Battle of the Atom, Bendis' Uncanny X-Men

X-Men: Battle of the Atom 1-2

All-New X-Men 16-17

X-Men 5-6

Uncanny X-Men 12-13

Wolverine and the X-Men 36-37

As fun of a crossover as I remember.  But upon reflection, nothing really happens.  It’s either arguing about whether to send the original X-Men back to their time or a fight sequence.  No real story development.  The only twist is that the future X-Men turn out to be the future Brotherhood of Evil Mutants.

Sometimes, though, fun action scenes and good writing is all you need.  (Thanks to Brian Michael Bendis, Brian Wood, and Jason Aaron.)  The art’s sweet too, except for Wolverine.  (Couldn’t have kept Nick Bradshaw for just a little longer?)  

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: Yes

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Pretty good 

Uncanny X-Men 14-35, 600

This is just too readable to rate as anything less than Good.  Couldn’t put it down.  Even though there are definite problems with some of the stories (Dark Beast came out of nowhere, and left just as abruptly.  The time travel fix to Matthew Malloy is simultaneously too easy and completely problematic.  Cyclops just...comes to his senses), Bendis and Chris Bachalo have created a delightful page-turner here.

Neat exploration of Morph's powers, but Bendis never really uses him again.

Nice to see Kris Anka's pre-Runaways art.

Awesome that Magneto reuses the same bullets.

Yeah, this was a dick move.

Very very cool layouts by Marco Ruby.

He's got a Sam Keith vibe with his faces.  (Plus, more Kitty Emma snark.)

I know it's just mostly red, but great colors by Val Staples.

Like I said: Dark Beast comes and goes in one page.

Sweet Bachalo art.

And like that, Scott's "revolutionary" phase comes to an end

Stuart Immonen's clear (but random) homage to X-Men 1...

...by Jim Lee.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: Yes

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Good 

Uncanny X-Men Annual 1

All-New X-Men Annual 1

A side story about what happened to Eva Bell when she disappeared for a panel in an issue of Uncanny.  It’s as heartbreaking as intimated, nicely done.  Andrea Sorrentino has a lot of Jae Lee in her art, but it’s definitely a beautiful style all her own.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: Yes

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Good