Review: All New X-Men #22

William Rosenthal ’16 / Emertainment Monthly Staff Writer

All-New X-men #22 marks the beginning of the first ever crossover between the X-men and Guardians of the Galaxy in Marvel history. Both series are currently in the hands of writer Brian Michael Bendis with pencils and ink by Stuart Immonen and Wade von Grawbedger.

The plot of this arc has its roots all the way back in The Dark Phoenix Saga of the 80s. While possessed by the Phoenix, Jean Grey was the cause of the genocide of billions when she devoured a star, destroying the life in its orbit. The Shi’ar, an alien race who witnessed her actions, ruled that the Phoenix was too powerful to let continue. Although, due to her death, they were never able to enact their revenge. Now, it turns out Jean Grey’s back. It may not be the same Jean Grey, but the Shi’ar don’t seem too concerned with semantics.

The story starts up slowly. Each of Kitty Pryde’s X-men gets their spotlight, setting up their baggage from throughout the series. It’s clear how much Marvel tried to make this a jump on point for new readers, so much so that it feels light for long time readers. It was a quick read with dialogue focused on plot points already established. Jean Grey’s dialogue in particular felt over treaded.

A lot of the fun is in the art. It’s somewhere between cartoon and gritty which plays well off the over-the-top situations the characters embody.

After the initial introductions, the Shi’ar appear and the comic starts moving in double time. The second half ends just as it picks up.

Although, for a crossover, there wasn’t much of the second cast of characters present. The Guardians don’t show up until the very end in a spectacular splash page of all six members to Peter Quill’s words:

While it does feel quick, the large work is the exciting part. This crossover has one creative writer behind it and unifies two of Marvel’s major teams.

Emertainment gives this issue a 7 out of 10.