LORD OF THE BROOD - PART TWO! When the X-Men's close friend Broo became the Brood King, he gained the ability to control the savage alien race he was both a part of and so different from. Now he is experiencing his own nightmare scenario - the Brood are killing his friends, and there is nothing he can do to stop it! Featuring a connecting cover to CAPTAIN MARVEL #47!
Rated T+
Duggan and Caselli are out here holding back no punches, as they continue their adventure that could spell doom for the entire universe. Duggans giving us a Jean who feels like shes full of gravitas, giving us a deeper look at the woman for who she truly is. No Phoenix force, no life incarnate, no she who burns away that doesnt work, but a woman, with complexities and character. This is the Jean Ive been aching to read. No pretenses, or perfection personified, but a woman who will do anything in order to do what she feels is right. Whether it is right or not is for you to decide. Read Full Review
What an outstanding job by Duggan and this entire creative team to continue to bring some clever twists and reveals that will keep fans paying attention to every nook and cranky he offers from every X-Men story to date. Read Full Review
Caselli offers some fantastic art throughout the issue. The visuals are fantastic and the action is thrilling throughout. Read Full Review
Funny, dynamic, and shocking in the end, X-Men #20 raises the stakes of their ongoing Brood saga as well as setting the stage for the juicy drama to come. Read Full Review
Some quality X-Men and superhero action is capped of with a truly outrageous cliffhanger that promises some exciting stories going forward. Read Full Review
X-Men #20 is at its best when telling the core story involving the growing Brood invasion. Gerry Duggan and Stefano Caselli get over why the Brood are to be taken seriously as a major threat. Unfortunately there are several other storylines that X-Men #20 tries to tackle that cause this to end up being cluttered. It's truly disappointing because the elements are there for X-Men #20 to be a great issue, but the result is a comic book trying to do too much. Read Full Review
The big battle should be the issue's setpiece, but it lacks the epic punch and vibrant grandeur of earlier installments of the series, feeling faded and by the numbers by comparison. A lot is going on here, and yet nothing stands out. Read Full Review
X-Men #20 is not a well-written comic in any sense, but the art is amazing. Thats pretty much par for the course for this book. Read Full Review
I had a blast reading this one! It was action packed with a very interesting and entertaining story. I am beyond excited about who arrives on the last page.
The art's gorgeous and the dialogue features some tasty lines. There's even a spot of good character insight for Scott and Bobby. The main Brood plot is developing nicely.
The B plots are problematic, though. Forge's Knowhere shenanigans and now Krakoa's least-welcome refugee? They're just kinda…there, leeching pages away from the main story and, for now, totally failing to connect.
I'm sure it'll all come together a few issues down the road, but on its own, this issue is hurt by the randomness.
Another enjoyable issue from Duggan and Caselli. I will say that, although there is a lot going on here, it's still entertaining. I'm glad to see the return of Nightmare in this issue, as I enjoy him as a character and I remember enjoying his last appearance in the title (Issue 4). Plus, I didn't see the ending coming whatsoever. My only real complaint/criticism here would be, as multiple others have said in other reviews here, that there's just a bit too much happening in this book. I think this either needs to be a bigger book, or some of these stories need to be put on hold until the Brood stuff is finished. I hope things can get just a little more focused in the next issue or just very soon.
It's a good drama from Duggan overall but doesn't deliver on its cliffhangers. Last issue he introduced enough interesting points like Knowhere that gets resolved in one panel here and is completely wasted. It's just inconsistent and borderline disappointing. Again many other threads are started but will they deliver? Not sure. Caselli is great as usual and only enhances the narrative.
Way too much is happening in this issue, and while I don't dislike any of it, I am sort of lost as to what the broader point of this arc will be, if there even is one.
I'm not sure why people are giving Duggan's run such a hard time. I think it's because the X-Men title has such high expectations. It's been reliably "solid" throughout. For me, that's a passing grade when I consider New Mutants post-Ayala.
Hm, now we've swung from "not enough happening" to "too much happening". Duggan & Caselli are juggling a lot of balls here, and they don't really keep them all in the air. In particular, there's really no room for the Knowhere plot at all and it's hard to see why they've even introduced it now instead of waiting. Overall, this issue is a jumble of things that don't have space to breathe and Caselli's storytelling is unusually hit-and-miss (in particular, he fumbles the dancing Brood joke, leaving the dialogue to tell us what the characters are seeing). The cliffhanger is great, but with the ongoing plots getting tangled already, it's hard to see the addition of one more being a good thing.
This X-men series has been wildly inconsistent. Best arc of the year followed by some convoluted plot mixed with silliness.
X-MEN #20 was something of a disappointment! I quite liked the first part of this new Brood arc, even liked most of the second part! However, by the end of this issue, there was too much going on: you had [SPOILER] coming through the Gateway on Krakoa; the reappearance of [SPOILER II], who was itching for a rematch against Jean Grey, and then there is the bit with Monet and Forge getting the [SPOILER III] colonists onto the ship and off the planet! It was pointed out by another review site on here that what was clearly wrong with this issue was there was too damned much going on!!
Serious, what would it take to get Gerry Duggan off the book, before he can drive any more stakes through the X-Men characterizations and storylines?!? more