Xmen Blue #5 Review

Cullen Bunn once again delivers another satisfying issue of Xmen Blue, this series seems to geta little bit better with each issue.

Xmen Blue by Cullen Bunn and Julian Lopez Valarde with cover by Arthur Adams

This issue is the best of Xmen Blue yet, the team dynamic I've been praising the past couple issues is at full force here. We also get some good action sets involving the Xmen, Jimmy, and The Marauders. I do like that Jean is still struggling with not wanting to read peoples minds without peoples permission, which was a big complaint about her during Bendis's run. I like that Cullen Bunn is making the fans happy while also having it serve the story.

I came in thinking this was gonna be a pretty straight forward action packed issue and while I did get that I was also pleasantly surprised that we ended up getting a lot more than that. One thing we do pick up (thanks to Ms. Sinister) is that the Marauders are from the Ultimate universe that managed to end up on earth 616 after Secret Wars and that she is using these mutants as weapons. So now we are gonna have multiple versions of the same characters running around that could end up getting confusing somewhere down the line.

This issue is very action heavy and for the most part it works. Action heavy issues tend to be very fast paced but with the dialogue between the team members this issue manages to be very well paced. I've said many times that the interactions between the team is my favorite thing about this series and it still stands true this issue. The standout this issue for me was Ice man, he got some good action scenes in (mainly with Ultimate Quiksilver) and also got some pretty giggle worthy one liners in as well. The art is really good this issue but I would prefer a better consistency art wise between issues going forward.

The issue ends with (surprise) Jimmy joining the team and them introducing them to Magneto, to which Magneto says "There's something familiar about you" and he should feel familiar to Magneto because his mother is the Ultimate universe version of Magneto's deceased wife in the 616 universe. wow what a mouthful, that's what I meant by this could start getting confusing in the future.

I am gonna give this issue a solid B because while it was good all around having multiple versions of characters around can get confusing down the line and I would personally prefer a more consistency between the issues going forward. But still overall I do love what this comic has become and what it continues to become.