Written by: Brian Michael Bendis
Illustrations: Stuart Immonen, Wade Von Grawbadger, David Marquez
Coloring: Marte Gracia, Rain Beredo
Publisher: Standaard Uitgeverij
All New X-Men #003 – Comic Book Review
Even though the original X-Men now find themselves in our present time, fighting alongside of their future selves, at least those that are still alive or on the side of good, things aren’t going as smoothly as planned. Scott is still waging a war with himself, internally and physically, as he has to fight his future self and still doesn’t understand what could have driven him off the edge, killing his own mentor and father figure, Charles Xavier. Warren, on the other side, wanted to go home right off the bat, as he didn’t want to know his future or that of anyone else, and thus he is hunting for his own little portion of the truth.
The younger version Scott took off to do some soul searching of his own at the end of the last bundle, and while his inner conflicts are already bad enough, he hopes to find some peace by looking at his deposit box in a local bank vault. He remembers placing things there when he was younger, which must have been ages for the older Scott, thus he wonders if it’s actually still there. After convincing the clerk he was indeed the beneficiary of the little safe, he was amused to find his old glasses and some other trinkets, but he was not prepared to see something else in there, namely something that shows he and Jean were truly made for one another.
Warren is baffled by his future self, as he traded in his organic wings for something more sterile and robotic looking and not only does his future self change his appearance, he feels a lot more dimwitted and happy-go-lucky. While the latter might not be that bad, it’s as if he has become another person, one that doesn’t even go by his old name and acts as if ‘Warren’ is no longer the same being. Nonetheless, Warren does his best to keep track of his future self, but does not seem to like what time has done to him and rather wants to go home. That being said, the X-Men, be it the new generation, or the time travelers, both still hope to right the wrongs of the present day, either by setting the future straight or changing themselves not to make the same mistakes.
The pace of this bundle is a bit slower, as it’s more about soul searching rather than brutal action and explosive battles. While the action scenes are always nice in X-Men adventures, the emotionally charged issues in this omnibus were much needed to add an extra layer and depth to the story, which missed a bit of personality. Brian Michael Bendis might not always use expansive texts to state how everyone is feeling, the short but to the point phrases tend to do the trick.
Illustration wise not that much has changed compared to the previous issue, as the facial features still tend to pop out in this story that revolves around inner battles. Nonetheless, the drawings in the third issue of this bundle (issue #9 if you’re looking at them separately) are done by Wade von Grawbadger and Stuart Immonen who tend to skip the focus on the facial features and make everything look a bit less detailed. While the illustrations themselves are still great, you can feel and see a slight shift of quality.
Conclusion
All New X-Men #003 is all about soul searching and conquering inner demons, and while the original X-Men are almost all up for it, these demons don’t tend to go away that easily. It’s hard to adapt to the grim reality of their future and even their training proves to be a lot more difficult than the one they received in their own time.
All New X-Men #003 – Comic Book Review,
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