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.

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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 Logan and 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.

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Expect spoilers as I try to make sense of the comic.

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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.

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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).

“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.

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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.