All-New X-Men #6
Written by Brian Michael Bendis
Art by David Marquez and Marte Garcia
The short of it:
Young telepaths have violent nightmares, and telekinetics have violent wake ups after a nightmare. It’s a shame Jean Grey is both, and that powers she didn’t know she had are filling her mind with so many voices with seemingly no filter. Thankfully she isn’t alone, and Kitty Pryde is there to support her. Meanwhile, teenaged leader of the X-Men Scott Summers is now a pariah in a school full of mutants that know him as public enemy number one…but at least they aren’t trying to execute him, right? It’s fine, he just needs some air….maybe some Wolverine. Kitty helps Jean get her powers under wraps with mantras taught to her by old Jean in the far off future, and Jean briefly gets to meet Storm…
But then people realize Cyclops is gone. And Wolverine went after him. Scott goes into town and is struck by the changes. From the fancy cars, to cell phones, to bottled water, and how about the cost of magazines? Especially ones with his face on them! Scott’s furious that he’s being treated like he’s modern ‘evil’ Scott, and Logan just wants the kids to go home. Unfortunately, Logan is still a dick who can claim to understand Scott’s issue, but has no interest in giving a damn. And Scott? Well, this young version has a bit of a rebellious streak in him, and while Wolverine won’t admit it…they may be able to be friends! Or, you know, not.
And finally, ANGEL MEETS ANGEL!
And bad guys, but they are a story for a future issue.
What I liked:
- Bendis writes the best Kitty Pryde since Joss Whedon. I mean, sure, there haven’t been a ton to write her in the meantime (she was mute for a good chunk, if not at all of, Frac’s Uncanny X-Men), but she’s a rockstar here. She has been fun as the Headmistress in Wolverine and the X-Men, but the full on mentor role she take works perfectly. Then again, she had some amazing teachers.
- Scott’s reaction to the modern world was great; especially bottled water. Bendis nailed the fish out of water moment perfectly.
- Angel and Angel is absolutely perfect and I can’t wait to see it expanded on. Warren has been sitting in the background thus far, and the post-Dark Angel Saga Warren hadn’t appeared. I was wondering how Bendis would go about handling Warren’s discovery that for as bad as everyone else’s lives get (Jean dying twice, Scott being a supervillain, Beast mutating himself) none of them had their wings amputated, replaced by Apocalypse, BECAME Apocalypse, and now are total tabula rasa. Now, we haven’t seen any of that played into yet, but the meeting bears get promise. Especially since modern Warren doesn’t know any of the answers.
- David Marquez steps in to provide art for this issue (and I presume this entire arc), and you know how great of a job he did? I could tell he wasn’t Stuart Immonen (I didn’t even check the cover, I got two pages deep and knew it was someone else), but I didn’t mind. The book looks fantastic, and after a single issue, if Marvel can lock down this book at rotating between Immonen and Marquez (something I doubt Marvel will do), then you have two artists who are top notch and actually flow well. Usually when you see an art change there’s a jarring shift in style, but these two go great together. Then again, maybe I’m just biased, I want to see more of this art but I don’t want to read Ultimate Spider-Man.
What I didn’t like:
- For as amusing as Scott in the present is…WHEN THE HELL ARE THEY FROM?!?!?! You want to say it’s been ten years? Well, ten years ago I had a cellphone. And bottled water. And quit buying Wizard because it was five bucks an issue.
- Jean being shoehorned into the role of leader of the Young X-Men is a bit obnoxious. At this point in time she’s not the Jean Grey we all think of when the name is mentioned, she’s a shy little girl who isn’t supposed to have telepathy or alpha levels of telekinesis. Instead I’m reading a teenage version of Phoenix.
- Alright, Angel got some love, now how about Iceman? Beast got plenty, I want to see Bobby and Bobby!
Final thoughts:
When I started reading the issue and we came across Jean’s dream sequence, I was stoked at the idea of it possibly happening. I think that’s one of the things I most enjoy here, I have NO idea what direction this book is going to go in. So much of what Marvel, and really, Bendis, has done over the last several years has been paint by numbers. Being kept guessing is a very welcome change.
Scott steals the bike, Logan goes after him in the jeep….I feel like I’ve seen that moment from the other perspective before. Teenage Scott has potential to be great if they can keep him from getting too emo.
Jean’s overload of mind reading, little tally. “Has anyone seen Angel?” pops up in all four panels. Emma gets a few mentions as well, making me wonder what Jean’s range is. Highlights? “Taco Bell isn’t even food!” and “But who cares about Maggott?”
Storm certainly existed in this issue.
I also want to know why Wolverine has so much money in his pocket.
Professor Kitty has serious potential, though I have no idea why she would be the former Headmistress just because the Young X-Men are there. Does this mean that the actual enrolled student body isn’t as important? Who is in charge? Rachel? Storm? Doop?
Overall: 9/10
