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All-New X-Men #30 Cover by Immonen, Grawbadger and Gracia

There's been a lot going on for the All-New X-Men lately.

The number of teams of future mutants, alien encounters, and general all round bad guys trying to send them back to their own time or put them down has meant that they have seldom had any time to bond or just take stock of their situation.

All-New X-Men #30 provides an uncanny look at how the teams dynamics are changing amidst their current situation.

It is great to see Brian Michael Bendis take this step and to witness the interesting relationships that are developing as a result.

Not everything has to be about grand adventures through outer space or through time. Sometimes it is good enough (and more interesting) to see what happens in between the grand missions. Case in point is the relationship of Angel and Laura (X-23) in All-New X-Men #30. We have seen this set up from the last issue but I wouldn't have seen it happening a lot further back than that.

Earlier in the series we saw young Cyclops and X-23 begin to form a friendship, but with the formers sojourn around space with the Star Jammers in his own solo series, any development here could not be realised. The absence of Cyclops from the team has in turn paved the way for Angel to step up.

Angel and X-23 spark a relationship.

Angel and X-23 has been through a lot, as we are reminded in the opening pages of issue #30, so the chance to kick out and blow of some steam is a great piece of characterization. This is couple with the role of Jean Grey and Emma Frost back at the new Xavier School.

Emma has confronted Jean and is attempting to help train her and overcome some insecurities herself. The momentum and build up provides a nice counter weight to the Angel/Laure setting in this issue. The pace of the story feels right and enough attention is paid to the imagery, a employed by Sara Pichelli, to direct us to the end result. This is not surprising given the artistic collaboration between writer and artist is well established at this point (they have worked together for a number of years now on this and other Marvel series).

All-New X-Men #30 is by no means a fill in issue, but a transition from the Brotherhood of Mutants arc to the coming Ultimate Universe arc. In using this issue to reflect on the relationships in this lead characters, something Bendis is known for, we will need to keep these in mind for later issues as the relationships will be tested.

Sara Pichelli's art is, as per usual, top quality. The artists are changing on All-New X-Men and Mahmud Asrar will take over the art duties from issue #31. The transition looks like it is going to be quite seamless and painless for us as an audience from the preview art of the next couple of issues that Marvel have released.

Jean Grey vs. Emma Frost

Marta Gracia's colors remain dynamic, I particularly liked the hologram imagery of Star Lord in this issue. There are other ample panels where Gracia displays great colour use but the standout would have to be the Emma Frost/Jean Grey split panels.

All-New X-Men continues a strong run as a series and it will be interesting to see if any other main characters have an influence in the up-coming AXIS event from Rick Remender in October.

What do you hope for these characters?

How did you like this issue of All-New X-Men?

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