Astonishing X-Men 65, Uncanny X-Men 10

Astonishing X-Men 65
Liu (w) and Walta (a) and C. Peter (c)

Bobby has some issues and I'm rather torn on this. Mystique has stolen the Death Seed, thus giving herself enhanced powers, but she's pretty quickly defeated (though not after a bit of a one-on-one moment with Gambit) because turns out Apocalypse=not that hard to beat? Okay, I'm simplifying the situation a bit but WHATEVER, she's not the focus right now, just a way to make the Death Seed conquerable as it's pretty obvious this team can't beat a powered up and focus Bobby. So let's get to that. The conceit is that Bobby is, in fact, as powerful as he's always been but now he's unleashing all of that power because he has the confidence and the motivation to do so. He eventually chooses the non-evil path and defeats his monstrous personality but the issue ends on a somber note, basically asking what happens next time. Bobby admits to Kitty and Wolverine that he liked the monster, liked the power and the confidence the Death Seed brought and he doesn't think he can ever truly go back to the wisecracking, fun-loving guy they all know, even if he ends up lying and putting that face on. What will happen if he snaps again?

Really interesting arc here for Bobby and raises many more questions about the character. As I led off this review, I'm rather torn on what's happened here. I like Bobby as the fun guy on the team but it also leaves him with less depth than other characters. That's certainly simplifying it; he's been around as long as any other X-Man and he's certainly appeared enough in the Universe to have an extensive background and personality but he still feels kind of one dimensional. It's a good and often necessary dimension but it's left him a little weaker over the years. In that respect, I think it's kind of smart to show him in this light, as the guy who has been hurt and neglected and always sought approval and never really received it who suddenly realizes the true extent of his powers and, just as suddenly, isn't sure what that means to him and how he should use it. On the other hand, this is a real fundamental change to the character of Bobby Drake and one that, if everyone's paying attention to this book, should have a lasting effect on him across the Universe. That's a tall order and I tend to think that one or two of his other writers out there have a tendency to tell the story they want to tell with the characters they want to tell it with and forget any fundamental changes that have happened recently, someone else down the line can deal with those.

Uncanny X-Men 10
Bendis (w) and F. Irving (a and c)

Cyclops is excited because the team is training well and starting to look like real mutants. We're spared a training montage but only barely. We also learn that Eva, the new mutant who can create time bubbles, can also send people through time. So far she's only done it once and only into the future but it's worth noting and Cyclops notes it, telling the other new mutants that they may find that their powers begin to reveal more about themselves as time progresses. Meanwhile, Magneto goes to meet with Maria Hill (after the stupidest coded message MAYBE ever, which seems like a pretty big distinction but I'm not about to research "stupid coded messages" though now I actually kind of want to so I'll get back to you on that) in Portland to learn that he will no longer be working with her in matters of betraying Scott but will rather be working with Dazzler who, unbeknownst to either of them as yet, is actually Mystique posing as Dazzler because no one can get enough Mystique right now, particularly not Bendis (more on that in the next paragraph). Finally, the team watches a pro-mutant rights protest on television (led by humans) and decide to teleport there to blow everyone's minds and to get out some more words on the subject. As soon as they touch down, though, a new and more powerful Sentinel comes at them.

Mystique has found herself littered through these X-books of late, particularly in All-New X-Men and Uncanny X-Men, which I attributed to Bendis' love of specific characters (like how Spider-Woman and Luke Cage suddenly started appearing in every Avengers book during his runs). Thinking more on it, I think it's probably a little of that and a little trying to cash in on the character, who has always been a popular character within Marvel but now is played in major motion pictures by one of today's biggest actresses in Jennifer Lawrence. My question, if that ends up being true, is how much then is the decision of the Marvel higher-ups and how much is it of Bendis or how much is collaboration? While she's a worthwhile villain and obviously a pretty big villain in X-Men lore, it does fit that they'd be sprinkling her just about everywhere they can (in recent days she's appeared prominently in All-New X-Men, Uncanny X-Men, Astonishing X-Men, and Wolverine and the X-Men, to name the few I can think of) in hopes to cash in on the movie franchise's success (though at kind of a weird time, admittedly) and on the star power of Jennifer Lawrence. Bendis also likes to get in on movie tie-in stuff (not necessarily the direct tie-in, but he's also the one helming Guardians of the Galaxy's relaunched book just before the movie next year and he came up swinging with the Age of Ultron event just before Ultron was announced as the main villain of the upcoming blockbuster Avengers: Age of Ultron). Just some thoughts. Seemed more fun than listing the stupidest coded messages I could find (which, again, actually kind of sounds fun).