Breaking the ice
The X-Men have always been, to me, about change, evolution, about getting a bunch of mutants and seeing what they are able (and capable) of doing. And what better way to see things in motion than to stir up the relationships in Jean Grey School? Everybody had a shot in this issue since Aaron took his time and decided to make this issue all about the character's interactions with their "mates" (as the cover suggests), not necessarily in a romantic way, but this is all about chemistry, about two characters that enjoy each others companionship getting to spend a little more time together, as elonquently Quentin Quire said "This is the X-Men. If there's one thing we do more often than time travel and come back from the dead...it's randomly hook up with each other". The art in this issue was pretty good, but definitely this issue was all about Aaron's dialogues, he really delivered amazing, heart touching and interesting scenes here. I liked a lot the dialogues between Beast and Abigail, Quentin Quire and an X-Men from the past, Logan and Storm, Idie talking to Broo and Kitty with Bobby, especially when they talk about how their roles now (as teachers) are completely evidence of how different their lives are when they started as X-Men. I really enjoyed how Aaron contextualized this series with All New X-Men, I really like continuity, so this was a plus. The cover really was a bummer to me, because that's not the focus of the story at all, Logan and Storm are old friends, that's it, nothing more, didn't quite understand why Aaron pushed this foward. For those who don't like issues without action or a proper arc story, this is definitely not for you, but for those who like a good narrative (hey, there're love even for Kade Kilgore) this was a very solid story. Also, Aaron made amends in this issue, although it feels like he gives with one hand and takes away with the other, but I'm pretty sure things will be right in the comings issues (I hope)