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ALL-NEW X-MEN #3

• The flagship X-Book marches on!

• The original 5 X-Men are back, but that’s not all that’s happening.

• What happened to the Phoenix 5 from AVENGERS VS. X-MEN?

Story by Brian Michael Bendis
Art by Stuart Immonen & Wade Von Grawbadger
Colors by Marte Gracia
Letters by Cory Petit
Cover by Stuart Immonen, Wade Von Grawbadger, & Marte Gracia

Price: $3.99
iFanboy Community Pick of the Week Percentage: 5.3%

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Avg Rating: 4.3
 
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Comments

  1. Avatar photo tomistommy says:
    December 3, 2012 at 10:28 pm

    God is this book fucking weekly? Not that I’m complaining, but, Christ, slow your roll, Marvel!

  2. Avatar photo frankcmu says:
    December 3, 2012 at 11:00 pm

    Why does it have to be 4 bucks :/

  3. Avatar photo MattDoobie says:
    December 3, 2012 at 11:35 pm

    Haven’t checked this out yet, how is it?

  4. Avatar photo ResurrectionFlan says:
    December 4, 2012 at 1:05 am

    How long til the art sucks.

  5. Avatar photo BionicDave says:
    December 4, 2012 at 2:18 am

    Surprised myself, this is my favorite MARVEL NOW title.

  6. Avatar photo GunnerAsh says:
    December 4, 2012 at 2:24 am

    This is the first X-Men book I’ve ever bought on a regular basis. I’m really intrigued by this idea and interested to see how the young X-Men are going to fit in with the current team members. Only Marvel Now title I’m buying, very good so far.

  7. wushugushu says:
    December 4, 2012 at 4:57 am

    I would buy this title every week if available..
    So good

  8. drunkentriggaz says:
    December 4, 2012 at 8:11 am

    I love not having to wait a month for a new issue I love the bi/tri ? Monthly shipping.

  9. Avatar photo WheelHands says:
    December 4, 2012 at 10:47 am

    Sweet Fancy Moses! I’m typically not one to gripe about double/triple/quadruple shipping, but this schedule best be temporary. I love the book, but I already feel like I can’t keep up. There is something to be said for anticipation. Poor Immonen’s gonna be found dead at his table.

  10. Avatar photo sitara119 says:
    December 4, 2012 at 10:53 am

    Goddamn. give the title time to marinate in my mind. i mean, i enjoy head as much as anybody, but don’t put the whole thing in mouth right away. might as well just buy it in trade if that’s what i wanted.
    that aside, the first two issues were a blast and i’m sure this double/triple shipping has to end soon like it did with USM. that is if they want to keep the art consistent and me coming back. my throat is getting sore.

  11. Avatar photo Scarlet-Batman says:
    December 4, 2012 at 12:15 pm

    I kind of wish we could get a weekly comic that was like 2 bucks a pop.

    I’ve been enjoying this series thus far. Good stuff. Please keep ’em coming!

  12. Avatar photo player1 says:
    December 4, 2012 at 1:04 pm

    Getting this by subscription.

    Looks beautiful. Piling them up until springtime.

  13. Avatar photo misterckent says:
    December 4, 2012 at 2:06 pm

    I’m having fun with this!!! Super exciting!

  14. Avatar photo JBalz says:
    December 4, 2012 at 6:36 pm

    Bought this and the weeks before wolverine and the xmen last week. I’ve been enjoying this more but its not really fair cause frankenstein’s circus seems like a filler arc. I’ve been waiting for the hellfire club/kade to get fucked up since reading schism though.

  15. fo sho says:
    December 5, 2012 at 1:04 pm

    Just read this morning (score for digital reading) and while I enjoyed it a lot, was it just me or did Emma…not talk like Emma? It was almost like…who is this other blonde pretending to be Emma! I’m hoping Bendis gets a better grasp of how Emma talks and not make her just a random American…

    • Avatar photo CaseyJustice says:
      December 6, 2012 at 9:18 am

      I thought that too, but I just chalked it up to the Phoenix experience changing her a bit. She’s been knocked down a few pegs.

      I was thrown, however, when she suddenly decided to join Scott’s mission mere moments after roundly denouncing Scott’s mission…

  16. Avatar photo Master Destructo says:
    December 5, 2012 at 4:23 pm

    I’m interested to hear what everyone thinks of this one. I loved #1 and 2, but I was surprised to read a bad review of this latest issue. I hope that review is wrong, because I’m really enjoying this so far.

