X-Men: The (fan fic) Series

I heart Angel. I also heart young Warren.

The conversation these two have is funny, heartwarming, and extremely sad at the same time. Warren sees that something has obviously happened to him, not that nobody wanting to talk to him about it wasn’t already a dead give away. He wants to know so badly what happened, why he has metal wings, etc, and all Angel can do is just make him more confused.

They then decide to help save Avenger’s Tower since the Avengers aren’t home  and Angel is all very innocent about it while Warren is ‘uh, shouldn’t we call for backup?’ Of all the ‘old team’ members sans Jean, Warren and Angel seem like the two farthest apart but closest together. Sure, the Scott’s seem like complete opposites but really one is just an extreme form of the other. The two Warrens really are two separate individuals now and it’ll be interesting to see how that plays out. Especially after Jean’s little whammy on Warren (which I’ll get to in a bit).

This issue then ends on two very important scenes. The first being young Scott walking up to Captain America and being… well… young Scott. It’s like “how can you be mad at that face?!?”. When you have the entire Avengers team stunned, even Black Widow visibly shocked and Hawkeye without a snarky comment, then you know you hit the mark. He might have even earned points with Wolverine (which I’m kinda now really wanting to see some more growth with those two as, maybe not friends, but definitely not the rivals they once were).

The second major moment was Jean putting the whammy on Warren. Of everyone in the old team she’s the one with the most to gain and most to lose as at least everyone else is still alive. It’s so ominous that you have to wonder if this is really where things are heading or is it a red-harring? But Jean going evil without the Phoenix is something that could very easily happen and would definitely have a strong impact on the mutant community, for better or worse…

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Can we just stop and give a round of applause to Mystique?

I mean, seriously, I was on the fence about how she was going to come into things and what she wanted with Scott… but she really just blew me away here. I could go on for ages about her short but important role in this issue, but it all comes down to this: She treated young Scott like who he is, not who he will be.

True, she had her own motives. True, she may have just set off a time bomb. But so far no one has actually sat down and just talked to Scott, listened to him, accepted that he’s not the same person as old Scott. She didn’t pre-judge him. She was sympathetic and listened. It was one of the most honest and legit conversations Scott has had since he got there.

Which means because she had the audacity to treat him like a person, she’s had the biggest impact, for better or for worse. If the X-Men had simply treated young Scott with the same courtesy, then we wouldn’t be in the mess this is surely going to make.

A few other nice touches in this issue (which, at this point, I’m going to say is the best issue so far) is the bank lady who so much wanted to ‘be a mutant’ because being human is so boring.

“Everyone has something that makes them special.”

I heart you Scott, please don’t change into old Scott, please be spared suffering through an onslaught of writers using you as their whipping boy.

Also, Kitty makes an interesting teacher, focusing on combat training which only seems to prove Mystique’s point. Of course this is subtly hid under some fun young Bobby moments. He’s just so adorable in an annoying kind of way.

And the end, well, that’s food for thought… was Scott trying to remind Jean that he isn’t his future, right now he’s only his past, which included an undying love for her? Or was that Scott’s way of giving up, accepting that they will never have what they once had.

With the Avengers showing up in the next issue… only time will tell.

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All-New X-Men #6

Review: All-New X-Men #6

This issue is a little slower, mostly it deals with Jean and Scott.

Jean is coming to grips with the fact that now she is a telepath, plus she now knows what has happened to her. That’s a pretty heavy burden to carry seeing as she died several times, her family was horribly killed cause of her bloodline, and Scott was, well, Scott. So really, this is just backlash from the last issue but without any real hook.

Scott continues to be an outcast because of things he hasn’t done yet, which will probably lead him into becoming what everyone fears he will become. He steals Logan’s bike and goes into town and we have a very typical ‘fish out of time’ scene. Though it does beg the question why does Logan have that much cash in his jacket? A fight ensues and Scott runs off to presumably confront himself again. This can’t end well.

Angel finally meets Angel. It’s a bit awkward both for the young Angel and the reader. Old Angel is a bit Looney Toons which I dont’ think young Angel has quite caught onto by the end of the small scene. Maybe we’ll get more in the next issue.

Speaking of next issue(s), Mystique is back in the game and has her sights on young Scott… why? I guess we’ll find out soon enough.

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All-New X-Men #5

Review: All-New X-Men #5

While Hank is attempting to save… Hank, Jean discovers more about herself than she probably ever wanted to know.

