House Of X #1

A reinvention of Marvel's mutants as bold as...the other reinventions.


That's not a knock. That's just a fact. When Grant Morrison took on 'New X-Men' there was a radical set of changes that led to a story in which the X-Men were heroes and Magneto was a bad guy. It really was revolutionary. It's my favorite run by ANYONE on the X-Men. But its just a really good X-Men story if you break it down over the story beats. Maybe that's all that was needed to be revolutionary at the time.

Next, Joss Whedon made the X-Men big da*n superheroes again. They fought mutant villains. They fought people who hated mutants. They saved the Earth and suffered for it. It was great! It's my second favorite X-Men run of all time! It justified all those warm fuzzy memories of classic Claremont while updating things enough to not give adults things that would make them groan now (goodbye 'fuzzy elf' 'body and soul' and many more). So...the mutants saved the Earth though...that sounds familiar. Maybe that wasn't actually that big of a change, but instead (another) well told X-Men story. Again, it had been YEARS since Morrison's run at this point, and what had been served up had been disappointing at anyone's most generous moment.


Now, Jonathan (Secret Wars) Hickman is back at Marvel, in his most Hickmaniest way possible. Without spoiling things, his take on a mutant revival IS revolutionary. It's game changing. Mutant and man can live in peace, man can live longer and better, IF...if...if man agrees to leave mutants alone. Period.


Also, man should probably assign a deity level status to mutants and hail them on high as their saviors. That's really only 2 things that mutants are asking for, right?


If you've read Matthew Murder Rosenberg's recent X-titles, Uncanny X-Men, Multiple Man, New Mutants Dead Souls, you'd be right to notice that there are very few mutants left alive when those series end. Fewer each time, and that's a lot of bodies spread out in just the last two issues of Uncanny. You'll see some of those mutants alive and well here. Continuity buffs will no doubt as questions like 'B'wha?' and 'HOWDaFu?'. These are well reasoned and spoken questions that may not be fully addressed in this book. There are two places to look- a double splash page that looks like an cave full of cocoons is one, and "these are comics no one is ever really dead" is the other. You'll also get all sorts of Hickman text designed graphics pages to bring you up to speed on who is who, what is what, which drug is which drug, and possibly ties to 'Black Monday Murders'. I'm not sure yet.


Will man find a way to sacrifice a bit to gain so much? Is there a group of humans who have mobilized to build Sentinels just outside of the sun? If there were, this would be just a well told X-Men story no matter the appearance of change, right?


Boy do I bet there are a ton of people who are begging for a well told X-Men story. Here it is. Highest Recommendation.