Fanboys Anonymous

All-New X-Men has been an emotional roller coaster ever since its start ten issues ago. Writer Brian Michael Bendis has done a great job so far of not only plucking the original X-Men out of the past but also facilitating their transition into the present in a realistic manner. Readers see how each individual X-Man is changing because of this knowledge of their future and therein lays the intrinsic value of this series.

When last we left the Jean Grey School, old Scott Summers and his crew of rebel X-Men had showed up on the front lawn to recruit mutants for his new Xavier School. What I expected to be an all-out clash of fire and ice turned out to be a somewhat more mundane exchange of words and rhetoric. I think a lot of readers, including myself, expected some kind of action, but Bendis manages those expectations well through his dialogue. He shows that the situation is not an inherently violent one and that there is still some mutual respect between the Jean Grey School X-Men and the Xavier School X-Men.

Once again, we get another glimpse of Mystique and her escapades for obtaining cash. It's quite a shallow motivation and very unlike the complex character that is Raven Darkholme. With Bendis, I think we can expect some grander ulterior motives, but it's just not apparent yet when it should be after a couple of issues of plot building with Mystique and her crew. At this point, it's mostly going towards fueling mutant hate, which is quite frankly nothing we haven't seen before.

While the issue as a whole is quite strong, I found that the cliff-hanger ending was a bit melodramatic. I'll shoot myself in the foot if I turn out to be wrong, but I think it's pretty obvious that young Jean Grey is the one that will opting to be join old Cyclops. It just makes sense given the situation, and it would obviously create a huge opportunity for Bendis to capitalize on the dynamics between Emma/Jean/Scott. You're not fooling anyone, dude.

While cliffhangers can be effective when used correctly, this particular usage left me more annoyed than anything, which soured my perception of the entire book a tad bit. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed the book, but a stunt like this just wasn't my cup of tea. In any case, All-New X-Men #10 is a nice dramatic exchange between the two opposing X-groups and provides a nice foundation for some juicy events to come.


Score: 8/10