Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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70 of 74 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Marvel's Universe Is Sent For a Tail Spin in One of the Decades Finest Miniseries, February 10, 2006
Alternate realities and other worlds are nothing new in the world of comic books. DC has the multiverse, where an infinite number of Earths exist, each with parallel versions of Superman, Batman, and all of the other major players in the world of DC comics. Marvel has the Ultimate universe, which serves as a way to retell the classic stories in a separate, but parallel world to the 616 universe, which is the "normal" Marvel world. There was also the Age of Apocalypse miniseries, in which Apocalyspe, in an altered reality, controlled the world, and Magneto was the leader of the X-Men. However, in most alternate reality storylines, the ending seemed to undo everything. The characters remembered nothing of the other world when things went back to normal. Such is not the case in House of M.
Wanda Maximoff, also known as Scarlet Witch, is the daughter of Magneto. She and her brother Pietro, also known as Quicksilver, are mutants, and thus have lived a life of oppression at the hands of humans. It doesn't help that their father is a maniacal terrorist bent on making the world a mutant paradise. Wanda's powers to alter reality have served her well as an Avenger, but lately, they have begun to take their toll on her mind. Prof. Charles Xavier has tried to help her, but she is quickly losing her grip on reality, which means that she could unknowingly alter the reality of everyone around her. Concerned for the safety of the world, Prof. X asks the X-Men and the Avengers to help decide how to deal with the problem. Fearing that Wanda's death is imminent, Piertro asks Magneto to do something, and suddenly, in a bright flash of light, everything changes.
Peter Parker (AKA Spider-Man) wakes up to hear his young son crying, and his wife Gwen Stacey (who died years ago in the 616 timeline) asking him to take care of it. Scott Summers and Emma Frost are married, Hank McCoy never took the serum that made him grow blue fur, The Kingpin has been taken out, Dr. Doom doesn't need to wear his mask, and Wolverine is a member of S.H.I.E.L.D. along with Rogue, Nightcrawler, Mystique, and Toad. And he has all of his memories of his life before the adamantium was added to his skeleton. Furthermore, mutants are the dominant species on the planet, and they oppress homo sapiens, and Magneto is the king of the world. While a few humans are respected, such as Tony Stark, Peter Parker, and Victor von Doom, most are terrorized by mutants, and human criminals are hunted down by sentinels. Operating out of Genosha, which is a sprawling metropolis as opposed to a desolate wasteland, Magneto and his children are the leaders of the free world. Every person that Wanda knew has had their greatest wish come true. So why is Wolverine suspicious?
Eventually, a series of events is set into motion that allows the heroes to remember the truth while living in the lie. While everyone is upset that Magneto used the Scarlet Witch to take over the world, some are more affected than others, especially Peter Parker. In this reality, he is a celebrity photographer, married to his first love. His Uncle Ben never died, and he knows nothing of the tragedies that he went through in the true reality. He nearly snapped upon learning the truth. By the end of the series, things occur in the Marvel universe that will have lasting effects for years to come.
Nearly every major character in Marvel's history makes some sort of appearance, either in this series, or a number of the tie-in series. Sadly, my favorite X-Man, Gambit, was only in one scene, but oh well. The story is very good, and it will be interesting to see how things turn out in the near future. The art is also great, and it makes the book as much fun to look at as it does to read it.
The series is steeped in backstory, so this is definitely not for beginning comic book readers (unless you're like me and you know people who can fill in the gaps for you). If you haven't read House of M yet, prepare to be blown away.
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12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
"No more mutants...", May 30, 2006
Much to the dismay of many fans, Brian Michael Bendis' run on the Avengers saw the destruction of the team from the inside out as the Scarlet Witch's reality altering powers killed members Hawkeye, Vision, and Ant-Man; and caused much more chaos beyond that as well. House of M picks up in Genosha with Professor Xavier failing to help the Scarlet Witch reclaim her sanity, leading Xavier to unite his X-Men and the New Avengers to decide her fate. Then everything goes white. When X-Men and New Avengers member Wolverine comes to, the whole world is upside down. Mutants are the dominant species on the planet and humans are looked down upon. Magneto and his family are the royal leaders of the planet, and Wolverine is an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. who knows that this world isn't right. As he scrambles to locate his friends and team mates to find Xavier and figure out just what happened, we are given glimpses of this alternate reality, which is surprisingly well thought out and written by Bendis, who had a reputation for being a top writer with his indie-crime work and his early work on Daredevil, but has been labeled lately as being overrated and working on so many Marvel titles it's almost impossible to keep up with what he's doing. While this mega event mini-series doesn't focus on as many of the characters as one would like (there are seperate TPB's focusing on Captain America, the Hulk, Spider-Man, Iron Man, and the Dr. Doom led Fantastic Four in this alternate world) but that is forgiveable here. There's some nice art here by Olivier Coipel, and Bendis' story has plenty of twists and surprises, and an ending which actually leaves the Marvel universe in a situation it hasn't faced, and a delicious twist for Wolverine as well. All in all, House of M may be seem as yet another mega cross over mini-series, but the biggest twist here is that it's actually pretty good.
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9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A promising return to more classic-type Marvel stories, March 12, 2006
After years of mediocre to bad to (frankly) horrible stories and crossovers within the company, Marvel has recently started to turn things around. Ironically a big reason for the turn around is avoiding the major crossover that "House of M" is and was. However, "M" is one of those stories that seemed to be coming for awhile and was executed very well.
After the Scarlett Witch went insane and killed Avenger teammates Hawkeye, Vision and Ant-man, Professor X and Captain America call together all the X-Men an Avengers to discuss how to deal with her and its determined she is a threat and must be killed. A threat her brother Quicksilver hears and then sprints off to warn her about, and to plead with there father, Magento, to prevent. Magneto refuses, and the super-teams arrive on Genosha when all the sudden a bright light envelopes everything and the heroes all wake up in a new altered reality where Mutants live in peace with the humans and the world is more or less a good place for all the heroes, each seemingly having exactly what they always wanted.
Wolverine seems to be the lone hero to realize something is wrong and he slowly gathers up the rest of the heroes, and reveals the truth to them. (special note: it is awful and heartbreaking when peter parker/spider-man realizes the truth) The heroes gather and a final battle ensues, and in the end everything is set right...well not quite.
The results of "M" are truely epic, and unless Marvel follows the mistakes of its past, and undoes every major decision they ever make, the effects will be felt in the Marvel universe for a long long time. "M" is a return to the great storytelling the company had going for it in the '70s and '80s, and is a welcome addition to the small group of classic stories that must be talked about with things like "The Dark Phoenix Saga".
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