Is Robert Hickman a madman? A genius? A trendsetter pushing the boundaries of the comics medium as far as they can go? The truth is, he’s all these things. He’s also a guy that got me to start buying comics religiously again.
I look forward to every Wednesday where I can buy my comics and catch up with my beloved X-Men.
A few years back, Wolverine died, and that was about the time I stopped reading comics. To be honest, before that, my interest had been waning due to a combination of a crappy experience working at a comic book store, where I was treated poorly by fellow comic book fans and that I wasn’t too impressed by what Bendis did on his run. I was laying low, seeing what happened and BOOM! Disney bought Fox, and the X-Men became bonafide once again! In a time when the real world seems to have lost its collective mind, I have a few minutes of escapism to live in a fantasy world. Unlike what some would have, you think, this is literature to me. Or perhaps I accidentally fell into one of Moira’s various timelines. Regardless, having something strange and mysterious to sink into right now is much appreciated.
Spoilers ahead…
“House of X,” and “Powers of X,” set a new standard for what mutants in the Marvel universe can become. Moira MacTaggert has taken a new and central role, revealing herself to be a mutant, and perhaps one of the most crucial figures in X-Men history. I’m not going to lie; I like how this plays into the narrative! Moria has struggled as a character, and as a leading genetics expert in mutant affairs, most writers have struggled to give her essential plot points within her character development.
These two comics bring back prominence to the X-Men as a flagship title and something entertaining to read. By incorporating the political and corporate issues we hear every day in current events, it gives the mutants teeth again after years of being lost in the woods. For the first time in a long time, Professor Xavier doesn’t feel like the placating headmaster of a school for gifted youngsters, or a well-meaning but ultimately foolish and manipulative leader, like we saw in “Deadly Genisis.” (Let’s retcon the living hell out of that one because Vulcan sucks!!) Make no mistake about it, all mutants are X-Men now, and as a life-long fan, it makes me insanely happy!
Is Xavier’s dream gone? Are there mountains of retcons and madness to unfold? So many questions! It leaves the reader with tons of questions about the past and the future, but mutants and humans living together side-by-side ain’t gonna happen. It’s almost like some dude wearing a cool helmet, and fuchsia with the powers of magnetism was one-hundred and thirty-five billion percent right!
Franklin Richards has got to be Hickman’s favorite character.
Professor Xavier is wearing a helmet-sized version of Cerebro and doesn’t take it off, which makes me suspicious. There were a lot of events that happened before this event Something about Xavier being in Phantomax’s body. I didn’t read it. In his files early on in — insert comic number — he tells us who is an omega level mutant. Strangely, his name isn’t there. It’s cool that Charles Xavier is a bit of a mystery. He and Magneto are shadowy figures whose motivations are quite unclear.
Next, I must talk about the ill-fated mission to stop the activation of a mother mold, which could make master molds than can make Nimrod, who is an even more batshit crazy sentinel. Nanotechnology could be a bad idea. If you don’t know what a sentinel is: imagine a purple-pink and yellow giant robot shooting energy from its hands and Wolverine shredding them and Cyclop optic blasting them.
They go near orbit to the sun and try and stop this activation, and pretty much all your favorite X-Men die!! Nightcrawler, Angel, Cyclops, and Logan all gone in an unflinching damn this can’t be happening kinda way!! Read it, buy it and read it right now!!
Then in an also shocking turn. The team is all reborn. Rebirth? Resurrected? I think it pretty much recollection, which activated my existential fears. It’s that old question if you’re a copy of yourself, are you still you? I mean, a version of you lives on, but the original consciousness is gone, right? I don’t know, and it makes me worry about black holes and the theory of an ever-expanding universe of expanding and contracting universe, and that gives me terrible dreams. Anyway! You’ll never believe how it works, and it seems feasible within the confines of our story, so I rolled with and tried hard to not spiral into philosophical quandaries.
So the team of mutants was brought back in new bodies and then most of the X-men villains to Krakoa, the new mutant homeland. The same island from Giant-Size X-Men.
I could digress and fall into platitudes. Or break down the comics beat by beat. Honestly, though, if you like the Merry Marvel Mutants, read it. There is also a B plot set a thousand years in the future. About transcendence, a singularity event of beings living In blackholes If you’re new to comics and wanna hop on board the X-Men check it out! I promise you won’t be disappointed. Also, if you want to take a deeper dive into pop culture, take some time to check out the podcast, Jay & Miles X-Plain the X-Men. In-depth and a hilarious look the x-men and all their shenanigans.
The linchpin of the entire two series is Moria’s story as a mutant with the power to be reborn, knowing everything she knew from every previous life. It makes her not precisely omniscient. Still, even though she can be killed, she has enough ability to be a threat to everybody. If knowledge is power, then Jonathan Hickman has catapulted Moira McTaggert into the position as one of the most powerful beings on Earth. This opens up a whole new realm of questions. Is it an alternate reality every time she is reborn? Is this story set in the 616, and if so, does she come back to the same location with each rebirth? I hope so because the ramifications affect not just the X-Men, but the Avengers but most definitely the Fantastic Four, and I am here for it!