    • Avatar photo walterwhite says:
      December 5, 2012 at 9:28 pm

      I thought It was once again top notch in both story and art. Not sure why it would get a bad review, but I’m giving this another 4/5 stars -might even be POTW but not done reading all my books yet.

  17. Avatar photo Mono0521 says:
    December 5, 2012 at 4:28 pm

    Brian Michael Bendis you gave me a new love for X-men. Thank you! Immomen you are doing amazing as well.

  18. Avatar photo CyclopsWasRight says:
    December 5, 2012 at 10:00 pm

    I know swearing shows a lack of vocabulary but I’m lost for words this book is F#!%ing amazing

  19. Avatar photo Scarlet-Batman says:
    December 6, 2012 at 12:11 am

    That exchange between Scott and Eric… Wow. Really showcases the different dynamic between now and pre-AvX.

    This book is totally great.

  20. Avatar photo tripleneck (@tripleneck) says:
    December 6, 2012 at 12:41 am

    Immonen & Grawbadger are BEASTS! Plus, a lot is happening in these issues which almost makes it feel like it’s not a Bendis book. Yet it still retains that tasty Bendis-ian flair for interpersonal relationships.

  21. Avatar photo KenOchalek says:
    December 6, 2012 at 8:53 am

    I wonder how all the folks complaining about the accelerated shipping feel after reading this issue?

    Because the mere week between #2 and #3 now makes a lot of sense to me because this was almost like a 20-page preview of the new Uncanny X-Men volume. We didn’t even get a glimpse of the school, and we didn’t see the young X-Men until the last page.

    Don’t get me wrong, I liked the hell out of this issue, but since it was such an aside from what we’ve seen so far, I think it makes sense to release it quickly to not derail the other side of the story. I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s also a tactic to goose pre-orders for Uncanny X-Men (I can’t imagine a book called Uncanny X-Men by Bendis and Bachalo needs a boost, but who knows?).

  22. Avatar photo phess1">phess1 says:
    December 6, 2012 at 11:27 am

    I think I hate myself for buying this. The beggining of this was actually pretty cool but fell apart once we have cyclops crying into the grass. What does he mean “I finally get control of my powers and then it goes away”? He’s had control of his powers for years now even if you stretch out continuity. Then they just show up for this new mutant whose having the time of his life. Why would he bother to join a bunch of angry mutants when everything seems pretty sweet for him. We still don’t really have any motivation for what modern cyclops is doing are what this mutant “revolution” is. And $3.99 for 19 pages of actual story is horrendous. I’m not one to complain about price points but thats a rip off. I’m dropping this and hoping that uncanny is better. This art is great but this story is stupid.

    • Avatar photo KenOchalek says:
      December 6, 2012 at 11:35 am

      Prior to his possession by the Phoenix, Cyclops has NEVER had control of his power, that’s why he never takes off his visor or glasses. He’s learned how to USE it, but he couldn’t control it until the Phoenix was running the show. So I think he’s referring to a feeling of loss a blind person might feel after being able to see for a little bit. Scott thought he’d overcome this huge roadblock in his life, only to be set back further than ever. That would be a bummer, I’d think.

    • Avatar photo phess1">phess1 says:
      December 6, 2012 at 3:23 pm

      That makes sense although I would argue that having that nifty visor has given him some level of control over his mutation. I still think this very early version of the series has used a lot of leaps in logic to push the story but your point is valid. I’ve read from your commnets that you have enjoyed the series. I would say that although there has been improvement from issue to issue I still don’t understand the appeal here outside of the art and some moments of dialouge. What do you enjoy about the series? Does it bother you that you are paying $4 for a 19 page story? What about this concept (old versions of the X-Men time traveling to the future) do you like? I ask sincerly where as clearly I don’t like it I haven’t really seen a lot of reasons why people like this other then “great art” “Bendis dialouge” and “awesome”.

    • Avatar photo KenOchalek says:
      December 6, 2012 at 3:56 pm

      I’m not over the moon with All-New X-Men, but I’m liking it a lot. My enjoyment boils down to a few things: personal investment in the characters and ongoing narrative, appreciation for the skill of the creative team, and interest in the narrative possibilities that have been teased so far.

      I’ve been an X-Men fan for about 20 years now, and in that time I’ve managed to read the bulk of the backstory (including lots of New Mutants and X-Factor from the 1980s), so trust me when I say I’ve read a lot of bad X-Men comics. This is not a bad X-Men comic.

