Artistically this book was a joy to read. Esad Ribic is a phenomenal artist and this is some of his better work. I totally agree with the decision to make all of the epilogues have a different artist, that gave them some div Read Full Review

Battle of the Atom left a lot of unanswered questions, (I'm still struggling with wrapping my head around what exactly happened to get Hank and Jean especially, of the future to turn into the Brotherhood. And whatever happened to Molly?!?) but it was a story told well enough to entertain and appease any X-Men fan and get them excited for what's to come. Read Full Review

That said, what will happen to the individual X-Titles remains to be seen. All-New X-Men gets a dramatic change in scenery while X-Men loses Kitty Pryde. Uncanny X-Men now adds a whole team to its stable while following Cyclops as leader and mentor to himself. The book with perhaps the most to lose is Wolverine and the X-Men as Logan seems to be the biggest victim of the crossover as he's lost the classic X-Men and a lot of clout as headmaster. Read Full Review

The action-packed and intense series is here and gone, and with it comes a lot more information than can be truly processed, and a lot of questions that will surely unfold with future issues from the individual books. This series is a major success, but the lackluster finish is something that is surely an effect of working so much in such a short time. The series as a whole gets huge accolades for its aspirations, but falters a bit in execution, putting a small blemish on what was a great crossover. Read Full Review

The different teams of writers for each epilogues was a excellent idea,since they've all been writing different chapters and a few are better suited/used to certain voices. The difference in the art midway through the issue is noticeable. Not a problem if you're a fan of both teams artists, but if not, it's pretty jarring. Read Full Review

Battle of the Atom has been one of the better X-Men crossovers in recent memory, and one that wasnt hard to keep interested in. All the books were written well, and for the most part, the art was good too. If Marvel can keep putting out crossovers that actually matter, ones that actually have an impact moving forward, Ill keep reading. Read Full Review

It's the end of Battle of the Atom. As expected, there are some big changes. If you've been enjoying the story of the original X-Men brought to the present, there is no way you'll want to miss this conclusion. Not only will their story be affected, so will those of the other X-Men in the present. The entire story could have been trimmed a bit but we are treated to a nice epic battle and, of course, that big shock of an ending. The lives of the X-Men have reached another turning point. Let's see what happens after this. Read Full Review

Even though Battle of the Atom is hardly the conclusion to the All-New story, it's better to think of it more as a season finale than the series finale it was being advertised as. The X-Men are going to be heading into some interesting places this upcoming year, and I'm furious that Battle of the Atom is driving me to shell out the money to pick them all up. While it's not the singular story crossover comics are truthfully never expected to be in the first place, Battle of the Atom is still a fun, if not troubled, story that set up a tapestry for the X-Men that's only upped the stakes. Read Full Review

X-Men: Battle of the Atom #2 was a damn fun read regardless of the fact that it was plagued with unfavorable art, at least in the main story. The couple of splash pages were arguably the very best images offered and one contained a brilliant homage to the cover of X-Men #1. The endgame is that BotA has set up the pieces remarkably for the next phase of X-Men comics and has left them in an awfully interesting state. Ice Master, the future Ganalf-esque Iceman summed up the X-Men, this event and comics in general perfectly when he said, "Even when you think you've seen it all....there will always be moments that amaze you". Read Full Review

In terms of its story, "Battle of the Atom" doesn't end as well as it began, but it does end and it looks fantastic doing it. Read Full Review

When all is said and done, the impact of the battle is clear even if the details aren't fully realized. X-men Battle of the Atom #2 succeeded in ending this event in a satisfying way, but lacked refinement. It's like a champion marathon runner only running three-quarters of the race, lacking the necessary elements to get it to the finish line in a way that is as concise as it is complete. In terms of a large-scale crossover event, it's above average. For an event meant to celebrate 50 years of X-men, it doesn't reach the exceedingly high bar. But at least Battle of the Atom can say it made a worthy effort. Read Full Review

Sigh".this did not turn out as well I wanted it to. I don't think it was bad but it did feel rushed and things I felt needed to be expounded on more were not. Read Full Review

I want to mention one scene in particular though because it shows a really nice side of the X-Men as a whole. The scene between adult Shogo and Jubilee was very touching. The X-Men have always been a really big, extended family so it is nice to see this theme played up a little more. I'm also looking forward to seeing Kymera's role in the X-books going forward. Read Full Review

A crossover of this size is a marathon rather than a sprint; Battle of the Atom started off really strong then cruised along at a nice pace in the middle, but ultimately ran out of steam around the 22 mile mark and went for a poo behind some bushes before limping over the finish line. It's a real shame this book couldn't be delayed for a couple of weeks to finish it in a more satisfying manner. Read Full Review

