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Earth X (Collected Editions) #4
Paradise X, Vol. 1
In EARTH X, Captain America, the Fantastic Four, Thor, the Hulk and the X-Men discovered that their purpose - and the meaning of all super heroes and mutated people in the universe – was nothing more than to protect their host planet, in this case Earth, from outside invasion. They learned super heroes are merely biological antibodies to protect a growing embryo within the Earth. An embryo for the Celestial race: This is the way these Gods fought back – only to cause a terrible ecological imbalance, a rift at its core that in time would wipe out all life on the planet. In UNIVERSE X, Captain Marvel was reborn on Earth years after his death. But he also still claimed to walk in the realm of the unliving, where Earth's fallen champions still exist. Mar-Vell led a team of heroes in a quest for the greatest weapons of mass destruction on Earth, suggesting this would limit the destruction caused by the growing power struggle on the planet. But this was not the only reason. For his crusade on Earth only supported and armed a battle he fought in the realm of the fallen, a battle against Death herself. Those living champions who died in his collection of artifacts were added to the battle raging in this other realm. Mar-Vell led a charge against Death and killed her. But now that Death is dead, no one will ever die again. They may writhe in pain in hospitals because their bodies have been broken beyond repair, but they will not die. They will call out for an end to their suffering. They will cry out for peace but there will be no answer. Paradise will be denied them. Yes. Death is truly dead. Long live the living.
Collects Paradise X #0-5, Paradise X: Xen And Heralds #1-3.
Collects Paradise X #0-5, Paradise X: Xen And Heralds #1-3.
304 pages, Paperback
First published October 1, 2003
4 people are currently reading
220 people want to read
About the author
Jim Krueger
437 books54 followersJim Krueger is an award-winning filmmaker, video game developer and New York Times best selling comic book author.
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
August 24, 2022
It’s a book late in a series of other books That I’ve never read nor heard of and I had no idea what was going on the entire time. Like, I got the story, but, I had no idea what was going on. A lot of dialogue and a lot of jumping around to confusing characters. Meh, comic book read.
Read
August 31, 2016actually have this in individual issues...
May 11, 2012
Don't remember which was which but I loved this series.
August 1, 2015
L'incontro-scontro tra le due May Parker e la reazione di Peter mi hanno fatto troppo ridere. Togliete Spider Man a Slott ed affidatelo a Krueger, vi prego!
February 5, 2024
BIBLICALLY ACCURATE CAPTAIN AMERICA
Sorry guys. I just couldn't do it. Earth X started off so strong, and I thought, what the hell? Why don't I try to read Universe X and Paradise X too? But it's just...
It's just...
Stupid. This is the fourth volume out of five and I can't take it anymore. Jim Krueger has built this intricate continuity but it's reached a convoluted critical mass. It's stopped making sense. Sure, some retcons are cute and cosmetic. I didn't mind when Krueger said that the reason why Thanos has a prune chin is because his mom was a Skrull. But other retcons are so grand in scale that I can't help but say, "huh?" Like...
Limbo is paved with time machines, and, in order to bail out of his judgement at the end of time, Mephisto manipulates Kang into spinning off alternate realities to escape into. Or...
Wolverine is the only real human being and it's everybody else who's a mutant. Or...
Nightcrawler was Belasco and Colossus was Mr. Sinister. The whole time. Because of time travel??
It's still a fun read, if only because every other page will make you say "What the fuck?" Just a heads up but by Paradise X it's become an alternate universe story, which means Krueger can pull in some rando characters that he's always wanted to write about-- guys like Days of Future Past Wolverine, Spider-Girl if she was Ben Reilly's daughter, Hyperion if he was Kingdom Come Superman, and a few others. Now, DoFP Wolverine and Spider-Girl's interactions were pretty cute. But it's stopped being an actual story and turned into Jim Krueger's personal fanfic. At least the Alex Ross covers are pretty. 2.5/5
Sorry guys. I just couldn't do it. Earth X started off so strong, and I thought, what the hell? Why don't I try to read Universe X and Paradise X too? But it's just...
It's just...
Stupid. This is the fourth volume out of five and I can't take it anymore. Jim Krueger has built this intricate continuity but it's reached a convoluted critical mass. It's stopped making sense. Sure, some retcons are cute and cosmetic. I didn't mind when Krueger said that the reason why Thanos has a prune chin is because his mom was a Skrull. But other retcons are so grand in scale that I can't help but say, "huh?" Like...
