The assault on Mother Mold continues in House of X #4 that ups the action and the body count. When it comes to emotion and action, writer Jonathan Hickman delivers with this issue. While it’s entertaining, the issue also rings a bit hollow. We know the series coming next and he’s created a Deus Ex Machina in Moira X to undo anything in the series.
And that’s a lot of the frustration at this point. Hickman ups the body count but we know it’ll all be undone at some point. The question is when and to what extent.
House of X and its sister series Powers of X feels less like the next X-epic and instead Hickman’s version of the manga All You Need is Kill. Mission failed? Head back in time and try it again! While many might think Hickman’s hook is original, it’s not. All he’s done is used it to make sense of the rather convoluted history of the X-Men.
Still, House of X #4 delivers some emotional moments as characters die. But, even those emotional moments are about as deep as a Michael Bay film. We even got a spin on the “I’ll die so you can live” moment that Bay loves. It adds to the “popcorn film” shift Hickman has made in his last couple of issues. The issue is Bruce Willis in Armageddon in comic form.
The art continues to be amazing. Pepe Larraz‘s pencils with color by Marte Gracia and lettering by Clayton Cowles pops on the page. The character designs are amazing and it’s the art that drives the enjoyment of the issue. The art brings the big-budget action to the screen in a sense.
The issue is driven by the action and whether Cyclops and his team will complete their mission. But, with Hickman’s hook in Moira X it doesn’t matter as things can be done over and over. The fear of finality is taken away. Along with knowing the series that are next, the deaths in the issue ring rather hallow. House of X #4 leaves us with a comic that’s an inch deep on inspection. While enjoyable, it rings rather empty in the end.
The fight for the future of mutantkind continues in House of X #3. Jonathan Hickman‘s rewriting of X-history and the forging of its future is going full throttle. Cyclops puts together his strikeforce to take on Mother Mold and the battle begins!
Hickman continues to shift more towards a more traditional X-Men story as the issue is full of action and suspense. Gone is the philosophical worldbuilding and instead, the focus is on the battle. There’s still worldbuilding in the continuation of one-page excerpts that define aspects of the story.
While the action is entertaining, the characters still feel a bit off. An exchange between Magneto, Professor X, and Cyclops feels cold. Professor X continues to seem more like the colder Magneto than his formerly teacher-ish self. The banter between teammates too isn’t quite as quickfire as needed. Instead, most of the dialogue is focused on the crew manning Mother Mold. It’s the most interesting of the bunch in that storyline.
Where things get a bit punchier is a second story involving Sabretooth. He’s standing trial in a human court and special prison. But, he also gets counsel in the White Queen. What she says is the most intriguing and delivers a bit more details in what Hickman has set up. It’s also a concept we’ve seen before, a pattern we’ve seen numerous times in this event. But, it has lots of potential for future storylines and also helps tie up some outstanding issues involving the X-Universe’s involvement with the rest of the Marvel Universe.
One of the major draws is the art by Pepe Larraz. With color by Marte Gracia and lettering by Clayton Cowles, it stands out. This is some of the best looking X-Men comics in years. The framing of scenes and design of “sets” are above everything else. There’s just an energy about it all and a flow to the art that enhances the action. Add in the design elements of Tom Muller and you have a beautiful comic to look at and an action-packed comic to read.
House of X #3 is the most traditional of Hickman’s X-Men entries so far. It’s all about the action and the battle to come. With Cyclops in the lead, we get some of the more expected banter between teammates though dialogue as a whole feels sparse, This is one that’s about the visuals taking you along for a rocket ride of an issue.
It’s been nearly six years since I last picked up a new X-Men comic with any real consistency. The last series I read with any regularity featuring the merry mutants was Jason Aaron‘s Wolverine and the X-Men. Which apparently ended around six years ago. It’s fair to say that I’m a little out of touch with that side of the Marvel Universe (though I have been following both Old Man Loganand Dead Man Logan, but those series didn’t really involve the X-Men as much as a team book would). More than a little, honestly. A lot has happened in the six years I’ve been away, and since I barely pay attention to solicitations I have missed most of it.
