All-New X-Men #15
Nice of Marvel to give me a light week this time round.
Volume 3 of the All-New X-Men collections covers issues #11-15, but this is a self-contained issue filling the gap before we get to “Battle of the Atom” next month. That provides an opportunity for a guest artist – David Lafuente, an ideal choice for Bendis’ stories. Not only is his work nice to look at, but he’s a cartoonist who does wonderfully expressive characters. His people can act, in short, which is what you need to give these scenes the depth and heart required for them to work.
And this is a pretty good issue, even if it does bring up some of my regular criticisms about this series allowing its characters to remain extraordinarily and improbably ignorant of things somebody would surely have mentioned by now. So issue #15 – yes, #15 – opens with Rachel Grey returning to the school after an evidently extended absence, attributed solely to her “being a good old-fashioned superhero”, and finally bumping into Jean Grey. Since Jean is her mother – kind of sort of, and depending on which version of history we’re accepting this week – that’s naturally a difficult encounter, and one that Bendis obviously has no real interest in dealing with, or else he’d have done it months ago. So instead we get the two of them crossing paths in a hallway, scanning one another telepathically, looking incredibly awkward, and moving on. It could very easily fall flat in the wrong hands, but Lafuente’s got the lightness of touch to make that exchange work without dialogue.
Mostly, though, this issue has two main threads: Scott and Bobby go to a market and end up impressing some girls, while back at the school, Jean telepathically picks up on the fact that Beast (her version) is in love with her, and makes a move on him. That, obviously, is the big plot point.
Starting with Scott and Bobby, though, they get a nice little sequence which allows their characters some room to breathe and properly sells the idea that they’re teenage versions of the characters. Bobby really hasn’t had much to do so far in this series, to the point where it rather feels as if he’s here because he came as a package deal with the concept. And in plot terms he still doesn’t have much to do. But he does have a role here as the most outgoing member of the group, and the one who helps bring Scott out of his shell. When the junior X-Men are at the school, everyone treats them as oddities and children, but out in the wider world Bobby’s the one who can comfortably wing it with real people his age. It’s Scott’s experiences here that really matter to the wider story, by reminding him that he does have options other than Jean, but you couldn’t do the scene without Bobby to start the conversation.
The Jean/Hank stuff is a bit more of a stretch. I can see what Bendis is going for, I guess. The X-Men have decided to stay in the present, supposedly to alter a history they’re appalled by, but they have no apparent plan for how they’re going to do that. We’re pretty much at the stage where the vagueness of their objective, and the total lack of any concrete proposals to achieve it, almost has to be seen as a plot point in its own right. But it makes sense that Jean would be drawn to any possibility of messing up her history. On a personal level, the idea that her life is predestined should freak her out; the adult Scott hardly seems like a great catch right now; and in terms of their supposed goals, if your aim is to change history and you haven’t got any better ideas, there might well be some attraction to just screwing up your own personal history.
On the other hand, there was pretty much nothing in the original series to suggest that Hank was in any way smitten with Jean. Admittedly, he’s the only one of the group who could be cast in this role. Early issues of the series already had Angel as a rival suitor, so he wouldn’t be a surprise. Iceman is too young for her. That just leaves Hank, who could use a story in any event. We all know this has to wind up with Scott and Jean getting together, since that’s how history turned out, but there’s something intriguing in having Jean try to escape that as her fate, as well as the looming question behind this series – what happens if they really do succeed in messing up history? Given its time-travel themes (and the broader Marvel Universe storylines of time going wrong), “Battle of the Atom” may finally advance that side of things.
The story moves forward the cast relationships quite significantly, which is unusual for a between-arcs issue such as this. And Lafuente makes it work; he sells the original X-Men as characters rather than just continuity icons, and he carries enough of the load that Bendis is frequently willing to stand back and get out of his way.
I just caught up on the second TPB last week. I’m surprised how much I’m enjoying this series, and I’m looking forward to Vol 3.
Possibly the best issue of the series so far, actually, all down to Lafuente.
well, the previous couple of all-new x-men had some plot, but they were a little underwhelming. now were back to having barely any plot at all, but at least the scenes are beautifully written (and drawn). i very much liked to lighter tone this issue.
i really wish bendis had tackled rachel/jean earlier, but the scenes we got here are cute. btw, where is nate grey these days? not that i really want to read about that character, but if hes around, maybe he should be dealt with, too. cable at least has a reason, being an outlaw (right? i dont read x-force.)
i thought jean/hank was surprisingly believable. i can totally see how hank would have kept his crush on jean a secret, feeling “outclassed” by warren and scott.
also, i vaguely recall reading somewhere that back in the early days, scott, warren and hank all were trying to impress jean, by being heroic/fancy/smart, respectively. it was a retcon, but a pretty believable one. i have no idea where i read that, though.