Limbo is paved with time machines, and, in order to bail out of his judgement at the end of time, Mephisto manipulates Kang into spinning off alternate realities to escape into. Or...
Wolverine is the only real human being and it's everybody else who's a mutant. Or...
Nightcrawler was Belasco and Colossus was Mr. Sinister. The whole time. Because of time travel??
It's still a fun read, if only because every other page will make you say "What the fuck?" Just a heads up but by Paradise X it's become an alternate universe story, which means Krueger can pull in some rando characters that he's always wanted to write about-- guys like Days of Future Past Wolverine, Spider-Girl if she was Ben Reilly's daughter, Hyperion if he was Kingdom Come Superman, and a few others. Now, DoFP Wolverine and Spider-Girl's interactions were pretty cute. But it's stopped being an actual story and turned into Jim Krueger's personal fanfic. At least the Alex Ross covers are pretty. 2.5/5
February 11, 2025
“Then I saw another mighty angel coming down from heaven. He was robed in a cloud, with a rainbow above his head; his face was like the sun, and his legs were like fiery pillars. 2 He was holding a little scroll, which lay open in his hand. He planted his right foot on the sea and his left foot on the land, 3 and he gave a loud shout like the roar of a lion. When he shouted, the voices of the seven thunders spoke. 4 And when the seven thunders spoke” (Revelation 10:1-6)
The climax of Universe X revealed many secrets. Odin is a false god. No better than the Celestials. Mar-Vell has destroyed Death. The dead now live and reside in a Paradise created by the items of power collected by the Mar-Vell child and Captain America. Heaven is guarded by seven Avenging Hosts. They are all familiar faces, but even with thier newfound powers, they believe to have been blinded. Something is wrong in Paradise. Something, or someone, lurks in the shadows. There seems to be no end to the revelations that began in Earth X, but there is an end to this story. However, before the end happens, our heroes must discover how to die. Again.
The climax of Universe X revealed many secrets. Odin is a false god. No better than the Celestials. Mar-Vell has destroyed Death. The dead now live and reside in a Paradise created by the items of power collected by the Mar-Vell child and Captain America. Heaven is guarded by seven Avenging Hosts. They are all familiar faces, but even with thier newfound powers, they believe to have been blinded. Something is wrong in Paradise. Something, or someone, lurks in the shadows. There seems to be no end to the revelations that began in Earth X, but there is an end to this story. However, before the end happens, our heroes must discover how to die. Again.
March 6, 2013
I first read Earth X a few years ago. I was largely unimpressed and decided not to read the sequels: Universe X and Paradise X. The whole series spans five large trade paper backs and I didn’t want to invest in the story. For some reason I decided to pick up Earth X again and give it a shot, and this time I was quickly engrossed… or at least interested.
Earth X places the Marvel universe in the unspecified future. Captain America is an old man fighting a war against a large metaphor. Reed Richards, devastated over the deaths of his wife and the Human Torch, lives in seclusion in the remains of Dr. Doom’s mostly abandoned fortress. Wolverine is a fat, lazy slob who refuses to get off the couch. Peter Parker is much the same. In this future, familiar super-heroes are supplanted by a new breed of humanity: everyone has super powers.
In the midst of this, the Watcher pulls the cyborg X-51 to the moon and names him the new Watcher. The world is ending and the Watcher wants X-51 to tell him everything that’s happening, as the Watcher has been blinded. There’s also a time machine and about a million side-plots. And dinosaurs.
The bulk of Earth X is told in a somewhat passive voice through conversation between X-51 and the Watcher. The Reader sees different events happening on earth, but immersion is mostly omitted, ironically forcing the Reader to take part as a watcher. Inserted throughout the trade paperback is various info-dumps that basically serve to fill in the Reader on more information about what exactly is going on. These info-dumps are yawn-inducing at best, largely unimportant and extremely uninteresting. They’re kind of like deleted scenes on a DVD.
