In ‘All-New X-Men’ #28, we saw that the fight between the future Brotherhood and the All-New X-Men was coming to a head! Or more that Young Xavier was about to get a claw to the head from X-23. We start this issue actually a few moments before that happened to show how Jean was hiding X-23’s presence from Xavier (in a couple of pages that were a decent introduction but felt unnecessary). That being said, did the rest of the issue hold my interest as much as the last two? Well let’s begin.
Obviously with Jean and Young Xavier who is in control of the Cuckoos going at it, this is a battle of epic psychic proportions. It’d have been twice and entertaining if Emma Frost wasn’t still out of it with her powers and in the game because Immonen is one of the few artists who can illustrate such a battle to make it both look spectacular and appear to make sense. We’re not just showing wiggling lines coming off of heads, but an entirely different battle is playing out in their minds and it clearly shows to be happening here.
So as the build up hits to the last scene from the previous issue, we see Young Xavier stabbed! Wounded but not mortally it was enough to break his connection to The Cuckoos and while taken by surprise, it was easy for him to control them. In fact, when they see first hand what they could have become if they had let their darker impulses take control, they are disgusted with the young psychic and ashamed that they almost went down the same path.
A character defining moment (or three characters that is) in the middle of a battle was done in a style very much Bendis’ own and it felt right for these three to experience it here.
The psychic war isn’t the only thing going on though as Xavier not only sets the X-Men against one another but Raze has always been on his side and they all go at it. Immomen is just as home in the physical world as he is on the psychic plane and teamed with Bendis, I can’t help but love where they go with it.
A bonus? While we already knew Beast was under Xavier’s control, we also find out that the Xorn here was a fake and both Deadpool and Molly Hayes have been under his control for years. I think any fan of The Runaways was breathing a huge sigh of relief at this hoping that she was in the same situation as Beast. Annoyingly, we also already see how The Brotherhood find their way out of this situation.
Also, with X-23 having a crush on Cyclops is another of the young X-Men about to capture her attention? I think we’ll find out next issue.
The ‘All-New X-Men’ has long been a series I felt would fall into a gimmick yet continues to astound me with amazing writing paired with spectacular art. While I was almost a little annoyed how easily the Future Brotherhood are getting out of this, it wasn’t enough for me to not absolutely love this issue and look forward to where the series will go from here.
ALL-NEW X-MEN #29
Writer: Brian Michael Bendis
Artist: Stuart Immonen
