All-New X-Men, Vol. 7: The Utopians

All-New X-Men (2012) (Collected Editions)

by Brian Michael Bendis (Writer), Mahmud Asrar (Artist), Andrea Sorrentino (Artist)

The time-tossed All-New X-Men are more than teammates, more than best friends — they have become a close-knit family. But the mysterious Black Vortex may sunder their family ties permanently! As the young mutants venture back into space to deal with a galaxy in chaos, they must decipher the Vortex’s secrets — and fast, because the villainous Mr. Knife has kidnapped some of their team! Beast and Kitty travel to Spartax to study the Vortex Book as Storm formulates a plan to break into Mr. Knife’s fortress. But will the Vortex’s cosmic power transform the young mutants into something unrecognizable? Meanwhile, back on Earth, the Utopians hold a secret that will change the future of mutantkind — but who are the Utopians? The All-New X-Men may regret finding out!

Collecting: All-New X-Men 37-41

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Marvel, X Men, Superheroes, Graphic Novels Comics, Comic Book

112 pages, Hardcover

First published August 4, 2015

About the author

A comic book writer and erstwhile artist. He has won critical acclaim (including five Eisner Awards) and is one of the most successful writers working in mainstream comics. For over eight years Bendis’s books have consistently sat in the top five best sellers on the nationwide comic and graphic novel sales charts.

Though he started as a writer and artist of independent noir fiction series, he shot to stardom as a writer of Marvel Comics' superhero books, particularly Ultimate Spider-Man.

Bendis first entered the comic world with the "Jinx" line of crime comics in 1995. This line has spawned the graphic novels Goldfish, Fire, Jinx, Torso (with Marc Andreyko), and Total Sell Out. Bendis is writing the film version of Jinx for Universal Pictures with Oscar-winner Charlize Theron attached to star and produce.

Bendis’s other projects include the Harvey, Eisner, and Eagle Award-nominated Powers (with Michael Avon Oeming) originally from Image Comics, now published by Marvel's new creator-owned imprint Icon Comics, and the Hollywood tell-all Fortune and Glory from Oni Press, both of which received an "A" from Entertainment Weekly.

Bendis is one of the premiere architects of Marvel's "Ultimate" line: comics specifically created for the new generation of comic readers. He has written every issue of Ultimate Spider-Man since its best-selling launch, and has also written for Ultimate Fantastic Four and Ultimate X-Men, as well as every issue of Ultimate Marvel Team-Up, Ultimate Origin and Ultimate Six.

Brian is currently helming a renaissance for Marvel’s AVENGERS franchise by writing both New Avengers and Mighty Avengers along with the successful ‘event’ projects House Of M, Secret War, and this summer’s Secret Invasion.

He has also previously done work on Daredevil, Alias, and The Pulse.

Reviews

[Baba · Rating 3 out of 5]

The end of Bendis thought provoking but also near ridiculous concept run draws to a close with a bit of a whimper, significant power change for Angel, more Jean Grey growth, Iceman's massive secret revealed and S.H.I.E.L.D. finds mutants on Utopia. 6 out of 12 Three Star read

2018 and 2016 read

[Sean Gibson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really, all the current X-books are making me want to do is go back and read old X-books.

Did I just drop $170 on a couple of Claremont omnibuses as a result? YUP.

Happy New Year, me.

[James DeSantis · Rating 1 out of 5]

Whoa...this was...awful? Maybe it's the collection itself I have a problem with it. You get a 1 shot, then 2 cross over issues, and then the end reverts back to the X-Men for just a few moments mostly to out a character. That's it...

The big "controversy" here is Iceman coming out that he's gay. The scene is kind of cute, and Jean Grey being kind of catty and bitchy helps. Iceman even says "How's that possible? Bobby in the future isn't gay" but Jean goes 'Really? You sure? All his relationships suck" and you know what, these X-Men aren't the same as their future self. For example, I hate old jean, but I love this Jean. So there you go.

What I liked: Just the moments with Iceman and Jean. That's really about it. Also Jean is hot. Yep.

What I didn't like: The one shot was boring as hell. Training mission that leads nowhere. The vortex crossover event was fucking confusing and who gives a shit? I'd have to read this whole event to care. Also after Bobby comes out a new villain comes but who really cares at this point? Waste.

