- Cover by Arthur Adams
- Written by Brian Bendis
- Art by Frank Cho
Purchase your copy @ Comixology now.
BEWARE OF SPOILERS
‘Battle of the Atom’ has been touted for some time as one of the biggest events ever to take place in the X-Men universe and finally it has arrived.
For those new to table here’s the checklist of issues you need to complete this cross-over event:
September 2013
- X-Men: Battle of the Atom #1
- All-New X-Men #16
- X-Men Vol. 4 #5
- Uncanny X-Men Vol. 3 #12
- Wolverine and the X-Men #36
October 2013
- All-New X-Men #17
- X-Men Vol. 4 #6
- Uncanny X-Men Vol. 3 #13
- Wolverine and the X-Men #37
- X-Men: Battle of the Atom #2
We’re here to discuss the issue that starts it all ‘X-Men: Battle of the Atom’ #1. Essentially ‘Battle of the Atom’ is a story about the consequences of bringing the teen X-men team from ‘All-New X-Men’ to the present to experience the future their actions have caused.
There has been a whole load of X-Men teams over the years and so Marvel would be foolish not to use this as an attempt to retcon some of the poor choices made in the past out of X-Men history.
This issue is essentially a bolt-on to the ‘All-New X-Men’ title to help bring anybody unfamiliar with the title up to speed. A brief introduction to the X-verse and the reasons why the teen team are currently in the present leads us in to a burgeoning mutant lashing out against those around her in her home town. The battle catches the attention of Professor Pryde and her mixed team of present and past mutants but just as her team are attacked by a fleet of Sentinels the second X-Men team championed by the present day Cyclops appear to save the day.
In a brief moment of heroism the young Cyclops is killed by one of the Sentinels, it is only a moment before he is revived but that is enough time for the adult Cyclops to be wiped from the timeline and reappear seconds later. It’s a new tactic for Marvel to look at time travel and have real consequences to any changes in the timeline and is something that is going to help make this ten-part story so epic.
Bendis is overseeing the writing of this event and I can think of nobody more perfect considering his experience on the ‘All-New X-Men’ title so far. There’s very little time to adjust to the huge nature of the story so I suggest that anybody deciding to jump in now should first go back and properly familiarise themselves with the young X-Men.
In a slight change to the ‘All-New’ title this issue is drawn by Frank Cho. His artwork is equally as brilliant as Stuart Immonen, he takes the character designs from the ‘All-New’ title and represents them perfectly against the established adult X-Men. The epic nature of the X-verse is also well represented in this issue and gives me high hopes for the scale of this cross-over.
There’s room for a few small character moments which are going to be important in ensuring that this doesn’t become one giant action set piece. Marvel has to remember that although the readers want action on a huge scale they still care immensely about the characters whom they are choosing to read about.
This is definitely the start of something very special. Definitely worth spending your hard earned cash on.
8/10
