All-New X-Men Annual #1

The Good

My view of Eva Bell has completely changed. I've mentioned before that she didn't really catch my attention among the other new X-Men recruited by Cyclops. With a story continuing UNCANNY X-MEN ANNUAL #1, we find out what happens next to Eva Bell with her journey through time. The revelations were surprising and even though we have an idea on how things have to end, it's still pretty heavy hitting.

Brian Michael Bendis gets the chance to really flesh out who Eva is. The scope of her powers and abilities is eye-opening and we know have to look at her in a new light. After reading these two issues, you'll want to go back and read her other appearances to look for any signs of how this adventure affected her. We also get some interesting insight into the cause and affects of time traveling, especially how the butterfly effect might work in the Marvel Universe when traveling into the future.

Andrea Sorrentino's art is insanely good. It's completely fitting with the trippy nature of the time traveling. Getting to see other moments in time is remarkable. With Marcelo Maiolo's colors, you'll be in awe with all the visuals. Usually I think there should be a limit in the number of double page spreads in an issue but here, I wanted even more. This is an issue I'll want to keep set aside so I can revisit the artwork.

The Bad

The only real 'bad' thing is pretty much knowing how the story has to end. The point of these two issues was really more about discovering what happened. Now we look at Eva differently. Her character has taken a huge jump.

The Verdict

It's not often I read a comic and have to stop to take it all in. The story of Eva Bell is both fantastic and tragic. Brian Michael Bendis has taken the concept of time traveling to add some huge character development to Eva. There's no going back to who she was before. Even if you read the first part of the story in UNCANNY X-MEN ANNUAL #1, you won't be prepared for Andrea Sorrentino's art and Marcelo Maiolo's colors. The art here will make you want to weep with joy. This comic is more than just a read; it's an experience.

anyone else remember when the same kinda thing happened to Magik in the New Mutants first series? hopefully this will mean more then that did

Can't wait to read this. Loved the other annual.

@kid_apollo: Yeah, I totally remember that. Part of what makes me like Illyana.

i find it truly fascinating the different views i get on this comic series (Uncanny X-men, which this is basically an issue of even if it's an Amazing X-men annual). More so then any other series in recent memory, i've heard very little consistent though on this series. Comicvine often lauds it with 5/5's, yet CBC has yet to give any issue a higher then a 7/10. In fact i distinctly remember both gave issue 21 i think it was a 6/10 or 3/5, but one said it was a better issue in a crap series, the other said it was a weak issue in a great series,

Largely because of the art, i decided to pick up the last annual. Comicvine gave it a 5/5, CBC gave a 5/10, i wanted to see where i fell. To say i wanted my money back was an understatement. and my opinion is unchanged from picking up the second part. i do not see where all the phrase comicvine gives this series comes from, it feels like something that was half ass-ed and had little passion thrown into it.

Opinion's are opinion's, and that's fine, but from here on out, i have to take any high score from G-man with a slight grain of salt, that's 10 bucks i won't be getting back. Great art though.

Oh man, I really need to pick these up. Since she was introduced, I kinda liked Eva, but she (and every other character in Uncanny X-Men who isn't Cyclops) hasn't had nearly enough development or screen (panel?) time. Can't wait to see how and why she grows and changes as a character. Hopefully, the other new characters will get their own arcs to help flesh them out as well.

It was nice to see one of Cyclops' mew mutants be explained...

I think it was kind of odd that this was an All New X-Men annual, since it didn't have anything to do with the original X-Men.

If I've said it once I've said it a thousands times Sorrentino needs to do a Doctor Strange book(At the very least some kind of magical supernatural type of thing)

Sorrentino's art is easily among my favorites now.

Opinions are opinions. There was a time Bendis was dragging, but overall, he's doing amazing job!

this was incredible!!!!

@kid_apollo:

I think she will save Professor X from being killed by Cyclops.

My only complaint is that I started reading this looking to read more about the All-New X-Men that are normally in this book, and they never showed up. Little disappointed by that, but still a good story.

Thanks for explaining it continued from Uncanny Annual @g_man, I read it last night and was a bit confused since I don't read Uncanny. Since it didn't have anything to do with the usual book, I'm not sure why they decided to do this in All-New. I didn't know the character and just wasn't invested.