It’s Back to the Future in this week’s exciting new chapter of Battle of the Atom!
Here’s the score:
Beast brought the original five X-Men to present to convince Cyclops to end his mutant revolution. Horrified by their future – the kids refused to go back.
X-Men from the future arrived at the Jean Grey School declaring the kids must go back to prevent a terrible future for mutants.
Young Jean and Scott took off. The modern X-Men agreed with the future team (which includes an adult Jean and Professor X’s son.)
A suspicious Magik (along with young Beast and Iceman) has transported to that future to find a very different group of X-Men.
You could call Chapter Six a slight detour as we meet more future mutants and discover a terrifying moment in future history.
All-New X-Men #17 is an awesome chapter revealing a shocking act that explains the dark desperate X-Men’s fears. If there were Oscars for comic book art then Stuart Immonen is perched at the top of the critics list for one two-page spread alone that captures the future shock and awe.
I’ve read plenty of “preventing a nightmare future for mutants” stories over the years but Brian Michael Bendis mutates that idea into something more horrific than we’ve ever seen before. In six pages Bendis and Immonen show you the great mutant hope scorched into one of the most shocking assaults in X-history. Like Hank McCoy in All-New X-Men #1 this future Beast is pushed too far.
Just when I thought Battle of the Atom was starting to have too many X-Men from too many timelines Bendis brings it home and makes care. The writer has made he love Magik and there’s a moment when Illyana is genuinely smiling. The surprising use of Dazzler is wonderful. Chapter Six is an action packed time travel epic but it’s about consequences and the love these friends have for each other.
By Editor