Writer: Brian Michael Bendis
Artist: Stuart Immonen
Inker/Colorist: Wade Von Grawbadger/Marte Gracia
The young X-Men’s journey to space changed the dynamic of the team forever. Young Scott found his thought to be dead father and decides to go to space with him. Jean ended up saving everyone else with her new found power. Now as the team tries to recover from the loss of Cyclops, can they come together and find their purpose being in the present time or will they keep falling apart in a timeline they do not belong in.
The Ups: Picking up right where the ‘Trial of Jean Grey’ left off, Bendis once again brings the emotional and yet impressively awkward story that is ‘All-New X-Men’. This issue dealt mostly with Jean and present day Scott as they discuss coming to terms with the crimes her future self committed and the monster she is destined to become. What I enjoyed is that you can feel the awkwardness during the conversation between the two as if Bendis has gone through a situation like this before. Bendis writes this in such a believable fashion you can’t help but feel compassion and weirdness of the conversation. The rest of the team kind of falls to the background with only Angel and X-23 having some dialogue, as we get a glimpse of how they are both is suffering from the loss of Cyclops. This is a very heavy dialogue issue building up the story for the upcoming arc, in which Bendis skillful knows how to keep you interested. As per usual, Immonen, Grawbadger and Gracia bring their over the top artwork to the issue. They all did a great job bringing life to the emotions and awkwardness in the conversation scenes between Scott and Jean. The entire scene takes place in a dark room but Gracia shades everything to make the emotion of the conversation even more dramatic. This all goes to show you that there isn’t always a need for bright lights and amazing backgrounds to tell a strong story.
The Downs: Outside of the story between Jean and Scott, I was a little disappointed to see X-23 simply throw a tantrum this issue. This would have been a good time for her to shine as well. I believe Bendis missed a good opportunity to slowly start evolving the character as he has done with the rest of the young X-Men.
Overall: A story heavy issue with a lot of heart and good character developments w The ending shows a pretty sweet surprise leading into the next arc and I can imagine what new crazy twist Bendis has in store for us next!
Grade 4 of 5
ComicsRefueled 