What do you think?
Rate this book
X-Men: Age of Apocalypse Omnibus
X-Men: Age of Apocalypse Omnibus
Charles Xavier is dead - killed twenty years in the past during a freak time-travel accident - and the world that has arisen in his absence is dark and dangerous indeed. The Darwinian conqueror Apocalypse rules with an iron fist, ruthlessly enforcing his dictum that only the strong shall survive - and in Apocalypse's long shadow, hidden among a downtrodden humankind, are a group of ragtag freedom fighters led by Xavier's oldest friend, Magneto: the Amazing X-Men! When Bishop, last survivor of the true Marvel Universe, locates the X-Men and explains how the world went wrong, these embittered mutants and their tenuous allies must risk everything - and undertake a dangerous and multi-pronged quest - to put things right! The comics event of 1995 is collected in one deluxe oversized hardcover! Collecting UNCANNY X-MEN (1963) #320-321, X-MEN (1991) #40-41, CABLE (1993) #20, X-MEN ALPHA, AMAZING X-MEN #1-4, ASTONISHING X-MEN (1995) #1-4, FACTOR X #1-4, GAMBIT & THE X-TERNALS #1-4, GENERATION NEXT #1-4, WEAPON X (1995) #1-4, X-CALIBRE #1-4, X-MAN #1-4, X-MEN OMEGA, AGE OF APOCALYPSE: THE CHOSEN and X-MEN ASHCAN #2.
1072 pages, Hardcover
First published June 10, 1995
102 people are currently reading
1073 people want to read
About the author
Mark Waid
3,181 books1,271 followersMark Waid (born March 21, 1962 in Hueytown, Alabama) is an American comic book writer. He is best known for his eight-year run as writer of the DC Comics' title The Flash, as well as his scripting of the limited series Kingdom Come and Superman: Birthright, and his work on Marvel Comics' Captain America.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 98 reviews
March 25, 2015
Recently reread this with considerable trepidation, fearing that it wouldn't live up to my memory of how good it was when it was first published ("Xavier dead?! Nooooo! Why couldn't it have been me instead?!" -- actual quote from my super-cool high-school self).
Whew. It holds up. There are a few weak issues here and there, but, by and large, this remains the gold standard by which I judge all subsequent blockbuster crossover event comics (in most cases, they don't live up to this sterling example).
Whew. It holds up. There are a few weak issues here and there, but, by and large, this remains the gold standard by which I judge all subsequent blockbuster crossover event comics (in most cases, they don't live up to this sterling example).
August 28, 2012
it's really fabulously done. take 30 yrs of storylines and characters and established titles and not tell anyone that you're going to do it, and just change the whole thing. start from the beginning - kill the main character before he's able to change the world and see what results. chaos, naturally, and the lovely people at the x-men in the 90s created the most dizzyingly satisfying crossover/miniseries the books had seen. every single character was rethought - loyalties completely recast, turned evil/turned good, many killed in the finale as well. beautifully drawn and just terribly interesting. creativity at its very finest.
June 14, 2012
Well this was certainly an undertaking. I'd never read this classic epic and felt a desire to after reading so much fantastic Apocalypse stuff in Rick Remender's Uncanny X-Force series. The entire, massive crossover is collected in chronological order, which would seem like a good thing, but actually makes it very difficult to follow. There are eight 4-issue series to keep up with, and thus you have 7 issues to read between installments of each individual title. I found myself constantly having to look back and remind myself what the hell had happened in the previous issue. It was a fine idea, as sometimes events in one series will affect those in another, but that is so rare (and kind of weakly done), I would've preferred to just read this series by series so I could at least follow the story. The two bookend issues, X-Men Alpha and X-Men Omega, were the most fun to read, as they needed little additional explanation.
