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House of X/Powers of X goes beyond being a great comic to being one of my favorite works of literature. I'm not trying to say it's Shakespeare, but it incapsulates many themes and archetypes that appeal to me as a modern reader. And it also pushes the medium forward by recontextualizing these characters in a genius way and providing an incredible amount of world building through prose sections and diagrams.
The art from Pepe Larraz and RB Silva isn't like, Dave Gibbons game-changing, but it does a great job of conveying some very heady concepts while showcasing the emotions of the characters. Both artists also manage to channel some previous eras while still feeling unmistakably modern. There's something very '90s about Sabretooth here. But then there are characters like Marvel Girl who feel right out of the '60s, and not just because of some throw-back costumes.
That Hickman's premise can be summarized in one lean sentence only serves to underscore its genius: Moira Mactaggert is a mutant with the power to reincarnate, and the entirety of Marvel continuity up until now has been her tenth life.
Half of the storyline deals with the establishment of Krakoa, the latest and greatest mutant nation that Moira has been secretly working toward with Professor X and Magneto's help. It differs from Genosha or Utopia in that the land itself is a living thing, much more capable of adapting to the mutants' needs, and in that all mutants are welcome there, good or evil.
While this new status quo is incredibly positive and inspiring, it has some dark implications. Moira, Professor X, and Magneto have all been aware that events might play out a certain way, and still allowed them to happen. One prose section suggests that Moira didn't just happen to have her mutant son Proteus - she specifically chose her husband and had Proteus knowing that the mutants would one day needs his reality-warping power.
And while that sort of dark twist might disturb some readers, I think it only serves to make the previously one-note Moira much more interesting, and to present Professor X with some truly interesting dilemmas when it comes to how far he is willing to go to achieve his dream.
One of my favorite action sequences in any comic ever occurs when X sends the X-Men to stop the creation of a "Mother Mold" sentinel orbiting the sun. He coldly tells them to "Do whatever it takes" and telepathically watches with determination - and heartbreak - as the team accomplishes their mission, and are killed one by one.
Of course, with Krakoa's new resurrection protocols, each is cloned a new body and then implanted with Professor X's back-up memories of them. But are they really their old selves brought back to life, or mere clones?
How can you not LOVE this??? It's mind-blowing. Just...so, so satisfying to see the X-Men brought to the cutting-edge of sci-fi storytelling.
Speaking of, the other half of the narrative showcases other timelines, Moira's previous lives. We see a timeline where mutant chimeras working for Apocalypse sacrifice themselves to get Moira information on how Nimrod comes to be. And we see an especially long-lasting timeline wherein humans reach a point of technological transcendence and merge with the Phalanx, who, in another profound recontextualization, are revealed to be just the tip of a universe-spanning cluster of artificial intelligences more akin to God. Is it humanity's fate to evolve to this point, or is it better that they retain their individuality?
This stuff is so, so cool. I have read it twice and tore through it both times. Grant Morrison's New X-Men is the only thing that comes close. This is really the pinnacle of the franchise.
But of course, it can only exist because of what has come before. I'm nearing the end of a two-year marathon reading every issue of X-Men ever, and even I missed some of the references here. Wolverine makes amends with Gorgon, a villain from a Mark Millar solo Wolverine comic run that I somehow hadn't heard of. But overall, I think the series is still accessible to even a casual X-Men fan. I've seen some on here describe it as "convoluted," but if you pay attention to the diagrams and various boxes it's all laid out pretty clearly. And it's all doled out in a really compelling order.
While I've yet to read everything that has come after this, it stands on its own as probably the best thing Marvel put out in the 2010s, aside from Hickman's previous big work, Secret Wars. It's just massively entertaining, stimulating, engrossing, packed full of secrets and hugely pleasurable new ways of looking at your favorite characters. It's amazing. I love it. Read it and then be inspired to go read every X-Men issue ever like I was.
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Reviews with images
Amazing start for Hickman’s X-Men run!
I was cautiously optimistic when Hickman was first tapped as the new Architect for X-Men. He did an amazing job on Avenger’s World. So amazing that i felt he might never come within spitting distance of that quality again.Long story short, he has come through again in a big way with that same energy and conviction! The sheer narrative depth of this collection is staggering. Not to mention the amount of ancillary information/data he provides in support of the narrative itself. This becomes even more impressive when you consider this is merely the opening salvo. Seeing this version of Prof X (uninterested in pandering to humans & utterly devoted to the mutant cause) is unsettling yet amazing.I enjoyed this so much, i am going to preemptively rank this in my top runs of all time (below in no particular order since all are staggeringly great)Hickman - Avengers WorldRemender - Uncanny AvengersRoberts - Transformers: More Than Meets The EyeRoberts - Transformers: Lost LightHickman - House of X/Powers of XClaremont - Fall of The MutantsClaremont- Dark Phoenix Saga
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Amazon Customer
Comic book nerd once more
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 22, 2024