Overall this was a huge letdown. I liked almost all the volumes except 1 or 2, but this is a AWFUL collection. SKippppppp.

[Jesús De la Jara · Rating 3 out of 5]

Este volumen sigue a los jóvenes X-Men originales por sus aventuras finales de la Era Bendis. Primero en la saga del "Black Vortex", una aventura espacial con los Guardianes de la Galaxia que tendrá algunas consecuencias sobre todo para Ángel. Luego como siempre en Bendis hay bastante interacción entre los miembros del grupo y esta vez con Magik quien hará de maestra sustituta por un tiempo que desde luego es muy entretenido y también sirve para conocerlos mejor. Lástima que actualmente en la saga de los mutantes se ha perdido bastante de las relaciones interpersonales entre ellos. Incluye una buena parte del entrenamiento de la joven Jean con Emma Frost.

[Sesana · Rating 3 out of 5]

It sucks that a significant part of this collection is part of the Black Vortex event. The problem is that these issues don't really make sense unless they're read with the rest of the Black Vortex story. But they "had" to include them, because otherwise this would be an incredibly short volume. I wish I'd skipped them, because the other issues were decent. The Utopians story that ends the volume is a good closing chapter to Utopia. And I kind of liked the first issue, with Emma taking Jean on a sorely needed training mission.

The elephant in the room, of course, is Bobby (sort of) coming out as gay. I found this scene really uncomfortable, though not really because Bendis "made" him gay. As far as character adjustments go, Bobby being written as gay is not exactly a major leap of logic, and Bobby as repressed is nothing new. I'm uncomfortable because Secret Wars means this might never get dealt with in any meaningful way. And I'm really super uncomfortable with Jean forcing Bobby out of the closet when he's obviously not ready for it. He's, what, 14? It isn't exactly cool under any circumstances, and it's especially not cool when she has the psychic mallet to back her up. But using her powers in obtrusive and borderline creepy ways is nothing new for Jean, either, so there we are.

[Chad · Rating 3 out of 5]

This collection is really 3 different stories.

1. A stand alone story focusing on Emma Frost and Jean Grey training in Madripoor. The story is great, it's what Bendis does best. Mike del Mundo's art, however, is atrocious. Kris Anka has colored it with this really washed out palette.

2. Black Vortex crossover. While a great crossover, trying to understand 2 parts of a 15+ part crossover is futile.

3. The Utopians: Great art from Mahmud Asrar. S.H.I.E.L.D. finds some mutants living on Utopia and the team goes there to handle the situation.

[Robert · Rating 3 out of 5]

If I was just rating this volume on the basis of the actual Utopians story and the epic conversation between Bobby and Jean that proved such a game changer in-universe the score would be higher, but seeing as how Mr. Bendis forced me to wade through some cosmic Guardians of the Galaxy related shenanigans (nice new look, btw, Warren) in order to get there I'm nonplussed.

[Terence · Rating 3 out of 5]

The time displaced X-Men travel to space once again go save the universe and deal with a minor issue on Utopia.

The Utopians definitely fizzles, but I can't blame the author. Bendis got detailed by The Black Vortex crossover. He only had three issues outside of the crossover and only two were consecutive which led to the minor story at the end. A few mutants are living in the wreckage of Utopia and defend it when people try to rob them.
This in turn causes SHIELD to investigate

and after their ship is shot down Maria Hill seeks some mutant help.


The overall ending story was just OK. Nothing special about it. I was bothered by the casual and unsupported decision to make Iceman gay.

There was no reason to warrant it. It seemed as though they just wanted to make an established X-Man gay and he ended up being the choice. It's a disappointing way to do things in my opinion.

In the end of say it's worth reading The Black Vortex crossover, but you can easily skip The Utopians.
2.5 out of 5 stars

[Nicolo · Rating 3 out of 5]

The sad thing about this final volume from the first All-New X-Men series was that it ends with a whimper. To think that at it's initial launch in 2012, its premise was one of promise; the original X-Men in the hands of a modern writer like Bendis. Much of the blame can be laid at this being an eclectic collection of of the last few issues of the series with a considerable chunk dedicated to the Black Vortex crossover.

