Welcome back to another fun-filled edition of the All-New Uncanny X-Piles! Join us each week as Infinite Speech & the Comic Book Clergyman guide you away from the “X-3’s” and steer you towards the “Days of Future Pasts” of the current X-books. You can trust us. Really. We know what we’re talking about.
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All-New X-Men #32
Writer: Brian Michael Bendis
Artist: Mahmud Asrar
Last issue, the original X-Men plus X-23 got scattered to the four winds of the Ultimate Universe. This issue picks right up where we left off, with Angel stuck in the Savage Land, where he bumps into the son of Ultimate Wolverine, James Hudson. Beast finds himself underwater and when he reaches land, he discovers he is in Latveria, where he runs into a flock of Doombots. Iceman is underground with the Ultimate version of Mole Man, X-23 finds herself in the middle of a football game. Last but not least, Jean is confronted by Miles Morales.
Some folks may not like all this multiverse jumping, and it is a bit confusing to think that these X-Men are from the past in the 616, but they are in the current Ultimate Universe, but to me, these characters just fit, probably because Bendis writes them all so well. There is a great synergy, especially between Jean and Miles, as they begin to figure out how they’ve gotten into this scenario. Bendis just owns the voices of these characters, making their interactions fun and exciting.
What also works well with this issue is Asrar’s artwork. He is a good fill-in for Immonen and Pichelli, as he uses the same type of clean line style. There is one double page spread when Jean reads Miles’ mind that is just phenomenal, summing up the visual of Miles’ story since his introduction.
All-New X-Men continues to be the flagship X-book in my opinion. Even though this story is not very connected to any other X-Men stuff going on, this is infinitely more interesting and fun than the other books out there. If you’re not reading All-New, check it out and see what Bendis has going on. –JJ
Rating: 8/10
Uncanny Avengers #24Writer: Rick Remender
Artist: Salvador Larroca
As the set up to Axis this is a very lukewarm issue despite some surprises along the way. Remender does what is necessary to establish that Logan’s conversation with Rogue and Wanda is viable to the plot. However, it seems to go on for too long as this “softer” Wolverine makes it drag along with his declarations. When it’s finally brought back their true enemy, Red Skull, is when the story begins to turn for the better. That is until the actual villains show up. Maybe if a bit more time was spent on developing the S-Men they would have more of an impact when they show up. And I don’t mean just by defeating the good guys but by the reader actually wanting to see them.
Larroca does a fine job as usual and though there’s not a lot of heavy action sequences to move things there’s a few shocking moments that do just fine. The design for Xavier as he talks to Rogue is pretty striking as he’s bleeding and missing the top half of his head. Magneto’s determined gaze to stand up to one of the S-Men is an intense panel while the very last page seemed like a throwback to those classic bad guy reveals of the late 70s/80s.
A decent issue and even though it helps establish some things it’s not one of Remenders finest especially when you see how great he’s done with this series so far. So pick it up if you MUST have it but it’s a passable issue if you’re deciding between this and another comic. -IS
Rating: 4/10
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infinitespeech@comicattack.net – @InfiniteSpeech
jeff@comicattack.net – @FrJeffJackson
