Written by: Brian Michael Bendis
Illustrations: Stuart Immonen, Wade Von Grawbadger
Coloring: Marte Gracia
Publisher: Standaard Uitgeverij
All New X-Men #001 – Comic Book Review
At certain points in our lives, all of us probably hoped we possessed some kind of super power, to help us out of a pickle, grant us fame or perhaps even the power to obtain a lot of money. We could either become the hero or the villain, hoping no other being would posses powers such as yours. That being said, what if there were many with special abilities but still outnumbered by the normal populace and considered dangerous and even prosecuted and locked up because of their powers? It seems that possessing such a gift would easily become a curse. This topic gets reheated in the new X-Men comic books series that is getting bundled by the Standaard Uitgeverij. We were stoked to see many new powers once again.
We dive right into the action with the knowledge that Scott Summers, who’s pseudo is Cyclops, killed Charles Xavier, the man who wanted to bring mutants and humans together to live happily together. Scott has joined forces with Magneto, who considers mutants superior to other human beings, and others, to plan their own mutant revolution. As one could immediately expect, if this plan comes into fruition many will get killed, especially mutants who simply want to live out their lives peacefully.
Henry ‘Hank’ McCoy, otherwise known as Beast, was one of Scott’s closest friends and together with Iceman, Robert ‘Bobby’ Drake, they were the last remaining original X-Men. Nonetheless, it seems that Hank’s days are numbered, as his latest progressing mutation will probably cost him his life. Even though he has made a certain peace with his upcoming demise, he still wants to make a difference and thus he decides to take action to set things right. He decides to travel back in time to the original X-Men, when Scott did not deviate from his righteous path just yet, to tell them what will occur in their future and convince them to tag along and hopefully this will affect the choices they will make, especially Scott’s.
It’s clear that this issue is immediately action packed, as this first issue already starts off with a grim scenario. Nonetheless, the information and action are divided quite nicely, even though some things might take a short time before your mind has actually processed it all. That being said, despite this being a brand new series, it’s advised to have a bit of background when it comes to the X-Men, as you might find it hard to follow everything to the letter. Seeing small bits and pieces of extra information are scattered throughout the issue, it’s possible that the upcoming issues will fill in the blanks for newcomers to the series.
Brian Michael Bendis opted for a rather action packed and ‘desperate’ plot to start this new series with. You’ll be immediately confronted with a reduced X-Men group, who are struggling to deal with the betrayal of Cyclops, as well as keep everything running to offer a safe haven to those who want to live peacefully with humanity, rather than overthrow it.
This is truly the first ‘American’ comic book style we have seen on the site, where it was clear that J.Rom and Amoras based themselves on comic books like these. Stuart Immonen and Wade Von Grawbadger put down a very detailed experience. Every panel has its level of details, including the backgrounds. Whilst everything is very impressive, there is a certain lack of finer touches when there is no close-up of characters. The coloring has been adequately filled in by Marte Gracia, which makes it all one big good looking whole.
Conclusion
All New X-Men #001 offers a very interesting new look on the series, albeit one that requires a bit more background knowledge than other X-Men series. The grim and dire situation many of the beloved characters find themselves in make up for a very rowdy first issue that will not bore you a single moment. A successful start to a new generation of X-Men comic books, even though we would already like to see several questions answered. Then again, being left in the dark has a certain exciting feeling.
All New X-Men #001 - Comic Book Review,
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[…] mentioned in our review of the All New X-Men #001, the world is in a state of chaos after the death of Charles Xavier, by one of his beloved students […]