X-Men Red #7 Review and Spoilers - The X-Men Will Fight For You Anyway

[Harpsikord]

Whew! Been a minute since I got into one of these, and I'm just going to go ahead and jump right into it.

• The issue starts off where the last one left off and with the preview that was released. Cassandra is attacking Atlantis and Jean warns Namor. Kurt and his team are on the plane trying to get the ambassador's phone.
• The ambassador has a sentinite in him and senses the mutants below deck, and steals the gun of his bodyguard, and starts shooting down into the cargo hold! Everyone manages, except Trinary gets shot in her side.
• As a result of the trauma Trinary loses connection of the sentinel and it comes crashing down on the plane.
• After we see the tower falling we see Teen Abomination punch Namor and cause him to drop the half of the building, but then we see Jean hop onto the scene by carrying herself and Gentle in a telekinetic bubble, which is awesome, and catching the half of the tower in a move right ouf of her X-Factor playbook, which is also awesome.
• Oh yeah, Cassandra is using Teen Abomination to attack Atlantis, if that wasn't obvious from his look.
• Jean has Gentle subdue Teen Abomination and then throw him right to the surface and out of it, where Storm is waiting to fry the sentinite Cassandra has in him with he lightning in a pretty awesome moment on both Ororo and Nezhno's parts.
• Cut back to the plane and everyone is on the ceiling now. Cool. Kurt and Laura non-lethally make quick work of the ambassador as a threat by destroying his gun while Gambit and Gabby help Trinary, and when she comes to she struggles for a moment but re-establishes connection with the sentinel and uses it to help save everyone on the plane.
• She also shorts out the ambassador's sentinite and explains the situation to him when they land in London. Mission success!
• Back at Searebro, Jean addresses the entire world through a worldwide broadcast and explains what they're up against, that the world is being controlled and made to hate even more by Cassandra Nova and exactly what she is, and plays the tape from the old ambassador's cell phone. She tells the that if they feel themselves getting more hateful towards mutants, that they might be being manipulated and that they will help them. She also mentions that some of them will absolutely not believe them, but that's okay, because the X-Men will help them anyway.
• Ball's in your court, Casanova. Checkmate?

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Another spectacular issue from Taylor. I understand that some people believe that Red has been moving kind of slowly and I can understand and respect that, but this issue is full of action and pushes things forward beautifully. The scenes in Atlantis have some pretty impressive moments for everyone there, and so do the ones on the plane... bar Gambit, though without playing too much part in the action he still shines a little bit. The art is GORGEOUS, especially the team shot at the end, and I can't wait to see where things go from here. Jean Grey is absolutely the leader that the X-Men have needed since at least the Schism days - she's not been portrayed as perfect or on a pedestal, but she has done almost everything right.

If Red is done by January - eleven issues is a respectable run - I'm going to miss this book, and if Tom Taylor isn't writing Jean after this, I'm going to miss him even more.

10/10.

[berserkerclaw]

Just from the description meh. It is super slow. The whole issue is stopping the plane. Really? That could have been a few pages at least. Oh well im not suprised since newesr solits have come and they are Still fighting Nova. I feel this book will be only one major arc annd end at 12.

[Harpsikord]

Just from the description meh. It is super slow. The whole issue is stopping the plane. Really? That could have been a few pages at least. Oh well im not suprised since newesr solits have come and they are Still fighting Nova. I feel this book will be only one major arc annd end at 12.

It's really not slow. The whole issue is split between everything that happens in Atlantis and on the plane, and then there's a sequence that is Jean alerting the world to Cassandra Nova and everything that she's doing. It's two busy (though not overly so) action sequences and an "epilogue."

[Ambaryerno]

Just from the description meh. It is super slow. The whole issue is stopping the plane. Really? That could have been a few pages at least. Oh well im not suprised since newesr solits have come and they are Still fighting Nova. I feel this book will be only one major arc annd end at 12.

Keep in mind you had the Atlantis fight going at the same time, so stopping the plane DID only take a few pages.

[stormphoenix]

From the description this sounds pretty boring. Sounds like the fight scene didn't really last long , but i'll just wait to read it for myself.

[Harpsikord]

The action sequences are two thirds of the entire issue. There's just a lot going on so neither sequence gets TOO much attention. It's just enough, to me.

[PrezValentine]

I think people should just face the truth that Red is a maxiseries like Astonishing and the fight with Cassandra is the whole premise until it probably ends in december or january. It should be clear by now and show there's no reason for the fight to be over by issue 10 or 11.

[Killerbee911]

I think people should just face the truth that Red is a maxiseries like Astonishing and the fight with Cassandra is the whole premise until it probably ends in december or january. It should be clear by now and show there's no reason for the fight to be over by issue 10 or 11.

Yup It is pretty clear this book will be best if you wait until they are 12 issue and read as one complete story. I hope it sticks the land but so far so good

[DearMachine]

I think people should just face the truth that Red is a maxiseries like Astonishing and the fight with Cassandra is the whole premise until it probably ends in december or january. It should be clear by now and show there's no reason for the fight to be over by issue 10 or 11.

I don't mind the pacing. It is deliberate compared to many modern comics, but it gives Taylor space to really explore the story and its themes. Enough happens in each issue that I feel it is moving forward.

And, yeah, it is clearly setting out to tell one story.

But I also have been rewatching DBZ lately, so anything feels fast compared to that.

[Harpsikord]

I think if I had any one criticism about the way that Taylor has been writing his story it's that it almost feels like stuff happens in bursts. There are slower issues where not a whole lot happens and then there are issues like this where they push the plot substantially in just one go.

[Tenebrae]

It's essentially being written for trade so will definitely read better in one go. I liked all the action in this, everyone got a turn to shine, except maybe Gambit, but he was leading the group at least. The Teen Abomination thing does feel like Taylor just used a character he created for the sake of it but eh, he's the writer of the book so he gets that luxury. This series definitely gives good team shots.

[WhiteQueenEmmaFrost]

It's essentially being written for trade so will definitely read better in one go. I liked all the action in this, everyone got a turn to shine, except maybe Gambit, but he was leading the group at least. The Teen Abomination thing does feel like Taylor just used a character he created for the sake of it but eh, he's the writer of the book so he gets that luxury. This series definitely gives good team shots.

i disagree about the "written for trade"...this reads more like a classic comic to me instead of the weekly weak stuff we've been getting lately (even from DC). There's conflict, resolution, and another conflict. Each character gets a good moment and isn't just falling asleep in the background. There are actual dynamic interactions.

To me "written for trade" is more like a crossover...like extermination.

[Magneto]

Just read it. Red started so strong, but the pacing is so slow. I'm really getting bored with the story.

Looks like Taylor has to right more issues than he wanted for this arc. I agree with PrezValentine.

[Maestroneto]

Just read it. Red started so strong, but the pacing is so slow. I'm really getting bored with the story.

Looks like Taylor has to right more issues than he wanted for this arc. I agree with PrezValentine.

Most of his books have slow pacing.

[Magneto]

Most of his books have slow pacing.

Ah I didnt know. I never really read his work before.