Review - All-New X-Men Volume 4: All-Different

Kitty Pryde and the All-New X-Men have left Wolverine’s Jean Grey School, joining up with Cyclops and his team at the Weapon X facility. They’re given new uniforms and are sent on a mission to rescue a mutant from the religious zealots known as the Purifiers, unaware that they’re saving an old friend of the X-Men.

All-New X-Men Volume 4: All-Different collects All-New X-Men #18-21, written by Brian Michael Bendis and illustrated by Stuart Immonen, Brandon Peterson, and Mahmud Asrar. It also features the one-shot X-Men Gold, which features vignettes by Chris Claremont, Stan Lee, Louise Simonson, Roy Thomas, Fabian Nicieza, and more.

This volume picks up after the events of Battle of the Atom. Kitty has thrown her support behind Cyclops, bringing her squad of trainees with her. Jean Grey is more determined than ever to change her future, while her relationships with Cyclops and Beast are somewhat frayed. Amidst this melodrama, the X-Men are tasked with stopping the Purifiers from killing an unknown mutant. This mutant turns out to be Laura Kinney (AKA X-23 AKA future Wolverine). Horrified by what Laura has endured, the X-Men formulate a plan to bring down the Purifiers. This arc is brief, but impactful. Bendis and co. utilize the Purifiers in a way that is just as relevant now as it was when Chris Claremont and Brent Anderson introduced them in God Loves, Man Kills. It even features a callback to that graphic novel. Religious fanatics using scripture to justify their hatred for those who are different than them will always be terrifying (and sadly evergreen), so this is what makes the Purifiers such a gruesome foe for the X-Men. Although, the optics regarding the rhetoric and themes used in this arc are somewhat poor. The Purifiers are clearly based off of real life white supremacist and anti-LGBTQ groups, so having the all-white (mostly straight) All-New X-Men be the focus of their ire seems weird.

Action is definitely at the forefront of this volume, which is a bit of a change of pace from previous ones where a lot of the stories involve the characters standing around talking to one another. Of course, that’s not to say that there isn’t any character work that is done within this arc. We get some touching moments, such as when Kitty and Illyana reunite and when Cyclops consoles Laura after her rescue. In fact, I’m quite fond of the dynamic that Bendis has cooked up between teen Cyclops and Laura. Whether intentional or not, it feels like it’s referencing the popularity of the slash pairing of Cyclops and Logan. It also helps us to see Cyclops as someone who is caring and compassionate, which are traits people don’t usually associate with him. Jean continues to be the focal point in the series, though she’s becoming increasingly more grating due to the continued abuse of her powers. She’s eager to use them however she wishes, which is a problem because she should have consent before doing so. I do, however, appreciate the sequence where Kitty tells Jean not to use her powers on Laura. Overall, it feels like a conversation needs to be had between Kitty and Jean regarding her misuse of her telepathic gifts.

While this collection is overall very engaging and worth reading, there’s no consistency with the artwork due to the absence of series mainstay Stuart Immonen for issues 19-21. Immonen’s artwork is nothing short of spectacular. It’s clean, it’s expressive, and it’s come to really solidify the tone for All-New X-Men. Mahmud Asrar, who provides the opening pencils to issue 20 is an ideal replacement as his work more closely matches Immonen’s. Brandon Peterson, however, provides the bulk of the artwork for this collection. His style is more detailed than Immonen and Asrar’s, but it’s also more basic in that it lacks any kind of uniqueness or flare. It also doesn’t help that the colours provided by Israel Silva are muddy and make it hard to make out what’s going on.

I quite enjoy All-New X-Men as a series and think it’s one of the better entries into the X-Men line of books within the past decade or so. This volume contains much of what makes it so entertaining. It balances humour with drama really well, provides the right mix of action and character work, and features some gorgeous artwork (by Immonen and Asrar). It also features a bonus issue, X-Men Gold, which is full of cute little short stories from various points in the X-Men’s history.