But with Johnathan Hickman steering the X-Men in a new direction with both House and Powers Of X, I thought this might be a good time to start reading X-Men comics again.
But how easy is it to jump back in relatively blind after more than half a decade away? Join me, and I’ll tell you.
Expect spoilers as I try to make sense of the comic.
Much to my surprise, I was expecting to read House Of X #3 this week, not Powers Of X #3. That’s what I get for not paying attention to solicitations, I guess.
If you’ve been reading the entire series so far, and by that I mean everything under the House/Powers Of X banner and not just Powers then you’ll have absolutely no problem reading this comic. It focuses on the Year 100 timeline that you’ll remember from previous issues of Powers, an era where there are less than a dozen mutants/X-Men left in the solar system (really at this point, mutant and X-Man are one and the same). This issue follows the suicide mission, with said remaining mutants trying to find the information about when Nimrod, the machine responsible for the subjugation of humanity became active.
There’s a really interesting outcome with this story, and it’s perhaps the first real instance on the House/Powers being a single series.
I’ve gotta say, that so far this has been one of my favourite issues that I’ve written about for this column because it’s one of the few we’ve had since the event began that you can fully enjoy after having read only the comics in the event so far. There is literally no prior knowledge you need, as long as you have a passing familiarity with the characters – which you should have if you’ve been following the story since House Of X #1.
The exposition pages return again; this time they return to the map of nine of Moira X’s different lives as well as a couple of pages illustrating just how dire things have become in this timeline. There’s also more of the mutant language scattered throughout the comic, too, and if you have the time, patience or google ability to translate it, then you’ll uncover another layer to this comic. I haven’t done that yet, and probably won’t because I am far too lazy, but I love that it’s there.
Once again, the artists are on point. R.B. Silva is the artist and is joined on inking by Adriano Di Benedetto and colour artist Marte Gracia. The trio are solid, providing the comic with a visual gravitas that’s on par for the story that Hickman is telling within the issue. The action is phenomenally choreographed, and in some places it’s oddly shocking, heartbreaking and remarkably satisfying.
This issue is going to have reverberations across the series – perhaps not in the same way House Of X #2 has over the entire Marvel Universe, but certainly within the event as a whole.
There’s nothing in Powers Of X #2 anywhere close to as spine tingling as this moment from House Of X #1. Full quote below.
“You see I know how you humans love your symbolism, almost as much as you love you religion. And I wanted you – I needed you – to understand… you have new gods now.”
Magneto, House Of X, #1 p.47. I keep leaving this image and quote in the column because, for me, it’s emblematic of the series as a whole. It’s Hickman, through Magneto, setting the stage for the future of the X-Men.
Powers Of X #3 is one of my favorite issues in the series so far. It’s a great payoff comic five issues in, and one that keeps the pacing of the event absolutely on point. I loved everything about this comic, and am amazed that Hickman has been able to meet the expectations that I had for this issue.
I can’t wait to see what’s going to come our way next week.
Will I understand next week’s installment in the saga, House Of X #3? Do I regret skipping six years of X-Books? Am I ever going to find out how Xavier is walking again*?
We might find out next week. We might not.
Marvel provided a FREE copy for review purposes, but I read the comic in print from my LCS.
*The answer is yes, but it made no sense when two of my friends told me individually last week, but it basically boils down to “comics being comics” which I’ve kind of accepted with an air of nonchalance.
As I said when House of X and Powers of X began, the whole of writer Jonathan Hickman‘s epic would be better than the individual parts. Powers of X #3 is where that becomes apparent as it becomes clear as to Hickman’s vision. Entirely taking place in the future, Apocalypse and the remaining mutants attack Nimrod. It’s one last gamble to stop this particular timeline.
What Hickman is doing isn’t a continuation of Marvel’s X-Men line of comics, instead he’s created his own event a new timeline like Age of Apocalypse or Days of Future Past. It’s difficult to really go into it but the comic has more in common with the latter story, again showing Hickman is picking the best of what has come before. It also feels more like an X-Men story as opposed to a sci-fi story with X-Men.
