Review: ALL-NEW X-MEN #16

Writer:  Brian Michael Bendis
Penciler:  Stuart Immonen
Inker:  Wade von Grawbadger
Colorist:  Marte Garcia
Letterer:  VC’s Cory Petit

With Battle of the Atom #1 setting up the premise, All-New X-Men #16 gets to have fun with the face-to-face meeting of our time-traveling X-Men.

A comic light on action but heavy on dialogue?  Sounds perfect for Brian Michael Bendis.  He gets to introduce the X-Men of the future and each character gets just enough time to display their personality.  Of course, them appearing and saying the original X-Men have to go back to the past doesn’t go smoothly.

What I Liked

Even though I joked about Bendis and dialogue above, I did enjoy his banter here.  Let’s be real…time travel stories can get convoluted.  Bendis doesn’t waste time getting bogged down with time complexities.  Its more about the shock of everyone meeting each other.

Stuart Immonen gets to have fun with scene layouts.  It was fun they were structured and getting to see the same scenes but from different vantage points.  Immonen gets bonus points for correctly displaying Wolverine’s height.  We even get a surprise revelation.

What I Didn’t Like

Jean Grey has come across as an annoying character since she’s appeared from the past.  She’s constantly invading other people’s minds without permission.  She has been the ring leader for the original X-Men staying in the present.  More of that happens here.  There is some explanation given for why she is acting rebelliously, but it doesn’t make me like her any better.

Summary

All-New X-Men #16 takes our initial setup and advances it.  We know why the future X-Men are here.  But something changes which now creates a new purpose going forward.  Something tells me there will be at least two more forks in the road of this story before it reaches it’s end.

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

Timdogg

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