Very shocked that I enjoyed this book so much, both because I really loathe a lot of what Bendis' writing has devolved into the past few years. Even so, this was a wild read and one that made me sad when the book ended.

It's been years since I've bought any X-titles, so there was some confusion but the solidity and grasp of the original team characters belayed all that and I'm really wanting to find out more. NOT quite enough to start buying monthlies again, but eagerly awaiting the next collection, to be sure. ( )

1605 ( )

2021 Summer (July);
Reread of Baby!Jean Arc

Still deeply agreeing with earlier reviews.
~~

I am unabashedly in love. Honestly. You people gave me Jean back, and even as a child I'm in love.

The future and the past are tangled into the mother of all knots when Hank makes the choice to bring The Original X-Men from the past into the future to fix the horror's going on right now. To make Scott Summer have to face who he was, and that there were better choices and deeper beliefs in clearer visions once upon a time.

I love getting to watch all these characters interact. I love watching each of the younger X-Men, who are the whole reason I'm here, interact with the older group. Where Hank is making everyone face the cleaner, clearer, young eyed time. Children who haven't been through as much as them, but who are people, memories, that are infinitely precious and important.

I'm a sucker for everything that is happening with Jean here. It keeps me clinging on by the tips of my fingertips. As we catapult her into being a psychic (which I still think is being handwaved a little too easily on a daily basis, especially with no one there to keep her powers in check or train her ala early 1-100 X-Men books/Xavier), but I'm still loving it. Her conversation in Hank's head, while he's on the table was my turning point for knowing I wanted to keep buying these issues.

The end of volume 1 where Jean is the one who rally's the team with the decision to stay (and fix this world gone to hell) was the moment I knew I was going to love it. Because there she was, my most favorite girl, who makes all the hard right choices, and sacrifices all the things she want, shining through, even though she'd just been given all the horrors of sixty years of history over her earlier-'selves' shoved into her head. Here she was still deciding right.

And stepping out as the leader her earlier self never had to be until much later. I'm in this one for good, yeah. ( )

I went into this book thinking it would be OK - I was blown away with both the story and the art. Lots of different twists and views on things. A kind of reverse time travel story that is not usually told, as time travel is typically a perspective of a group going back in time or from the group going forward in time. In this perspective, we have both, the inside and the outside group and what they are thinking. Lots of character development and interesting interactions. ( )

Oops left this as a comment:

What could be a lame gimmick ends up being incredibly fascinating. Bendis hits the right moments left and right, and Immonen is absolutely perfect on art. Definitely looking forward to more of this. ( )

Currently reading all the books in this series, but I'm only going to mark this first book as actually read.

I'm enjoying catching up on all the newer X-men comics. This series seems to be a good mix of what is going on in the "Uncanny Xmen" and "Wolverine and the Xmen" books. It takes the original X-men when they are kids and before they do anything of note, and brings them to the present. I know.. more Time Traveling X-men. It seems like that is all they do these days.

SPOILERS:

Anyway, everyone in the world is pissed off at Cyclops for killing Xavier while under control of the Phoenix. Cyclops goes on a mutant revolution to help mutantkind now that they are reappearing in the world from the events of House of M. Beast is pissed off that Cyclops is doing this so he goes back and time and takes the original Xmen to the present to hopefully get Cyclops to stop his revolution. Hasn't worked so far as the story I've read.

I still don't understand why everyone doesn't believe Cyclops was under control of the phoenix. Everyone was there when it happened. Not only that, but everyone else who has committed world changing acts (House of M) or messed with time (Beast) get a free pass. It will most likely be explained away in a future book where everyone admits they were just acting on emotions and that Xavier is actually still alive.

Anyway, I would recommend this book to anyone who likes the X-men or if you want a starting point to read these comics. You should read the Avengers vs X-men book first to make the most sense of what is going on, but it is somewhat explained in the books. ( )

I'll stick with the 90s animated series.

In relation to AvX and the other Marvel Now! launch titles, I'm woohoo for these early releases. ( )

Very shocked that I enjoyed this book so much, both because I really loathe a lot of what Bendis' writing has devolved into the past few years. Even so, this was a wild read and one that made me sad when the book ended.

It's been years since I've bought any X-titles, so there was some confusion but the solidity and grasp of the original team characters belayed all that and I'm really wanting to find out more. NOT quite enough to start buying monthlies again, but eagerly awaiting the next collection, to be sure. ( )

In this X-Men's series, Scarlet Witch took away the powers of 99% of all mutants on earth. The Phoenix decided to get involved and possessed and corrupted Cyclops, the leader of the X-Men who then struck down Professor Xavier. It took all of the Avengers and the X-Men to bring him down. The Phoenix Force was dispersed across earth creating new mutants.

Cyclops, with Emma Frost, has joined forces to start recruiting mutants for the new Charles Xavier School for Mutants. At the Jean Grey School for Higher Learning, Kitty Pride, Beast, Iceman, and Storm are concerned about this as no one has ever trusted Magneto and now they aren't sure about Scott after what happened to the Professor. They would, of course, rather have these mutants under their roof learning. It goes without saying that in this world the law and others like them want to lock up mutants.

