Be prepared to read this issue twice. The very first page will have you flying through it to see what caused what you see. There are a LOT of great moments here, so if you are skimming it you are going to want to go back and take your time with the rest of the issue as that’s just the teaser for what we’ll see next time.

At the end of All-New X-Men #12 the original teen versions of the X-Men and Wolverine were basically told to go home. The Uncanny Avengers would take care of things and get the entire situation sorted out where they were being blamed for Mystique’s crimes.

We all know exactly how well Wolverine listens to orders when he has his mind set on something, don’t we?

Instead of returning to his school Wolverine takes the kids to the last heist location. My stand out favorite moment, though, of the entire book takes place while the X-Men are on their way to the heist location. Kitty Pryde has long been a highly underused character. In the past year they’ve really been fleshing her out and making her likable with a lot of believable as well as great stories. Bendis capitalizes this 110% in this issue. One of the original mutants asks what the big deal about Havok’s “M-Word” speech from Uncanny Avengers #5. He basically went the route where using the word Mutant at this point was just derogatory and that everyone is human.

Kitty disagreed. As far as Kitty is concerned, being a mutant defines her. She is passionate and eloquent with her speech and it, in itself, is something that would resonate with a lot of the mutants out there and very fitting when dealing with the original X-Men. They are the ones who will end up making her feel the way she does. So even though it’s not pointed out here, I believe she’s also unconsciously not only thanking them, but inspiring them to become who they end up being, the ones who inspired her.

At any rate, back to Wolverine being the best at what he does. This time he’s the best bloodhound in existence! He wants to put his nose on the scent and realizes that it’s Sabertooth involved and they start tracking down Mystique’s band of criminals.

For her part, though, they have kept teasing that Mystique has to have a bigger game plan for all of the money she’s stolen. While she does have a plan, it has nothing to do with mutants or the X-Men or world domination. Mystique just wants to buy Majipoor from Hydra, who has recently come into possession of it.

The deal is moving forward and it looks as if Hydra is about to agree to the arrangement when Wolverine and Kitty move in at full force and the original X-Men end up following even though they are told to stay behind. It’s just what they do. While their attack starts to look as if things will work out for them, no one counted on one little key event happening.

Lady Mastermind comes face to face with Jean Grey.

At this point it’s hard to tell what happens. The intro page showed Jean looking to be possessed by The Phoenix. Is this actually what is happening or is she just projecting everyone’s greatest fear on them all? While I think it’s too soon after the AVX events for them to bring back The Phoenix so easily, this is Jean Grey from the past. The Phoenix might have already attached itself to her as we are never privy to when that does happen. It might be alive here as it was never destroyed yet.

Damn you time travel for opening Pandora’s box once again! Personally I’m thinking next issue we’re just going to find out it was Lady Mastermind using her powers. Will I be wrong? I can’t wait to find out.

Writer: Brian Michael Bendis
Artist: Stuart Immonen