Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2: Angela (Marvel NOW!) Review

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2: Angela (Marvel NOW!)

Look at all of these characters... That
are totally boring.

Writer: Brian Michael Bendis

Artists: Sara Pichelli and Francesco Francavilla

Collects: Guardians of the Galaxy #4-10

Background Information:

The Guardians of the Galaxy... is a group of heroes who defend... earth... not the galaxy. At the moment their big concern is earth and to hell with everything else!

Not really a big surprise; when a team called "Earth's Mightiest Heroes" consists of an American playboy, an American soldier, an American archer, an American scientist, the most American russian woman I have ever seen on film and a guy who is from an entirely fictional location it's no surprise that the Guardians are only concerned with earth because there is no way characters can be relatable unless the nationalities and locations are our own, right?

Right?

Right?

Review:

If there's evidence that Marvel will keep publishing any old shlock so long as there is a MCU franchise alongside it, it's Marvel NOW!'s Guardians of the Galaxy. Two volumes in and there is nothing particularly good about it. This is the same company that cancelled the rather enjoyable New Warriors and the at-least-coherent Fantastic Four because there are no MCU movies attached to the title. Angela is a bland, pointless book that fails to hold readers' attention.

It's okay; it's not like her universe was using her.

So, Angela, a woman from heaven has wound up in the Earth realm and is getting into fights. That'
s it- that's the whole story. If that sounds totally boring and pointless, it's becasue it is. Nobody in this book seems to know their reason for fighting- and to be honest, I couldn't remember if there was. Either way, these battles are anti-climatic and bland. There's no reason to care about the victor in these fights because Bendis fails to ramp up the tension in any meaningful way. Nothing hinges on anything in this volume and if you want to see an example of that; a battle with the forces of Thanos for the fate of Earth portrays no sense of urgency whatsoever.

The introduction of Angela also fails to be a significant as Bendis clearly pretends it is. Even though the entire book is based around her, her presence doesn't seem to pose a threat. She is there to see if Earth actually exists. Nobody is chasing her, her presence hasn't upset the natural order and she isn't out to kill anyone. Yet Bendis devotes five issues to this non-story.

I like Bendis, I really do, but I like him for his character development. He's not great at action books and Angela is living proof of that. All-New X-Men, Ultimate Spider-Man; for all of the flaws of these books, they've got great character moments. I haven't seen any of that in Guardians of the Galaxy, and it's grating.

I could colour thins properly, buuuuut....

I will give Bendis this though, It's the one thing this book does right. I don't think it justifies the cost of the book. But Bendis gives us a Tony Stark that is totally out of his depth. On Earth, Tony gets too sweet a deal. His role as the face of the MCU means that everyone thinks he's a genius-supersoldier-immortal-stallion on Earth. In space, his intelligence is dwarfed by a talking racoon- which is not the least of the halariously awkward situations he finds himself in. As someone who HATES Tony Stark (I'm definitely team Steve for Civil War), it was a joy to behold. Unfortunately, these moments are few and far between and don't save this series from bombing hard.

Art here is a mixed bag of mediocre and mistaking-terrible-for-unique. There is one issue where the colourist seemed to be in the last thirty minutes of his friday shift and decided to colour each panel in one or two colours. It's not as interesting as I think the artist hoped it would be.

I never understood why people criticise Bendis until this Angela. Now? I think "oh, THAT'S why people think he can't write." This gets a one out of five minutes before the end of a friday shift.

*

+ Tony Stark looking like a fool.
- Dull story.
- Mediocre to awful art.

Alternate Option: All-New X-Men: Yesterday's X-Men

This is why Bendis still has a job with Marvel. Read it.

All-New X-Men Vol 3: Out of Their Depth (Marvel NOW!) Review

All-New X-Men Vol.3: Out of Their Depth (Marvel NOW!)

So many circles...

Writer: Brian Michael Bendis

Artists: Stuart Immonen and David Lauente

Collects: All-New X-Men #11-15

Background Information:

The X-Men have been Marvel’s whooping boy for many years, now; and not just because Marvel doesn’t own the movie rights. A few years ago, the entire mutant population was reduced to one-hundred-or-so. This made everyone a bit tense to the point where the X-Men split into factions led by Wolverine and Cyclops. After the team fought the Avengers (in an event called The X-Men are Stupid so Stop Liking Them Avengers Vs. X-Men), Cyclops decided to become far more militant. He’s hiding from the authorities and being rather violent. Wolverine’s X-Men don’t like that so Beast brought the original five X-men from back in time to now. And that has resulted in no problems whatsoever.