Beast, however, has another plan to try to change things. He finds a way to go back in time to when he and Scott were just starting out as X-Men in order to bring back the past Scott to see his future self in order to prevent him from becoming that. Like a Christmas Carol in a weird, yet cool way. Only it all goes awry when all of the X-Men insist on coming too. Back then Jean didn't have her telepathic abilities yet and more importantly, she's still alive. Neither side knows what to make of the other when they arrive back in the present. Jean's psychic powers become suddenly activated and she has to figure out how to use them herself on the fly. Beast is ill from traveling back in time and his changing genome so Kitty and the other Beast are working on him.

Nothing, of course, goes according to plan when the two Cyclops's meet. This is a great read with a really cool storyline that is inventive. The paneling in this book is particularly clever. At one point Jean looks into Beast's mind and sees something and the paneling depicts that in the shape of an eye with segments that has Jean in the bottom corner on her knees, exhausted from the mind read. The drawings are really good and the colors really pop, especially when Cyclops uses his ray. I plan on reading more from this series of X-Men books as I hope to find out what happens next. ( )

When I picked up this book I was expecting a rehash of the original X-Men stories and was surprised to see this book take the time travel bent. That being said I think the time travel story line is interesting and I really want to follow the original X-Men in modern times story line that is developing. (This is planned to split into two different series according to the notes at the end.) I do find myself less interested in the Scott Summers is crazy story line. I just couldn't get into it. ( )

When I picked up this book I was expecting a rehash of the original X-Men stories and was surprised to see this book take the time travel bent. That being said I think the time travel story line is interesting and I really want to follow the original X-Men in modern times story line that is developing. (This is planned to split into two different series according to the notes at the end.) I do find myself less interested in the Scott Summers is crazy story line. I just couldn't get into it. ( )

When I picked up this book I was expecting a rehash of the original X-Men stories and was surprised to see this book take the time travel bent. That being said I think the time travel story line is interesting and I really want to follow the original X-Men in modern times story line that is developing. (This is planned to split into two different series according to the notes at the end.) I do find myself less interested in the Scott Summers is crazy story line. I just couldn't get into it. ( )

When I picked up this book I was expecting a rehash of the original X-Men stories and was surprised to see this book take the time travel bent. That being said I think the time travel story line is interesting and I really want to follow the original X-Men in modern times story line that is developing. (This is planned to split into two different series according to the notes at the end.) I do find myself less interested in the Scott Summers is crazy story line. I just couldn't get into it. ( )

What would sound like a tired concept shows very fresh in the good hands of Brian Bendis. His talent of character development turns a slow story without many action scenes in a magnetic adventure. Stuart Immonen's art is as defining as the text with his clean classic art which subtlely gives a nod for some classic artists that contributed to the X-titles.
The book as a whole has a classic feel, like a 60's comic book due to the lots of chatter, but with a pleasant pace, what makes me think that it will please old fans (like me) very much. ( )

In one of the more interesting story lines to come out of AvX, Beast decides that the only way for Cyclops to see what damage he is doing by trying to bring about a mutant revolution is to go back in time and bring the original five teenage X-Men (Cyclops, Marvel Girl, Beast, Iceman, and Angel) to the present, to either shock the current Cyclops into realizing what he has become, or to make sure that the teenage Cyclops does all that he can to not become like his current self.

Honestly, there isn't a lot that goes on in this story arc, which isn't a bad thing. The teenage X-Men need time to understand what exactly is happening in their future, and if they were to throw everyone into a wild adventure right off, it would have felt out of place. Not that there isn't adventuring to be had. The teenage X-Men are able to confront Cyclops and Magneto while they are trying to rescue/recruit another new mutant to their new Charles Xavier School for Gifted Youngsters (the former location of Weapon X), and since this is a comic, of course this meeting can't go down without a fight. But really, this volume is about coming to terms: current Cyclops and crew coming to terms with what he did during the Phoenix Event; teenage X-Men coming to terms with what their future has in store for them; everybody else coming to terms with the fact that current Beast did what he did by bringing them to the teenage X-Men to the present. Of all the characters, it's young Jean Grey who seems to mature the most rapidly, and I'm excited to see what is in store for her character. Jean Grey has always been my favorite character (in any and all of her identities), so to have her back in the X-Universe in any sort of fashion is exciting for me.

Bendis does an admirable job of holding everything together nicely with this story. I think his big, sprawling crossovers always end up a little too big and sprawling, but he can handle a single issue story line and character development quite nicely. Stuart Immonen's art is very clean and fresh, and I like seeing his take on the original X-Men.

While not a lot happens, I'm anxious to see where this story line is going to go, and see how the teenage X-Men deal with learning even more about what has happened over the years to get them to this point. ( )

#1-5 ( )

Aw, this is actually a good read! The premise is great because not only are the original X-Men coming back to confront today's X-Men with what they've become, in a way that's also the original Marvel Universe coming back to confront today's MU with what's become of it, and you know I ain't gonna say no to that. The character moments are good and not hokey and they manage to sell you on the idea that these are special people who can change things without forgetting that they're also kids. ( )