Get a look as to what’s coming in 2020 with Incoming #1. Marvel teases what we can expect in the months to come in this end of the year oversized comic.
Story: Various Art: Various Color: Various Letterer: Travis Lanham
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Marvel is celebrating 80 years this year so shift your view to 80 years in Marvel’s future with a return to 2099!
Story: Nick Spencer Art: Viktor Bogdanović Color: Marte Gracia Letterer: Joe Caramagna
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Marvel provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review This post contains affiliate links, which means that if you click on one of the product links and make a purchase, we’ll receive a percentage of the sale. Graphic Policy does purchase items from this site. Making purchases through these links helps support the site
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?
Expect spoilers as I try to make sense of the comic.
I’ve found that the Powers Of X comics have been used to fill in information holes and expand upon points made in earlier issue of House Of X. That’s largely the same here, with Powers Of X #6 expanding upon a certain scene within the finale of the aforementioned comic.
It’s that finale that has been sitting with me for several days, delaying the release of this column as I try and make sense of how the House/Powers Of X event has left me feeling. On the one hand, as a reintroduction to the X-Men after nearly six years, it has definitely set me up for success. It has laid the foundation stones for the plethora of new X-Men books coming out starting this week, and while I have no intention of picking them all up, I’ll certainly read two or three.
I’ll be entering the new X-books at a place that will allow me to enjoy the stories for what they are without trying to piece together various arcs from online snippets and editor’s notes in the comics themselves. I’ll know that the mutants have created their own nation, almost entirely exclusive to mutants. In that regard, it was an unmitigated success.
In that regard.
If you were waiting for the other shoe to drop, here it comes.
House/Powers Of X has shifted the X-Men’s place from a minority group fighting for peaceful coexistence with humanity to an elitist nation who think themselves above humanity. While there may be peaceful coexistence, it won’t be as equals anymore.
There are two prime quotes that exemplify this for me, the first has been included in every version of this column and comes from the final page of the first issue. If you need a reminder, scroll up. The second comes from House Of X #5, immediately after a large number of mutants arrive on Krakoa.
House Of X #5 p. 30
It’s with Apocalypse’s line that “you have finally become what I intended you to be. I couldn’t be more proud.” that I realized the X-Men had embraced the big blue mutant’s mantra of “survival of the fittest” in the most obvious was possible. They created a nation of the “the fittest.”
A nation where no mutant need stay dead (and I still don’t know if the new not-technically-a-clone Wolverine after his death and regrowth (read House #4 and #5 for details) has adamantium in his bones or not. If he does, how did it get put into the new body? That’s actually the least of my questions regarding the resurrection process, if I’m honest, but it’s one I focus on because it’s that kind of nitpicking detail I want. No, my bigger question is why does Professor X only copy mutants? Why not expand to humanity as a whole?
Is it because of the constraints of Cerebro as a whole? Unlikely, seeing as how Forge could overcome those with enough time as he did the initial design in Powers #5. No, instead it’s almost like Xavier doesn’t care as much about humans as he does mutants.
Which is a stunning revelation from a man who preached peaceful coexistence for decades (despite having moments of being a slight creep over the years – just google them). Yes, it’s a bold new direction for the X-Men going forward, but one has to wonder; the X-Men have for decades stood as an allegory for minorities and the down trodden. Is this shift emblematic of those minorities finally going back where they came from, or a shift toward a position of elitism as the mutants embrace the superior in homo superior?
Powers Of X #5 p.23
How the X-Men are handled from here on out will be very interesting. At the least, this event has me intrigued enough to pick up X-Men #1 when it hits the shelves this week. Though I’ll be keeping the positional shift firmly in mind as I continue to follow the adventures of the X-Men.
“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.
Marvel provided a FREE copy for review purposes, but I read the comic in print from my LCS.
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?
Expect spoilers as I try to make sense of the comic.
It has taken me longer to write the penultimate Returning To The X-Men column than I expected or hoped it would. Although part of that is down to some spontaneous renovations at home, it’s also because it took me longer to digest this issue than the others. When it comes to the finale to one half of the current X-event, I had a lot of trouble deciding whether this was the end or a beginning.
That probably sounds cliched.
But here’s the thing; as House/Powers Of X has progressed, it has felt less like a culmination of events that led to the first issue and more of a clean slate for Hickman to restart the X-Men’s direct without rebooting or retconning anything. In fact, a knowledge of certain key events in mutant history does provide an additional depth to your understanding, but it isn’t required as Hickman does a great job in revealing the bare minimum to grasp why those key events were key events.