Still, the true ending for this series and Bendis' Uncanny X-Men run is Uncanny X-Men #600. That is the more fitting ending to what has been an excellent run.

[Kay · Rating 3 out of 5]

First issue is a throw-away with pretty art by Mike Del Mundo. Jean Gray is being tutored by Emma Frost, so they go pick a fight with The Blob in Madripoor. Jean doesn't care if she almost kills him in their fight, and I'm already so done with her. I've really never liked her, and this didn't help. Sure, The Blob is selling Mutant Gene Hormone to the Yakuza, but I thought X-Men took precautions not to kill...Jean was just guessing here.

The next two issues are included in the The Black Vortex. Scott is back, Angel is cray on Black Vortex power, there's a lot of fighting, and then onto issue #40 the Utopians.

I actually really liked the Utopians storyline. The last two issues of this book #40 & #41 save the volume for me.
Also, we're back to my favorite All-New X-Men art by Mahmud Asrar and colors by Rain Beredo and Marte Gracia.

The one entire page of Jean's and Bobby's faces was so well done.
(I'mma keep this image fuzzy so it's not a spoiler.)

So were the next few pages between them.
It was a surprise to me only because it's an addition to an already established character, but it was really well done.

The only residual Black Vortex thing I'm confused about is how Angel transformed from weird Black Vortex Angel who was kind of a jerk bro and all Black Vortex pretchery to a normal Angel with just firewings here?
He was very well spoken and explained himself to Laura really nicely. I just don't understand the change in personality.

The ending with Hill was good. Looking forward to seeing where the X-Men go from here.

[Mike · Rating 3 out of 5]

​OK boys, have a little fun. When playing with a new, dimensions-hopping mutant, pop open a few portals to alterna-realities that show us either (a) something fun, (b) something horrifying, (c) something from the Secret Wars forthcoming "What If" stories? Dunno, but this is definitely (b):


The issue by Mike DelMundo is beautiful - all washed watercolours and indistinct scenery, setting a lovely tone for the story exploring the seedy underbelly of Madripoor. Jean learns a valuable lesson in how much more capable she is than she thinks (or Emma Frost lets on most days). Very Special Episode that's actually fun because Emma keeps Jean in such good suspense.


Then Bendis hijacks his own books to take a magical mystery tour of Space Marvel with all his toys (and even a few borrowed ones). I just read the fragments in the X-Men run and didn't bother with the rest of the Black Vortex story because WHO GIVES A SHIT. (I'm lazy alright? I don't have another event in me. I don't care how much Anne liked it. *ooof* Ow, you didn't have to kick me in the nads dear woman. OK you've "convinced" me I care, but I still don't have the stamina.)

Correct me, but didn't we *just* do this go-like cosmic power thing in Avengers vs. X-Men a couple of years ago?



I'd like to say I love Sorrentino's art - it certainly has a distinctive style - but this sequence sinks it by being SO WRONG:

[If you compare her to the ass end of a Badoon warrior, I guess...]

Back to the final wrap-up issues...the only question is, will Bendis do an art-jam wank in the final issue? Will he? [spoiler: ugh.]

While we're waiting to see how that plays out, Bendis pulls a fast one with Bobby's constant misogyny, outing him:


Which shouldn't come as much of a surprise if we assume they're part of the normal human population and just have to hide - but amazingly this got all sorts of boy shorts in a knot as if Bendis was taking something *away* from Bobby, rather than giving him something *extra*. Boy are people weird about shit that doesn't affect them.

[Aaron · Rating 1 out of 5]

Another empty, useless entry in Bendis's ultimately empty, useless X-Men run. The issues in this volume barely deserves to be collected as a complete book. Besides one standalone story (that's a complete stall and waste of time), each of these is a disconnected, short-run story that doesn't even resolve within this collection. There are two issues from the terrible Black Vortex story, which will make zero sense unless you're reading that crossover in order. Then the volume ends with something that SEEMS like a cliffhanger, but in fact is just a failure to resolve anything, particularly since the "resolution" is in Uncanny X-Men, Volume 6. I put resolution in quotes there because, well, nothing in Bendis's entire X-Men run resolves in any satisfying way, so even if you do bother to read that book, it won't matter.