This time around I still felt that Earth X was a bit heavy handed and too philosophical for its own good, but the story was somewhat entertaining. When I finished the introductory issue I happily picked up the first volume of Universe X to see where the story was heading. Not where I thought, which was a good thing, but the story turned more ridiculous as the pages depleted. By the conclusion of Universe X Volume 2 I was ready to quit again, but I hung in there, hoping the concluding volumes would be okay.
Halfway through Volume One of Paradise X I gave up the ghost and quit. The groans were too loud for me to continue. I developed a tic and a severe allergy to the Marvel Universe. I was no longer at all interested. I flipped through the rest of Volume I and did the same for Volume II, skimming over the artwork and totally ignoring the text. There were a few cool-looking scenes, and if I could somehow read the comic without the words I might continue, but I could not, and I just didn’t have it in me to start again.
Maybe I’m just the wrong audience for this kind of mega-comic. I’ve been a lifelong comic book reader, a lifelong fan of Marvel (albeit niched to really only just Spider-Man and the X-Men for most of my growing years), and I’ve even been known to enjoy an occasional philosophical tangent for no other reason than to wander down different avenues of thought. But the Earth X saga failed (twice) to live up to expectation. The writing was terrible and the plot was such a mess that meaning was lost in untranslated psychobabble. Joss Whedon wrote the introduction for Earth X, praising the series as innovative and entertaining. I disagree with Mr. Whedon here. It may have been innovative when it was written, but I cannot imagine it ever being entertaining.
All in all I really cannot recommend the five-volume saga of Earth X. There were plenty of people who enjoyed it, but count me out on this one. Sorry.
Earth X places the Marvel universe in the unspecified future. Captain America is an old man fighting a war against a large metaphor. Reed Richards, devastated over the deaths of his wife and the Human Torch, lives in seclusion in the remains of Dr. Doom’s mostly abandoned fortress. Wolverine is a fat, lazy slob who refuses to get off the couch. Peter Parker is much the same. In this future, familiar super-heroes are supplanted by a new breed of humanity: everyone has super powers.
In the midst of this, the Watcher pulls the cyborg X-51 to the moon and names him the new Watcher. The world is ending and the Watcher wants X-51 to tell him everything that’s happening, as the Watcher has been blinded. There’s also a time machine and about a million side-plots. And dinosaurs.
The bulk of Earth X is told in a somewhat passive voice through conversation between X-51 and the Watcher. The Reader sees different events happening on earth, but immersion is mostly omitted, ironically forcing the Reader to take part as a watcher. Inserted throughout the trade paperback is various info-dumps that basically serve to fill in the Reader on more information about what exactly is going on. These info-dumps are yawn-inducing at best, largely unimportant and extremely uninteresting. They’re kind of like deleted scenes on a DVD.
This time around I still felt that Earth X was a bit heavy handed and too philosophical for its own good, but the story was somewhat entertaining. When I finished the introductory issue I happily picked up the first volume of Universe X to see where the story was heading. Not where I thought, which was a good thing, but the story turned more ridiculous as the pages depleted. By the conclusion of Universe X Volume 2 I was ready to quit again, but I hung in there, hoping the concluding volumes would be okay.
Halfway through Volume One of Paradise X I gave up the ghost and quit. The groans were too loud for me to continue. I developed a tic and a severe allergy to the Marvel Universe. I was no longer at all interested. I flipped through the rest of Volume I and did the same for Volume II, skimming over the artwork and totally ignoring the text. There were a few cool-looking scenes, and if I could somehow read the comic without the words I might continue, but I could not, and I just didn’t have it in me to start again.
Maybe I’m just the wrong audience for this kind of mega-comic. I’ve been a lifelong comic book reader, a lifelong fan of Marvel (albeit niched to really only just Spider-Man and the X-Men for most of my growing years), and I’ve even been known to enjoy an occasional philosophical tangent for no other reason than to wander down different avenues of thought. But the Earth X saga failed (twice) to live up to expectation. The writing was terrible and the plot was such a mess that meaning was lost in untranslated psychobabble. Joss Whedon wrote the introduction for Earth X, praising the series as innovative and entertaining. I disagree with Mr. Whedon here. It may have been innovative when it was written, but I cannot imagine it ever being entertaining.
All in all I really cannot recommend the five-volume saga of Earth X. There were plenty of people who enjoyed it, but count me out on this one. Sorry.