Pfft… sorry, can’t keep a straight face there.

Review:

I’ll admit, I’m a little bitter about what Marvel is doing to the X-Men. It’s childish, stupid and I can’t think of a single person who thinks that the Inhumans are a suitable replacement for mutants in the Marvel universe. On the other hand, it’s let Brian Michael Bendis do what he does best; write character-focussed drama with great dialogue instead of bang-kaboom-crash action.

In Out of Their Depth, old Cyclops takes one of the original X-Men with him. I won’t spoil it, but  
those who have read the first volume of Uncanny X-Men will know who it is straight away. This raises quite a few concerns within the team and everyone’s feeling more than a little unsettled. In the meantime, a group of mutants consisting of Mystique, Sabretooth and Lady Mastermind are finally revealing what they’ve been planning to do with all their money, and the All-New X-Men need to stop them.

Wolverine's the best at what he does. What he does isn't
fight Magneto.

Art’s always been a strong point for All-New X-Men. Stuart Immonen has had a real talent for drawing awe-inspiring feats of power, and that doesn’t let up here. We see the phoenix force, psychic powers, magnetism and various other powers in all their chaotic glory. Each power seems to burst out of the page and lends a sense of epicness to the whole volume. The real treat though, is in issue 15, where David Lafuente takes over. I like it when artists are chosen for the sole fact that they suit the story, and that happens here. Bendis’ character drama is complimented perfectly by Lafuente’s adorable chubby little faces. Never have the young X-Men looked as innocent as they are here, and it’s fantastic.

Of all the All-New X-Men volumes thus far, none have milked emotions the same way that Bendis does in Out of Their Depth. This volume sees young Beast confess his crush on young Jean Grey, said young Jean Grey develop a greater friendship with Kitty Pryde and Iceman make friends with humans. People laugh, cry and get genuinely freaked out. Probably the best of these moments, though, is young Cyclops being reunited with his brother, Havoc, who now leads the Uncanny Avengers. There’s a real tenderness to the whole scene, and it one of those rare happy moments in a franchise defined by the “hated and feared” tagline. There are plenty of scenes here that are so dripping with warm fuzzies that occasionally you need to check the cover of the book to make sure you’re not reading a comic based on 7^th Heaven or Gilmore Girls.

One of the best things about this volume, though, is that we finally get to see the end of a particular story arc. Namely, what’s been going on Mystique and Co. It’s a pretty inconsequential story, with no real impact on anything or anyone, but it gives us something the last volume was missing; action that was important to the plot. It’s also genuinely funny, as the fight mostly revolves around two characters- Jean Grey and Lady Mastermind- who constantly try to win by making the other team hallucinate. That doesn’t sound particularly funny, until you consider that Jean Grey is only just getting a grip on her powers, so she send hallucinations to the wrong people, the lines between hallucination and reality get blurred enough for characters to stick their foot in it, and there are just some great results to the whole thing.

Awww... you just wanna' pinch their lil' cheeks!

That said, this is a story that still feels like it’s about to get somewhere. For a third volume, this is a bad thing. Usually, Marvel trades spend the first volume pushing character development and planting the seeds of stories to come, so that the following trades can let those seeds grow. In Out of Their Depth, I couldn’t help but feel like someone planted those seeds in concrete, because there is very little growing here.

I think the trick to enjoying Out of Their Depth, or any other All-New X-Men trade is to treat it as a window into the lives of its characters. You do that, and you’ll find that the book is well worth its four and out of five straight faces.

****

+ Character development is a joy to read.

+ A story arc finally ends, and is really fun to read.

+ Art continues to be phenomenal.

- Series doesn’t feel like it’s going anywhere.

Alternate Option: Uncanny X-Men: Revolution

Here’s what the other Cyclops-led X-Men are doing, savvy?

All-New X-Men Vol.2: Here to Stay (Marvel NOW!) Review

All-New X-Men Vol.2: Here to Stay (Marvel NOW!)

Guys, it's getting kinda' squashy in this
corner...