This has a been a wildly squandered opportunity basically from the get-go, and has made me decide not to read anything new by Bendis anymore. I'll continue with Guardians of the Galaxy in hopes it picks up, but that's likely the last of his work I'll read. It's sad, because his New Avengers and Daredevil runs were fantastic, and House of M is probably still my favorite Marvel crossover ever. But blown premise after blown premise over the past 5 or so years have really made me realize, he's either overworked, not even trying anymore, or both.

[Ｆｒａｎｋｈ · Rating 2 out of 5]

[Natasha · Rating 3 out of 5]

skipped the black vortex run because i didn't care. this run was overall super underwhelming and supports my opinion Bendis sucks at teams

[Daniel Butcher · Rating 1 out of 5]

The worst type of collection.

A one issue story that is bleh.

Two issues of Black Vortex without conclusion or context.

Two issues of a CW based X-Men story.

The issues themselves might be fine alone but in a collection is a rough go.

[Hailee · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well this was a clusterfuck.

[Jesse A · Rating 2 out of 5]

This series went out with a whimper. Too bad.

[47Time · Rating 2 out of 5]

I like the artwork a great deal more. The characters undergo some changes as a result of the Black Vortex crossover, so at least there is evolution there. Making young Iceman gay was out of the blue and totally useless, but it sure is a way to tell him apart from his older self. I could have done without the teenage angst. It takes up too much space in what is supposed to an action-oriented comic. If you like drama, I suppose it's ok, but I loathe it when a young character uses the word 'unnerved.'

Emma takes Jean to Madripoor for a training exercise to improver her control over her non-psychic powers. After Black Vortex the X-Men go through the whole 'we survived another impossibly dangerous intergalactic mission, so yey us!'-nonsense. I almost thought the new team of mutants on Utopia Island would save the overly dramatic teenage soap opera. Instead they just join the X-Men club.

[ir · Rating 2 out of 5]

review for the ENTIRE run: going SO well until the battle of the atom shit. everything after that just happened too fast and there was so many stupid shit. mostly, for this time travel run, i just wanted there to be an exploration of characters and that wasn’t really done? it was only done up till the battle of the atom and a bit after but not enough. it lost its cohesiveness after that as well. characterization was nice but there was too much of a focus on jean grey? slightly annoying - she’s tuff and is cool but, i don’t like this annoying and holier-than-thou young version of her even though she’s going through a lot. also, wish there was more emma frost and magneto in this. there wasn’t even enough cyclops in this. honestly, a lot of the xmen not on cyclops’ side pissed me off so much cause pls. can’t u see he’s fucking right.

[Keith · Rating 1 out of 5]

OMG GARBAGE JESUS CHRIST.

There's one good issue in this book, where Emma and Jean Grey do a little bit of field training to practice Jean's telekinesis. It's not deep and it's not earth-shattering, but it's competent and pretty.

The rest: dreck.

The time-travelling X-Men are back on Earth after the events of Black Vortex, but Bendis has literally and completely run out of ideas for what to do with them, so he makes Iceman gay to sell a few books. Like, literally. Gay Iceman, and nothing else happens. The X-Men sit on a hill for literally like three issues in a row, and one character asks "why are we sitting on this hill for so long?" and no one does anything because Bendis was just wiping his butt with this script. NOTHING HAPPENS.

There's one issues with The Utopians, a band of outcast mutants that come across the team's path in order to teach them a lesson about tolerance -- like, for not even a full issue, a half-issue? A seriously garbage number of pages.

AND THAT IS FUCKING IT.

The man should be ashamed, but you can't wax your head with shame.

