Comics: All New X-men #16

It’s interesting that they chose to release the second issue of the Battle of the Atom event on the same day as its debut. I can see it causing confusion when people just buy this issue of All New X-men and find themselves smack down in the middle of a event. This issue picks up from the end of the previous issue, allowing us to get to know the future X-men that have arrived.

Not surprisingly past Jean Grey decides she is unhappy with the idea of being sent back, knowing the future that awaits her. This version of Jean has proven herself to he far more proactive than we have ever seen her, resilient in her goal to change the present. She is understandably unwilling to travel back to her time with only loss and death to look forward to, escaping and pulling Scott in with her.

The future team is an interesting mix of classic X-men characters and other popular mutants, including a future version of Molly Hayes from the Runaways (who really needs to be in the modern day comics). The presence of aged Kitty Pryde conjures up memories of the classic storyline Days of Future Past, which also centres on time travel. It’s also interesting to see a future evolution of Beast, as that guy apparently can’t look the same for more than five minutes anymore. I’m also intrigued by the notion that Iceman will evolve into some sort of abominable snowman-like creature. The designs of the future X-men are great, channeling post-apocalypse clothing and also allowing for some wacky designs. The reveal of who the masked X-man is is fantastic and a great cliffhanger to end the series on.

This issue is slightly less exciting than the opening, although there is a small battle between the two X-men teams, as there always appears to be when two teams call themselves the X-men. The last minute reveal while great isn’t really set up enough to carry the comic, though the mystery of what exactly has occurred in the future is still there. It is going to be interesting to see how this series evolves and whether it can it can maintain momentum across 10 issues.

[Originally published on: www.vadamagazine.com]