Now, let me be clear:
The X-Men have, and always shall be my favourite super hero comic.
Being born differently, feeling like an outcast for things you can’t control and the whole finding your crew thing resonated a lot with this massively closeted, nice-guy of a teachers pet from Grimsby. A lot of my morals and who I aspire to be came from the heroes in these books, so they’ll always hold a special place in my heart.
I am not, however, one of those naive die hards that shall defend every ounce of their being to the death. They have like most comic books suffered their fair whack of, and I’m being polite here, less than favourable writers, which of course has led to no end of terrible and completely forgettable storylines, a ridiculous amount of retconning and OH MY GOD THE RESURRECTIONS. And I’m talking just the last twenty years here.
Of course some periods have been worse than others, and the recent Gold/ Blue/ Red series and Age of X-Man (though certainly not the worst) hadn’t at any point left me gagging for more.
Oh and just on that notion of resurrection, it’s important to note (and I won’t bother with the detail but…) Jean Grey, Cyclops, Wolverine and Xavier have all been brought back from the dead within the last two to three years.
I know, don’t.
And it’s because I love these guys all so much it actually pains me a little to say but it did reek quite a bit of commercial desperation. Plus with the film rights to the X-Men being regained by Marvel Studios, they of course need to keep everyone’s favourites and the originals alive and well, ready for the mutants’ introduction into the MCU.
There have been some incredible times too though during the last twenty years, the most notable periods for me being the Morrison run, House of M, Messiah Complex/ Second Coming, Schism, and the initial 3/4 volumes of Uncanny and All New X-Men that immediately followed AvX. But then it all fell a bit lack-lustre after that.
Now, introducing Jonathan Hickman.
Hickman is the writer of my favourite runs of Avengers, including the Infinity Saga, the New Avengers run that led to Secret Wars II, and the only run of Fantastic 4 (and FF) that I’ve ever enjoyed (but no I haven’t read Slott’s yet!) Big hitters all.
When it comes to his X-Men, ‘fresh start’ doesn’t quite cover it.
In the twelve comics that make up the intertwined (six part each) House of X and Powers of X stories, Hickman manages to reference what can only be described as a metric fuck tonne of X-Men history in both broad ideas and teeny tiny easter eggs (also in terms of the written and the visual) much to the delight of any X-Nerd, and incorporates an incredible amount of characters but all with purpose, to take them all in a new direction together.
At its heart the story is one of the oldest and most fundamental stories in X-Men history, bigotry, and the evolutionary struggle of homo sapiens versus homo superior, wearing the face of those ever terrifying Sentinels.
Moira MacTaggert is key here too. Long assumed dead from the Legacy Virus back in the 90s, but back with a whole new mission, and one hell of a new back story, it’s one of the most exciting and innovative twists on a long established character I’ve ever read, and shit will it blow your mind. It does Xavier’s. It’s her story and her (new) history that causes Xavier’s and the X-Men’s new found radicalisation.
And you may think that using the term radical seems like an over exaggeration, but when you get to that page with the newly formed mutant council on the newly established mutant nation of Krakoa, and see that it consists not only of golden hearted heroes like Jean, Storm and Nightcrawler, but also mad tyrants like Apocalypse, Sebastian Shaw, Magneto and Mr. Sinister (who I’ll come to in a minute) working together to govern the mutant race as a whole, you can’t help but think that only the most desperate of times have caused the most desperate of measures to be taken.
Because the story, and this is taking both House and Powers interconnected as intended, bounces back and forth between past, present, future and future future with the addition of nine extra alternate ‘realities’ lets call them (for spoiler avoidance sake) you’d think that could become confusing. It isn’t. You always know where you are, even if you’re not quite sure why, but you know it’s going somewhere special.
What the timeline/ alternate reality jumping does by the end of issue twelve is clarify absolutely just why the X-Men have become so radicalised. You start issue one thinking ‘wow Xaiver’s a creepy fella these days isn’t he’ then you finish issue twelve like ‘faaaaack, no wonder!’
