Surprisingly good.
SPOILERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This series I was originally quite sceptical about I mean I didn't really buy the idea of the five original X-men coming forward in time it just seemed like a lame idea but I was intrested to see what would happen and it was actually pretty good I'm also probably going to buy the whole of this series. Note some images may get repeated when I talk about the artist because I'm go have a serious talk about why Stuart Immonem is so good.
Plot
This issue starts off with Beast Mutating due to the outbreak in new Mutants then we are introduced to a new mutant who after a incident when she is under stress uses her mutant power Cyclops Emma Frost eventually come and rescue her. Then we have a scene at the Jean Grey school when they are discussing what they should do with Cyclops they eventually decide to get in to the Blackbird and go stop Cyclops. While this is happening Cyclops has rescued another mutant. Beast eventually travels back in time to the five original X-men.
Review
This cover goes onto the back of the book and has the five original X-men on the front and Cyclops team of X-men on the back the next issue will have Wolverine's team on it. The cover itself is a fairly standard 1st issue cover but it's Stuart Immonem so it will obviously be great and the emotion on the characters faces are great and everyone is nicely laid out. The best of all the covers for this is the Deadpool one which is really funny and I really like it I wish I could have got it.
What I liked about this issue was the possible developments with Beast because it could be an interesting development for him and I want to see what happens in future issues.This issue does focus mainly around Beast as it makes the time travel aspect of the issue make sense Beast doesn't see any way he can solve it so he tries to get someone else to help stop Cyclops he gets the five original X-men! This way might actually work as I assumed they would by accident get sent forward in time but they don't.
The first mutant we are introduced to doesn't have the most original power but the way it is triggered makes sense because they are normally triggered by stressful situations and this one is caused when the girl (Eva) is trying to go out with a boy and her over protective brother who does seem a little hard to believe but the result is she loses control of her powers and freezes time for 20 hours and then Cyclops visits her and persuades her to join him she unfreezes time and is ambushed by the army and then Cyclops comes back and takes the army out. This scene does introduce new mutants which is interesting it also brings back the classic X-men theme of being hated and feared which was always one of the things I loved about them so this scene was very interesting. It also had one of the best action scenes I have ever scene it's one page but it has so much energy to it Stuart Immonem draws the best action scenes and this is a prime example of that.
This issue does have some nice character moments in it in the way of the discussion at the Jean Grey school about what they should do with Cyclops they don't know what to do he was once there friend and now the more terrorist strikes he makes the more danger he puts the Jean Grey school in this is an interesting conversation and you can seriously see the implications of what Cyclops is doing and why they have to do something about it this really feels like we have gone back to the whole hated and feared theme the X-men had from the beginning.
A second mutant is discovered with very similar powers to Elixir healing powers he again is rescued by Cyclops and then he gives a rather bad ass speech about why Mutants should not be feared I'm not a big Cylcops fan but this was seriously bad ass with another wonderfully drawn Stuart Immonem action scene.
The original X-men appear right at the end with a scene from as I understand it X-men 8? The original dialogue from the issue isn't used well I wouldn't have really liked that since you would have got some of the original 1960s cheesy dialogue but this dialogue is great and some of it's quite funny. While they aren't brought forward in time in this issue you can kind of see why it's going to happen. When I saw a preview for it I was wondering what did Beast just say it seemed a bit over the top but reading this issue it does make sense and it does leave you with a great cliffhanger.
Stuart Immonem I cannot praise his art enough he is one of my favourite artists he has such a great style to his work with so much energy to it and pardon the cliché but his art leaps off the page it is so dynamic and the action scenes have never looked so good there's not many in this issue but the ones that are are so unbelievably good I mean that one splash page has some much energy to it no one looks stiff and the emotions are amazing he draws the best action scenes in comics. He also captures the character moments perfectly especially with the young X-men you see the older versions of some of them in this issue and you can tell the difference it's just the tiny ways he draws people he also manages to draw everyone perfectly Storm looks incredibly beautiful and strong Beast looks great and sad because of the position he's in and the Young Mutant Eva looks like a teenage girl with her facial expressions and body language it's incredible how much detail he puts into people.
Verdict
This was a great start I was skeptical at first but this issue proved me wrong this was a strong issue and the art was amazing my only complaint is that the mutants powers are pretty similar to previous mutants we have seen.
4.5 stars.
