X-Men #7

I can say with all honesty that I had a lot of fun reading X-Men this week, something I have not been able to say for a while. Read Full Review

So, a fun issue and a solid adventure (if just the start of the tale) - if they could just work out the title issues, this could be one of the best of the X-books. Read Full Review

It's good to see X-Men back on track after Battle of the Atom seemed to put things on hiatus. We get more of the X-Men's female teammates showing they can handle their own, and Wood adds some dramatic elements to the story that wouldn't be possible with a testosterone-laden cast. It's also apparent that Wood has chosen from the X-Men's femme fatales for the title's first set of villains. While some may pine for a Magento-level counterpart, it's a bit early to bring in the big guns when Woods has something up his sleeve with the possible reemergence of Arkea Prime. Read Full Review

Wood has moved on from the events of Battle of the Atom without missing a beat. It feels as though he had to put his story on hold for two months for the crossover, but now it's over he's back to doing his thing as if it never happened. On one hand, I'm glad of this because as an ongoing series it feels more concise and contained, but I also wish the pricey 10 issues I paid for had at least a little payoff in all of the books it touched. Read Full Review

Wood is a great writer, and it feels like he's waiting to write this story, but Battle of the Atom was in the way. Now he's free to do what he wants again, the series is going to be break with brand-new stories. Read Full Review

I look forward to what Wood has to offer with the rest of the story around Lady Deathstrike. It seems to be a promising, exciting read. Read Full Review

It’s a slow start to this six part arc, with no major hooks as of yet, and a couple of stagnant pages that don’t quite fit into the overall story as of yet; a lot of it rides on Dodson’s aesthetics as well as the team roster. They haven’t done anything too spectacular since the first issue, (and then Battle of the Atom happened) but with names like Psylocke, Storm, Rachel Grey, Jubilee, Rogue, (with guest appearances from Beast), and now Monet, it’s hard not to keep wanting to find out just what they might be up to. Read Full Review

Like I said before with Uncanny X-Men, it's time to get back to work for the X-franchise, and Brian Wood jumps right back into a story about the lady X-Men teaming up and kicking butt. Here he introduces a new villain, brings in a new X-Woman, and gets things rolling in a rather nice way. He even brought along the Dodsons, one of the best artistic teams in the industry. Read Full Review

That this issue is but only part one of six of on new story arc fills my heart with dread. The next issue will be given the benefit of the doubt to see whether or not this grievous hump in the road will mar an otherwise stellar series. Read Full Review

Despite its virtues, the issue relies too heavily on nostalgia and would benefit from a more creative narrative. X-Men #7 will mean the world to some, and not a whole lot to the rest. Read Full Review

"X-Men" #7 is a solid issue in a strange little book. I'd like to see it find a stronger purpose than, "random female X-Men characters thrown together," but that's an issue that is becoming increasingly prevalent with each new X-Title starting to flood the market. If nothing else, doing so will hopefully let this book have long-term stable sales in order to survive. There's potential here, and I like a lot of the little fine points that we've seen, but that's not enough for an ongoing strategy just yet. Read Full Review

So a word of advice to the editors at Marvel and Brian Wood.. If you're planing on redefining a character to reach out a broader audience or to make things interesting, at least bother to look up the culture to see how the other half lives, and if you cant do that then don't bother changing the ethnicity. Read Full Review

Shahriar Mowla

Dec 06, 2013

Poor Brian Wood! Only 4 issues in, he had to assimilate the BATTLE OF THE ATOM event and after only 6 issues, he has to deal with a new roster. Not what he had in mind, I'm sure. Kitty switched sides and moved over to Cyclops's team while Rogue is currently MIA. Both of these characters are fan favorites, so it's a bummer for readers of X-MEN. Focusing majorly on the new, revamped Lady Deathstrike, this issue also introduces Monet and Karima to the team. While Lady Deathstrike's persona is duly portrayed, it feels too early for a series where the team has lost two members way too soon. Repercussions of such a sudden change in the team roster are easily felt while reading this book, though Wood does his best by providing enough background information on the two new recruits. Terry Dodson joins this series and his well-defined, flawless art makes this issue enjoyable. Nice to have him doing the covers as well. The new story arc 'Muertas' kicks off just fine and the introduction of the second villain at the end is certainly thrilling, as we have never seen her against the X-Men before. Wonder what Wood will be whipping out? more

Master Destructo

Mar 16, 2014

Right off the bat let me get this out of the way. I sort of thought we had moved beyond basing characters' costumes or powers on their ethnicity. As I started reading this, I was thinking, "wait...he's making a villain who is Latina have a 'day of the dead' costume? For real?" At the same time I was thinking, "is 'day of the dead' even a thing in South America?" A quick google revealed that no, it is not. Ugh. So bad Brian Wood...you should really know better. Even beyond that little display of unintentional racism, this was not a great book. The beginning was a confusing jumble. Why does Cortes have a USB port in the back of her neck? How did she know about the Lady-Deathstrike-download and why did she seek it out? Who knows? T hen there is a little subplot about the Roxy and Mercury conflict that has been drawn out way too long for what it is--we get another single page of it doled out here. And apparently Lady Deathstrike was planning on infiltrating the Jean Grey School solo. But that would have been so ridiculous that Wood had to introduce the coincidence that Deathstrike's target was out on a jog. And it still didn't go Deathstrike's way. I don't have too much to say about Dodson's art. The problems with the story distracted me from noticing it much. The one thing I did think of was that it seemed to be just bordering on cheesecake at times, which had been largely avoided in previous issues of the series. Anyway, knowing this is the first of a six-issue arc is disheartening. I may be dropping this title sooner rather than later. more