Yes, you probably need at least some understand as to who the X-Men are, but anybody who has read X-Men comics in the past (even if you haven’t read in years) will recognize the major characters – though some changes may throw you for a loop (such as Professor X walking again – though at least he’s still bald). Ultimately, though, it doesn’t matter if you don’t know who Glob Herman or Armor is as long as you know who the core X-Men characters are (Cyclops, Magneto, Jean Grey, Nightcrawler, Wolverine and Xavier to name just a few).
Because this story is framed more as a beginning than an ending, it is perhaps the most accessible event Marvel have had in years.
House Of X-#6 spends most of the issue discussing the new laws of the mutant nation and how they apply to mutants going forward. It’s perhaps one of the most unconventional finales that I have read in a long time in that it spends very little time recapping previous events before going into a balls to the wall action issue – instead, we see the new Council of Mutants calmly and rationally deciding the first three laws and passing judgement on a mutant who has violated one of them. Although this still wraps up the six issues of House Of X, it also firmly establishes the new status quo for the Marvel universe and its merry mutants, and it does so with a subtle grace that for me has come to define this event.
When it comes to the point of this column, exploring whether a new reader can effectively just jump in with the current X-Event with only enough X-Men knowledge to recognize a few characters, well the answer is a clear and obvious yes – if you start at the beginning.
“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.
Will I understand next week’s installment in the saga, Powers Of X #6? Do I regret skipping six years of X-Books? Am I ever going to find out how Xavier is walking again*? Did I get the right release schedule?
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.
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?
Expect spoilers as I try to make sense of the comic.
Well House Of X #4 was… well let’s just say it had some finality to it. Especially for a certain group of mutants. After the heavy death toll last issue, I was curious how Hickman was going to reverse the body count; especially with said mutants being featured in October’s relaunch of the X-Books, you knew the deaths wouldn’t stick. I wasn’t expecting to see the solution revealed in House Of X #5.
I’ve been really enjoying the House/Powers Of X event thus far, it has been an interesting reintroduction to the X-Men for me, and is an event that isn’t using huge set piece fight scenes to sell comics. No, the appeal of this event for me is that we’re getting a a story that’s going to reframe how we look at the X-Men in the Marvel Universe, an event that is more of a beginning than a culmination of several years worth of preplanning and build up.
It is perhaps the most accessible event Marvel have had in years.
But despite the eight issues we’ve had so far, I’m still not overly sure how happy I am with this comic as a whole.
The solution to the death of an entire team of X-Men last issue feels… strangely cheap. It removes the value of their sacrifice, and even with Xavier’s “a piece of me dies each time you do” line to the newly resurrected Cyclops, the resurrection process really removes almost any threat of death to the mutants going forward.
Because whenever they die, a team of mutants can just regrow a clone body for Xavier to imprint a copy of said mutant’s mind into. Which gives the term comic book death an entirely new meaning. It also makes every mutant functionally immortal.
House Of X #5 does gives us several ground rules surrounding the mutant team’s resurrection ability, justifying (or limiting) their use as a story device, but it rings oddly hollow.
Especially when you add in the oddly fanatical scenes that proceed the resurrections. There are some uncomfortable connotations with how those scenes play out, and it’ll be interesting to see whether that line of fanaticism is carried on for the finale of House Of X and beyond (and if it is, how exactly will there be a compelling reason for the X-Men to leave Krakoa?
And then you have to wander about Wolverine’s adamantium. Does the new copy/clone/whatever have the metal bones? And if so how? These are the burning questions that detail obsessed nerds will want to know.
When it comes to the point of this column, exploring whether a new reader can effectively just jump in with the current X-Event with only enough X-Men knowledge to recognize a few characters, well the answer is a clear and obvious yes – if you start at the beginning. This issue… will leave you thoroughly confused if you start here, but then what would you expect starting a twelve issue story as it nears the end?
“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.
Will I understand next week’s installment in the saga, Powers Of X #5? Do I regret skipping six years of X-Books? Am I ever going to find out how Xavier is walking again*? Did I get the right release schedule?
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.
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?
Expect spoilers as I try to make sense of the comic.
The explosive ending of House Of X #3 promised a follow-up issue that was going to be notable in the series for one reason or another, and Hickman wasted no time in letting us know that is exactly what we’re in for with House Of X #4.
When it comes to the point of this column, exploring whether a new reader can effectively just jump in with the current X-Event with only enough X-Men knowledge to recognize a few characters, well the answer is a clear and obvious yes when it comes to this comic. Simply because the issue is wall to wall action with very little plot beyond the X-Men accomplishing their mission whatever the cost.
