All New X-Men #20: A Review

Writer: Brian Michael Bendis

Artist: Brandon Peterson, Mahmud Asrar

Publisher: Marvel

OK, first off, the cover is a complete misleading ripoff. There's not a single kiss in this whole issue. There is a sniff and an awkward sympathy hug. I hate when comic compasses do that. It's false advertising, and is illegal in a lot of forms of business, but not print. But, that bs aside, the issue is good. Not amazing and will stand out in my memory forever, but good. The characters and dialog are spot on. The art is good and does a great job of conveying the emotional subtext. The plot is witty and funny, with some deep emotion hidden underneath. The action towards the end is nothing special, but it's kind of an addendum to the main story to me. The cliffhanger ending is interesting, leaving us wondering what just happened. The pseudo empathetic moments between Scott and Laura is funny and endearing for both of them, and I like that they use Scott for it, rather than the more likely choices of Kitty or Jean. This is the first time we see Laura since Arena ended (this and the last issue), and we see it's deeply affected her. i can't ever remember her coming across as this vulnerable before. Or really caring about her at all, really. To be honest I haven't read any of the NYX or X-23 series, just saw her in different X-Men and X-force series. Everyone should enjoy this issue, after they get over the cover deception. The only part that just didn't feel "genuine" to me, was the part where Kitty tells Jean that Laura is one of the people that just shouldn't be mind read, after Jean makes comments about the horror shes seeing in Laura's recent memories. Really? She can read all the other friends and family of everyone, but not Laura, as they're trying to figure out what happened to her? Makes no sense, Just a plot device to let everyone find out what happened in Arena in the "big reveal" of an Avengers book.

Art: 8 Comedy: 8 Dialog: 8 Plot: 7 Romance: 3 Action: 6 Importance: 8 Cover Disappointment: 10 Overall: 8