October 8, 2007
I enjoyed the premise of Earth X, taking the Marvel universe and twisting it into a truly epic story, wherein all the superheroes who were for so long the focus of all comic book stories became little more than pawns in a much larger game. It had surprising revelations, interesting artwork, and a unique story.
Universe X attempted to continue that story, but the artwork wasn't as good, and the plot seemed to become convoluted just for the sake of being convoluted.
Paradise X? The artwork, aside from Alex Ross' excellent covers, is terrible. The story, although it might seem impossible, is worse. But what really gets me about this book is just how slapdash it seems to be. It really seems as though everyone involved is just making things up as they go. Captions are misplaced. Character designs seem to change from page to page. Plotlines appear out of nowhere. Serious moments are interrupted by lame jokes.
And most importantly, it just keeps going on and on and on ... Where was an editor to stop everybody and say, "Where the heck is this going?" The writers just keep adding things for no apparent reason, pulling in obscure characters who seem to serve no other purpose than proving that the people making this comic know more about Marvel comics history than anyone ought to.
Do you know what you find in the dictionary next to the word "Pointless"? The definition of the word "Pointless", which is what this book is.
Universe X attempted to continue that story, but the artwork wasn't as good, and the plot seemed to become convoluted just for the sake of being convoluted.
Paradise X? The artwork, aside from Alex Ross' excellent covers, is terrible. The story, although it might seem impossible, is worse. But what really gets me about this book is just how slapdash it seems to be. It really seems as though everyone involved is just making things up as they go. Captions are misplaced. Character designs seem to change from page to page. Plotlines appear out of nowhere. Serious moments are interrupted by lame jokes.
And most importantly, it just keeps going on and on and on ... Where was an editor to stop everybody and say, "Where the heck is this going?" The writers just keep adding things for no apparent reason, pulling in obscure characters who seem to serve no other purpose than proving that the people making this comic know more about Marvel comics history than anyone ought to.
Do you know what you find in the dictionary next to the word "Pointless"? The definition of the word "Pointless", which is what this book is.
November 16, 2013
This one is a little more dense than the other X books, and a little less clear. I think the only way to read this is to read it in the trade paperback format. if you had to wait a month for every installment you'd lose track of what was going on.
January 26, 2016
Is Earth X a possible future or an alternate reality? No matter which of these possibilities holds true it all comes out as fantastic story for Marvel's superheros. Exceptional art and an excellent plot by Alex Ross make these a superb read. Very recommended
Read
July 30, 2011When the plot got too complex I got bored with it. The art is still amazing, its just the story that is a little too over-developed.
July 23, 2012
The story continues, keeps us interested and reading past the hour we should have stopped.
July 5, 2017
Woof. This is so high concept. Death is destroyed and now Mar Vell and the new Angel All-Stars have to create Paradise for all the dead people, but they only get it if they know they're dead instead of alive.
Kinda spoiler? Not important enough to be:
Kingpin, Jigsaw, and GoblinVillain (too lazy to care about looking up his name) decide they hate the Punisher so much that instead of getting their own paradise, they just want to kill the Punisher. Well, why not get your paradise, which is literally whatever you want to have happen, and each kill Punisher in your paradise?!!??!?! Rick Jones has a paradise where he beats Ultron (and I suspect everyone else), so why not kill Punisher in yours? No sense.
Also, if you want to know who "Daredevil" is, give up. He's no one.
I had to read Wikipedia to see if it got any better or made more sense and IT DID NOT. It just got more convoluted. Please skip this. Life is too short, unless you are Daredevil who can't die, so you have plenty of time.
Kinda spoiler? Not important enough to be:
Kingpin, Jigsaw, and GoblinVillain (too lazy to care about looking up his name) decide they hate the Punisher so much that instead of getting their own paradise, they just want to kill the Punisher. Well, why not get your paradise, which is literally whatever you want to have happen, and each kill Punisher in your paradise?!!??!?! Rick Jones has a paradise where he beats Ultron (and I suspect everyone else), so why not kill Punisher in yours? No sense.
Also, if you want to know who "Daredevil" is, give up. He's no one.
I had to read Wikipedia to see if it got any better or made more sense and IT DID NOT. It just got more convoluted. Please skip this. Life is too short, unless you are Daredevil who can't die, so you have plenty of time.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews