Take It Or Leave It – August 7, 2013

All New X-Men #15

I’ve been reading all of both this and Uncanny since AvX, and the entire run has been drawn by either Stuart Immonen or David Marquez, who have drawn the book with a pretty consistent and similar style. But this week, art duties were handed over to David Lafuente, and the difference is pretty jarring. Lafuente’s style has a more. . . childish look to it. Not in the way of a Skottie Young or Art Balthazar, but it looks more like a webcomic than a Marvel proper book. Everyone looks like they are poorly drawn twelve year olds, which I suppose a lot of them actually are.

I don’t think Lafuente’s art would fit in well with some of the more action based issues this series has seen, but I think after I got over the shock, it served the story here well. This was a more laid back filler issue that was lite on the plot but heavy on the laughs, and I found myself laughing many times. Bendis as usual writes another good entry in this series. I found myself really rooting for Beast and Jean, even though last week I was upset at the ending of What If?: AvX when Wolverine and Jean end up together. It’s all about context, and the writing here makes it work. I’m really looking forward to the end game here in Battle for the Atom, even though it means I have to pick up extra series I usually don’t.

Verdict: Take It

Score: 8/10