an issue, and when you’re not at all sure you’re going to be getting this at a monthly rate, it’s hard to not let issues like this one influence you to switch to trade-waiting.
Stuart Immonen returns to interiors with this issue, and he returns with a bang. As always, his sequential storytelling is clear and smooth, and his facial expression is refined and readable — very important when paired with a writer like Bendis, who hinges on character-driven storytelling. Let’s focus on something in particular, though: the opening scene includes a marvelous double-page spread that serves a reminder of what sets Immonen apart from many other popular mainstream artists. This massive panel could have been approached from many angles, a good amount of which would have been much easier — perhaps a view with the young team in the foreground, looking up at the approaching Sentinels, with two conveniently placed buildings blocking out the rest of the cityscape. Given Marvel’s drive to print comics at an alarming rate, you could understand someone taking the easy way out. Immonen instead chooses the more difficult view, essentially the opposite of our hypothetical angle from earlier: we view the team from above, as the Sentinels descend upon them. This view essentially creates more work for the artist — significantly more of the cityscape is visible, and as it is a double-page spread, where lazy technique is significantly more easily detected, Immonen has to give it his all. Which, being Stuart Immonen, he does. It’s an astonishingly well-composed page, and a strong one to make a return with; more importantly, though, it displays Immonen’s dedication to getting the job done right, rather than quickly and easily (though he certainly does crank out these pages).
Continued belowPersonally, I would have preferred if Marvel had capitalized on that steady, unshakable pace Immonen is known for and let this book be one of the few titles with a consistent creative team, but I suppose of the wanted to put the book out on nearly a weekly rate in its first month, that’s their choice.
“All-New X-Men” may have made fans’ eyes roll when it was first announced, but as it has gone on it has shown itself to be one of the best of the Marvel NOW! titles currently being published. This issue is another well-done read, but doesn’t quite stand out from any of the ones before it, and will almost certainly be overshadowed by what is to come. Still, those who have been reading the book should be satisfied with the return of the always brilliant Stuart Immonen, and excited for what Brian Michael Bendis has to come. Fans who are interested in jumping on board in only the span of a few issues, though, might be better served by reading the three issues of “Uncanny X-Men” out so far and picking up the next issue instead.
Final Verdict: 7.9 – I can understand skipping it, but don’t you dare miss the trade!
