I thought that Kitty calling Bobby "sweetie" was (obviously) going to be my favorite part of this issue.
I was wrong.
Honestly, I loved this issue. Bendis somehow manages to script the original X-Men's reactions to the present's realities exactly the way that I'd expect them to be, from Scott wondering how everything went so wrong to Jean snarking about discovering that she's dead and dating a homicidal mutant terrorist to Bobby and Warren talking about how nice future TVs are. I also thought that Bendis did a marvelous job of showing how difficult of a time Beast was having facing his past, from seeing Jean again to contemplating how close he and Scott once were. Bendis also accomplishes the key goal of this issue, making you believe that the original X-Men would be sufficiently intrigued by Beast's words to come to the present, if only to prove him to be a liar. ("So we understand each other, if this is a trap I blow off your head.") Plus, original Bobby and present Bobby's reactions upon seeing one another? Classic.
At the end of the day, the reason that I loved this issue is because Bendis portrays the original X-Men as a team, something that they haven't been in a long time. One of my main complaints with the X-titles over the last few years is that they've rarely felt like team books. Be it "Uncanny X-Men" or "Wolverine and the X-Men" or "X-Men" or "X-Men Legacy," these books have been filled with interchangeable rosters that dedicate little time to character development. Everyone has been reduced to a caricature of their character while the main purpose has been to see how the various authors can top the last crisis. We've lost the sense of the X-Men as a close group of powerful friends with a guiding mission and I've often found myself waxing poetic about the Outback days. But, here, Bendis actually gives us a team. You can see it after present Beast leaves the original X-Men on their own to consider his offer. The others all go to comfort original Hank, with Bobby and Scott putting their hands on his shoulders. They care for one another, in a way that I haven't really seen X-Men care about one another, non-romantically, in a long time.
In fact, Bendis gives us two teams, since not only do the original X-Men feel like one, but the present X-Men do, too. From Kitty and Bobby investigating Hank's lab together to Storm asking Hank to tell her how to help him, you actually feel like these people have relationships with one another and have had these relationships for a really long time. After all, it's kind of the point of this series, reminding us of a time when the X-Men were the X-Men and not some random group of "heroes" that accepted every mutant who walked into the Mansion off the street.
Mostly, though, I loved that Bendis really managed to give the original X-Men back their distinct personalities. They've been the caricatures for so long that it was refreshing to remember their characters, to see them in their distilled form. Jean marveling at her abilities ("I can read minds"), Bobby cracking jokes ("He's waaaay too boring to bring on an apocalypse"), Hank being arrogant ("Please, this is me we're talking about."): they're their old selves again. Plus, together, they're a handful. I love how the former students (namely, Kitty and the second generation of X-Men) are going to have to become the present teachers.
I'm genuinely excited to see where Bendis takes us, from how present Scott responds to his original self to how the original X-Men respond to the new world (beyond marveling at the televisions). Moreover, the art is also spectacular. Immonen throws in a ton of great moments. I loved how Jean learns that she can read minds and, in the next panel, you can see her with her hand to her temple totally trying to do it. It's a sign that this car is running on all cylinders from the start and I can't wait to see where we go.
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