Writer: Brian Michael Bendis

Artists: David Marquez and Stuart Immonen

Collects: All-New X-Men #6-10

Background Information:

In Avengers VS X-Men (which, if there was honesty in advertising, would be called Stop Liking X-Men and Like The Avengers Instead) X-Men leader Cyclops not only became the new perceivably-evil-dude, but he also killed mentor Professor Xavier and became the most hated figure in the Marvel Universe. Beast, tortured by the fact that his leader and former besty (bestie? Is there a way to say that? Can someone find me a white girl to ask?) is now the least nice mutant out there (and considering that wolverine fronts the other team, is saying something), decides to bring the original X-Men from the past with the sole purpose of making Cyclops feel bad. It doesn’t sound particularly coherent, but there’s a good story here.

Review:

Okay, the first volume of All-New X-Men was fantastic. It was a set-up unlike any other. Young X-men confronted their future selves, or lack thereof and ended up fairly traumatised. Volume 2, Here to Stay does build on that trauma, and the story does develop.

It just doesn’t feel that way throughout the whole book.

Man, I'm a Gen Y, and even I agree with Cyclops!

It’s hard to say exactly what the story is here, as multiple things seem to be happening, but basically, it boils down to this: young Jean is scared of her newfound powers, young Cyclops is trying to find out where he went wrong and young Angel wants to know why nobody will talk about what happened to him. Iceman is busy being funny and Beast is… almost absent in this volume- which is weird, since he was a huge part of last volume. In the meantime, Mystique is gathering mutants to create self-satisfying chaos.

I know, it’s probably unfair to make comparisons to the last volume, but there’s really a dip here. It was nice having a volume that had a story structure. It doesn’t feel like that’s happening in this volume. This is more of a “day in the life of very unhappy teenagers”. Not that it isn’t entertaining; just that it feels like not much happens.

See, Here to Stay is a relatively actionless volume. Sure, there’s the odd skirmish, but never are the fights significant to the story- they almost needn’t be there at all. I’m not one to think that comics need to have fights all the way through, by now we need to see the stakes get raised and this volume just doesn’t do that.

It’s not all negative, though, because Bendis’ writing here is awesome. Iceman steals nearly every scene he’s in- be he young or old. You just get the vibe that Bendis loves the character. Young Iceman’s interactions with Kitty Pryde are especially entertaining, considering that she is in love with his older self.

Oh, did I mention old Cyclops has a new costume? Well,
he does.

By far, though, the jewel of this collection is issue 8; where Captain America argues with old Beast about bringing the past X-Men to the present. Here, you don’t actually hear the two discuss much, instead, you get Kitty and Old Iceman mockingly mimicking the two. It’s a great moment of comedy and the kind of scene you want to read again and again. I get annoyed by the amount of focus given to the Avengers in Marvel NOW!, and it’s really great to see Bendis not being afraid to joke at the Avengers’ expense.

The art by Stuart Immonen and David Marquez is just as on point as it was in the last volume. They love drawing these characters just as much as Bendis loves writing them. It’s phenomenal art, and you can’t, I repeat, CAN’T miss it.

Here to Stay doesn’t achieve much, but it’s a fun bout of non-achievement. It gets a three out of five ways to spell besti (seriously, how do you spell that? White girls?).

***

+ Iceman is perfect.

+ If nothing else, issue 8 makes the volume worth buying.

- Not much happens.

Alternate Option: All-New X-Men: Yesterday’s X-Men

You can’t read Here to Stay without reading this one.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 1: Cosmic Avengers (Marvel NOW!) Review

Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 1: Cosmic Avengers

Starlord wants you!... To take the
racoon seriously.

Writer: Brian Michael Bendis

Artists: Steve McNiven, Sara Pichelli

Collects:  Guardians of the Galaxy #1-3 and #0.1 AND Guardians of the Galaxy: Tomorrows Avengers #1

Background Information:

So the Guardians of the Galaxy movie opens in August, so what better time to explain who these guys are?

Peter Quill, AKA Starlord, is the son of an Earth woman and a man from the planet Spartax. Upon learning of his heritage, he took to space and now hangs out with Gamora (Daughter of Thanos), Drax the Destroyer (psycho killing-you-guy), Groot (y’know those tree things from Lord of the Rings? Kinda like that, but only says “I am Groot”).

Oh, yeah, and a talking racoon.