RATING: B

Review - Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 1: Cosmic Avengers

An intergalactic council passes an edict that states Earth is off-limits from outside interference and, in doing so, leaves it unprotected should any alien factions defy the order. Knowing how big of a target has been placed on his home planet, Peter Quill re-assembles the Guardians of the Galaxy to defend Earth if and when an invasion occurs. Sure enough, Badoon warships attack London and the Guardians are Earth’s only hope of defeating them.

Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 1: Cosmic Avengerscollects Guardians of the Galaxy #1-3 and #0.1, and Guardians of the Galaxy: Tomorrow’s Avengers #1, written by Brian Michael Bendis and with art by Steve McNiven and Sara Pichelli.

Cosmic Avengers begins with a re-telling of Peter Quill’s origin story. He’s the product of a brief love affair between the Earther Meredith Quill and the Spartoi J’Son. As a child, enemies of Spartax kill his mother and he grows up wanting nothing more than to “find a way off planet Earth.” His backstory is so hastily told that it skips over his adolescence and most of his young adult life. As a whole, it serves as a reminder of how stale his origins are. It ticks a whole bunch of tropes along the way and doesn’t do a great job of establishing what is new or special about Peter Quill as a character, which is a problem when you consider that he’s the focal point of this series.

The rest of the trade collects the opening three-issue arc of Guardians of the Galaxy. J’Son and the leaders of several alien races decide that Earth is no longer to be disturbed by any alien forces. The Badoon defy the decree and promptly invade Earth, knocking out communication systems in the process. Luckily, the Guardians of the Galaxy (with Iron Man as a member for some strange reason) are on-hand to fight off the Badoon. Unfortunately, this places the Guardians in violation of the decree as well. There isn’t a whole lot to this arc as it reads as a very standard invasion story, but it does feature a lot of great action. As mentioned previously, Peter Quill is the focal point here and he’s just not interesting enough to carry the book. Iron Man and Rocket are more dynamic characters, but the former is out of place and the latter lacks depth due to his singular role as comic relief. You’d be hard-pressed to find dialogue or development allotted to Drax and Gamora, both of whom are only tossed onto a page when something needs to be punched. Most egregiously, however, is the fact that Groot is absent for much of the storyline. Come on, he’s totally one of the best Guardians! For those expecting some kind of epic or even outrageously funny comic book, this fails to deliver on either. It very much reads as “Okay, we’ve got that movie coming out based on these characters, let’s put our ‘top’ writer on this and hope for the best. And let’s put Iron Man in it because apparently people won’t read this if he’s not in it.”

What almost makes up for the subpar writing is the art. McNiven and Pichelli really deliver top-notch illustrations that are superbly detailed and feel truly cinematic. All of the action sequences are absolutely incredible and are really my favourite aspects to this set of issues. There are some neat panels too during these scenes, where there’s a kind of zoom in effect to show the particulars of what’s going on in a larger scale. The characters all look fantastic and are fairly distinctive. Rocket is probably one of the most detailed characters and I can’t even begin to imagine how much time was spent drawing his fur, his teeth, and all the other little minute aspects of this critter. I also really like the design work that went into reimagining these characters from the last time they would have been seen. Instead of the blue and red uniforms of the past, they’re wearing more modern sci fi style armour (think: Mass Effect). Gamora’s white and black look is actually really iconic and makes me lament the fact that we haven’t seen it on film.

Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 1: Cosmic Avengers is sadly rather skippable and doesn’t offer the impact it should as the opening salvo of what should be a flagship title. Bendis stumbles to flesh out his ensemble and doesn’t manage to portray the majority as having any kind of personality. The opening arc itself is very paint-by-numbers and does itself a disservice by placing so much focus on characters like Peter Quill and Iron Man (the fact that Gamora isn’t the leader of the Guardians is always beyond me considering she has the most fascinating origins). With that said, the art is gorgeous and is helps to up the entertainment factor. If anything, this trade is fun when looked at through the lens of mindless entertainment. It’s not quite as funny as it should be, the characters aren’t as dynamic as we know they can be, and the story itself doesn’t do anything that any previous sci fi story hasn’t already.

RATING: C-