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Bachalo is back. I love his style, but it was hard to tell what was going on, particularly during the space fight. Wolverine in a wheelchair could have been an interesting idea, but I guess everything had to be reset for AvsX.

Thoughts?

You pretty much covered my thoughts. I think I actually prefer Bradshaw, which is nuts because I love Bachalo.

I get why you an Antony aren't in love with this book. I still dig how it doesn't take itself too seriously. I may have a problem if this were the only X book, but I'm loving it as a counterpart to everything else.

This book continues to be fun. Sabretooth going for Hank? Didn't see that one coming.

And am I only person who still likes Brand?

I don't think I've ever been this confused about what was happening in moment. It was a perfect storm between erratic time warp cutscenes, and Bachalo drawing everyone like goblin people again. The idea of Beast fighting Sabertooth in space for the life of his girlfriend sounds amazing, but I did not understand what the heck was going on visually. I don't know what sparked the idea for Angel to go up to space and do all that with the kids, but I wasn't interested.

Absolutely loved the art, but the story was hit and miss for me. Beast fighting sabertooth in space = awesome. Why angel went to Sin? = me confused. Actually injuring wolverine = awesome. Sword popping up all the time = lame.

Having to draw everyone in space suits did not help the storytelling of the art. I felt like I had a general idea of what was happening in aggregate, but I sometimes got confused as to which particular characters were inside which particular space suits.

The Krakoa diamond thing last issue was goofy, but if the trip to Planet Sin is going to have other repercussions and becoming a recurring element of the series, then that plot wasn't a complete waste. And having Beast go to space can work as a subplot, even though he didn't get the device, if it was all orchestrated by the Hellfire kids. We don't know that they aren't behind the "Bamfs"; Kilgore could have arranged for the transmuter to get destroyed so that Beast would have to go to SWORD for it, thus accomplishing their goal of isolating him for an attack by Sabretooth. In fact, if that's not what happened, how else would Sabretooth have known to go there ahead of Beast?

What did Angel bring back from Sin? Were we suppose to know? Or did I read the panel incorrectly? There was just some round device thing... '.'

Oh I see! Thanks. I should have known that. Ooops.

I concur with everyone that this stories flow, with the time warps, and artwork made the story hard to follow. I also figured when Sabretooth said to go after the heart of the team he meant Shadowcat, not Beast.
That said, when this series started I loved the first arc, since then the series has gone downhill, fast. My complaints:
1) The characters. All the students are very one-dimensional in this book. Quentin is arrogant. Broo is humble. Genesis is scared. Kid Gladiator is impulsive. Warren is weird. Idie is just there. If you didn't read her in Gen H you'd know next to nothing about her personality since she has been used very limitedly here. Broo was given some characterization last arc which was nice, since this is my first exposure to him. But the students also do not really interact, they follow (Quentin, Kid Gladiator and this issue Warren) and react to what happens, but there is no real depth between their interactions. The only characters I am interested in are Quentin, Broo and, if they keep building his story, Genesis. Dump the rest and give me characters I want to read like Anole, Rockslide, Hellion or even Glob would be better than Idie.
2) The cast. It's too big. 12 characters. 5 faculty (Wolverine, Shadowcat, Beast, Iceman & Rachel) and 7 students (Idie, Broo, Quentin, Genesis, Angel, Kid Gladiator & Warbird) with recurrings in Toad, Lockheed, Bamfs, Krakoa and numerous other students. The main cast is bigger than X-Factor and X-Factor doesn't have as many recurring characters.
3) The stories. 3 words. I don't care. The only good thing from the Brood storyline was the Broo parts and I would have liked them more if they had contained a villain that was memorable, I honestly don't remember his name. Planet Sin, nope didn't care. This issue just built on my apathy, especially since we follow the kids to that damn planet.
4) The purpose. The children were moved from Utopia to take them out of harm's way and not have them be so frequently targeted. Times Utopia has been attacked since Schism = 0. Times the Jean Grey School has been attacked since Schism = 2. The kids have been in more danger at the school then they would have been on Utopia.
5) The premise. I have no idea where this book is going. There is no solid storyline to revolve around, aside from the antics of the students and the efforts to keep the school afloat. But we have not been given an essential mission statement. The 'team' of X-Men have not acted as a solid team since the first arc. The premise is to chaotic, they need to settle down and say 'this is what we are doing' and focus on that. This focusing on the school and being billed as the counter to UXM doesn't balance, it feels like more of a balance to Gen H, which means its a balance to a void now that Gen H is canceled. And this title needs to shape up, or else this title will go that way too.

Wooooo! Well said! You're my X-Nationer of the week.


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I think it's way too easy to say that the characters are 1 dimensional, within the first 12 issues of a title. That was what everyone complained about with Gen hope. Then they came through with the character development, right before it was cancelled, and that's when everyone was like "awwe, it was just getting good."

I think you're judging this book too soon, like most did with Gen Hope.

The do understand your point about the book not having a 'purpose', but lets just wait until AvX is over to see if the JEAN GREY academy gets a purpose.

A big problem with this title is the massive cast. I think the cast should be pared down some to allow for more characterization. Maybe pick either the faculty or the students to focus on. Like I said earlier, X-Factor has 11 characters, but they weren't all added overnight, it grew to that level. This title threw all these characters into a school. The manic feel for the book worked great in the beginning, now it's beginning to wear thin.

About my criticizing the book early. This is a flagship title, this is not second tier. This is a counter balance to UXM (which ironically the quality of that title is crap too), not a counterbalance New Mutants. This is the one of the two titles Marvel basically says 'this is one of our best X-Men titles, if you buy anything X-Men, this is a good bet.' This is Marvel, this is not some homebrew publishing out of someone's basement. Marvel, DC and Image are the top because they are quality. This title is 3.99$. For a $3.99 Marvel flagship title I expect Jason Aaron (and in this issue Bachalo (but I still love his work)) to bring his A Game. For all these things, a reader should not have to wait and see if it gets better. If Aaron can not bring his A Game to this title he either needs edit his story parameters to bring about his A Game or he needs to step down and let someone else try. This is not high school. Aaron is being paid for his writing.

That said I'm not going anywhere and I will continue to read all this dreck. I've been reading X-Men for 23 years. I miss a lot of things from the late 80's/early 90's. I remember putting down an issue and saying 'wow, that was awesome. I can't wait to read that again.' Most of the titles now days, except for the second tier titles, I don't do that anymore. I also remember there being lulls between storylines and it was not massive battle to massive battle. I also remember what seems to be a dirty word in comics nowadays 'single issue storylines.' But I'll be around and I will hope for better after AvX, but I shouldn't have to wait for a massive crossover to make a title better, especially when it's my 3.99$

The purpose of this title was to split the cast of the other flagship title in two. Would you prefer Uncanny was split in to four, or would you rather do away with all these tertiary characters all together?