      I don’t enjoy paying $4 for 19 pages of story, but I feel like Bendis and Immonen (especially Immonen) are delivering enough quality to justify the price for me. I’m also fortunate enough to have a pretty flexible budget for comics, so I can afford it as long as they keep up the good work.

      But beyond my personal taste for these characters and the creative team, I like that this series is introducing us to a new chapter in the constant evolution of the X-Men concept. Bendis has introduced several interesting mysteries that I want to get answers to — what’s up with The Beast and this talk of further mutation? What did the Phoenix do to the mutants it possessed? What is the US government planning to do in reaction to the new mutants? Which new mutants are going to get involved with the school? What is Cyclops’ revolution really all about?

    • Avatar photo sitara119 says:
      December 7, 2012 at 3:09 am

      @phess1
      my budget, like Ken’s, is flexible, but i’m with ya on principle alone. 19 pages for 4 bucks is maddening if not an outright slap in the face. “great art” is why a lota people give so much leeway on issues like this and to be honest, the full size panels are great, but there’re a lota panels with tiny, squiggly and/or stick-like people on account of all the dialogue. a lota of scenes to cover as it were.
      this issue wasn’t as good as the previous 2 and i believe it’s because there were none of the young, time-traveling X-Men until the last page. i did love that last page. i seriously wanna see young Cyclops utterly beat the shit out of “revolutionary” cyclops.

      @Ken
      i would be interested to read what X-books/arcs you’ve read that you found unappealing. i can’t recall you ever saying anything negative about an X-book. you’re like me when i read a Johns/Morrison book. see no evil. an apologist, if you will. to your credit, i don’t read all X-related threads, so i could have missed an unfavorable comment along the way.

    • Avatar photo KenOchalek says:
      December 7, 2012 at 7:50 am

      @sitara: Apologist, is one way to see it, but I feel like that implies a level objectivity that isn’t required to like or dislike a comic book. And most of the time, if I find a book unappealing, I just stop talking about it, so there wouldn’t be many unfavorable comments to find.

      However, there have been many unappealing X-books. For example, I dropped off Uncanny last summer during AVX because Gillen’s stories just weren’t grabbing me enough to overcome Greg Land’s art, New Mutants would have got the ax had it not ended when it did. I tried an arc of Victor Gischler’s adjectiveless X-Men (they fought the Lizard in Manhattan) that was pretty bad. And I think this Murder Circus stuff in Wolverine and The X-Men is off to an overly silly start. And even though it gets lots of praise, Peter David’s current X-Factor run has never done it for me.

      Less recently, I completely dropped off the X-books in the late 90s just before the Onslaught business. I’ve since gone back and read that era (thanks to the 40 years of X-Men DVD) and it’s kind of a mess. Same for the bulk of Claremont’s output after 1990 or so. And while I’ll certainly give Stan and Jack credit for getting everything started, I didn’t truly enjoy those early issues until Neal Adams and Roy Thomas were on the book.

      So when there’s good stuff going on, I’m all in, but I’m not so rabid an X-fan that I’ll spend too much time on a piece of junk.

    • Avatar photo sitara119 says:
      December 7, 2012 at 11:26 am

      @Ken
      Apologists are fairly commonplace in comicbook readership despite whatever level of objectivity, or lack thereof, is required for liking/disliking comics. after reading your list of unappealing X-books, i certainly don’t think you are one.

      that list is not only longer than i supposed, but there’s a few things on there that i didn’t expect to see. i like the the late 90’s Lobdell/Joe Madd run and Waid/Lobdell/Kubert did a pretty solid job of creating Onslaught. i really dig those stories. i think Loeb and Peter David brought a lot fixins to the Onslaught table, as well.
      Also, i really enjoyed Claremont/Lee’s X-Men that ran between ’91 and ’92.

    • wushugushu says:
      December 8, 2012 at 12:03 am

      $4 well spent for me..
      Id buy this every week.. i feel like they had to show what cyclops and his team were up to before the ones from the past came for comfrontation.

  23. Avatar photo WheelHands says:
    December 6, 2012 at 3:43 pm

    Has Bendis ever read Emma Frost before? Because ya wouldn’t know it.

