All-New X-Men #2
Written by Brian Michael Bendis
Art by David Marquez and Marte Garcia
The short of it:
Scott Summers needed to get out for a bit after finding out that he just got brought to a future where he’s public enemy number one, and so he made the bright idea of heading to Manhattan. Not only that, but his destination is a bank! Cameras! Armed guards! Silent alarms! A cute girl behind the desk that loves mutants! The helps a lot, as he needs to get access to a safe deposit box, and he didn’t bring his wallet with him when he made the trip across decades. It’s all worth it though, as for the first time since leaving his own time period, Scott has something to wear other than his visor. Well, except for last issue when he was wearing a more modern version. Anyway, money, passports, ominous card, and more; Scott gets to look through what his life would become.
And then Wolverine shows up to save him from security guards and cops. By using his words, because, you know, Wolverine is that kind of a guy…ah, who am I kidding, it’s spoiled on the cover, it’s Mystique. So what does Raven want from the teenage Scott? Why, to be sneaky, of course, what does she always want? She uses him to find out how and why they are there, to paint herself as someone Xavier trusted, and gives him a veritable shove in the right direction to become his classic older self. Mystique tips the dominos over before she leaves, setting up Scott to potentially explode at the school in an inevitable blowup with Wolverine.
She calls it a day and leaves, Wolverine comes to collect the young X-Men leader, brings him back to the school and promptly swears himself done with the kids. Scott gives Jean something he found in the safety deposit box, and leaves before she can register the reality of their future.
That they were husband and wife.
What I liked:
- I remain pleasantly surprised every issue to see just how well Bendis handles the characters of the X-Universe. I keep waiting for and looking for Bendisisms, and they keep not showing up. He’s handling a large properly defined cast, and he mixes in new characters with ease. On top of that, he does it well. He didn’t just toss in Mystique to put name value on an encounter that could have gone with anyone, he crafted a rhyme and reason for Mystique to be there in a spot nobody else would work for.
- Scott’s safety deposit box is brilliant, even if I do have trouble believing that any location in New York hasn’t been destroyed recently enough to make the trip pointless. The fact that he has one makes perfect sense, as do the things he keeps in it. Especially when you take into account that the Mansion gets blown up more than New York.
- When ‘Wolverine’ shows up and pulls out the Avengers ID card, that was another bit of brilliance. In the Marvel Universe it really does seem possible to have a card capable of making you above the law because Captain America said so.
- David Marquez keeps up the good work this issue. Scott looks eighteen, his glasses look incredibly retro, and I can’t even describe how much fun he has with Mystique. The various different forms, the on panel transitions, there’s a lot of detail put in. Even the look in Jean’s eyes on the last page. He remains the perfect choice for a backup to Stuart Immonen.
- Kitty vs Iceboy.
- The scene with the wedding invitation was handled perfectly. There didn’t need to be words.
What I didn’t like:
- There’s time actually devoted to putting over how Scott is finally getting a pair of sunglasses to give him a break from his visor. When he decided to come out to the city on Wolverine’s motorcycle, it was in a pair of red sunglasses, and after walking around the school in the same red sunglasses. That was last issue. Where are they?
- Wolverine didn’t smell Mystique, or that there was some smell that didn’t seem right, or bother to question Cyclops on why he’s so far from the bank and the bike is nowhere to be found? And this guy is a headmaster of a school?
- The public perception of Scott is weird, he’s supposedly public enemy number one, but he’s also on the cover of Rolling Stone, and people think he’s being made a martyr by the government? This needs exploring, because with how Marvel has been selling Scott I can’t really understand someone who hasn’t been assaulted by troops siding with him.
- Scott puts on a jacket and hat, doesn’t close the jacket, and walks around in an obvious X-Men uniform in Manhattan. Something he would not have done in his own time. Just seems weird.
Final thoughts:
I have to imagine the glasses was an artist thing, and that Bendis had intended for Scott to be stuck in the visor until this issue. And that nobody realized that Marquez gave them to Scott an issue early.
So Kitty steps down as headmistress to help the Young X-Men, giving the job to Storm. Wolverine can’t deal with them because he hates Scott way too much, so he makes them Storm’s problem. If they are Storm’s problem and Kitty’s problem, then why the hell did Kitty have to step down?
Where was this kind of writing when Bendis was on Avengers?
Not enough Angel. In that there was absolutely no Angel.
Bendis writes an awesome Mystique, I was pleasantly surprised. I figured going in she was just manipulating Scott, and by the end she had admitted as much to a shady mystery figure, but I’ll be damned if I didn’t start thinking she was serious at times. Well, the times where her feud with Wolverine wasn’t painfully obvious. Her view of Cyclops and his personality was flawless, in that he decides what must be done and does anything in his power to make it happen. Damned be the consequences.
I am still blown away that this is my favorite Marvel NOW! book. I may love the X-Men, but I had low expectations coming in just due to my personal thoughts on Bendis. I expected more of the same from what he did on Avengers, not the best mainstream Marvel he’s ever produced.
Overall: 9/10