Still, Powers of X #3 is a solid entry improving upon what has come before. It has that last stand desperate feel we’ve seen so many times before with the X-Men. The comic is full of action and memorable moments that’ll have readers buzzing for some time.
The art by R.B. Silva delivers the action in a beautiful way. With color by Marte Gracia and lettering by Clayton Cowles, the designs are impressive. What’s solid is the look of this new timeline is original but has nice callbacks to classic X-Men imagery. It’s new yet familiar at the same time. There’s also a solid use of detail to tell more of the story with so much for readers to linger on such as an infection or the state of Wolverine. Tom Muller‘s designs continue to be interesting including the Moira X timeline and the Mutant language throughout the issue.
The comic brings the vision and story together into a clearer vision. This isn’t a beginning of a new direction for the X-Men as this is an event that will then lead into the next new beginning. This is a bridge much like Age of Apocalypse’s individual series were to what comes next. The whole of the story is stronger than the individual parts, a theme that has weaved its way through the series. This is the point things get good.
This column was slightly delayed this week due to a few power outages in my neck of the woods, and my lack of foresight in keeping my laptop charged.
But with Johnathan Hickman steering the X-Men in a new direction with both House and Powers Of X, I thought this might be a good time to start reading X-Men comics again.
It’s been nearly six years since I last picked up a new X-Men comic with any real consistency. The last series I read with any regularity featuring the merry mutants was Jason Aaron‘s Wolverine and the X-Men. Which apparently ended around six years ago. It’s fair to say that I’m a little out of touch with that side of the Marvel Universe (though I have been following both Old Man Loganand Dead Man Logan, but those series didn’t really involve the X-Men as much as a team book would). More than a little, honestly. A lot has happened in the six years I’ve been away, and since I barely pay attention to solicitations I have missed most of it.
But how easy is it to jump back in relatively blind after more than half a decade away? Join me, and I’ll tell you.
Expect spoilers as I try to make sense of the comic.
Start this event completely ignorant to much of the X-Men’s last five or so years has been an interesting experience. With Powers Of X #1, I wasn’t entirely sure what shape the story would take. We got three different timelines – Year 0, Year 100 and Year 1000 – in the first book, and that’s the same in issue #2. It’s giving the Powers Of X part of the story an anthology like feel, which helps someone like me realize that the futures we’re seeing we haven’t really explored much before, unless they stem from one of the many lives of Moira X.
The three timelines are all interesting for their own reasons, and I’m curious to see how this will all play into the whole as the House/Powers story unfolds over the next month and change, but the one that’s taken my interest the most, especially after this issue, is the Year 100 one. Seeing the X-Men on the back foot like never before, out of options and facing a culture ending threat… it almost sounds familiar, and yet it feels fresh. Which is an odd feeling when you really think about it, but I’m not going to question it too much.
I’ve learnt over the years that sometimes it’s okay to take things as the author intends without question too much until the finished product is in my hands.
The last issue in the Powers installment didn’t make as big an impression as the House Of X counterpart, and the same can ultimately be said for this issue. But then after the massive revelations in House Of X #2, I can’t exactly expect anything different. But that two two series tie into each other strongly is beyond doubt, as is evidenced by the Year 0 story in this issue. One could argue that House Of X #2 is merely the explanation between scenes in the Year 0 stories in Powers Of X. My questioning in the last column as to whether this series is required reading in order to get the full picture has a slightly clearer answer; at this point, I’d wager that you’re going to want to spend the money on both House and Powers Of X, though the former is still the stronger of the two.
Just as in the previous issue covered in this column, Powers Of X #2 also includes some handy dandy exposition pages that come almost immediately after you’ve read the pages that’ll make you wonder what the future terms mean. It’s a great way to add in some additional information without over burdening the dialogue with information for the readers. There’s also more of the mutant language scattered throughout the comic, too, and if you have the time, patience or google ability to translate it, then you’ll uncover another layer to this comic.
