Awesomeness
I started reading All-New X-Men against my better judgement, expecting something horrible. And I was very pleasantly surprised to be wrong. The title takes a concept that I wouldn't normally give the time of day and makes it not only work, but work spectacularly.
One thing I really, really love about this series is the consistent attention to detail that Bendis pays to characterizing...pretty much all his characters. I mean sure, issues 12 and 13 may have contained some technically incorrect characterization, in that it had Sabertooth and Mystique working together amicably (I think they hate one another, but I've not been able to double-check)
This issue features a fairly different art style from the rest of the series thus far, but I personally felt that the change in style suited the change of pace this issue provided. Instead of the usual story line, this issue features the All-New X-men on a day off, behaving like 'normal teenagers'. (Another great thing about the writing in this series is that none of the aforementioned X-men behave like anything BUT normal teenagers in extraordinary situations). But that doesn't mean this issue is unimportant- on the contrary, it features a few plot points that may prove to be very important later on.
First of all, Beast and Jean Grey have apparently gotten together. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, once again Chris Claremont has proven that he can predict the future- this is yet another development in the X-men universe that was done earlier in X-men Forever (which was godawful). And best of all, it makes sense! Beast has had a thing for Jean Grey since very, very early on in the inception of the original team- all of the male members of the team did, but Beast was the most active in pursuing her, if memory serves. I think they make a cute couple.
Then there's this lovely run-in between Rachel and Jean Grey.
As I've mentioned more times than I care to count, I don't like Rachel Grey, in part because of her overwhelming mother issues. In the past, Rachel has whined about her mother being dead waaaay more often than necessary and been generally creepy when Jean-616 was around, so at first I was confused by the fact that she doesn't seem interested in interacting with Jean. But the more I think about it, it makes sense- this is a very, very young Jean, someone Rachel couldn't feasibly see as a mother figure, and therefore would just find kind of...awkward. And of course Jean would be weirded out by the whole thing- this is her alternate-reality daughter, after all.
And then there's this unfamiliar blonde woman in white shown near the end of the issue, apparently shadowing Cyclops and Iceman in Salem Center. I must confess, I'm drawing something of a blank as to who she might be, but I have theories.
Judging by what looks to be an X-men emblem on her costume, she's likely a member (or ex-member) of one of the X-teams. I can think of blonde women that have been part of an x-team- Emma Frost, Magik, Husk, Magma, Boom-Boom, Meggan, the Stepford Cuckoos, Courtney Ross, Layla Miller, and Dazzler, and that's off the top of my head. Out of all those women, the one that seems most likely is Emma Frost, both by appearance and situation (she's tailing young Cyclops), but I for one have never seen Emma Frost in that costume, and she's not even wearing white these days, so it seems less than likely. We know it's not Layla Miller because, if nothing else, the mysterious stranger doesn't have the M tattoo over one eye. Hair colour varies from artist to artist, so we can't disqualify any of them for not having hair that pale. But then again, going by hair colour is kind of fallacious logic- she could be wearing a wig, or for that matter she could be a shape-shifter. Since I have no feasible or interesting means of concisely listing all the women in the x-men universe who would possibly look like that wearing a blonde wig, we'll go with listing the shape-shifters, which is a rather short list: Mystique (who was defeated and presumably captured in issue 14), Copycat, and Meggan . Karma is a vague possibility, as she could be possessing a blonde woman, but she lacks motive, and generally there's this partial circle of pink spikes around the head of whoever she's posessing. Of course, it could always be a skrull, but that seems unlikely.
In conclusion, All-New X-Men #15 is a solid 4.5, and definately worth reading.