Review

Would you eat an otherwise perfect chocolate cake if there was a cockroach cooked into it?

That’s kinda the feeling I get when reading Cosmic Avengers; it’s good, but there’s that one ingredient that takes it from being great to being vomit-inducing. It’s a pity, because there’s plenty to like here, but that one major failing stops me from being excited about further volumes.

So Quill’s rotten father is letting him know that the Earth is officially off-limits to interstellar visitors. That’s good, right?

For the record- we've never heard of the Power Rangers

Not so much. See, apparently saying “don’t go there” just encourages interstellar bad guys to... well... go there. Enter the Guardians (joined for the moment by Iron Man) who are trying to stop interstellar bad guys. Of course, there’s a lot more that happens in the book apart from that, but that’s as spoiler free as I can do for the moment.

Okay, it seems pretty clear at the moment that Bendis is effectively trying to reboot-without-rebooting Guardians of the Galaxy (something that seems to be a habit for All-New-All-Now-New-Now-All Marvel NOW!), but it thankfully somewhat works. The first issue treats us to an origin story for Starlord, as well as a quick introduction to Iron Man being on the team. I say somewhat, because there is still plenty we don’t know about the rest of the guardians.

But that’s pretty forgivable because the following three issues don’t suffer from the same lack of information. There’s plenty of great moments for each character to shine, Drax lives up to his title as destroyer very well; showing a brutality unrivalled by any of the other Guardians. Gamora has plenty of great sword-swinging, gun-shooting moments, and thankfully, there’s no sign of sexual exploitation on the character (although I’m suspicious that there may be in the movie). I won’t spoil Groot’s best moment here because, although you can see it coming a mile away, it’s so satisfying when you see yourself proven right.

Peter Quill comes off very much as a Han Solo-style character. He’s dismissive of authority figures, is fairly laid back, and can trash talk pretty much at will. It’s cliché, sure, but damn if it isn’t highly enjoyable to read.

Alright, fine, I’ll talk about Rocket Racoon. Honestly, I think Marvel are overestimating the character’s

Has gun. Will kill guys.

appeal, here. He’s fun to read about for sure- enjoying the killing aspect of the Guardians’ missions more than anyone else in the team (and remember, one of those other team members has “the Destroyer” in his name; let that sink in). The problem is, I just couldn’t help but think of a smaller, furrier Deadpool whenever I saw him. If you really want to see that kind of character, you’re probably better off reading Deadpool. He works well in the team though, so this isn’t a big enough problem to warrant a low score.

Artwork is done pretty seamlessly. Despite having two different artists, there’s no immediate difference in the artwork between the book’s main four issues.

Up until this point, I’ve really had no problem with the book in terms of story or art, but that’s not where Cosmic Avengers fails. No, this isn’t a bad comic, but it is a bad collection of issues.

Now, the way Marvel collects their trade paperback has always been a problem with me. On average, you can expect a Marvel trade to have five issues. That’s not bad in and of itself, but then they charge around $20 for it. Now, I can buy a DC trade for around $18 and get minimum six issues, and that feels more like my money’s worth. You can argue quality of stories all you want, but the fact remains that with Marvel, you’re paying more for less story.

But Cosmic Avengers ups the anti in this regard. See, the actual story content is only covered in three issues. Otherwise, it’s bookended by the good-but-not-significant #0.1 and the boring-and-insignificant Guardians of the Galaxy: Tomorrow’s Avengers #1. Now, I know that the others stories may not match up, but reading so little actual story content (especially in the Tomorrow’s Avengers, which only acknowledges the story, rather than adding to it) left me with a sour taste in my mouth.

So here’s hoping the second volume is better collected but right now Guardians of the Galaxy get’s a three out of five issues that further the story.

***

+ Characters are great.

+ Good for new readers

- The Tomorrow’s Avengers issue is horrible.

Alternate Option: Nova Vol. 1

Not one I’ve read, but I’ve heard great things about it. And it may just be the better choice if you want something in Marvel’s cosmic realm.

Uncanny X-Men Vol 1.: Revolution (Marvel NOW!) Review

Uncanny X-Men Vol. 1: Revolution (Marvel NOW!) Review

Cyclops' costume has nothing to do with
Tron. What's Tron? We've never heard of
Tron!