    Other than that annoying little fuck-up, I really enjoyed this issue. I’m really curious to see what’s behind the power fluctuations (I’m skeptical about the Phoenix exposure being the only reason). The conversation between Erik and Scott was exactly what I’ve been waiting for since Cyclops offed the Proff. Wonderfully executed. I was so invested in the story that I completely forgot about the Young 5 until they showed up, which made it all the more enjoyable. And it may just be me, but Immonen seems to be getting even better with every issue. Beautiful stuff.

    • Avatar photo KenOchalek says:
      December 6, 2012 at 4:00 pm

      See, I’m not so sure we can blame Bendis for Emma being weird just yet. I thought he wrote her in one of the Illuminati stories a couple years back, so I don’t think this is his first time with the character. And on top of that, we don’t know exactly what the Phoenix did to the X-Men it possessed. It could be that she’s really not herself right now.

    • Avatar photo WheelHands says:
      December 6, 2012 at 9:08 pm

      So the Phoenix exposure is responsible for her talking like a barfly from Jersey? I’m not buying it. “Being weird” is one thing, speaking in a way that runs contrary to all previous appearances is another. In fact, it wasn’t so much her behavior as her dialog that annoyed me. Her actions were more or less in line with her core characterization:

      – Being hurt that Scott left her to be imprisoned by “the humans”, and hiding that feeling of abandonment with anger? Emma would do that.

      – Blaming someone else for her problems (in this case, the erratic nature of her powers), and accusing Scott of stealing HER Phoenix power? Emma would do that.

      – Cooling off after her little tantrum, and being ready to get down to business? Emma would do that.

      – Saying “Thanks for the bust-out, FELLAS”?? Leaving the “g”s off “ing”s?? Saying “We got another one.” instead of “We’VE got another one.”?? Emma would not do that.

      If it does have anything to do with the Phoenix force, or some kind of possession/shapeshifter, it seems like a weird and inconsequential side effect. And if it were to play out in the future, any smart writer would have Scott and Erik pick up on her strange behavior as a kind of foreshadowing. Look, I’m loving the book, but I don’t think this is any hint of future events. I think this is a writer writing a character the way he wants to, instead of the way she should be written. These kind of things are small but glaring.

      At the end of the day though, it’s a nitpick, and I’ll meet you here to eat my words if it does come into play down the line.

    • wushugushu says:
      December 8, 2012 at 12:05 am

      I would imagine after having world changing powers, being betrayed by her lover, and being imprisoned by humans you would be extremely pissed and full of rage.. i feel like people act differently under a colossal amount of stress

    • Avatar photo WheelHands says:
      December 8, 2012 at 1:47 pm

      @wushugushu: They sure do. What they don’t don’t is change they way they talk. Read my comment. It’s not her behavior that bothered me, it was her dialog.

    • Avatar photo WheelHands says:
      December 8, 2012 at 1:48 pm

      * what they don’t DO is change THE way they talk.

      How we doin’ on that EDIT button, fellas?

    • wushugushu says:
      December 10, 2012 at 12:02 am

      Emotions absolutely effect the way people speak..
      Guess this isnt a concept that is grasped to well by some.. Especially those who try to diagnose peoples behavior based on 2-3 sentences,,

  24. Avatar photo tomistommy says:
    December 6, 2012 at 4:58 pm

    This book gives me that same warm and toasty feeling that Ultimate Spider-Man used to give me, you know, before all the tie-in garbage. I’ve never really gotten into the X-Men, except for Whedon’s run on Astonishing, but this book makes me happy inside.

  25. Avatar photo sitara119 says:
    December 7, 2012 at 3:23 am

    no young X-Men = bust.
    this was good. a solid 3 stars.
    the first two issues took leaps and bounds for making me like this title, but this issue took one giant leap in the wrong direction for mutantkind. they absolutely moonwalked away from the endzone.
    i did enjoy seeing modern Cyclops cry. i bet his tears taste like Scittles. ;P

    • Avatar photo BionicDave says:
      December 7, 2012 at 3:45 am

      And… Sitara for the win 🙂
      Loved your analogy between double-shipping and forceful head – but saying Scott’s tears taste like Skittles made me laugh out loud.

    • Avatar photo sitara119 says:
      December 7, 2012 at 11:32 am

      like the aforementioned analogy, i aim to please. 😉

    • Avatar photo walterwhite says:
      December 7, 2012 at 12:05 pm

      @sitara I’m actually really enjoying this series a lot so far, but I totally understand you view 19 pgs at $4 is bs. I don’t care how much money someone makes the pricing on Marvel Now books are a j/k. I just can’t imagine how much it must suck for young kids these days who want to get into comics with these price points, shit if this was the 90’s and comics were this much I would have never been able to fall in love with this art form.