And ultimately that’s where the main draw for this issue lies; the cost of that mission.
Above and beyond that, there isn’t much else to this comic.
Oh, the reverberations will be felt at least until the next issue, but the cost will be refunded based solely on the solicitations for the books to come after this event; which honestly leaves the book feeling a little hollow, but it’s still an enjoyable issue on the surface. And certainly not one you need a ton of X-Men knowledge to enjoy.
Which makes this issue a bit of a conundrum; although I enjoyed the story within, having seen the solicitations cheapened the impact of the comic significantly. Though not as much as the in-built Deus Ex Machina established earlier in the event. Still, it’s an enjoyable book and one that’ll likely prove integral for the event going forward.
“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.
Will I understand next week’s installment in the saga, Powers Of X #4? Do I regret skipping six years of X-Books? Am I ever going to find out how Xavier is walking again*? Did I get the right release schedule?
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.
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.
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.
Expect spoilers as I try to make sense of the comic.
Much to my surprise, I was expecting to read House Of X #3 last week, not Powers Of X #3, and it wasn’t until I opened the comic that I realized just how much I had been looking forward to the comic.
If you’ve been reading the entire series so far, and by that I mean everything under the House/Powers Of X banner then you’ll have absolutely no problem reading this comic. That said, you can also get away with just having read the House series. I’ve noticed that this seems to have more of a focus on the Now of the Marvel universe, and consequently is actually a little harder for me to follow who is who (unlike the future focused Powers Of X that starts everybody off on the same footing), but House Of X has a more cohesive story that works alone or intertwined with the sister series.
House Of X #3 has got perhaps one of the most classic X-based story tropes (or at least one of the things I attribute most to the X-Men): Sentinels.
I’m not sure whether it’s because of the X-Men: Animated Series and that amazing theme music, or some of the earlier comics I read featuring Sentinels (despite reading X-Men issues across decades because of reprints, Operation Zero Tolerance was one of the first stories I read as it happened, once I was finally old enough to get to a comic shop a city away from my home town in England), but for me the X-Men’s classic enemy has always been those giant extermination machines.
And so it is, for the first time in a very long time, that I got to watch the X-Men in action, on a deliberate mission rather than reacting to threats to a school (the Jean Grey School from Wolverine And The X-Men). I’d forgotten how much I enjoyed that.
What I didn’t remember was how creepy Professor X is when he looks kinda like Ultimate Reed Richards.
Professor X?
Reed Richards?
Then you have the near-religious language of Xavier… and it feels like a crack in the veneer. That we might be finally seeing the villain in the story, but I think that might just be my feelings around Xavier bloody walking again. And being creepy.
Yet again, the mutant language and bonus pages return, which add a far more interactive layer to the comic than you would otherwise expect if you have the time, patience or google ability to translate it. I have none of these things yet, but I’m fond of the option that Hickman has provided us.
This issue showcases the X-Men at their most efficient. We get to see the team plan and begin to execute an operation – and crucially, we see the reactions to that. It’s a really interesting turn of events and one that I am pleased to have read in print.
“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.
There’s also another fantastically quotable Magneto line in this book;
“For you to die, you would have to be forgotten…”
Magneto, House Of X, #3 p.5
I feel like eventually, this column will just be full of Magneto quotes, but I am oddly okay with that. I hope you are, too.
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 #4? Do I regret skipping six years of X-Books? Am I ever going to find out how Xavier is walking again*? Did I get the right release schedule?
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.
Just a month before the highly-anticipated debut of House of X and Powers of X, Marvel released an all-new episode of X-Men: The Seminal Moments featuring series writer Jonathan Hickman and other legendary Marvel creators as they shed light on what the future holds for mutants across the universe!
As House of X and Powers of X is set to shake the Marvel Universe to its core, Hickman revealed what fans might expect from the series:
House of X and Powers of X – written by Jonathan Hickman with art by Marvel’s Young Gun Pepe Larraz, R.B. Silva, and colorist Marte Gracia – will build from every major X-Men milestone since 1963 up through the current X-Men series and storylines fans know and love, including some of Marvel’s most iconic characters from over the decades.
The next seminal moment in the history of the X-Men begins this July!
Jonathan Hickman revealed some details today about his upcoming series, House of X and Powers of X. Those begin in July, running through September, as all of the current X-titles come to an end.
