Fanboys Anonymous

Okay, so the last issue of All-New X-Men didn't really cut it for me. Scott Summers, in general, was never that interesting of a character to begin with. Still, one bad issue isn't writing me off the entire series, especially when the series has proven to have had some very strong character development and plot lines. Enter: All-New X-Men #8.

This latest issue brings something that I think myself and a lot of other readers have been expecting for some time: the confrontation between past Warren and present Warren. The character of Warren Worthington III has been through a whole hell of a lot of crap. From having his wings removed to becoming Archangel to basically dying and being reborn, the number of characters that have had as tragic a story-line as Angel are few and far between.

So, that obvious begs the question, how is this all portrayed in the comic? Bendis is very clever in his writing, juxtapositioning the very lighthearted personality of the "new" Warren with the obviously dark secrets of the past. Young Warren is justifiably inquisitive about his past and after several failed attempts to garner information, he comes to a very real conclusion: "Something really bad happened to me." It's not much to go on, but it is certainly enough to elicit a mental breakdown.

Speaking of mental breakdowns, let's talk Jean Grey. She is absent from the majority of the book, save for the end, where she basically comes at you from behind with a baseball bat and knocks you over the head. Bendis is clearly building something here, and, as a Jean Grey fan, I am both thrilled and worried.


While I was a little disappointed early in the book about not having much information revealed to Warren, I saw the direction that the book later took and amended those disappointments (albeit it took a little more than halfway through the book for the real plot action to pick up). There's also a nice "laugh out loud" scene in the book between Iceman and Kitty, though I might have preferred if it was between Young Iceman and Kitty, maybe to show a little more development between the old and present X-Men. All in all, All-New X-Men #8 is another solid addition to a collection of solid books. Well done.

Score: 8.5/10