The Good

Just when you think you know where the story is headed...

Battle of the Atom has been one of my favorite recent crossover. Seeing the different X-Men interact (and battle) is a treat. With the arrival of "Xorn" on the future X-Men team, we get a battle many have been waiting for. There are so many characters involved and it's great seeing who jumps into the action and who sits back and observes (with some interesting commentary).

As we usually see in this title, Jason Aaron throws in just the right amount of humor when the situation calls for it. This is pretty important in keeping up with the tone that Brian Michael Bendis has established in the earlier chapters of this arc as well as his X-titles.

There are some twists in this issue. This is one of those cases where readers need to see the events unfold for themselves rather than be spoiled. Even though we've had a pretty clear and straightforward story, it turns out there is still more going on. This issue should make you want to continue reader even more than before.

There are some moments where Giuseppe Camuncoli's art really shines. The battle between "Xorn" and the others on the psychic plane while with flashes back to the real world was cool, as was the arrival of a visitor when young Iceman and Beast were babysitting.

The Bad

Despite the two twists that unfold, something felt a little off in this chapter. It could be the shift in the story. There were also some moments Camuncoli's art felt off (Broo immediately comes to mind), despite the other moments it shined.

While it's nice that we get the shift in the story here, rather than drag it out, it almost felt as it came suddenly. There is some momentum building and then it veers in a different direction. Of course it may all make sense when we see the bigger picture.

The Verdict

We've had a lot of crossovers this year. Or at least it feels like it in the various different comics. Battle of the Atom is one I am deeply enjoying. It feels a little odd for the story to crossover into this title but given some of the characters involved, it does make sense rather than to have them strictly involved in a separate series. The overall story takes a bit of a turn here and you definitely will want to know what happens next.

I love this crossover but it's annoying that it took until part 5 (half way) for the plot to really show up. Anyone with me?

It's good to see our reviews lined up in a lot of ways. This was a fantastically written issue. I wish the art had been better.

needs more action. this whole thing is starting to feel like x-men: days of our lives -.-

Not a huge fan of Camuncoli's art, but otherwise love where this story is going.

Think Bendis is gonna lose me like he did in Age of Ultron, started off good but headed the other way fast.

I wish their was more of a reunion between Scott and Xorn.

You have no idea how satisfying it was for me to see Xorn-Jean psychically bitch-slap Emma around. That +vv@+ has had it coming for far too long.

LOL at Magneto's rebuke to Scott re: redheads

Reading Battle of the Atom, Superior Spider-Man, and Indestructible Hulk where they all deal with time-travel issues I realized that heroes in the future most hate the heroes of today considering they screw everything up for them in the long run

This is the only Marvel book I read and I was lost cus I'm not buying all the other and I dont plan on it.

@hero92: You can always just read spoilers elsewhere :-)

In general, I think this was a much better issue than last week's Uncanny X-Men. There was some actual plot progression and the art was much better. I enjoyed it. The psychic battle was aces.

Nice. Can't wait to read it.

The ending was awesome...

The end was awesome sauce, seeing Ice wizard and Colossus with a handle bar moustache and sword lolol

@slympickens:

The good thing is...he isn't writing all of it. I mean, sure, it's outcome is mostly going to be felt in his books, but I'd say Wood and Aaron are just as involved.

This

Can't stand Giuseppe Camuncoli. I always seem to struggle to read Superior Spider-Man when he is on.

Enjoyable psychic battle. I wasn't expecting it to be so easy for Xorn (for the most part) but I guess Emma's powers have been down recently. I don't see why Xavier and Rachel didn't join in--despite the brief mention of Xavier dampening Rachel, which seemed more like a plot device. I feel like Rachel's psychic powers keep getting undersold, she should be one of the most powerful psis out there, but whenever psychic action is called for, someone else does it.

This event continues to be terrific. The pacing is so brisk it's hard to imagine how this could work without the crossover between titles. Can't wait for the rest of this. Love the reveal at the end. Seems like Ice hulk is actually a construct from future Bobby.

If the past X-Men coming to to the present screws everything up, wouldn't Cable being in the present mess the time line up, too?

Psychic showdown and Deadpool's speech! Part V is really great!

I'm just glad they're getting past that ANNOYING "Sure we may cause irreparable damage to the time-stream and the future, but it's our lives and we should have a choice in doing so; . . .and stop treating us teenages like irresponsible kids." agrument.

What was also annoying, in this particular ish, was Deadpool vocalizing that everything he said was a lie - with heightened-senses Wolverine standing right in front of him.

and Cyclops - having died (almost?) because Baby Cyke was there. . . "meh. whateves."?

I know my future self is gonna be pissed at me spending his hard earned money on these comics if they don't start to improve writing-wise

Did anyone thought of Wild Thing in the last page? You know, girl with the pink glasses and psionic wolverine claws.

If the O5 stay in the present there should be two pairs of each of them in the future (past-present/young-old), which applies to Future-Beast since he's alive = 05 Beast must be alive too. The psychic battle was impressive, but I'm a little creeped out by what Xorn-Jean said about Scott to Emma.

I really like this arc, although the way it jumps around between different books does give it a fragmented feel. That's more a general problem with events, but since there are only two event-only issues (BotA #1 and #2), and the vast majority of the story is told in what would usually be non-essential tie-ins, this seems to be suffering from that more. It also has a negative effect on the other series, particularly the new adjectiveless X-Men since that's barely found its feet, having just one 3 issue arc so far and a fillerish 4th issue, with its BotA tie-in feeling completely forced in and nothing at all like the previous 4 issues.

couldn't agree more; another issue of various X-Men shouting at each other. When was the last time the X-Men actually fought a villain, or saved humanity? they're not heroes anymore. They're just a dysfunctional family with endless infights and bitching

Awesome issue. Loved Bobby's reference to Back to the Future 2!

What if Xorn let Young Jean beat her to convince her to leave?