All-New X-Men Special #1

Writer - Mike Costa
Art - Kris Anka, Jordie Bellaire

Get Caught Up...

The original X-Men are in today's time.  Otto Octavius has taken control of Spider-Man's mind.  The Hulk is an agent of SHIELD.   All three will combine to face a common foe in a crossover I had no idea was happening until Monday.

What’s Good?

I'm not sure if it's my ignorance or if this crossover was just under-promoted and got lost in the sea of big event news, but I was surprised when I saw the solicit during my weekly scouring of the comic release list.  Not something that usually happens to me.  Regardless, I'm glad it happened.  This special was a nice surprise.  Characters who normally wouldn't have much interaction get to do an old fashioned team-up.  This really feels like the Annuals of yester-year which gave us fun not-necessarily-in-continuity stories.

I'm a sucker for the original X-Men being brought to today.  It's interesting and has a lot of opportunity to be funny.  This is on display here, but it is in check and doesn't overpower the main story.  The art team brings a very minimalistic, just shy of cartoonish approach to the characters that balances well with the light heartedness of the story.  The art didn't click with me immediately, but as the story progressed it really began to fit in.

This is a story in three parts, each being told in a “Special” issue, the next of which brings the Indestructible Hulk into the mix.  I'm especially glad that the inclusion of all these characters really makes sense with the story.   You have some random elements, but they all gel together well thanks to a solid story base.  

The Verdict…

A fun story that is really interesting will keep me around for the rest of the crossover.  Hopefully more stories like this will happen in the future if this is successful.