Following on from the recent annual, Scott “Slim” Summers is trying to get on with his recently Phoenix-force granted life. Of course, the erstwhile leader of the X-Men is not content looking at the world through his own version of rose tinted ruby quartz glasses. With the X-Men gone, there are still the issues of the bad guys that are left to roam the world and the mutant haters who just won’t let mutants be. As Scott looks to save his team, his family, he is joined by another recently restored to life mutant. The pair, always the best of frenemies, set off to restore to the world those that are most feared and hunted.
Matthew Rosenberg has been involved with the X-Men for quite a while now. Here it seems that his work is finally getting some traction. For the longest time, the X-books have been mired in their own continuity for way too long, with the result being comics that have felt a tad filler in places. This is a shame as for many, the mutants are as popular as the Avengers, or at the very least, they used to be. Rosenberg takes the time in this over sized issue to move Cyclops through his recent past leading up to a chat with Captain America. As he is appearing in so many books recently; with losing his way in his own book, leading the Avengers and getting snarky in Black Widow, won’t the real Captain please stand up. The interaction between the two stand points from the past Avengers vs X-Men is brilliantly written and full of emotion, showing how noble each perspective can be. Rosenberg manages all this whilst keeping the pace of the story moving along, effectively re-introducing Xavier’s dream through his favourite ersatz son.
Salvador Larroca provides the pencils, with his style that promotes fluidity of movement at the cost of facial elements of the back ground characters. Larroca successfully creates various moods throughout the story, which may explain the art, to some extent. The panel design helps with the pace, though there are frame-work issues in play. Also, I am not sure when Scott became such an expert fighter. Larroca’s moody pencils suits the colors of Rochelle Rosenberg. The feeling of disjointed art isn’t helped by the fact that John McRea supplies the art for the Return of Wolverine. McRea is aided and abetted by colorist Mike Spicer. Throughout the book, letters are supplied by Joe Caramagna. With the issue being a bit of a big deal, there are a shed loads of variant covers to choose from; pick your poison.
No matter what the fans say, Marvel will continue to run their event books along side on-goings in an effort to nab more of your hard-earned disposable. This is exacerbated by the fact that this book is going to cost you $7.99. Still, there is a bit of a good feeling to the idea that, after all this time, Cyclops is back!
Writing – 5 Stars
Art – 3.5 Stars
Colours – 4 Stars
[yasr_overall_rating size=”large”]
Written by; Matthew Rosenberg
Art by; Salvador Larroca & John McRea
Colors by; Rochelle Rosenberg & Mike Spicer
Letters by; Joe Caramagna
Published by; Marvel Entertainment
Author Profile
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I am a long time comic book fan, being first introduced to Batman in the mid to late 70's. This led to a appreciation of classic artists like Neal Adams and Jim Aparo. Moving through the decades that followed, I have a working knowledge of a huge raft of characters with a fondness for old school characters like JSA and The Shadow
Currently reading a slew of Bat Books, enjoying a mini Marvel revival, and the host of The Definative Crusade and Outside the Panels whilst also appearing on No-Prize Podcast on the Undercover Capes Podcast Network
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