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Posted December 25, 2012 by Mikael Angelo Francisco in Comics
 
 

COMIC BOOK REVIEW: All-New X-Men #4

Writer: Brian Michael Bendis
Artist: Stuart Immonen

It’s Cyclops vs. Cyclops in the fourth issue of All-New X-Men. The confrontation we’ve been waiting for finally happens, lovingly and wonderfully illustrated by Stuart Immonen, and while it’s a lot shorter than expected, it does set the stage for a bigger face-off in the future.

Both sides are shocked to see the other, and Bendis delivers the high stakes and powerful emotions through present Cyclops’s thoughts (unintentionally transmitted to a Jean Grey who just found out that she could read minds). Bendis is a master at exposition, and pretty much nails the characterization for most of the characters. I was expecting this book to read like New Avengers with more mutants, and I’m glad that I was wrong.

At this point, there’s really nothing I can say to praise Stuart Immonen’s art more than I already have during the past few issues of this title. He really brought his A-game here, and his slick, clean penciling style really works well with energetic scenes. His depictions of Cyclops’s power outbursts, the characters’ facial expressions, and the accidental manifestation of Jean Grey’s more powerful telekinesis really make this book a visual treat.

Unfortunately, the new mutants introduced by Bendis seem to have no unique personalities yet, four issues in – the pacing here is as slow as a typical Bendis book, and I’m expecting everything to be a bit clearer at around issue six or something. The book ends on a cliffhanger which I’m pretty sure will be resolved or explained away as a false alarm.

VERDICT: 4/5

The book continues to showcase Stuart Immonen’s strong art, set against Bendis’s usual talking heads jibber-jabber. It makes me want to read the old issues of Ultimate Spider-Man or New Avengers with Bendis and Immonen just to see how  this book holds up against their older collaborations.

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Mikael Angelo Francisco