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.

Story: Jonathan Hickman Art: R.B. Silva
Color: Marte Gracia Letterer: Clayton Cowles
Design: Tom Muller
Story: 8.45 Art: 8.5 Overall: 8.45 Recommendation: Buy

Marvel provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review