In terms of individual characters, Hickman gives some excellent development of some of my all time favourite people. Of course there’s a whole new Moira, a wonderful strengthening of Xavier and Magneto’s relationship, and Storm seems to be regaining that Goddess/ Qween status she should never have lost. Badass Cyclops is also back, the same saviour of mutant kind who led the Utopia nation and told Captain America to ‘get the hell off his island’, and is now telling Mr. and Mrs. Fantastic “did you honestly think that we were just going to sit around forever and take it?” before offering an open invitation to the new mutant nation to their mutant son Franklin.
It’s this sass that I yearn for, and Hickman has the most perfect understanding of my favourite sassy Queen Emma Frost; her intelligence and independence and her sharp wit. She’s Xavier and Magneto’s first choice for what they need her for, and her demands and terms not only prove just how much she can always get her own way, but also that there is just no other White Queen for the job.
But first place for Queen of sass has to go to Mr. Sinister. This bitch is everything. According to him his ‘mutant power is overthrowing tyrants and being absolutely fabulous’. And boy, does he love. That. Cape. “Amazing. Why do I not have a cape?” he says as being approached by arguably two of the most powerful mutants on Earth. If you can imagine all he’s saying throughout the comic in that equally terrifying but fabulous voiceover his character had in the 90s cartoon series it makes it a hundred times more enjoyable. Sassiness aside though, for me he’s one of the biggest and baddest things to watch out for going forwards. A lot of his mutant gene experimentation is explored in this novel, and in the side notes it’s revealed that a lot of what can happen in the future is down to Sinister’s betrayal or non-betrayal of his own kind. He is genuinely terrifying but just so fabulous with it.
Now he has a seat on the mutant council? I’m sorry what?!
Those side notes are another trademark of Hickman’s writing. They were abundant in his Infinity and Fantastic Four stories, and though it may seem strange to open a comic and see the odd page of full prose dotted around, I’ve never once found them off putting. They’re a fantastic tool to fill in the gaps of important information that somehow feel more acceptable than reading a ridiculously long inner monologue from a character in order to convey something that may literally just be information. More than anything they clarify for the readers (of old and new) some pretty essential and basic knowledge; like what is an Omega level mutant and who qualifies? Diary/ journal entries, world and universe classifications, the structures of national and international organisations, and of course those sassy Sinister secrets. As I said, essential info, but stuff that a character need not necessarily have to be used to convey.
By now you’d have seen a few snapshots of the comic itself dotted throughout this love letter to this novel, but let’s talk about the art for a sec.
It’s beautiful.
Artistic team Pepe Larraz, Marte Gracia and R. B Silva match Hickman’s quality of writing every step of the way. From creepy Xavier in his field of mutant eggs, to the closing mutant party on Krakoa, the detail is nuts. Expression and emotion in every characters face is perfect, and the wider landscape shots match the visual drama to the written intent every time.
One of my favourite examples of how synergised the illustrative and writing team is is that telepathic communication between Xavier on Krakoa and Jean on the Mother Mold. It’s not just displaying the power of these telepaths communicating, but adds in the finesse of Storm’s powers to visually display Jean’s psychic presence in a pool of water using her wind powers. Yes, that sounds like a bat shit idea, but then one glance at Larraz/ Silva/ Gracia’s image and you’re like, shit, they nailed it!
There is so much going on in this novel I’ve barely scratched the surface. I could probably write about this for hours or until my fingers drop off but I did intend on this being pretty much spoiler free for first time readers just in case.
And that’s whether you’re a first time HoX/ PoX reader or first time X-Men or indeed first time comic reader. It’s a shining example of being able to completely reinvigorate something with such a vast history without going down that easy route of just retconning whatever the hell doesn’t suit your plan. And the scope for the future, for the Dawn of X is massive. It’s extremely exciting and I think I need to go and sit down because I’m getting worked up but that’s just how damn good it is.
I’ve been a fan, a reader, an avid follower since I was eight years old, and I don’t think I’ve ever been more excited for what’s to come. It’s like having a new baby in the family but one that you’re even more optimistic isn’t going to turn out to be a massive disappointment.
So please Hickman, keep it up. And whoever comes after you, keep it up. Because this is great, the X-Men are great, and should always be great, and everyone should know it.
I’m done now. Thanks.
#harrisonthehand