After the events of Avengers vs. X-Men, the X-Men are left shaken by Cyclops' corruption at the hands of the Phoenix Force. Beast is especially affected by the betrayal and manages to bring back the original five X-Men from the past in order to remind his fellow X-Man of just how much has changed.
All-New X-Men: Yesterday's X-Men collects the first five issues of the series, featuring writing by Brian Michael Bendis and art by Stuart Immonen.
As one of Marvel's premiere writers, Brian Michael Bendis has penned the adventures for the Avengers for years and All-New X-Men marks his foray into the world of the X-Men. The premise for the series is simple -- the X-Men of the past are brought to the present in order to right the wrongs Cyclops has committed. Stories involving time travel can be quite tricky and can add more confusion to an already complicated timeline. Thankfully, Bendis covers his bases by explicitly stating that the X-Men of the past will have their memories wiped by the Professor Xavier of their time, thereby removing their knowledge of the future. The only characters affected will be those in our present, which is exactly what Beast is hoping for.
As the X-Men of yesteryear deal with their new surroundings, Cyclops is busy recruiting new mutants to a school he is starting. This subplot seems a little out of place, but is quite obviously meant as an entry point into Bendis' run on Uncanny X-Men. The jury's also out on how interesting they will be, but each has potential.
The overall tone of the title is consistent and the story is quite interesting. The downside to all of this is that All-New X-Men has large quantity of characters. Bendis is clearly finding his feet with these issues, but he's also using one too many mutants right off the bat. The surplus of mutants limits his ability to portray them uniquely and give them each enough time to shine. That said, there are some characters that stand out. Kitty Pryde proves to be a scene stealer and teen Jean Grey has the strongest personality of the original X-Men. Beast is also given quite a bit of attention and is the character on which much of the action hinges upon. Unfortunately, he's nowhere near as likeable as the others. He's stubborn and short-sighted in his inability to accept the reasoning behind Cyclops' actions.
All-New X-Men is an action-packed, character-driven title. Stuart Immonen's art is jaw-dropping and is brimming with personality, adding to the overall sense of dynamism to this collection. However, this volume is not a self-contained story and requires quite a bit of working knowledge of the characters in order to understand what is going on. Additionally, its plot is almost entirely meant as a set-up for future issues and Bendis' work on Uncanny X-Men. That said, it's worth the read and is a promising start to the series.
Rating: B+
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