No other writer in the Marvel Universe is quite as across the board right now as Brian Michael Bendis. In ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ #20 he delivered my least favorite issue this week, and in this continuation from ‘All-New X-Men’ #32, he delivers one of my favorite issues. We’ve got the ‘All-New X-Men’ all gathered in the Ultimate Universe, aside from Cyclops who is off hanging out with his father in space.

Just as Bendis can make an interesting event come together horribly as he’s done with ‘Age of Ultron,’ ‘Battle of the Atom,’ and the recently closed ‘Original Sin’ storyline from ‘Guardians of the Galaxy,’ he also can make a series shine when he sticks to what he’s good at. While this is a step away from a crossover event as it stars characters from the ‘Ultimate Universe,’ the spotlight is clearly being cast on the ‘All-New X-Men’ and it feels right. Not only that, but we continue to see X-23 stand out as a well written character who isn’t just a cheap Wolverine knockoff, though her interaction with the son of Wolverine from this universe is pretty fantastic.

On the art of things we see Mahmud A. Asrar just do an outstanding job of illustrating the characters in action as well as at rest. Expressions, emotions, he does a great job at tying it all together with background art that stands on its own as well!

The plot doesn’t move too far forward in this issue but we do see Angel and X-23 come together and meet with the son of Wolverine on this world as well as learn that mutants were created by man, Iceman battling Moleman and finding out how bad anti-mutant feelings are in this world, Beast stuck having dinner with this world’s Doom, and Jean finding help from Spider-Man. Oh wait, did I mention that young Bobby has learned how to create Ice Hulks like his older self from the annoying ‘Battle of the Atom’ storyline? At least something good came out of that, ICE HULKS SMASH!

We are treated to one recycled joke from the last issue where Ganke pretty much has the same thoughts about Jean that Miles had, but it fit considering they are a couple of teenage boys and Jean is, Jean. We’re left with a great lead in to the next issue that isn’t a painful cliffhanger and leaves enough mystery as to what is about to happen to be interesting.

Bendis is really doing a great job at delivering the ‘All-New X-Men’ into the Ultimate Universe and is allowing fans of both series to have a few shining moments. We get both a decent amount of action mixed with a plot that lets multiple characters shine. While we’re no closer to seeing how the ‘All-New X-Men’ will be returned to their own universe, I suspect we’ll be starting to see that plan come together next week.

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ALL-NEW X-MEN #33
Writer: Brian Michael Bendis
Artist: Mahmud A. Asrar