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.

Story: Jonathan Hickman Art: Pepe Larraz
Color: Marte Gracia Letterer: Clayton Cowles Design: Tom Muller
Story: 8.45 Art: 8.5 Overall: 8.5 Recommendation: Buy

Marvel provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review