Battle of the Atom launched at the start of the month but we're already at Issue #4 and even though the comics are coming thick and fast, the plot itself is barely inching forward. The setup for the whole recent X-Men storyline is that Beast has gone back in time and brought the original X-Men to the present in a misguided attempt at showing present day Cyclops how much he's changed since he started out. Instead of sending these teen X-Men back to their time, they've hung around indefinitely and it's only in Battle of the Atom #1 that the other X-Men realise that this might not be a good idea. It's further underlined when the X-Men of the future travel back in time (I know, Bendis really loves his time-travelling a bit too much) to inform present day X-Men that if past X-Men don't go back to their time, things go very badly in the future. And that's when young Jean and young Scott split and everyone starts chasing them. In this issue, Jean and Scott go to the remains of Utopia, the X-Men's former home, where present day Cyclops and his posse have established their base and new school for mutants. Young Jean wants to stay because she now knows that she's going to die (twice!) if she goes back and understandably doesn't want to - and young Scott will do whatever Jean wants because he's in love with her. So the question is whether present-day Scott will help them stay in the present now that the rest of the X-Men are hunting them down to send them back. Here's what I find so crazy about this series: why the X-Men didn't send the original X-Men back almost immediately in the first place. They've been around for a while now but it's just occurred to them that having younger versions of themselves living alongside them might be dangerous? In this issue, literally all that happens are X-Men standing around debating whether or not to send the original X-Men back in time or not. Which is an insane situation because why wouldn't they? It's an inevitability that Bendis stretches and stretches so that we've now gotten four issues of nothing, with this fourth issue being the most static, pointless issue so far.
The only other thing that happens is that Maria Hill finds out what Beast has been up to and determines to send the original X-Men back in time. Which, again, duh, is what should happen - why we need to see so many characters deciding this is beyond me. The issue ends with the most contrived scene you could imagine and will probably, given Bendis' game plan in this "event" so far, take up the entire next issue, therefore ensuring any actual plot doesn't happen until towards the end, a la Age of Ultron. It's great seeing Chris Bachalo's art and his work is pretty much the only saving grace I can find in this issue. He and Bendis love to do these big two page layouts which look terrific, giving Bachalo room to fit in the massive cast and create some epic scenes, even if they're let down by the script. But the cover doesn't have anything to do with what goes on in this issue so that's another let down. So that's Battle of the Atom so far: a complete non-starter! Four issues of nothing in a ten part series. Pretty standard fare for a Marvel Event then. Keep on stretching what little story you have, Bendis, and see how far you can stretch the audiences' patience.
Uncanny X-Men #12 (Battle of the Atom #4) by Brian Michael Bendis and Chris Bachalo is out now