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theoryoftheafro's review
adventurous
dark
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Magik and Emma Frost are absolutely fantastic
anna_w's review
4.0
Looooooooved the crossover with the Avengers and all the artwork was incredible, credit where it's due to Bachalo & Irving!
kknoblauch's review
adventurous
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
leeleet's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
4.5
mattaukamp's review
4.0
This is an admittedly complicated 4 stars.
On a very basic level, these 5 issues are a joy to read. Bendis' new mutant inductees: Hijack, Morph, Goldballs, Triage, and Tempus, are great additions to the X-Men family. I love his take on revolutionary Cyclops, and this era of Scott's character was still holding on to many of the amazing development he gained through Grant Morrison, Joss Whedon, and Matt Fraction's inspired work.
HOWEVER. This comic comes off of the abysmal AvX mini-series.
The whole point of that series seemed to be this: Utopia-era Cyclops was so unequivocally right in everything he did, but Marvel was becoming increasingly scared of the X-Men becoming a radical self-governing collective. In order to shove some sort of "both sides" action into the series, thus granting them a fun-loving, classic, Westchester NY team to play with, they had to make Cyclops into a villain. Because no one could possibly imagine him making any stupid mistakes with his virtuous ideals and his wealth of experience, they had to make him insane with the Phoenix Force.
Even this failed. Because when he did the horrible things he did, everyone was fully aware that he was being controlled by an ancient alien entity.
Thus, this series is riddled with people coming after Cyclops with PAPER-THIN arguments for why he's a villain and Cyclops easily batting all those arguments aside. Yet, as readers, we're clearly meant to believe there are two valid sides to the argument and Scott is turning "dark." Especially when viewed in the context of what is to come.
These bits of dialogue are fun but absolutely ridiculous. They mostly consist of someone making an assertion, the X-Men presenting an obvious argument disproving it, and then someone else going "OH, ENOUGH OF THIS!" and attacking them. It's as if the writer (in this case, Bendis) is saying "Yeah, I can't think of a counter-argument but I don't want you, the reader to know that."
Also, while Bendis' Uncanny was fun, he was, at that time, in the process of systematically dismembering everything that had been cool about the previous 10-15 years of the X-Men. He clearly didn't understand Grant Morrison's run and so set about trying to reverse every inch of it like a newly sworn-in politician trying to track down and undo every bit of the previous person's legislation. It was shameless and weird and led to a 5-10 year slump of bad X-Men comics.
Still, with all those problems, this gets four stars because Bachalo's art is incredible, most of the dialogue and events are super fun to read, and the new characters rule.
This series may be the last good bit of comic book work Bendis ever did (overlapping, of course, with his horrible horrible All-New X-Men run.)
On a very basic level, these 5 issues are a joy to read. Bendis' new mutant inductees: Hijack, Morph, Goldballs, Triage, and Tempus, are great additions to the X-Men family. I love his take on revolutionary Cyclops, and this era of Scott's character was still holding on to many of the amazing development he gained through Grant Morrison, Joss Whedon, and Matt Fraction's inspired work.
HOWEVER. This comic comes off of the abysmal AvX mini-series.
The whole point of that series seemed to be this: Utopia-era Cyclops was so unequivocally right in everything he did, but Marvel was becoming increasingly scared of the X-Men becoming a radical self-governing collective. In order to shove some sort of "both sides" action into the series, thus granting them a fun-loving, classic, Westchester NY team to play with, they had to make Cyclops into a villain. Because no one could possibly imagine him making any stupid mistakes with his virtuous ideals and his wealth of experience, they had to make him insane with the Phoenix Force.
Even this failed. Because when he did the horrible things he did, everyone was fully aware that he was being controlled by an ancient alien entity.
Thus, this series is riddled with people coming after Cyclops with PAPER-THIN arguments for why he's a villain and Cyclops easily batting all those arguments aside. Yet, as readers, we're clearly meant to believe there are two valid sides to the argument and Scott is turning "dark." Especially when viewed in the context of what is to come.
These bits of dialogue are fun but absolutely ridiculous. They mostly consist of someone making an assertion, the X-Men presenting an obvious argument disproving it, and then someone else going "OH, ENOUGH OF THIS!" and attacking them. It's as if the writer (in this case, Bendis) is saying "Yeah, I can't think of a counter-argument but I don't want you, the reader to know that."
Also, while Bendis' Uncanny was fun, he was, at that time, in the process of systematically dismembering everything that had been cool about the previous 10-15 years of the X-Men. He clearly didn't understand Grant Morrison's run and so set about trying to reverse every inch of it like a newly sworn-in politician trying to track down and undo every bit of the previous person's legislation. It was shameless and weird and led to a 5-10 year slump of bad X-Men comics.
Still, with all those problems, this gets four stars because Bachalo's art is incredible, most of the dialogue and events are super fun to read, and the new characters rule.
This series may be the last good bit of comic book work Bendis ever did (overlapping, of course, with his horrible horrible All-New X-Men run.)
nomadtla's review
3.0
Not nearly as strong as All New X-Men but I picked it up because the two titles kind of entwine. There is a lot of potential here with a darker X-Men on the run and Scot's greyer morality. We'll see how it goes but I will keep reading this because it's decent and gives more depth to All New.
herrkelm's review
4.0
really interesting take on the x men. It wasn't what I expected but that's okay
cassie_grace's review
3.0
In the wake of AvX Cyclops, Magneto, Emma Frost, and Magik have lost much of their power. The good news is that new mutants are coming into their powers. It’s the first volume of a longer story, but it’s got some funny jokes and some good drama.