    • Avatar photo sitara119 says:
      December 7, 2012 at 1:34 pm

      i know what you mean. i remember in the 80’s and early 90’s having to scrownge up change from my parents or from in between the couch cushions, then walking to the corner store(remember when gas stations and grocery stores sold comics from those rotating racks, good times) and buying the latest issue of Batman, ASM or even Darkhawk. there’s no way i coulda afforded comics with the inflation of modern comic prices. i don’t know what kids today do. buy less comicbooks i suppose. 🙁

  26. Avatar photo jpriester73 says:
    December 7, 2012 at 11:57 am

    I’m not a big X-Men guy… This book is changing that.

  27. Avatar photo ResurrectionFlan says:
    December 7, 2012 at 11:46 pm

    What happened during the fight can someone explain it to me? The art was very very very very very unclear about what happened. Cyclops’ visor fell off but his powers started making squiggles but magneto is weak but not but yes?

    • wushugushu says:
      December 8, 2012 at 12:07 am

      I thought the page where they talked about their powers malfunctioning and that it was possible that phoenix had changed them made it pretty clear..
      Also thought the other 15 posts talking about this made it clear as well

  28. Avatar photo Skyfire124 says:
    December 9, 2012 at 6:48 am

    I’ve only been reading X-Men related stuff for about a year, but count me among those who thought Emma’s dialogue felt way off. I also would have liked a little more concrete answer as in what way their powers were malfunctioning. Yeah I could tell they weren’t happy with the results but I would have liked something a little more descriptive. I can kind of gloss over those nitpicks.

    My main beef is really, I don’t really want to read about adult Cyclops and Magneto here, as they have their own title. I get that early Cyclops is going to fight present-Cyclops but I’d rather this story had been kept in the point of view of the kids.

    I AM enjoying the title so far but this the first and third issues have been about 3-3.5 out of 5 for me, while the second issue was a perfect 5 for me.

  29. Avatar photo bkk6 says:
    December 9, 2012 at 10:39 am

    By far my favorite marvel now book

  30. ww3guy says:
    December 9, 2012 at 11:36 am

    Is it just me or does it seem like after every major event they reboot the series to a #1. Secret invasion,fear itself and now AvsX. I mean what happen to books reaching milestones. Ok Amazing is about to turn 700 but then what a #1 issue comes out in a month. I mean come on people i want to see a issue 1000 in my lifetime. In fairness this is a decent book other then the time traveling thing which im not crazy about but the collapse of mister goody two shoes is nice to finally see. As for Uncanny idk mixed feelings. I am however enjoying Ironman but then again i rarely don’t. I don’t know call me old fashion but i want to see long running high numbered books again that don’t cost me $4 for 19 pages.

    • Avatar photo sitara119 says:
      December 9, 2012 at 11:48 am

      trust me, when Action and Detective reach one-thousand, there’ll be a big “1000th issue!” on the cover. although with all the double/triple shipping ASM has done over the years, it might get there first.

  31. Avatar photo CGPO says:
    December 10, 2012 at 2:06 pm

    This story-arc seems to be more about setting up Bendis’ Uncanny X-Men than it does about the “All-New” X-Men. At times he definitely gets the characters, Magneto’s speech felt very Claremont-esque, but too much time was spent on the Uncanny team. The first issues should have combined issues one and two and been double-sized, this and I’m guessing the next issue should have been trimmed down to one issue. It’s no surprise Bendis is writing a de-constructed story, but it just feels like when he seems to get the characters, if he would just tighten up his plotting things would be awesome instead of stretching things out to fit the trade. It’s okay to have two shorter story-arcs in a single trade Marvel, really, it is.

    • Avatar photo Scarlet-Batman says:
      December 10, 2012 at 5:49 pm

      To give new readers a sense of why this is going to be so important, Bendis has to spend time fleshing out the mutant culture and showing us where all the different sides landed post-AvX. Could it have been handled in 2 issues? Sure (one for Jean Gray School, the other for Xavier) but I think they would have felt rushed. This is going to be a story for the long haul, we have to give Benis time to get all his ducks in a row. Remember how long it took him to get Peter into the Spiderman Suit in Ultimate Spiderman? It was unbearably slow when it was coming out monthly but now, it seems perfect. This will be the same way.

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