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Posted January 21, 2013 by Mikael Angelo Francisco in Comics
 
 

COMIC BOOK REVIEW: All-New X-Men #6

Writer: Brian Michael Bendis
Artist:
David Marquez

Last week was officially “Damn, it sucks to be Wolverine” week. Not only did he get thrown into the Savage Land with no idea as to how he got there (in Savage Wolverine #1), he also got his head kicked in by the Superior Spider-Man (in Avenging Spider-Man #16), AND had a taste of his own medicine courtesy of Young Cyclops here in All-New X-Men.

In a moment straight out of the X-Men movies, Young Cyclops (Youngclops from this point on – heh, Youngclops sounds ridiculous, and I love it. Try saying it out loud real fast. Youngclopsyoungclopsyoungclops) steals Logan’s hog and jacket, and demonstrates exactly how formidable he was as a teenager when he takes on the clawed Canadian.

The focus of this issue, however, is the time-displaced Jean Grey, and how Kitty Pride helps her through the trauma induced by both the knowledge of her future and the premature emergence of her telepathic powers. Bendis writes a touching and quiet issue here with just the right amount of action to keep you engaged. The strength of Bendis’s writing really lies in the way the characters interact with each other, and I’m glad to say that in this issue, somehow Bendis has managed to give each X-person their own identity (meaning, they don’t all sound like the same person anymore). The sequence where Jean Grey accidentally hears pretty much the entire school at once is a nice touch – Bendis even managed to sneak in a “Cyclops was right” thought bubble in there (most likely Quentin Quire’s). Teen Angel also gets to meet (and fly with) our Warren, and it’s a nice touch to show that Warren Worthington’s innocence does come full circle, after all, even after all that nasty Archangel/Horseman of Apocalypse/X-Force business.

We also get a new artist here in the form of David Marquez, who does a decent job of filling in for regular series artist Stuart Immonen. His style is different enough from Immonen’s to be noticeable, yet not too dissimilar for anyone to want to make a fuss about it. It looks like he can handle the different demands of Bendis’s script just as well as Immonen, too – one thing he does really well is imbuing the characters with facial expressions that allow them to become more distinct and help sell the idea that, for example, two Angels from different points in his career are talking to one another.

Timeline problems about the series notwithstanding, everything begins to be more enjoyable and less of a headache to read when you stop thinking about the inconsistencies that the very premise presents. We ARE six issues in, after all, and by now anyone should have had sufficient time to drop this book or disregard the time-travel problems and just enjoy it for what it is – a fun-filled, action-packed romp through the adventures of X-Men past and present.

VERDICT: 4/5

It’s a relatively quiet issue, setting up the next storyline with the introduction of Mystique into the mix. Can’t wait to see how that plays out. All-New X-Men remains consistent in quality, and the change in artists doesn’t affect the book negatively in any way. I’m looking forward to reading the next issue.

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Mikael Angelo Francisco