I haven’t any of those things, so other than the first issue I haven’t bothered to decipher the code. But it’s a cool feature for those that do.
Once again, the artists are on point. R.B. Silva is the artist and is joined on inking by Adriano Di Benedetto and colour artist Marte Gracia. The trio are solid, giving the comic and each time period within a unique visual flavour that comes together to form a perfect pecan pie (there’s no reason I chose pecan other than for alliteration).
There’s nothing in Powers Of X #2 anywhere close to as spine tingling as this moment from House Of X #1. Full quote below.
“You see I know how you humans love your symbolism, almost as much as you love you religion. And I wanted you – I needed you – to understand… you have new gods now.”
Magneto, House Of X, #1 p.47.
Powers Of X #2 is a pretty good comic – it is one that’s almost worth the elevated price of admission (at regular price this’d be absolutely worth it). As it is, it’s still worth a read; especially if you’re an X-Fan , new or old, who wants to know what’s going to happen in the company’s future.
Will I understand next week’s installment in the saga, House Of X #3? Do I regret skipping six years of X-Books? Am I ever going to find out how Xavier is walking again*?
We might find out next week. We might not.
Marvel provided a FREE copy for review purposes, but I read the comic in print from my LCS.
*The answer is yes, but it made no sense when two of my friends told me individually last week, but it basically boils down to “comics being comics” which I’ve kind of accepted with an air of nonchalance.
As a science fiction story, Powers of X #2 is fantastic. As an X-Men comic, things are a bit more debatable. Writer Jonathan Hickman continues to reshape the X-Universe with this issue.
Powers of X #2 picks up from the debut issue taking us through numerous time periods in X-history. It leaves a lot of questions out there but Hickman is more focused here. There’s a theme that permeates through each segment challenging the reader to think. In that way, the comic is a science fiction success. It uses the story and concepts to explore humanity and our world. If it weren’t set in the Marvel and X-Universe, the comic would be a triumph but as is, there’s an issue in that it leaves too much unexplained and contradictory.
With the revelation of a mutant that can reincarnate and has been shifting the Marvel Universe history, Hickman has created a means to explain X-history, contradictions, and his new take in a deus ex machina. Here it’s used to drive the story and issue highlighting how intertwined the series is with House of X. With that out of the way, Hickman can begin to explore some themes and concepts, a tradition of the best X-Men stories.
There’s a more traditional X-Men story presented as two attacks are planned in two eras. It has more of a feel of an X-Men comic as they see the threat and take it head on with a battle with odds they can’t win. It’s about as close to a classic X-Men story that Hickman has reached so far.
The art by R.B. Silva continues to be stellar. With ink by Silva and Adriano Di Benedetto, color by Marte Gracia, and lettering by Clayton Cowles, the story is beautiful to look at. Designs are familiar and new at the same time. Classic characters are reinvented in a new way and it’ll have you staring at pages. The art compliments Hickman’s science fiction direction with some inspired looks and design.
Powers of X #2 is the best release so far as Hickman’s vision is clearer and the set up is out of the way. His hook has been presented elsewhere and he can now focus on his voice. We’ll see where things go from here but the issue is a challenge to the reader to think about visions of society. It does what science fiction does best. Now, to get that whole X-Men thing in there a bit better.
Story: Jonathan Hickman Art: R.B. Silva Ink: R.B. Silva, Adriano Di Benedetto Color: Marte Gracia Letterer: Clayton Cowles Design: Tom Muller Story: 8.0 Art: 8.5 Overall: 8.0 Recommendation: Read
Marvel provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review
It’s been nearly six years since I last picked up a new X-Men comic. The last series I read with any regularity featuring the merry mutants was Jason Aaron‘s Wolverine and the X-Men. Which apparently ended around six years ago. It’s fair to say that I’m a little out of touch with that side of the Marvel Universe (though I have been following both Old Man Loganand Dead Man Logan, but those series didn’t really involve the X-Men as much as a team book would). More than a little, honestly. A lot has happened in the six years I’ve been away, and since I barely pay attention to solicitations I have missed most of it.