Writer: Brian Michael Bendis

Artists: Chris Bachalo and Frazer Irving

Collects: Uncanny X-Men #1-5

Background Information:

Marvel NOW! was started by an event called Avengers Vs. X-Men, in which the phoenix force (a mystic energy that has the habit of making people both very powerful and very crazy) took hold of certain X-Men; most notably Cyclops (Scott Summers).

Cyclops has had a rough run in the last ten-or-so years. The mutant population was whittled down to around 200, he lost half the X-Men in an event called Schism, and now the phoenix force has forced Scott to kill his mentor, Charles Xavier.

If you thought Cyclops was a bad dude in the X-Men movie, you ain’t seen nothing yet.

Review:

So now, Cylcops is a number of things; to SHIELD, he’s a fugitive terrorist, to the public, he’s a freedom fighting anarchist, to Wolverine’s X-Men, he’s a friend gone horribly wrong and to the X-Men from the past (see All-New X-Men, he’s a harsh introduction to reality.

Cyclops' career as a motivational speaker goes down the
toilet

Revolution somehow manages to juggle all of these interpretations of the character; giving us a Cyclops that All-New X-Men makes him out to be, but still one that isn’t quite the good guy. He’s trying to gather as many new mutants as he can to his mutant revolution while trying to dodge groups like SHIELD and the Avengers.  To complicate things, Cyclops, along with his senior teammates, Magneto, Magik and Emma Frost, have found that their powers don’t work like they used to.

isn’t as evil as

What Bendis does well here is give us a more human side of Cyclops. He’s sick and tired of being pushed around by humans, sick of being shot at, sick of being abused, sick of not being trusted despite saving the world multiple times over. The title “anti-hero” gets thrown around way too much for my liking. When most people say it, they tend to mean hero who isn’t all happy-go-lucky. Bendis’ Cyclops more fits my definition of anti-hero: someone who is, for all intents and purposes, a villain, yet we read him as though he’s the hero. It’s a character type that has been used for centuries- take Shakespeare’s Richard III, for example (yep, I referenced Shakespeare in a comic review, take that literary buffs!), and while Bendis is no Shakespeare, he uses the anti-hero trope fairly well.

I will warn you that unless you’ve been reading All-New X-Men, it’s gonna be hard to understand what’s going on here, which is one of my major complaints for this series. Considering this series really takes its base from Bendis’ other X-title, it seems strange that Revolution doesn’t reference it that much. All-New X-Men Vol. 1: Yesterday’s X-Men gave Cyclops and the crew some difficult questions to consider. How far had Cyclops fallen? Are the team still fighting for what they once believed? Those questions don’t get answered here, as much as you may want them to be. This makes Uncanny X-Men feel out of place. It’s weird since both books are written by Bendis, and it makes for a title that feels underutilised.

What's a great way to bring in female readers? I got it!
Trampy costumes!

The art here may appeal to some, but this is no Stuart Immonen. There’s a lot less detail here, and character designs can occasionally be jarring. This is especially true for the female characters, who wear as little as possible with the result being that these X-Men look either like dominatrixes or naughty schoolgirls. It’s an unsettling sexualisation that you think the comic industry would be over by now. Thankfully, the male characters, at least, look pretty good. Magneto’s new costume makes him look equal parts master of magnetism and cagefighter, while Cyclops’ new X-shaped visor is a very nice touch. Bachalo and Irving also use some interesting tricks in their page and panel design, such as removing colour from scenes that involve psychic communication. It’s still not the best X-art out there, but it passes.

Overall though, it’s hard to recommend Revolution unless you really want to see what Cyclops did after the first volume of All-New X-Men (which I recommend that you stick to). Revolution gets a three out of five Shakespearean Anti-Heroes.

***

+ An ACTUAL anti-hero

+ Nice “other side” to All-New X-Men

+ Some nice visual tricks and good male costume designs

- Doesn't utilise its relation to All-New X-Men like it should

- Female designs are kinda tart-y

- Not enough questions answered

Alternate Option: All-New X-Men: Yesterday’s X-Men

Definitely the best of the X-titles at the moment. You need to read this.

All-New X-Men Vol. 1: Yesterday's X-Men (Marvel NOW!)

All-New X-Men Vol. 1: Yesterday’s X-Men (Marvel NOW!)

Okay guys, let's all look ignore the fact that
Iceman's not wearing any pants...

