Brian Michael Bendis is diving deep into the complex story of his time-traveling adventure through the X-Men universe. With All-New X-Men, Bendis is creating quite a bit of problems between the past of the original team and the future they are now in. While there’s always the threat of a major, time-travel related plot hole, the series has mostly avoided that stigma thus far, and what has come out of it is an exciting and entertaining series featuring several characters that are around twice (sometimes at the same points), and those who have been gone for awhile (mainly Jean).

So far, the original team has been through quite a bit since their arrival at the Jean Grey School For Higher Learning. From fighting amongst themselves to McCoy saving his own life and Jean’s telepathic ability manifesting during a trying time, a group of people whose lives are constantly complicated is becoming infinitely more complicated with the arrival of the original five, and Cyclops’ (past Scott Summers will be known as Young Cyclops) current mission isn’t helping matters for him or the younger version of himself. So far in the current issue, these difficulties become much more present, with the addition of a new arrival to the series (but a constant in the X universe) that does not bode well for the X-Men, both past and present.

Brian Michael Bendis has been a dream on this series so far. His writing has been wonderful, with both exciting and emotional passages in each issue, accurately reflecting the lives that the X-Men lead and the human qualities they still possess, combining that with the trials that they are currently going through and the individual responses those trials receive. From the complete shock of Young Cyclops’ future actions to the impact that the appearance of Jean has on many members of the team, this series is just getting started in unraveling the dynamics these newcomers will present. The only drawback in the writing of this particular issue is a bit of a sharp turn for the emotional output of Wolverine. During a certain scene, he goes from his trademark bottled anger to sympathy and concern in the matter of a few panels, which is something that is pretty rare for the character.

The artwork is terrific, especially considering the debut of David Marquez on pencils. Colorist Marte Gracia also takes on a bit more of a role on the art team, with Wade Von Grawbadger taking a breather on the interior panels (Stuart Immonen and Von Grawbadger did contribute to the cover, however). Gracia’s color work is just as impressive as ever, as the shading and colors are very pronounced and well-done. Marquez does his own unique spin on the characters as the main artist, and it works to varying degrees in comparison to Immonen. Characters such as Storm and Jean Grey look different, especially when looked at from the neck up. Storm doesn’t look as good as she did with Immonen, and Jean’s look is not quite as attractive to the eye as well. But that is negligible, since everyone still looks terrific, continuing a great job throughout the series thus far.

Summary: Bendis and the art team are telling brilliant, beautiful stories with each issue and creating a complex web that  of plot lines that are continually paying off. As the series continues, it will be interesting to see how the changes in artists affect the series itself, but as long as most of the components remain the same (especially keeping Bendis on the series), this books looks as though it’ll be a great series for quite some time.

• The Good: Spectacular Artwork And Writing, Exciting Story
• The Bad: Artist Change Is A Bit Off-Putting At First
• The Ugly: Time Travel Issues Are A Constant Since First Appearance In Series

Score: 9.5