Saturday, February 7, 2015

Amazing X-Men #15 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

One of the best parts of this series, for me, is the fact that we finally get to see the original "all-new" X-Men in action together.  Colossus, Nightcrawler, and Storm are part of the X-Men of my childhood, right up there with Dazzler, Havok, Longshot, Psylocke, Rogue, and (unfortunately) Wolverine.  I'd love to see Dazzler and Havok leave Cyclops at some point and join this team, giving us pretty much the entire Outback team on one roster again.  But, I'm patient.  At this point, I'm quite happy with Firestar and Iceman taking their places (and generally tolerate Nightcrawler and Rockslide).

So far, this series has been a sort of "X-Men-lite," mostly because it hasn't focused too much on the soap opera that every X-Men title must have at its core.  The characters have certainly interacted with each other, but we haven't really delved into their feelings for one another.  Yost changed that with this issue, putting Colossus and Storm at odds as she tries to protect him from the influence of Cyttorak.  Although I initially found Storm telling Peter that he's the "strongest and yet somehow weakest" of them to be harsh, I have to say that I eventually saw her point.  She lists the people that have exerted influence over him in the past, and it's not a short one:  Cyclops, Cable, Magic, Cyttorak, Phoenix.  It's clear that this arc is going to be about Peter seeking redemption, and I, for one, am excited to read that story.

By finally adding in the soap-opera elements, Yost is really elevating this series as a valid counterpoint to Bendis' series about the Brotherhood, telling the story of the School-based team without the burden of following all the students.  Now all we need is Dazzler and Havok...

**** (four of five stars)

No comments:

Post a Comment