As for the actual story, I didn't think it lived up to the hype. Whenever a series takes place in an alternate universe, I expect a lot. It should give them free reign to do whatever they want, killing off surprising characters, giving characters completely new attributes, etc. Not so here. Basically, nothing very surprising happens and every character is really close to his normal universe counterpart, only maybe a little darker or with, say, one arm or something. It's not very bold.
Also, after 1000 pages of buildup and all the character positioning, the climax really only depends on 2 of the characters we've watched, which made me really feel like the previous stories had been a waste. So, overall, ambitious but highly flawed.
As for the actual story, I didn't think it lived up to the hype. Whenever a series takes place in an alternate universe, I expect a lot. It should give them free reign to do whatever they want, killing off surprising characters, giving characters completely new attributes, etc. Not so here. Basically, nothing very surprising happens and every character is really close to his normal universe counterpart, only maybe a little darker or with, say, one arm or something. It's not very bold.
Also, after 1000 pages of buildup and all the character positioning, the climax really only depends on 2 of the characters we've watched, which made me really feel like the previous stories had been a waste. So, overall, ambitious but highly flawed.
August 19, 2019
4.5 stars.
When I found out that this was basically a "What if" story, and that all of the characters were basically different people from who they are in the main continuity, I didn't think I would like this very much. As I read it, however, I realized that the premise is actually a really smart move. It allowed the writers to do anything that they wanted. They could maim, kill, change, and destroy anything and everything. And, with our timeline's Bishop running around, it has a connection to the standard Marvel universe.
So this was a huge, awesome, bloody, and touching event that only overstays its welcome by a tiny bit and is certainly worth the read. I only really have a couple of complaints:
The Jean/Wolverine/Cyclops love triangle is alive and well, even in this alternate timeline. It's not only there, but good chunk of the plot relies on it. I know it was only the mid-'90s at this point, but they had really beat this idea to death and back again even by that point.
You don't really get to see Apocalypse in action all that much. He kind of just sits around and broods for 98% of the story .
When I found out that this was basically a "What if" story, and that all of the characters were basically different people from who they are in the main continuity, I didn't think I would like this very much. As I read it, however, I realized that the premise is actually a really smart move. It allowed the writers to do anything that they wanted. They could maim, kill, change, and destroy anything and everything. And, with our timeline's Bishop running around, it has a connection to the standard Marvel universe.
So this was a huge, awesome, bloody, and touching event that only overstays its welcome by a tiny bit and is certainly worth the read. I only really have a couple of complaints:
The Jean/Wolverine/Cyclops love triangle is alive and well, even in this alternate timeline. It's not only there, but good chunk of the plot relies on it. I know it was only the mid-'90s at this point, but they had really beat this idea to death and back again even by that point.
You don't really get to see Apocalypse in action all that much. He kind of just sits around and broods for 98% of the story .
October 18, 2015
*sigh*
What to say about this one... To sum it up: it's everything that was wrong with mid-90's comics. An era that embraced the art of Rob Liefeld - you know, the guy who thinks women look like this:
*shudder* This comic stuck to that style of art, and it's terrible.
In previous comics (Legion Quest), Charles Xavier's son, Legion goes back in time to kill Magneto in an effort to make the world a better place. Charles Xavier, being a do-gooder to the end, interferes and is himself killed instead. This sets up a future world in which Apocalypse rules.
The story line sets up the potential for characters to be re-imagined in cool ways. The characters were in fact re-imagined, unfortunately not in cool ways.
In the end this story suffered from clunky dialogue and poor art. Worst of all, it suffers the fate of a lot of alternate reality story lines: ultimately we know that the alternate reality is just that - alternate. As a result, we don't care when a hero dies because we know the deus ex machina will fix it. This is especially true when the alternate characters you're given are unlikable.
So... If you're thinking of reading this story line for the purpose of getting familiar with continuity (as I was), I suggest you just read a good summary on Wikipedia and call it good.
What to say about this one... To sum it up: it's everything that was wrong with mid-90's comics. An era that embraced the art of Rob Liefeld - you know, the guy who thinks women look like this:
*shudder* This comic stuck to that style of art, and it's terrible.