But with Johnathan Hickman steering the X-Men in a new direction with this week’s House Of X #2 I thought this might be a good time to start reading X-Men comics again.
But how easy is it to jump back in relatively blind after more than half a decade away? Join me, and I’ll tell you.
Expect spoilers as I try to make sense of the comic.
Especially this issue.
“You see I know how you humans love your symbolism, almost as much as you love you religion. And I wanted you – I needed you – to understand… you have new gods now.”
Magneto, House Of X, #1 p.47.
We’re three issues in toHickman’s story now, although this is only the second under the House Of X moniker. First thing’s first, I really enjoyed this comic. More than I honestly thought I would because I didn’t let the burning questions I could feel brewing out of the back of my mind until after I had finished a book that focuses entirely on Moira X. A mutant who’s power is reincarnation. In the same life. Each and every time. Moira gets to relive her life, free to correct any mistakes she believes she may have made along the way – and free to make more. But every time she dies, she starts again.
I suppose it does give the term “comic book death” a new meaning.
Anyway, through Moira X’s mutant power we get to explore some interesting alternate timelines that I am sure will somehow reappear in the future in a What If story of some kind (which I’m totally down for, incidentally). The many lives of Moira X revealed in House Of X #2 are touched on in brief, but I won’t go into them too much here. I don’t want to give away all the fun.
The big twist this issue was oddly subtle. In retrospect, it’s pretty bloody obvious, but as I go into these comics utterly blind I was a touch surprised that Moira X wasn’t a new character. You’ve probably guessed that there can’t be two characters in the X-Men’s life named Moira, and that Moira X has been more commonly known as Moira MacTaggert.
Now I’m assuming that Moira has only just been revealed as a mutant, and that’s why the entirety of House Of X #2 is dedicated to revealing this long-hidden history of the character that is in no way a brand new plot device conceived recently by Marvel’s writers room. Regardless of the choice, as someone who hasn’t read X-Men comics in a while (so take this how you will), I can say it works. Moira being revealed as a mutant, and a mutant with a very old soul, adds an entirely new dynamic to the story.
It also asks the question as to whether any of the stories we’ve read in the past have been in one of Moira’s past nine or so lives, or has everything we’ve read since the 60’s been a part of Moira’s plan?
Honestly, I don’t worry so much about the answer. I’m actually more curious as to how old Magneto is than whether Moira is a grand architect of mutantkind’s future.
The comic itself is a really good read. It’s the kind of issue that has an impact on you long after you’ve read it even though nothing really happens; Hickman’s writing is utterly gripping. Although he’s certainly a long game writer, this is a great standalone issue that is probably easier for a person to pick up than it has any right to be. Of course, I’m sure I am missing a lot of subtleties from my time away from the X-Men, but that just gives me more incentive to dive back into the issues I’ve missed.
Which, in the spirit of this column, I’ll do after the sixth issue of Powers Of X.
Will I understand next week’s installment in the saga, Powers Of X #2? Do I regret skipping six years of X-Books? Am I ever going to find out how Xavier is walking again?
We might find out next week. We might not.
Marvel provided a FREE copy for review purposes, but I read the comic in print from my LCS.
After House of X #1’s worldbuilding and ideological treatise and Powers of X #1’s time-skipping narrative, Jonathan Hickman, Pepe Larraz, and Marte Gracia settle down into what looks to be a character study of Moira MacTaggert, long time, underrated X-Men supporting character. On a very surface/spoiler-free marketing level, House of X#2 is this. However, in actuality, this is the first issue of Hickman’s X-Men story that will be in the proverbial history books, and the changes can already be seen on Moira’s Wikipedia page.
In effect, he makes Moira MacTaggert, or X as she is known in the comic, the new center of the mutant universe taking the crown away from Xavier and Magneto, Cyclops and Wolverine, or even Apocalypse and Sinister. Her perpetual, yet unfortunately invisible connection to the X-Men ends up becoming her power. House of X #2’s main reveal is that Moira is a mutant with the ability to reincarnate, have all memories from her past life in her new one, and have her mutant nature be undetectable. Hickman and Larraz showcase this final power in a throwdown between Moira X and Destiny where they use a nine-panel grid to flex Destiny’s ability to sense when Moira reincarnates and take her out every time Edge of Tomorrow style.