Writer: Brian Michael Bendis

Artist: Stuart Immonen

Collects: All-New X-Men #1-5

Background Information:

Ever since around 2000, the X-Men leader Cyclops has been getting more and more nasty. When the world mutant population got cut down to around 200, Cyclops became more militant, sending the X-Force to covertly kill anti-mutant lobbyists and relocating to Magneto’s old home on Utopia. It lead to the permanent splitting of the X-Men between Cyclops and Wolverine. When the phoenix plot device... sorry, I mean phoenix force... came back to earth, Cyclops was officially pushed over the edge and killed his mentor, Charles Xavier.

But the dude’s named after a mythical Greek monster famous for killing people; shouldn’t be a surprise, right?

Review:

So now that Cyclops is completely gaga, the rest of the X-Men are left in a state of shock. Cyclops has been leader of the X-Men since day one and nobody is less impressed by Cyclops’ change of character than Hank McCoy, also known as Beast. Like Cyclops, Beast was one of the original X-Men and he knows that years ago, Cyclops would have hated what he has now turned into. But things are still pretty bad for the big blue X-Man. He’s continuing to mutate and it’s starting to kill him. In a last desperate attempt to make things right before he dies, Beast travels back in time and brings the original X-Men from yesteryear into the present. For those expecting a young Wolverine, this means younger versions of Cyclops, Jean Grey (not just a younger version, but an alive version to boot), Beast, Iceman and Angel. In X-Men history, Gambit, Rogue, Wolverine and Storm all joined the team much later.

Beast’s intent is to remind Cyclops of his past self and thereby encourage him to stop killing people. What it actually ends up doing is freaking out pretty much everyone in the X-Men franchise. Time travel is a logical nightmare when telling stories. Thankfully, writer Brian Michael Bendis uses some of these problems to not just further the narrative, but develop the characters he writes. It’s a relief and it actually allows Bendis to do what he really does best.

The X-Men that Beast brings back are all teenagers- aged between 12 and 18. Bendis is best known for writing Ultimate Spider-Man back in the early 2000s and there he absolutely nailed the teenage voice. In Yesterday’s X-Men, Bendis is back in his element. There is a distinct difference between the way young and old Cyclops talk, between young and old Iceman (though to be fair, they are both absolute goofs) and even Jean Grey actually sounds like a teenager. The only character for whom Bendis misses the mark is Beast; who, despite being twelve, talks like a twenty-year old. I understand that even the young Hank McCoy is a genius, but there is a difference between smart and mature that I don’t think Bendis realises here.

But ultimately this book is a thematic triumph. The book deals with the very relatable conflict between innocent idealism and worldly jadedness. The great part here though, is that innocence isn’t a weakness. For the young X-Men, their innocence is what drives their idealism. They have yet to “learn” that peace between humans and mutants can’t happen and as such, they get great power from believing that it is possible. In a world where too many people mistake innocence for weakness or even stupidy, it’s nice to see the innocent triumph.

The art is done entirely by Stuart Immomen, who just does an amazing job at character designs. The young X-Men are all wearing the original yellow and black costumes. Their civilian clothes include ties for the boys. Jean Grey sports a haircut that went out of style in the sixties. It would have been so easy to “modernise” these characters to make them dress and appear “cooler”, but Immonen takes a harder, yet more impressive route. Somehow, he makes these old designs appear fresh through excellent use of light and shadow and brilliant use of movement and expression.

My only real issue from the book, apart from young Beast “all-too-old” voice, is the newer mutants that are introduce in this volume. Because Bendis spends so much time developing the new status quo around the already well-known characters that the newer mutants introduced in this book seem more like afterthoughts. I’m supposing, that since they are on old Cyclops’ team, that they will appear in Uncanny X-Men (also written by Bendis), but at the moment, I’m just left to wonder why they’re there.

Yesterday’s X-Men is an awesome hearkening back to the days when X-Men was more simple. It’s an emotionally charged book that gets a four out of five Greek monsters.

****

+  Character designs are excellent

+ Themes are poignant and relevant

+ Bendis almost perfectly writes the teenage voice

- Young Beast sounds a little too old

- Are we supposed to care about the new mutants?

Alternate Option: Uncanny X-Men: Revolution

Admittedly, it’s not one I’ve read yet, but it’s the companion book to All-New X-Men, so definitely worth a look.