All-New X-Men 15, Cable and X-Force 12, X-Factor 260

All-New X-Men 15
Bendis (w) and Lafuente (a) and Campbell (c)

The original X-Men are still in the present. That about sums up the issue and the series at large, but let's keep going because we are gluttons for punishment. Bobby admits to Scott that he's freaked out whenever he sees Kitty and his older self embrace because he doesn't really like Kitty and he doesn't understand this crazy future. He and Scott decide to leave the mansion for a while and go hit on girls. Meanwhile, Jean is working with the grown Beast to focus her telekinetic powers, which leads to her reading his mind and finding out that he was once in love with her in what must be the creepiest thoughts Beast has ever had (he's can't stop thinking about how beautiful she is, despite the age difference now, and how much he regrets not telling her before). Then she approaches young Hank and makes out with him for a while.

I've asked it before and I'll no doubt ask it again but for whom is this book written? I understand that it has fans and I understand that, at the root of every review I write, I can never be right because what people like is objective and no one has a correct opinion, as it were. But who benefits from this book? On top of the writing, which I happen to find annoying and grating because Bendis writes most characters exactly the same and as if they're all teenagers so it's particularly grating when they actually are teenagers and he has to differentiate, to whom is this story compelling? Who is out there enjoying the new love triangles that change the face of the Marvel Universe for no particular reason and which puts Jean in such an ungodly position of choosing between a couple of her teammates? Is she going to track down Angel and make out with him later too because he wanted to date her originally as well?  Being a physically strong character doesn't make you a strong character and somehow this book feels like it's weakening Jean Grey as a character, who was already quite weak at her inception. In addition, I can't help but again say that the original X-Men have spent 15 issues in the future and who is enjoying this book? Then again, I bought a shirt that was three sizes too big for me the last time I went shopping so what do I know?

Cable and X-Force 12
Hopeless and Bunn (w) and Larroca (a) and D'Armata (c)

So I didn't get exactly what I was hoping for out of this issue as we don't get the story that focuses on Dr. Nemesis just yet but I'm holding out hope for next time. Instead, we get Domino helping Colossus break into a supervillain bank vault that contains a magical artifact that will destroy the Earth if not dealt with today (cutting it a little close, guys). The break-in and the inevitable fight against all of the enemies is mere backdrop to the lover's quarrel they're having about whether or not they should have a relationship that goes on further than where it's gone already. Meanwhile, Hope is in the future to find out who is behind Cable's visions and why.

Maybe I'm too much of a cynic here or something but I don't really care about the relationships developing in this book or in All-New X-Men, which made two of the reviews today a little hard to get through (evidenced by the fact that I'm going to just keep complaining about this shirt I bought). I don't even necessarily think the problem in this book is a lack of caring about Domino and/or Colossus. I like both of them just fine (Colossus more so, probably, but Domino's been great under Hopeless' watch) but I think we've seen enough awkward start-stop relationships built over time and this one seems less intriguing than even most of those. One of my favorite things about Winter Soldier's introduction to the Marvel Universe was the implied relationship between him and Black Widow prior to their time as heroes, which is then instantly and without fanfare picked back up when they come together again. I read comics for the characters  and the world they've built but that tends to make it a little harder to care about them going through relationship problems that have been forced on them. Maybe that's just me. I did, after all, buy this dumb shirt (yes, I'm wearing it now, for the first time, which is why I'm particularly annoyed with it today).

X-Factor 260
David (w) and Edwards and Leisten (a) and Milla (c)

The end of the world came and went, X-Factor is somewhere in the wind, separated and lost, and Polaris is getting drunk. Like, crazy amounts of drunk. And she's sick of the world right now so she's going a little more villain than she normally would, which means that when the bartender refuses to keep serving her, she starts wreaking a little havoc. Eventually the police come, who Polaris instantly disperses, followed by a SWAT team. Before the SWAT team has a chance to try to take out Polaris, Quicksilver stops by on his way to Avengers Mansion (not sure why he's living there at this point but whatever, let's keep going). Quicksilver, of course, is Lorna's half-brother and the two quickly come at odds with one another. Quicksilver attempts to talk Lorna down and Lorna very much does not want to be talked down, leading to quite a fight between the two

As X-Factor winds down to its final issue (only two more left! I don't care for that!), we've seen where various members of the team have ended up post-Hell on Earth. Lorna seems to be the only one back in New York (that we know of so far) and she is not faring well. It's a nice portrayal of a breakdown for a superhero, especially since Lorna has been moving this way for a while. We can only hope she doesn't turn supervillain, honestly, given everything that's happened with her lately. Now with her team lost to her, she's fallen rather hard. The conversation between Lorna and Pietro is a decent one with Peter David no stranger to writing the two of them. Of course, Lorna being drunk means that conversation goes over the top at times and it gets a little annoying after some time but overall it's a seemingly accurate example of someone falling so quickly on to hard times and overreacting. There is a moment at the end where, sober, she remembers what happened and regrets her attack on Quicksilver, which is at least reassuring. Also at the end was a hint of a new X-Factor team/series in the works, which is the first I've officially heard of that, assuming it will bear a new series.