[Jordan Lahn · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's really annoying that all of the Black Vortex issues are being released both in the Black Vortex collection and also in their separate series collections. There is no point in even trying to read these issues seperate from the other chapters of the event. Realistically, they're only included because the final collection would only have the 2 non-event issues. Sadly those issues aren't great either. Once again, they're forced to set up and wrap up a new arc quickly before Secret Wars takes over. And there is a pretty big bomb dropped about an original X-Man which would have more resonance if the series didn't apparently end right away, leaving another writer (presumably) to decide whether to do anything with that plot thread post-Secret Wars (assuming it doesn't just get retconned out of existence immediately). Disappointing end to this

[Artemy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Same problem as with the last volume of Guardians — friggin black vortex event. It takes up a major chunk of this volume and without reading the rest of the event you don't even have any idea what is going on there.
But even if it wasn't for the event, this volume still was pretty forgettable and unexciting. Reading this arc in sigle issues as they came out bored the hell out of me. That may also be because I have no idea who these Utopians are, nor do I care enough to find out (i guess there were some stories about them in AvX or somewhere else?)
Anyway, as a (probably) last volume of this run, this is a major letdown.

[Emmett Spain · Rating 2 out of 5]

A poor collection of otherwise okay stories. Inside you will find:

1 x issue of no consequence to anything.

2 x issues that only make sense in the context of the larger Black Vortex event.

2 x issues starting off a story that concludes in an Uncanny X-Men volume.

Also, a whole bunch of black & white artwork to pad out the page count.

Weak.

[Jonathan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This volume lacked consistency thanks to wonderful crossover events. On the whole, I still enjoyed it. Especially since one of my favorite lesser X-Men returned.

Boom-boom!

[Sonic · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoying this series quite a bit, thank you very much!

[Paul · Rating 3 out of 5]

Most of this volume I'd already read as part of the Black Vortex collection and what was left felt kind of tacked on. It was OK; nothing special. For X-Men completists only, really.

[Nate]

The least of the All-New X-Men volumes. I should note that even though this is the final volume of the series, the last volume of Bendis’ Uncanny is the true ending of his X-Men run, and should be read after this. The final page of the final issue in this volume says the story is concluded in Uncanny 600, which is contained in that final Uncanny volume.

So the book opens with a forgettable one-shot about Emma and Jean, followed by two issues taking place in the middle of the Black Vortex crossover. I made it twenty pages into the Black Vortex trade before realizing I had better things to do with my time. And these two issues are pretty much useless removed from the rest of the issues in that event.

The book finishes with a meh two-issue arc that addresses what happened to Utopia. It’s perhaps most notable for the scene where Jean outs Bobby as gay by reading his mind. I don't oppose this retcon, but it feels rushed, coming right at the end of the series. Jean and Bobby handle the situation well enough I suppose.

I still maintain that Bendis didn't need to have two separate X-Men books. Reading both series in tandem at least made clear to me that Uncanny is the better of the two, and probably the only one I'd read again. The original five X-Men, though they did appear in Uncanny, did not need to stick around for more than a single arc. Bendis ran out of meaningful things for them to do.

[Judah Radd · Rating 3 out of 5]

It’s not bad. I address the Black Vortex tie ins in another review.

The big reveal here is that Iceman is gay. I don’t have a problem with Iceman (or any character) being gay... but it’s a bit hard to wrap my mind around because it’s so obvious to me that no other writer going back to the 60s ever thought Iceman was gay. A few years of foreshadowing could have gone a long way. An errant gay thought bubble here, some unspoken longing there... something. This seems more like a last minute editorial call.

Besides that, there’s an awesome kiss between Laura Kinney and Angel, which I’d been looking forward to.

And that’s about it. It’s not a very heavy duty collection, and the last issue seems kinda rushed.

Anyway, still worth reading.

[Lucas Savio · Rating 5 out of 5]

Aaa eu curti muitoo essa fase. N considero uma fase com arcos clássico mas sim divertidos. Bendis sabe mover um roteiro é incrível.
Parte da história é do arco black vortex com a melhor parte da história com os desenhos de sorrentino e começa com a arte do del mundo (que particularmente n curto muito, acho q ele deveria continuar como capista rsrsrs) e o final da fase tem a famosa saida do armário do homem de gelo, que de saída n foi nada ele foi é expulso pela jean grey mas que os diálogos após isso foi lindoo de maiss.

[Izza · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars | Not really sure what the hell this volume was about? Someone please tell me if I missed something, but I felt like none of the issues were connected and it was just confusing... Also Maria Hill looked like a child (and that really bothered me for some unknown reason).