Comic Vine Review

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All-New X-Men #33

4

The X-Men have to acclimate to this more hostile universe with a quickness, or be overwhelmed by the subtle differences!

The Good

Crossovers (the kind that don’t involve multiple titles) can be a tricky needle to thread in their own right. Titles have different feels and tones that can become muddled or lose some of their originality if a writer doesn’t quite “get” what the appeal of the title they’re crossing into is. This, of course, can be easily corrected by simply having one group of characters cross into another that the same writer is responsible for! Brian Bendis helped design and build the Ultimates universe from the ground up and even though his name mostly appears on MILES MORALES: ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN these days, you can still feel his influence across how that world has changed and developed in the years since it was introduced to a whole new crop of readers. The interesting thing about the Ultimate universe is that it isn’t THAT different from the 616, but what differences are there are incredibly important. Particularly when we’re dealing with a group of displaced mutants, as we are here. It’s interesting to see Bendis use those differences in ways both subtle and overt, most especially people’s instant and violent distrust of mutants in the wake of Ultimatum. While they don’t exactly get the red carpet treatment in the 616, they’re positively reviled across the board here. But we also get to see a very interesting dinner featuring Beast and the still-hooved Dr. Doom (how does he sit in that chair?) that could lead to some very interesting, disturbing implications. Bendis manages to juggle an absolute TON of characters, but still manages to go out of his way to characterize each and every one of them with their own unique, interesting quirks and ways of speaking.

Mahmud Asrar is back on track as a perfect fit for this particular title. His linework beautifully defines the characters and they’re wearing their emotions on their sleeves with both facial and body language. We open up with a great Iceman VS Mole Man fight scene that has a wonderful feeling of flow and momentum to it, gracefully guiding the reader through the encounter and Marte Gracia’s colors absolutely explode with bright, bold tones. There’s also a lot of darkness and shadow underneath all that brightness, and that, more than almost anything else, gives this universe its feel.

The Bad

How some of the characters, most especially James Howlett, X-23 and Angel, wind up where they do is baffling and it makes me question just how much time has gone by. Last we saw Laura she was on a highway driving on a major interstate somewhere in New York. Now she’s in the wilderness outside where mutants were first created. Then Angel, who apparently flew from Antarctica (the Savage Land, remember) is there followed within SECONDS by James who apparently WALKED at the same pace Angel flew. This was a large portion of the issue and, while it’s not a major plot point, it feels like a serious corner was cut.

The Verdict

Geographical head-scratchers aside, this issue is great fun. I enjoyed Miles and Jean’s interactions a great deal more, we get some Ganke, and I’m happy anytime hoofed Doom shows up. It may not have the Earth-shattering consequences of some recent storylines, but there’s a certain fun atmosphere permeating and a real “How’re they gonna get out of THIS one” feel giving it a solid sense of whimsy.