Artistically, this issue is about as haphazard as I've ever seen from Marvel. The main story segment features rough art from Esad Ribic and Giuseppe Camuncoli, with Andrew Currie and Tom Palmer providing finishes. The epilogues offer more of Camuncoli and Currie, as well as Kris Anka, Chris Bachalo, and Stuart Immonen. Needless to say, the varying styles often clash, and every artist's work is visibly rushed and messy. Despite the novelty of seeing Ribic work on an X-book, his occasional weakness with facial expressions is exacerbated a hundredfold. Aside from one page that pays direct homage to the cover of The X-Men #1, the art rarely does more than service the script in a basic way. Read Full Review

The future Brotherhood is still hiding in the present somewhere, including the newly crippled Xavier grandson. They better not have some stupid identity issue story later where this Xavier somehow become our new Xavier or something. No one truly dies in comic I supposed. Read Full Review

For better or for worse, Battle of the Atom is pure X-Men, through and through. Marvel's premier mutant team has become synonymous with byzantine storylines, overstuffed casts, a reliance on violence and melodrama - and yet it's also been one of Marvel's most enduring franchises. Rather than trying to overcome its natural weaknesses, Jason Aaron and company wind up leaning into the X-Men's idiosynracies. The Battle of the Atom may be a battle of the ages, but it probably won't last the test of time - that said, if you're living in the now and just want some high-octane mutant action, you can't go wrong with this finale. Read Full Review

Battle of the Atom has been one of those strange little crossover events that has been fairly consistent with recent issues of X-Men, and while Jason Aaron is the principal writer on this issue, it's very much still Brian Michael Bendis's narrative baby. Read Full Review

It's a shame - I thought this series had a lot of potential. It had an imaginative concept and a fun group of characters. But the sight of one hero acting completely out of character won't help endear readers, and the ultimate fate of another character should cheese off each and every long-time X-Men fan. Surely that wasn't the goal here. Read Full Review

This was an exciting issue, but due to a poor ending and very rushed artwork it was probably overall the poorest issue in the story, with it making the story feel irrelevant and unnecessary. There would however be some explosive moments, and some shocking developments with the epilogues doing a fantastic job of setting up the future of the X-Men titles, but unfortunately it wasn't enough to overcome the sudden and poor ending. Due to this I'd only recommend this issue to anyone who's been following the story so far, or anyone that loves explosive action, as otherwise it's only essential for the epilogues. Read Full Review

Battle of the Atom started off great and really seemed to want to say something about the current status quo of the X-Men. Everything Bendis had been building all year seemed to be coming together for a real dust-up. But halfway through, it turned into just another big fight scene against a bunch of obvious super-villains. The only present-day X-person who seems at all effected or changed is Kitty Pryde, and her desertion of the Jean Grey School came out of way left field. So I'm disappointed in the end of Battle of the Atom, but I still enjoyed the story overall. Read Full Review

X-Men switching camps, knowing the Phoenix will be back, another time traveler from the future stuck in the present, the old X-Men still stuck in the present, and a new Brotherhood also consisting of future X-Men. We ended up with a lot more than we started out with but I didn't like this being the way to lay out future plot lines without closing any of the past ones. Most importantly without shutting the door of the young X-Men still being in the present. I guess we'll see how things play out but I for one was not overly thrilled with the conclusion of what could have been one of the greatest crossovers by Marvel in years. Read Full Review

After some pretty confusing maneuvering, it's an okay ending, but it suffers from the same problem that many of Marvel's big events have in recent years: No real ending. The setup of the conflict promised a lot, and while the combat sequences were impressive (and the revelation that SHIELD is prepared to attack the mutants with Sentinel technology was nicely rolled out), by the end of the book it feels like we've gotten this far just to be set on the path to the next big crossover madness. X-Men - Battle Of The Atom #2 has a lot of good notions swirling around, and gets halfway to awesome before tripping itself up in a rush to get to the next story. Read Full Review

In fairness, this book was 31 pages for a $3.99 price tag, so in page per dollar, "X-Men: Battle of the Atom" #2 is a pretty good deal. However, the sum is just not greater than its parts when it comes to the crossover event. While certain books stood out as solid comics, others (like this final installment) crumpled under their own weight. Schizophrenic in tone, purpose and creator involvement, this was a poor way to end an event that delivered very little as a cohesive story in the first place. Read Full Review

Battle of the Atom is simply an event to reset the status quo and launch the X-Men books into various directions (some of which are new). The comic book that wraps it up is riddled with questions about who lives, who dies, who escapes and how. The book has some good one-liners and gives some good panel time for the main X-Men, but it's not enough. The book would have been better served explaining a little bit more about what happened instead of assuming the book showed it. While this is a relief from the Bendis issues in the mini-series it doesn't stick the landing. This was disappointing. Read Full Review

Collected in trade form, the throughline of this event may overcome the wild inconsistencies in tone between titles, and within this one issue, setting up the next year's worth of mutant merriment. Or you could just wait and pick up Amazing X-Men #1, and find out how fucking Nightcrawler comes back from the dead. Read Full Review

Battle of the Atom ends on a bad note, feeling rushed and unnecessary to what is going on in the X-Men part of the Marvel U. Read Full Review

Some cool images, but the writing is Secret Wars II level bad.