All-New X-Men, Vol. 2

All-New X-Men (2012) (Collected Editions) #3-4

by Brian Michael Bendis, Chris Claremont, Stan Lee

Collects All-New X-Men #11-15 And #18-21, And X-Men: Gold #1.

The time-displaced young X-Men continue to adjust to a present day that’s more awe-inspiring and disturbing than they could ever have imagined! But will a tragic history repeat itself when Mastermind targets Jean Grey? And as one of their number departs to join the adult Cyclops’ crew of revolutionaries, the teens encounter the Uncanny Avengers — and young Cyclops meets the adult version of his brother, Havok! Then, in the fallout from BATTLE OF THE ATOM, Kitty Pryde and the All-New X-Men’s faith in Wolverine’s Jean Grey School has been completely eroded — so where have they gone, instead, and what will they do? And how will the teens react to their newest member, the ferocious X-23?

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

226 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 15, 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

[Jirka Navrátil · Rating 4 out of 5]

Stále si to drží laťku. Staro-nový X-meni jsou fajn. Starej Cyclops je pořád čurák.

[Rob Marney · Rating 5 out of 5]

This volume is the best of the series. In these little, disconnected story arcs, Bendis shows how the All-New team can be fun. There's all the staples of a teen hero book: conscience-free fights against low-level villains like Lady Mastermind and the Purifiers, romance drama, going to town and attempting to hang out with normal kids, etc. In an inspired addition to the team, X-23 shows up and provides a great contrast to the hyperventilating, navel-gazing main cast. The art is great as usual, and the amount of time spent arguing over whether they need to go back in time is mercifully short (probably because all that is collected in the Battle of the Atom HC instead).

[Patrick Book · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty good! Time travel always seems to make things unnecessarily complicated.

[The Sapphic Nerd · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are some pretty good character interaction moments in this volume. I love Kitty Pryde and Jean's serious talk, the reunion of Scott and his brother, Kitty talking about being Jewish, Kitty and Magik, the confrontation between Jean and the Stepford Cuckoos, and throwing Laura Kinney into the mix. The plot isn't as interesting, but the highlight interactions make up for it.

I actually like the way Scott Summers is written in this. There's a couple of moments between Scott and Laura especially that stand out to me for why people would admire and like him. Too bad it's only his younger self written this way and not his older self.

I would have liked to see more happen between Jean and Rachel Grey. I understand feeling awkward around each other but you'd think they'd also be curious. Maybe that'll happen in the next volume?

Several artists worked on this, but overall it's a great book visually. Lots of colour and really nice lines.

3.5 stars.

[Marcus Leong · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love the new uniform of the original five! Black was never really the colour for the X-Men (yup, Jim Lee's design of the X-Men is the best for me). However, I'd rather they do a full reboot of the X-Men than this…half-hearted attempt to have their cake and eat it. Knowing Marvel's method of handling multi-chronological and multidimensional stories, a lot of lazy deux ex machina will result from it.
(Spider-Man is prob the only Marvel character that has the privilege of having great time and space traveling stories.)

The best stories however are at the additional ones at the back (not part of the current All New X-Men run). The X-Men displaying impeccable teamwork, and a Cyclops-Jean Grey relationship that's how it's made to be. Really nothing to complain about there.

[Martin · Rating 3 out of 5]

The art is perfect! The story... not so much.

It's just that nothing really meaningful is happening. The first arc is kinda pointless, but fun. The second arc in this volume was supposed to be interesting since the original Five decided to go to Cyclops. Well... you could read the whole arc and not even notice they were with Cyclops!!! It was such a bad cop-out, it made me really furious. I liked X-23, but that story never went anywhere...

I enjoy the series and I'll keep reading it, but I really hope the next volume would be better.

[Tom Malinowski · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the X-Men chooses Scott's side. In no way is this a sense of betrayal as the Kitty goes over to Scott's side anyways due to the Battle of the Atom. Kitty and Illyana both train the team and even get another new member, X-23. Young Scott meets older Alex, and for once it's a kinship that hearkens to the older days. More importantly, they get new outfits finally.

[Gerky · Rating 4 out of 5]

Continuing much the same vein as the previous volume. If you didn't enjoy it, it won't change your mind. Simple as that. However, if you enjoyed it. definitely continue with the series.

[Jdetrick · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm really enjoying watching the X-Men from the past deal with the X-Men of the present, and I also like how many different characters and plotlines Bendis is juggling.

[Ming · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun read. Wish they'd made it clearer which Book of Uncanny X-Men this corresponded to...

[Roxie]

I like this series and i like these characters but i’m really getting tired of whole jean, Scott and hank love triangle thing. And it’s sad how jean seems to be soo manipulative.

[Ernest · Rating 3 out of 5]

The original X-Men have travelled forward through time, but it is now the teenagers that have to contend with a world darker, fractured and split within mutants (and other superheros). Villains like the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants have a new plan, there is never enough time to get the teenagers up to speed with being a superhero in the new world, the various factions (including the Uncanny Avengers) have their own philosophies, and with a Jean Grey of any description, there is always the Phoenix to worry about…

I was surprised at how much I enjoyed this volume. There is physically a lot here, allowing for a decent chunk to read to get a sense of continuity. The storytelling and art were well done, with the being good pacing between action and non-action scenes. The X-Men Gold stories were a step down in quality from the All-New X-Men issues – I wasn’t a fan of the art style, but it was overall serviceable rather than anything spectacularly great.

[Kimberly Godwin · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was super disappointed with how the original X-Men and Kitty jumped from the Jean Grey School to whatever it is at the Old Weapon X project that Magneto and Cyclops are doing between books. It was a major issue in the last volume to have it handwaved seems rather cheap. Also disappointed with how Laura got handled this volume.

[Michael Giuliano · Rating 4 out of 5]

I should probably grab the Battle of the Atom story, to help fill in some of the gaps, but otherwise great as always.