At its core, House of X #2 is a wonderful speculative fiction story about how you would add differently in your life if you already knew the outcome of your decisions and relationships. Moira’s ideology and her relationship to the major X-Men universe players, including Professor X, Magneto, Apocalypse, and Sentinels, evolves throughout the issue as she plays a variety of roles from housewife to her previously canonical one as a support scientist to co-founding the X-Men with Apocalypse and being the Terminator to the Trask family.
Larraz and Gracia keep these sequences lively with an ever-shifting visual style, especially in layouts. They can go from a three-panel progression of X-Men history a la Kirby, Cockrum, and Immonen to diagonal panels to show Moira gripping with the inevitability of AI and utter darkness when she teams up with Apocalypse. But House of X #2 also has a lot of conversations, and Pepe Larraz nails the shifts in body language in the interactions between Moira and Professor X, which range from slowly building a bond to complete disdain and finally creating the world of House of X.
Moira’s lives are truly the hidden part of the metaphorical iceberg that is the world of House of X and attempt at utopia that is Krakoa. She has seen how mutant history has developed nine times, and the tenth time is the charm as she is back to Xavier’s dream, albeit, in a radically different way from a school of gifted youngsters or team of superheroes. Moira X is the container of potential and the results of ideological struggle, and the multi-page timeline at the end of House of X #2 is a fantastic representation of this and one of my favorite Hickman diagrams this side of Black Monday Murders.
House of X #2 seamlessly works at two levels. On one level, Jonathan Hickman and Pepe Larraz are telling the life story of Moira MacTaggart, who has played a pivotal role as a bridge between humans and mutants for decades of comics, and what you think about her is all wrong. Finally, on a macro level, they craft several visions for how the relationship between humans, mutants, and machines plays out and begin to provide a reason for why the world is like it is in House of X #1 and how it ends up in Powers of X #1.
In House of X #2, learn the truth about one of the X-Men’s closest allies…and then begin the fight for the future of mutantkind!
Writer Jonathan Hickman has dropped, what feels like, a bomb on the X-Universe. In House of X #2 he rewrites the history of a key X-Men character adding depth and an interesting twist to it all. Hickman also delivers another nine different alternate universes while doing so. Thankfully, the issue gives us a handy timeline and map for us to see.
Writing this review, I honestly am not sure what I think of it all. The concept is great but the retcon of a character takes away some key aspects of the X-Men’s history in some ways. It takes a human ally and makes them a mutant the whole time.
It’s hard to go into depth in this review without spoilers and I’m not going to do so. But, there are some major changes to a longtime X-Men character that shows that Hickman is here to shake things up. That includes good and bad and this one is a bit of both. Your enjoyment will really revolve around the changes.
The art by Pepe Larraz is fantastic. With color by Marte Gracia and lettering by Clayton Cowles, the comic is beautiful to look at. There’s a lot of different histories presented and with them a bit of a different emotional punch. The team pulls it off.
The issue is an interesting one that really plants the flag. Hickman is making the X-Men his own, continuity and history be damned. This continues an exciting and somewhat controversial change that’s coming.
It’s been nearly six years since I last picked up a new X-Men comic with any real consistency. The last series I read with any regularity featuring the merry mutants was Jason Aaron‘s Wolverine and the X-Men. Which apparently ended around six years ago. It’s fair to say that I’m a little out of touch with that side of the Marvel Universe (though I have been following both Old Man Loganand Dead Man Logan, but those series didn’t really involve the X-Men as much as a team book would). More than a little, honestly. A lot has happened in the six years I’ve been away, and since I barely pay attention to solicitations I have missed most of it.
But with Johnathan Hickman steering the X-Men in a new direction with last week’s House Of X #1 I thought this might be a good time to start reading X-Men comics again.
