REVIEW: All New X-Men, Volume Two: Here to Stay

PLOT: Yesterday's X-Men continue to adjust to a present day that's simultaneously more awe-inspiring and more disturbing than any future the young heroes had ever imagined for themselves. And things get even more dangerous when the shape-changing terrorist Mystique targets our young time-travelers...starting with Cyclops!

REVIEW: To start, I wasn't a huge fan of All New X-Men, Volume One: Yesterday's X-Men but it did leave some things open to get better in this second volume. Things definitely got better, but actually got really great and I really enjoyed this volume. The first volume was more of a set up for this one, as the X-Men from the past are still struggling in finding out what they've become in the present time. Most importantly, Scott Summers has seen where his life has gone and it's all too frightening a truth for him to take. He takes an approach to it, and vows to not be the same Scott Summers and do whatever he can to change it, but that's the typical Summers agenda when problems arise. It's really interesting to see these characters struggle with themselves in the past, when they've seen what they become in the future. There is a tie-in as well with the Uncanny X-Men cast, and I thought that was pretty cool just having read that. My review of the first volume was a considerable bashing, because I've been fed up with X-Men comics for the past year or so. They all seem so similar, and it seemed to me that this Marvel NOW! title was headed in the same direction. However, it has turned around in this second volume and I'd highly recommend All New X-Men to Marvel NOW! readers. It's definitely in the top three in the reboot, and I take back what I said about Brian Michael Bendis last volume. This guy is a mainstay in writing the Marvel universe, and he writes teams really well.

WRITING : ( 8 / 10 )

ARTWORK : ( 8 / 10 )

STORY : ( 8 / 10 )

COVERS : ( 7 / 10 )

AWESOME : ( 8 / 10 )

FINAL RATING : ( 8 / 10 )

REVIEW: Uncanny X-Men, Volume One: Revolution

PLOT: In the wake of the Phoenix event, the world has changed and is torn on exactly what Cyclops and his team of outlaw X-Men are - visionary revolutionaries or dangerous terrorists? Whatever the truth, Cyclops, Emma Frost, Magneto, and Magik are out in the world gathering new mutants and redefining the name Uncanny X-Men. But the challenges that they must overcome are fierce: once again, robotic Sentinels hunt the team and the mutants they protect...but when you find out who's doing the hunting, your jaw will drop! And if that's not enough, there's a mole on Cyclops' team - but who is it?

REVIEW: I really haven't had the greatest luck with the X-Men in comic book form. I did enjoy the Ultimate X-Men series for the most part, but other than that they've all been pretty lame to me. This volume didn't start out too great at first, because it was kind of a similar story that's been told before with the X-Men. The mutants being disliked by humans, and an all out war on the brink as Cyclops and his team try to fight the good fight. What it turns into though is that you're really unsure of Scott Summers' condition to lead a team of heroes because of information Magneto leaks to S.H.I.E.L.D. I surprisingly ended up really liking this volume and I think it was to do with the excellent writing from Brian Michael Bendis who always seems to do a very nice job of handling multiple characters without losing himself in the story. Often times, group comics tend to be a handful with all of the characters, but Bendis takes a few familiars and throws in a couple newbies and you've got a whole new team that's easy to follow, and each has their own personality and traits. I really like this Uncanny X-Men team and I hope it continues on the path that it has built in the first volume. The art is great, and I really like the way they make Cyclops look with the dark reds and X-visor with his costume because it gives him that evil aura. It does cause some confusion as to who to root for, but it does provide for some great super hero drama and this volume of Uncanny X-Men is not short on that. This is easily one of the better Marvel NOW! entries, and I hope that it can continue to be so.

WRITING : ( 8 / 10 )

ARTWORK : ( 9 / 10 )

STORY : ( 8 / 10 )

COVERS : ( 8 / 10 )

AWESOME : ( 8 / 10 )

FINAL RATING : ( 8 / 10 )

REVIEW: All New X-Men, Volume One: Yesterday's X-Men

PLOT: It's a blast from the past as the original five students of Professor X - Cyclops, Marvel Girl, Iceman, Angel and Beast - are plucked from the past and brought to the present. But what they find, the state that their future selves are in and the state of Xavier's dream, is far from the future they dreamed of. And how will the X-Men of the present deal with their past coming crashing forward?

REVIEW: Another Marvel NOW! title that just doesn't impress like the New 52's do. All New X-Men is definitely all new, but at the same time the threat seems so familiar. Somehow, they have maintained that the X-Men's worst enemy is themselves and the human race. It's all a story that's been done before, which makes you wonder what the writers of this series were thinking. I'm usually a fan of Brian Michael Bendis' work, but this just fails to live up to its NOW! name. You get a chance to start over and be something completely different for a new generation and you tread on the same stuff you've been doing for years now. Cyclops is out of control, and becoming more like Magneto by the day it seems. Present day Beast brings back the original 5 X-Men to show them what their future holds. There's some interaction between the timelines, self-analyzing and characters putting some perspective on the times. Other than that, I wasn't all that impressed by yet another Marvel NOW! title. If you're an X-Men fan, I say pick it up and give it a shot, but if you're not then I'd just look for your favorite character's new Marvel NOW! title and try it first instead. Unfortunately, All New X-Men is fairly lackluster and failed to find a new voice in an industry that is in the process of re-defining itself to new audiences.

WRITING : ( 5 / 10 )

ARTWORK : ( 7 / 10 )

STORY : ( 3 / 10 )

COVERS : ( 7 / 10 )

AWESOME : ( 5 / 10 )

FINAL RATING : ( 5 / 10 )