Hickman will reshape the mutant world forever leading in to all new series, some traditional and some new, afterwards. The planning has gone well in to 2020 as far as what we can expect as far as the first two waves of releases.
Hickman’s start is a symbolic flag planting of continuity for Marvel’s X-line of comics which have wavered in the past few years with numerous starts, stops, and creative teams. The message is clear, “this is a whole new era for the X-Men. This is what we’re doing now.”
This is also an era where the X-Men film rights are back at Disney, something Hickman has hinted at as far as opportunities that X-line now brings to writers and Marvel.
Fans of the current series will see that the X-universe has been dovetailing to this new era, which will build from every major X-Men milestone since 1963 up through all of today’s fan-favorite X-Men series.
Following House of X and Power of X, a new X-universe will emerge, with Hickman leading the first phase with an ongoing flagship X-Men book alongside multiple new series and creative teams.
Some [books] will be traditional fare, some carry through on ideas presented in HOX and POX. Some books are completely new concepts,” said Hickman. More details about these books will be revealed at San Diego Comic Con later this July.
Marvel has also revealed covers for House of X and Powers of X issues #2 and #3 as well as new pages from each first issue!
House of X #2 and #3 is written by Jonathan Hickman with art by Pepe Larraz, colors by Marte Garcia, and a cover by Larraz. Powers of X #2 and #3 is written by Hickman, with art by R.B. Silva, colors by Marte Gacia, and a cover by Silva. Each series runs for six issues.
This weekend, Marvel unveiled its 2019 Publishing Slate to a hall of fans attending Marvel’s Next Big Thing panel during this year’s Chicago Comic & Entertainment Expo. Hosted by Editor-in-Chief C.B. Cebulski along with some of Marvel’s biggest creators, the panel recapped some of the weekend’s biggest Marvel Comics news and teased what’s next in the Marvel Universe – pointing to a yet-to-be-revealed story in December.
Since the convention’s opening on Friday, attendees have received thrilling new looks at Marvel’s world-shaking War of the Realms series, written by Jason Aaron and drawn by Young Gun Russell Dauterman; the deadly Absolute Carnage event, written by Donny Cates and drawn by Ryan Stegman; and the next monumental chapter for the X-Men with House of X and Powers of X, written by Jonathan Hickman and drawn by Young Gun Pepe Larraz and R.B. Silva respectively.
Each of these standalone series will introduce fans to groundbreaking new ideas and shocking implications for the Marvel Universe, setting the scene for Marvel’s most iconic and popular Super Heroes later this year.
Starting next month, get ready for some of the biggest stories ever in the pages of Marvel Comics!
This April, Marvel’s War of the Realms commences, featuring Marvel’s greatest heroes such as Thor, Captain America, Iron Man, Spider-Man, Black Panther, and Captain Marvel! The dark sorcerer Malekith wages a war that has spread from one otherworldly realm to the next, razing each one to the ground as his armies move from conquest to conquest. Now there’s only one realm left standing: ours.
This July, Marvel’s House of Xand Powers of X will mark the next major milestone in X-Men history. Since their introduction by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby over 50 years ago, fans around the world have followed the extraordinary stories of the X-Men through seminal moments like Giant-Size X-Men, 1991’s X-Men #1, Age of Apocalypse, and New X-Men. Each of these moments introduced a new era for mutantkind – and starting this summer, the world will experience the next seminal moment in the history of the X-Men.
This August, the Marvel Universe will need to survive Absolute Carnage – and no one is safe. Beginning in Free Comic Book Day Spider-Man/Venom #1 (out May 5), Cletus Kasady is back, and he’s deadlier than ever. On a hunt for every Super Hero in the Marvel Universe who has worn a symbiote, Carnage has his eyes on his first victims…starting with some of our favorite Marvel heroes. Everyone is a target!
WAR OF THE REALMS #1 (of 6) Written by JASON AARON Art by RUSSELL DAUTERMAN Colors by MATT WILSON Cover by ARTHUR ADAMS On sale April 3, 2019
HOUSE OF X #1 (of 6) Written by JONATHAN HICKMAN Art by PEPE LARRAZ Colors by MARTE GARCIA Cover by PEPE LARRAZ On sale July 2019
POWERS OF X #1 (of 6) Written by JONATHAN HICKMAN Art by R.B. SILVA Colors by MARTE GARCIA Cover by R.B. SILVA On sale July 2019
ABSOLUTE CARNAGE #1 (of 4) Written by DONNY CATES Art by RYAN STEGMAN Colors by FRANK MARTIN Cover by RYAN STEGMAN On sale August 2019