But how easy is it to jump back in relatively blind after more than half a decade away? Join me, and I’ll tell you.
Expect spoilers as I try to make sense of the comic.
I’ve been deliberately going into these comics completely blind. I’ve ignore any and all solicitations beyond knowing that House/Powers Of X is replacing all current ongoing X-Books and setting up the next decade or so of X-Men stories going forward (if the change is well received, if not I’d expect another event in a few years to reestablish the status quo). That being said, I’ve no idea if the future depicted in this comic has been visited before in previous issues of X-Men or one of the many off shoots.
Once again I have questions. Although this time it’s primarily just one; how old is Magneto, anyway? If we’re to assume that he is one of the very few comic book characters whose origin remains unchanged in terms of the year – and honestly, with his time in the Nazi concentration camps during World War II being such an important pillar of his character, there’s no way Marvel could rewrite that to reimagine the origin in a more recent time – then how the fuck is he still looking like he’s only in his late 50’s or so? Does his magnetism powers slow his aging? Is he immortal? A clone? Or is this one of those things we just ignore because Magneto is one of the most complex and interesting characters in comics?
Other than that, the comic reads almost as if it’s a condensed story taking place over three periods (ten, a hundred and a thousand years in the future). There’s also a prologue of sorts with a bald Xavier (which answers my question from last week as to whether he has hair) set more or less in the recent past and a brief moment in the same time frame as House of X #1. What this does, for me at least, is leave the comic largely forgettable as we don’t really get as much time with the newer characters as I would have hoped for. Unlike the excitement I felt after House Of X #1, Powers Of X #1 left me feeling a touch flat. Is it essential reading to the story? It’s far too early to tell, and I don’t want to lead you down the garden path until we’ve got more context.
Now despite the book having its struggles in the memorability department, I still enjoyed it. The introduction and conclusion of a huge conflict between humanity, mutants and machines is perhaps the primary focal point in this comic, though there’s also the constant railing against who you were expected to be that simmers just beneath the surface.
Just as in the previous issue covered in this column, Powers Of X #1 also includes some handy dandy exposition pages that come almost immediately after you’ve read the pages that’ll make you wonder what the future terms mean. It’s a great way to add in some additional information without over burdening the dialogue with information for the readers.
As far as being able to get into the comic as someone who hasn’t been around the X-Men in over half a decade (I feel old), it was about as easy as jumping into any first issue that’s effectively the second part of a story. The hidden code within the pages (it can be decoded if you have the time or the google skills) also adds a nice interactive element to the series.
Once again, the artists are on point. R.B. Silva is the artist and is joined on inking by Adriano Di Benedetto and colour artist Marte Gracia. The trio are solid, giving the comic and each time period within a unique visual flavour that comes together to form a perfect pecan pie (there’s no reason I chose pecan other than for alliteration).
Although my personal highlight of the overarching story so far is below, there are quite a few moments that’ll have you grinning ear to ear; Rasputin’s charge, Wolverine calling somebody else old despite the white hair on his chin and Cardinal simply being Cardinal.
There’s nothing in Powers Of X #1 anywhere close to as spine tingling as this moment from House Of X #1. Full quote below.
“You see I know how you humans love your symbolism, almost as much as you love you religion. And I wanted you – I needed you – to understand… you have new gods now.”
Magneto, House Of X, #1 p.47.
Powers Of X #1 is a pretty good comic – it is one that’s almost worth the elevated price of admission (at regular price this’d be absolutely worth it). As it is, it’s still worth a read; especially if you’re an X-Fan , new or old, who wants to know what’s going to happen in the company’s future.
Will I understand next week’s installment in the saga, House Of X #2? Do I regret skipping six years of X-Books? Am I ever going to find out how Xavier is walking again*?
We might find out next week. We might not.
Marvel provided a FREE copy for review purposes, but I read the comic in print from my LCS.
*The answer is yes, but it made no sense when two of my friends told me individually last week, but it basically boils down to “comics being comics” which I’ve kind of accepted with an air of nonchalance.