Is present day Beast still romantically attached to Abigail Brand?
Isn’t present-day Iceman currently freezing/destroying the world with Mystique in Astonishing X-Men?
Or is that series just completely removed from continuity at this point?
Kingerdella, I actually came across that issue coincidentally the other day. Uncanny X-Men #356. The O-Five got together in Alaska to talk about the future of the X-Men and they were talking about why Jean fell for Scott. Warren and Hank were showing off for her, Bobby saved her life from an exploding fuel truck, but she fell for Scott because he “offered her a chair” when he first met her.
Yeah, Lafuente’s art really carried this story.
They’re going to alter a history they’re appalled by, by not being present for it. I thought that was pretty obvious
All the male X-Men (with the possible exception of Bobby, who basically was making fun of Angel) pretty much hit on Jean the moment they saw her in X-Men #1. Beast even kissed her and Jean lifted him up in the air and spun him around for it. So I’d say there’s room to say there was attraction and even potentially a crush.
I don’t have a cite, but I could swear Hank’s thrown out an offhand “we were all in love with Jean” while waxing rhapsodic about the old days once or twice. Given that she was the only girl at the school and even Professor X had a thing for her, it rang plausible to me.
@kingderella: Nate joined the New Mutants; I don’t think he (or that team in general) have been heard from since their book was cancelled, so he’s probably still in San Francisco (although some of them have turned up in other books, so they may have disbanded).
@Odessasteps: Yes, Hank is still with Brand.
So, the premise of this series… Didn’t Scott Lobdell do basically the same thing in Alpha Flight volume 3? Bring the original Alphans into the present, I mean? And wasn’t that regarded as a stupid idea at the time?
@halapeno – It was a stupid idea then, and remains so now. I just can’t get behind this series on any level.
So, Bendis’ All New X-Men is better than his Avengers work?
I’m not sure if I’d say Bendis’s All New X-Men is better than his Avengers, but it’s definitely more focused and in touch. People don’t sound as out of character, either. It’s incredibly slow moving, though. I think while people generally disliked Avengers that they’re more divided about All New X-Men.
@ZZZ: i dont think anybody is left in SF by now, we certainly know that utopia has been wrecked and abandoned. technically, the new mutants team was based in sf itself and not on utopia, but i dont see why they would have stayed, with scott and utopia out of the picture. especially since team leader dani has turned up else where.
It’s better than Avengers. A lot happened in that series with great fanfare that ultimately went nowhere, like adding Storm or Daredevil to the team. His X-Men seems a lot more focussed.
It definitely works better than New Avengers. Bendis is best when he’s doing little character moments. Fight scenes, big events – these are things at which he’s never been very skilled. Bendis writing Avengers was like Michael Jordan playing minor league baseball – not what he’s good at and not what he’s known for.
The mere fact that All-New X-Men has a small, focused cast means it’s better than New Avengers was. This doesn’t mean it’s necessarily *good* – Paul’s spent plenty of time discussing the ongoing flaws – but it is less bad.
I’m actually looking forward to reading ANXM… When it’s on sale. I refuse to pay full price for a Bendis series now.
As much as I love the X-Men (and I have every issue from 94 up), the comics have been less than compelling (with few exceptions) for almost a decade. IMO Matt Fraction’s run was mediocre, and Kieron Gillen’s run was mildly interesting but short. I don’t particularly care for Mr. Bendis’ writing (haven’t for a long time)and am baffled as to why he is so highly regarded. He is not a “superhero” writer and his writing style/dialogue is for 10 year olds. That said, I gave him a chance with the X-titles. After 10 issues of All New and 5 issues of Uncanny I am done. I will no longer pay good money for what IMO are mediocre comics. At best I might wait to pick up subsequent issues when they find their way into the bargain bin. The only other Bendis title I am reading is GOTG and I quickly loosing patience with that one as well. Anyone feel the same.
I assume that Old Hank is still with Brand, which strikes me as profoundly hypocritical given how she’s just as much of an “acceptable losses” hard-case as Cyclops. Perhaps they have angry sex where she willingly endures the sublimated rage has towards Scott?
…okay, I need to wash the space between my ears out with soap now.
@ Cory but then again, in the first two issues of the original X-Men, Hank was portrayed as a loud oaf, instead of the team intellectual he became in issue 3 (the characterization that actually stuck). Since that bit of early weirdness has been forgotten, we might assume that this Young Hank never tried to show off for Young Jean, and was left to pine while Young Jean pined over Scott Summers (who pined over her, of course).
Out of curiosity, has anyone had any idea what to do with Rachel since… well… Alan Davis back on Excalibur? It seems like every time she turns up either she doesn’t do anything interesting or the creative staff doesn’t want to deal with the implications of her back story.
