Intimate Revelation — All-New X-Men #7 Review

This issue focuses heavily on young Scott Summers and his current confusion. While I have enjoyed the last few issues of All-New X-Men. I’m curious as to when it will occur to writer, Brian Michael Bendis, that there are typically problems interacting with ones younger self as Hank, Bobby, Scott and Warren have just done. I really want to see how the timeline eventually gets screwed up and how they fix it or even if they’re totally able to. I believe strange things are coming for Scott Summers that may cause him to change into more villain than hero. Well, stranger things than getting possessed by a cosmic being. But hey, isn’t that like a Tuesday for the X-Men?

Brian Michael Bendis has done a good job so far of letting us see the basic ins and outs of dealing with being more-or-less temporally marooned. From what I’ve seen in the last few months, there’s going to be a pretty sizable story here and this is just the beginning. It takes an impressive writer to map out something so long-running as it appears this is going to be. The pacing is good, with plenty of classic tropes and even more new and thought-provoking material. The dialogue is good, but not the best it’s ever been. The ending of the issue is nearly perfect, but certain parts leading up too it run either a little short or slightly longer than they should.

The art is still great and really a big part of what keeps me reading this book. That is due in no small part to the pencils from Stuart Immonen. Every piece of background in this issue looks more realistic than most comics I read. The attention to detail is what really grabs me when I see Immonen’s artwork. Then there’s Wade von Grawbadger’s inks which are, again, quite detailed. They seem to be a perfect match. As I’ve mentioned before, the shadowing is impressive. The real eye-catcher is the colors from Marte Gracia. Thankfully, the colors aren’t quite as muted this time, which works for the issue.  It’s a beautiful book and these artists should be quite proud of that work.

The issue earns a 4/5. While the story wasn’t as good as it could have been, it was a great attempt and will surely lead us on to more issues in a bigger and better collected story. Again, the art is what carried it, but don’t lose hope. There will be more excellent writing around the corner.

All-New X-Men #7 (2012)
Marvel
Words: Brian Michael Bendis
Pencils: Stuart Immonen
Inks: Wade von Grawbadger
Colors: Marte Gracia
Letters: Cory Petit

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