Review: All-New X-Men #15

Writer:  Brian Michael Bendis
Artist:  David Lafuente
Colorist:  Jim Campbell
Letterer:  VC’s Cory Petit

With Battle of the Atom set to begin next issue, All-New X-Men #15 is the calm before the time-traveling storm.  We get separate stories following the remaining members of the original X-Men, and as you can see from the cover, two original X-Men get a little closer to one another.

What I Liked

Subbing for Stuart Immonen on art is David Lafuente.  One thing Marvel NOW! has done a good job of doing is finding the perfect artistic teams for each book.  When Immonen took an issue off earlier, Marvel had Dave Marquez fill in.  With Marquez now the ongoing artist of Ultimate Comics Spider-Man, now we get Lafuente.

Lafuente excels in illustrating teenagers.  The original X-Men (and new characters introduced) come across as youthful and full of energy.  Facial expressions do a good job conveying these emotions.

I really enjoyed seeing Bobby and Scott go off campus and meet some non-mutant kids their age.  We get so wrapped up in the lives of the students at the school that we forget there’s a whole world out there for them to experience.  They can make new non-mutant friends and develop new relationships.  Of course, the pessimist in me wonders if Bendis is setting all this up for the rug to be pulled out from under them (especially seeing who was spying on everything), but for now I’ll enjoy the moment for what it was.

Then there is Hank and Jean.  Jean is still a novice when it comes to her psychic powers, so she ends up learning of Hank’s true feelings for her.  Bendis has managed to change the dynamic of our original five X-Men.  Angel has defected to adult Cyclops’ X-Men team, and now this new development between Hank and Jean.

Plus we get Wolverine finally acknowledging how everyone keeps stealing his stuff.

What I Didn’t Like

As with every issue of All-New X-Men, I only have small gripes to point out.  The short interactions between Jean Grey and Rachel Grey were cute, but I wish there was some real recognition provided.  After-all, Rachel is the alternate reality offspring from Jean’s evil clone.  It would be nice to see them sit down and talk.  Of course, this is something Bendis is excellent at displaying in his books.

Kitty and adult-Bobby making out all willy-nilly on campus was a surprise.  I know they are dating, but I would think that Kitty takes pride in being the Professor and wouldn’t want the students to see her in a private moment.

Summary

Another All-New X-Men is in the books.  This issue is a bit slower than previous ones, but that’s okay.  Bendis is setting the stage before Battle of the Atom begins.  The reader gets more character development between the original X-Men.  Whether this plays into the overall story of Battle of the Atom remains to be seen.

This review is written in partnership with Pop Culture Network.  They can be found at their website http://www.popculturenetwork.com/

 

#ComicBookChronicles @CBChron founder. Editor-in-Chief of @thekliqnation. Comic book reviewer, podcaster #RABBLERABBLE

  • Ned

    Nice review. Just one thing, Rachel is Jean’s daughter. Cable is the one whose mother is an evil clone of Jean.

    • Thanks for reading! You’re right, its hard to keep all these different lineages straight.