All-New X-Men #32

Background

The All-New X-Men (Jean Grey, Iceman, Beast, Angel and X-23) have encountered a new mutant known as Carmen. She did not appreciate her blossoming powers and somehow sent the X-Men to the Ultimate Universe! Jean comes face to face with Miles Morales: The Ultimate Spider-Man!

This isn't the first time anyone has crossed between the Marvel and Ultimate Universe though. Miles crossed into the Marvel Universe during Cataclysm and Mysterio and Peter Parker/Spider-Man crossed during Spider-Men. That portal has now closed...

Story Details

Angel finds himself in the Savage Land and immediately comes across the son of Wolverine, James Hudson Jr. Angel flies off confused!

Beast comes to underwater! He swims away from the sharks and to the shore, where he interrupts a canoodling couple. By their language, he figures he is somewhere off the Mediterranean coast.

X-23 is transported right into the middle of an American Football game! Once they realise she is a mutant, the whole stadium evacuates!

Iceman, surrounded by moloids and being yelled at by Mole Man, is the most confused. He asks for help but Mole Man orders his moloids to attack! They swarm Iceman!

Miles Morales/Spider-Man and Jean Grey almost recognise each other but their conversation naturally becomes so confused that Jean ends up reading Miles's mind. She sees his life as Spider-Man and realises that she is on the wrong Earth! Spider-Man knows where to go to get help so off they go!

Meanwhile, X-23 has commandeered a motorcycle and is being pursued by the police! She crashes the cycle off a bridge and leaps onto a truck that speeds her in the opposite direction!

Beast enters a town and is met by some awkwardness by its residents. He is soon surrounded by Doombots. He is in Latveria!

Spider-Man and Jean arrive at the location of the multiversal portal only to find it closed and Doctor Amadeus Cho distraught that his work has gone. He cannot help Jean... she may well be stuck here for good!

General Comments

Although we get much more Miles and Brian Michael Bendis writing him, there is still a sense that this arc is going through the motions. The interaction with Miles and Jean is natural but the jokes have been done before (way back when Peter Parker Ultimate Spider-Man met the Ultimate X-Men) and the end sequence with the pair is again going through the motions as we already know what all the characters were going to say.

There are a few surprises along the way though. We're going to briefly visit Wolverine Jr, Doom, Mole Man and (if the cover giveaway is anything to go off) Doctor Octopus. All fun and nice characters to use.

But this issue is a like a jigsaw. I know why Bendis did it but it reads so quickly and so stutteringly that I'm not bothered about the predicament of any of the characters thus far.

Mahmud Asrar's art fares little better from last issue. There are great elements borrowed from some and then inconsistencies in charcter formation elsewhere. Jena just looks plain weird on the final panel on the final page and the double-page splash of Miles's life is nicely laid pout but poorly executed against many other artists out there.

(An interesting spot on this page that there seems to be Miles and Superior Spider-Man bouncing around with what looks like HERBIEs on the far right. Email me if you know more on this than me...!)

Overall Rating

We get nowhere fast. The ending was telegraphed last issue and it is just a waiting game to see how these pieces of the puzzle fit together.