That’s really the crux of this whole issue. The one member of the team who is dead finds out why… and when she does, she doesn’t like what she sees. Granted, no one wants to be dead, but considering everything Jean went through, all the times she died and came back, her relationship with Scott being such as it was… it is enough to terrify anyone… and I’m pretty sure that’s what happened.

Jean is smart, she knows if they go back then the Professor will find out and wipe their minds and they won’t have learned anything from seeing the future. A bunch of people are okay with that but she’s not okay with it. She claims they can do better here, fixing the modern world, but in reality I think she just doesn’t want to die, or at least not in the way it happened, nor after Scott cheated on her.

Speaking of which… after learning her fate through Hank’s memories, Jean wants nothing to do with Scott, told him to stay the hell away from her.

I feel sorry for Scott, I really do, this kid hasn’t done anything wrong. Sure, he’s capable of doing many wrongs but he’s a product of his environment… of events both within and outside his control. There is no guarantee he would go all revolutionary or cheat on Jean if he had the chance to again. Wolverine is all about ‘second chances’ like he did with Quire but apparently that doesn’t extend to Scott who is only lucky Wolvie doesn’t gut him.

I fear that if young Scott goes the way of old Scott they will have no one to blame but themselves.

p.s. on a side note, I hope they drop any idea of Wolverine and Jean hooking up, I know he loved her but this Jean isn’t the same one he knew, but more importantly, she’s jail bait, and while Wolvie doesn’t age, if he hangs around waiting for her to become legal… mucho creepy… but thankfully he looks to have moved on from her and will be hooking up with Storm soon.

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All-New X-Men #4

Review: All-New X-Men #3 & #4

It occurred to me that I didn’t post a review of issue 3 a few weeks back, my bad, cause it was pretty good.

Really, the All-New series so easily could have fallen into the pitfalls of camp and cheese but so far it’s doing its best to keep the whole thing organic. Characters have real motivations and legitimate responses to events.

Scott’s reaction to seeing his younger self was pretty spot on. There was no high and holy speech or dramatizing. First he doesn’t believe what he’s seeing, tries to figure out who could do it, who could punish him with reminding him of what he was and what he has become. And they also kept young Scott’s thoughts relatively out of it so not to overload things.

Emma’s reaction was probably the best. Jean Grey, having her around again is all she needed… note the heavy sarcasm there.

Bobby is still pretty funny, always screaming when he sees himself. Angel hasn’t really had a chance to do much, I’m hoping we get his, erm, mentally challenged…? older self in to see what the boy thinks.

Next issue looks to be about Jean which is fair, the girl hasn’t been in anything in a long time, she’s dead after all. I wonder how she’s going to take the whole “I died HOW MANY TIMES?” news. There needs to be at least one blank stare in there somewheres…

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All-New X-Men #2

Review: All-New X-Men #2

Issue one set us up for the time travel and was surprisingly good (because I thought it was going to be very trite and cheesy).

Issue two is a bit slower, mostly giving us the download of getting this guys to the future.

Bobby meeting Bobby was a classic trope but it worked because Bobby is, well, Bobby. Jean putting the whammy on Logan was also pretty darn hilarious.

I was afraid this might be a case of just ‘trying to relive the glory days’ with the old team but so far everything does feel organic and everyone has real reasons to be doing what they are doing. Scott wants to understand how he could have turned into Revolutionary!Scott. Jean wants to know why she is dead. Hank wants is facing down his own mortality as well. Bobby and Angel are along for the ride, trusting their friends.

It really makes you want to know what’s going to happen once these people intersect.

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All-New X-Men #1

Review: All-New X-Men #1

On the face of it the idea of doing a time travel where the original team is brought forward sounds a bit groan-worthy. After all, not only has time travel gotten cliché and over-used in general, but in specific it’s pretty bad with the X-Men. In fact, it’s the X-Men version of the Star Trekian ‘quantum flux’.

What makes all the difference is the framework in which the story is set.

I was pleasantly surprised with All-New X-Men. Hank’s condition has led him towards thinking even farther outside the box, giving him a real reason to do this rather just him getting the idea. This adds a level of credibility to the story than if McCoy simply decided ‘hey, time travel, why not?’.

I like how they not really subtly but not bluntly either basically saying ‘yeah, Scott’s lost his damn mind and his characterization has been shot all to hell’. This is framed nicely by the fact that yes, Scott has indeed lost his mind. Really, I just want to see the look on his face when he sees Jean again, that should be epic!

So yeah, I can do this.

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