As a fan and a reader, one of the biggest problems with Marvel's X-TITLES for me these last 5 years has been the sheer amount of baggage that weighs the titles down. If you don't read EVERYTHING about the X-Men, you really know nothing about the X-Men. Even Professor Xavier's demise during AvX left many scratching their head. When I informed many of my fellow comic geeks about Professor X's death, they weren't asking "Why did they kill Professor X? or "When did this happen?" but rather "Wasn't Professor X already dead?"
All New X-Men #1 represents a turning point for me in that I officially decided to give the X-Verse another chance. And this title has got a lot for me to be excited about including the original X-Men, time travel, Brian Michael Bendis and more. You don't really need to know much beyond the fact that Cyclops has lost his way these last few years and is still...well..an ass.
There's not alot of action in this book...but rather the feeling of setting up the stage for a larger story that will draw readers in for various reasons. All New X-Men is gearing up to be not just a meeting about old friends and enemies but also with ideals, motivations and how time and opinion go hand in hand. To me, it's a stronger read than almost any X-book (including Uncanny X-Force) and the Stuart Immonen's artwork is neither overpowering or subtle, but just right to tell a great story.
The shortcomings of this book is the lack of attention it gives to the core of the title: the original X-Men, but this just may be Bendis' "writing for the trade paperback". You can tell that the original 5 members will eventually be storycentric, but for now, the focus falls on many members of the main team, most notably Cyclops, Beast and (shocker here) Wolverine. Seriously, does Wolverine or Deadpool have to be in or on EVERY Marvel Comic in order to sell it? I find reading Marvel Comics with these two characters in them is starting to bring out the same feeling I get when I turn on the radio and hear someone "sing" in Autotune. I shiver and turn the station.
If this book can balance out the original X-Men with the modern mutants and take them both in a direction for both conflict and resolution, this book is going to be awesome. I recommend this book over most offerings from the MARVEL NOW imprint...and I'll be following this one through to the end...which knowing Joe Quesada and 21st Century Marvel Comics should be around issue 18.