Friday, October 4, 2013

All-New X-Men #17

   At the comics shop this week a young guy standing in line smiled as he looked at the first issue in the Battle of the Atom series.

   "I haven't bought an issue of X-Men in years," he said. "But this looks good."

   I told him I thought he'd like it. The series strips the cast down to a somewhat manageable level, it's a fun time-travel tale and mystery (standard territory for this team), and it's loaded with clever dialogue.

   This week's chapter appears in All-New X-Men, and it gives us a bit more information about the grim future for the team in general and mutants in particular.

   We see the surprising future career of Dazzler and meet a second X-Men team from the future, traveling to the past to try to correct a disastrous mistake by the original X-Men (who have journeyed through time to the present).

   There are still mysteries to solve - and some touching reunions. Writer Brian Michael Bendis orchestrates the events with skill and assurance.

   As always, the art by Stuart Immonen is outstanding, as he brings personal moments and epic battles to vivid life.

   So if you walked away from the X-Men a while back (and who could blame you?), this series might be a good reason to drop by the old neighborhood.

Grade: A-

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2 comments:

Dwayne said...

Can I add that I really like how this story is being told through the various X-Men titles so it goes quick? Once a week I get a new chapter, as opposed to the Infinity story in Avengers which is a monthly standalone with various "Tie-ins" in the different Avengers titles which screws up the stories in those books.

Chuck said...

Dwayne, I agree that the X-Men storyline has been wonderful in its design, but I'm also impressed with the Infinity series, which has also come out on schedule and without the usual jumbled timeline (where storylines cross and story elements appear out of order). But I admit that I've been mostly ignoring the spin-off stories for Infinity. But both are mighty impressive.