The thing is, the originals can’t remain in the present for all that long. They’re teenagers and they’re still aging while they remain in the present. If they return to their proper time noticeably older than they were when they left, then Marvel is going to alter their histories whether they want to or not. At some point this will have to be taken into consideration.
And where do they go with it? Either they alter history or they don’t. If they don’t, it means we get a series where the original X-Men arrive to the present, are appalled by what they see, vow to change it, but ultimately don’t. The end. Bit pointless. Alternatively, they could succeed in changing history in which case much of what everyone’s reading right now is subject to be invalidated by a history rewrite.
I dropped this series with issue #14.
The problem isn’t just that nothing actually happens in the book. I mean, they’ve met the Avengers, the Uncanny Avengers, Scott’s X-Men, the Mystique’s group already, and except for the latter, it’s all been drawn-out conversations. Nothing has happened, but that’s mostly due to there being no stated goal to anything going on other than “things suck, let’s change them.”
But no, the biggest sin of Bendis’s X-Men is that everything that happens – or doesn’t happen, as would be more accurate – is because every single character is an idiot.
Really there’s a few ways I can see this series ending. None of them particularly involve adhering to logic or delivering a sense of accomplishment or any real point whatsoever.
1) The series peters out. The characters just slip into limbo, theoretically still around just in case some writer wants to use them, but nobody does, ever. Maybe Punisher shoots them in 20 years.
2) Series peters out, but there’s a finale where they have a tearful farewell as they get mind-wiped and return to the 60s/00s. There are no ramifications whatsoever. Ages and time travel paradoxes are steadfastly not mentioned.
3) They return as above, but the end’s part of an event. So there’ll be one lasting ramification. Maybe Xavier’s alive again because he absorbed their knowledge before mindwiping them or something. Maybe Beast is a fish now. Whatever.
4) There’s a killing spree. Cyclops, Iceman, and maybe Angel take up the mantle of their deceased older selves, but minus all the years of dreadful stories and powerups. Young Beast cops it. Jean is Jean.
5) Somehow the series just goes on and on until the characters can’t be taken away. You just have to deal with the fact that there’s two Cyclopses (Cyclopes?). Maybe they go into different teams and stuff, but the characters are part of the fabric of the setting now. If anyone asks why there’s still 50 years of history even though the X-Men shouldn’t be in it, people kind of cough and mention that thing with Ultron then quickly draw a new character with even bigger boobs to distract you.
@halapeno: <>
That is what we have and will almost certainly keep anyway. Continuity is a fragile and continuously eroded thing these days. It has been so since the 1990s at least.
Sorry, I was replying to
Another result that I would advocate:
Battle of the Atom returns them all to 1963, but with their foreknowledge they prevent AvX. The last year of X-Men history is erased and we can pretend that BMB never wrote an X-Men comic.
I feel like the most logical progression of the story is for the O-Five to settle into the “present” and realize that, while horrible things have happened, significant progress has been made in mutant/human relations. They feel the X-Men’s schism is what is preventing even further progress for mutants, so they resolve to show the present team the error of their ways by reconnecting them with the ideals, hopes, and beliefs of the X-Men. After a series of adventures (spanning, let’s say, a few months in-story) and a mega event, it’s through their example the present day X-Men reunite and get their act together. Their mission a success and feel good hugs abound, the team accepts a mind-wipe and is sent back to the very moment they were taken from in the past, leaving the X-Men of the present altered for the better but the X-Men of the past untouched. Therefore, they alter the course of the future instead of the course of the past. Continuity’s in-tact, paradoxes are waved away, and the story of the time traveling O-Five has a beginning, middle, and end. Everything’s the healthier for it.
Of course, this being a logical story taken to its (albeit predictable) conclusion, it’s probably the farthest thing from what will happen.
Lets not forget that they have actually hinted that one of the O5 could actually die and that it would be interesting to see something like that.
My guess is that they will eventually return to their time and the series will continue as the young x-men book, who remember the future and try to avoid it.
But the other scenario, which i find more probable, is that their timeline got destroyed by the Age of Ultron thingy and they will stay in the present, like the above posters said
“I assume that Old Hank is still with Brand, which strikes me as profoundly hypocritical given how she’s just as much of an “acceptable losses” hard-case as Cyclops.”
@Neil Kapit: Given that his response to Cyclops’ “dangerous and irresponsible” terrorist activities (of which we’ve still seen pretty much zero to date) was to risk irrevocable damage to the time space continuum to maybe somehow perhaps teach a valuable moral lesson, I think Beast’s tolerance for hypocrisy is pretty high.
Has anyone seen what Beast is doing in New Avengers? Brand has nothing on him. Scott is due beatification by comparison.
