X-Men: Battle of the Atom #2 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

Well, that was incredibly disappointing.  Bendis leaves pretty much all the mysteries driving this series unanswered.  Let's review, shall we?

First, we never learn who killed future Dazzler, so we never learn why the future Brotherhood felt like humans would always try to kill mutants (essentially invalidating Xavier's dream).  After all, future Dazzler was killed by dragons, not Sentinels.  If she had been killed by Sentinels, it would've made sense, given the revelation at the end of this issue that S.H.I.E.L.D. has its own Sentinels.  But, she wasn't.  She was killed by dragons.  If we're supposed to believe that S.H.I.E.L.D. gets into the sorcery business and uses that knowledge to assassinate a President-elect, we really need to see something that remotely confirms that (other than an off-hand reference by future Wiccan to S.H.I.E.L.D.'s sorcery division).

Second, I'm still not sure why the future Brotherhood wanted to send back the original X-Men in the first place.  I originally thought the future Brotherhood was trying to prevent the original X-Men from unifying the splintered present Brotherhood and X-Men, since it would bring mutant harmony and set the stage for future Dazzler's election.  But, not only does future-original Jean specifically pin the future's problems on the Logan/Scott schism, but Aaron completely discredited that theory in "Wolverine and the X-Men" #37.  In that issue, original Jean says that the Brotherhood is trying to prevent one of them from doing something "horrible," but we don't learn what it is in this issue.  However, how horrible could it be?  I mean, future Dazzler still got elected President.  It's not like the story that Remender is telling in "Uncanny Avengers," where the camps are literally going to open in a week.  Does s/he not do something terrible, but something good?  Does s/he unify humankind and mutantkind?  Is that the horrible thing?  The Brotherhood would have to see that as horrible, I guess.  Otherwise, it makes no sense that one of them does something so horrible that it turns humans against mutants, but the United States still elects Dazzler as President.  (Also, original Jean not knowing the horrible thing that one of them does is total bogus.  When she read future Jean's mind, it was totally clear that she was sufficiently panicked to change her mind about them returning.  It couldn't have just been on the possibility that one of them does something "horrible.")

Moreover, the Brotherhood's need to send back the original X-Men seemed urgent at the start of this event.  If it was, it implies that the "horrible" thing that the original X-Man is going to do is going to happen in days.  But, in the end, it didn't really seem all that urgent, unless we're going to see something huge happen in the next issue of "All-New X-Men."  Is it Kitty taking the original X-Men to the present Brotherhood?  It seems unlikely, since, after all, the present Brotherhood sees things more in line with the future Brotherhood?

Along those lines, I absolutely don't get Kitty bailing on the X-Men.  I get that she was upset at them for not protecting the original X-Men, but, as present Iceman said, she really didn't understand their point that they were protecting the space/time continuum?  I'm not saying that they were right, but she decides that saving the space/time continuum was such a totally inconsequential reason to justify their behavior that she leaves the X-Men?  Unbelievable.

Finally, we don't learn why the original X-Men can't be returned to the past.  Not even a hint.

Essentially, we're left in exactly the same place we were, except for Kitty and the original X-Men joining the Brotherhood.  I'd be OK with that, except for the fact that we didn't even get answers to the story that Bendis et. al told along the way.  (I'm not even going to touch the four epilogues and varying artists.)  I can't believe an event that started with such promise ended with such a whimper.

* (one of five stars)

X-Men: Battle of the Atom #1 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

X-Men:  Battle of the Atom #1:  Well, that was intense.  Bendis really gets your attention here, with past Scott almost dying and present Scott temporarily disappearing.  I thought that he did a great job focusing on the ramifications of that event, with the adult X-Men drawing the logical conclusion that the original X-Men pose too much of a danger to the time/space continuum to be able to stay in the present.  The arrival of the future X-Men, though, seems to call into question that hypothesis, since they seem to imply that it's sending back the original X-Men to their appropriate time that will end the mutant race.  I'm intrigued to see where we go with that.

Beyond just doing a good job introducing the larger plot, the issue itself is well plotted and scripted.  I thought Bendis did a great job reminding us how green the original X-Men are, from Kitty making the point that they survived the Sentinels' attack because they followed her orders to Scott almost dying when he disobeyed them.  As present Scott does here, you do have to wonder why Kitty decided to bring the original X-Men to confront a dragon-conjuring criminal in the first place.  (Of course, you also have to wonder why Scott brought his own green new X-Men to Ann Arbor in "Uncanny X-Men" #10, given that he knows that the Sentinels tend to appear everywhere he does.  So, you know, he probably needs to dial back the judging a little.)  Bendis also continues to have a great ear for dialogue, using the conversation between the original and present X-Men to show how it's all become such a big mess, with the adults trying to keep their focus on the big picture despite knowing that it means ignoring the teenagers' feelings.  (I also loved present Scott and Kitty's restrained patter during the confrontation in Phoenix)

I debated including this next part, but I feel like I should.  Bendis loves him a time-travel story and I generally hate them as a rule.  That said, Bendis is actually better than most at dealing with the inherent logical inconsistencies that comes with these sorts of stories.  But, I feel like this issue raises some issues that really start to unravel the sweater if you pull at them.  We have pretty much accepted, until this point, that the original X-Men coming to the future changed their time line, essentially severing it from the present X-Men's.  Essentially, it created a whole new time line.  However, if it did, in fact, create a new time line, original Scott's death shouldn't have affected present Scott's existence, since they were, at this point, essentially two different Scotts.  (Now you see why I hate time-travel stories.)

As such, if original Scott's death did affect present Scott, it implies that they're in the same time line.  If they are, then why does only this event affect the present?  For example, wouldn't Jean developing her powers earlier than she did in the original time line affect the present in some way?  I feel like the answer to that question is that the original X-Men are eventually returned to their time line and Professor X is able to undo anything that happened to them in the present; original Scott dying, obviously, would be something that he wouldn't be able to undo.  But, the longer that they're in the present, the more difficult it is to believe that.  That conclusion isn't contradicting anything Bendis has done so far; after all, the whole reason why the present X-Men want to send back the original X-Men is exactly that issue, that the longer they stay, the more damage they do.  But, we're getting awfully close to the point where it gets hard to believe that everything that happens to them in the present can be undone simply by Professor X making the original X-Men forget about it.