I’m enjoying Bendis’ X-Men much more than I expected to. It is much better than his Avengers and Ultimate X-Men work. It has its faults but I genuinely look forward to it.
If anyone was reading Jeff Parkers’ Thunderbolts, I think reusing the consequences of Techno’s messing with time travel for current Angel/O5 Angel would make for a very interesting story, giving the whole exercise legitimate weight/consequences. Not to ruin what happened in that run, but it was a phenomenally clever use of time travel and really made you care about a marginally interesting character.
I have a depressing feeling that this whole thing is going to end with a mind wipe before dumping them back in their own times. After establishing in Age of Ultron that you can change the past without major ramifications, I don’t think they can just flippantly send them back with all of their new knowledge intact.
Infinity (or Battle of the Atom, or any big event really) gives them the opportunity to set things back to the Gruenwald time travel rules, which would let them get sent back without any kind of reset button being hit. They’d just be creating a new timeline instead of changing the extant Marvel Universe present. And that would be really nice, because as it stands, the ease of time travel in some stories makes me wonder why every single problem isn’t just solved be going back in time and preventing it from happening in the first place.
Thinking about this some more, I think while the smart money is probably on mind-wipe + go back to their original time (or at least the latter), they could be used as “soft reboots” of the characters by sticking around. Jean’s dead so O5 Jean can step into her role. Current Angel was mind-wiped and basically has none of Warren’s personality, so he could be spun off as his own “new character” and O5 original can take his place. Beast and Cyclops are pretty different from each other now (both personality and looks-wise) so they could exist in the same reality. Iceman strikes me as the only one who seems truly duplicate, so maybe he just gets killed off for shock value.
Similar to what Si already said above in #4, now that I read it.
“Has anyone seen what Beast is doing in New Avengers?” Yeah, and I’m puzzled by all the guilt being thrown around about it. They blew up a dead world to save the Earth, and yet it’s going to haunt them forever? I still don’t get it.
As for the time travel rules, I don’t see a problem. If they go by Gruenwald rules, the timeline the O5 came from split off when Beast pulled them out. It may be out there with no X-Men in it, but it doesn’t change current continuity. If they go by Bendis rules, Agh! Time broke! Oh my god! And Bendis can write whatever he wants to happen, as usual, because there are no Bendis rules.
Did Beast blow up another world in New Avengers? Or is the one he blew up in the “Ghost Boxes” arc in Astonishing X-Men haunting him?
@Kreniigh; Is it just me or does Bendis use the word “broken” A LOT, even outside of Uncanny X-Men?
@Neil Kapit: Also “Agh!” and “Oh my god!” Once you see the Aghs, you can never unsee them.
@kreniigh
That’s a very good point. Current continuity can’t be screwed up because the timeline diverted and its not our timeline.
So we all reckon that the 05 are going to replace lost or tainted x-members? (Scott, jean and angel?)
To me an alternate timeline version of a character has approximately the same value as a clone, which is… not much. If marvel wants to establish that the O5 are from an alternate past, or whatever, they can certainly do that, but then I probably won’t give a damn about them. I mean, if one of them dies too, who cares? Just go back in time again and get a new O5er.
Just to add, they did basically the same story with Iron Man in The Crossing. Teen Tony anyone? This would be the same thing. Teen O5 X-Men from an alternate past replace their corrupt and/or deceased present day counterparts.
Come to think of it, given how poorly regarded The Crossing was, it’d be amusing to see Marvel do the same thing over again.
Anyone else remember the Legion’s SW6 batch? Those were clones, not time travelers, but the vibe was similar.
Couldn’t disagree more about David LaFuente. All his characters look about 5 years old. It may just be the horrible Manga influence but I actively avoid anything with his name on. I enjoyed the issue despite the artwork rather than becuaue of it.
I hope this was just an unfortunate one off and next time Stuart Immonen needs a break we can have a better artist. David Marquez’ issues were fantastic, though I know he’s busy with Ultimate Spider-man so can’t fill in on a regular basis.
Well over in Uncanny X-Men we’re told that Warren does not know how to fight…. which is a pretty big retcon.
All of these 05 characters are written and drawn as younger than they were in the actual original stories and that is what makes the Beast’s inner monologue on Jean more than a little creepy.
Also: Past Scott getting *ock blocked by his adult self instead of his normal everyday self is very very sad.
And frankly I love Gruenwald rules for time travel and think they free up the stories for a lot of reasons and ways, especially in that it saves us from characters exclaiming over and over again how much this is a disaster for the space time continuum without being precise way or how.
Dumb. I thought this was going to be a mini series originally. It makes no sense to have them stay. Like a previous poster said. It makes any marvel history irrevelant.
And the reasoning they used to bring them to the future was weak.
So frustrated by Marvel.