In previous comics (Legion Quest), Charles Xavier's son, Legion goes back in time to kill Magneto in an effort to make the world a better place. Charles Xavier, being a do-gooder to the end, interferes and is himself killed instead. This sets up a future world in which Apocalypse rules.
The story line sets up the potential for characters to be re-imagined in cool ways. The characters were in fact re-imagined, unfortunately not in cool ways.
In the end this story suffered from clunky dialogue and poor art. Worst of all, it suffers the fate of a lot of alternate reality story lines: ultimately we know that the alternate reality is just that - alternate. As a result, we don't care when a hero dies because we know the deus ex machina will fix it. This is especially true when the alternate characters you're given are unlikable.
So... If you're thinking of reading this story line for the purpose of getting familiar with continuity (as I was), I suggest you just read a good summary on Wikipedia and call it good.
December 26, 2020
I have been itching for a while now to reread this great X-MEN event. It has been my favorite for a long time for a 90s kid. So many X-MEN not a Avenger or FF peep inside, kind of refreshing. I like big events and crossovers and this was probably the first i really loved. In a world where Charles Xavier is killed during a freak time travel accident there comes a sort of time shift. Without him the X-men would never have exist, and in this world Apocalypse and his horseman reign. The X-men are a very different group with the always badass Magneto at the Helm, (no pun intended) main stays like Beast and Cyclops are bad guys and vice versa. This always has worked like a dream in the X universe with time travel and other worlds. Its so cool to see Wolverine with Jean and stuff like that, a Iceman who had unlocked his full potential, and so on. This 90s event is bright colored, there are some pouches left, and some hair action but in this Mirror universe it works really well. There are many artists and writers in this book who made it really big, some really blew up so its cool to see artists like Steve Epting, Salvador Larroca, Tony S. Daniel, and dudes like Chris Bachalo and Adam Kubert. Also a couple good writers with the likes of Scott Lobdel, Mark Waid, Fabian Nicieza, Jeph Loeb, Warren Ellis and Howard Mackie. There are a lot of tie ins, and not every story works, but i still love this story alot.
November 27, 2021
Age of Apocalypse boasts an interesting premise in an altered timeline, but too many tie-in issues with a fractured plot structure, makes this event a chore.
April 5, 2024
This is a GOAT x-men story for a reason. It's what changed me from a kid buying random comics to a kid who collected monthly. This will always hold a soft spot in my chest cavity thingy
April 29, 2017
Age of Apocalypse has been on my list forever - or at least, since I was introduced to the X-Men. Apocalypse is scary; having read his introduction in the early X-Factor comics and the ensuing havoc he wreaked, I was looking forward to delving into this insane alternate universe.
To start of, the entirety of AoA is created by one act of greed and another of sacrifice.
The trouble with the series is that it felt overlong because the central conceit was so simple. Go back in time with Bishop's help and fix this. But, in this 'verse, the good guys don't know Bish, and Bish has memory issues for story reasons. So we see the characters in action, as we traverse this world. The issue is when Bishop finally reveals the truth, they don't just take it on board and attempt to enable his temporal trip - which is what would happen in 99.995% of the time in most comics. No, Magneto proceeds to split his team up so that one lot head to find the pre-cog Destiny so she can corroborate what Bishop is saying. Another team has to extract the M'Kraan crystal - the doohickey from space whose importance honestly escaped me. Another lot have to rescue the only other living being with temporal powers, Illyana Rasputin, and others have various duties like... save humans?
It's a prolonged, unnecessary distraction from the main plot, especially given that the reader already knows Bishop is telling the truth, and I'm sure even in the 90s, the readers knew everything would go back to normal soon enough.
What they should have done - and yes, I'm saying this 20 years after the fact - was not introduce any acknowledgement that this world was wrong. By starting off with Bishop's mad rants, we know that the status quo will be reached. How would the readers have reacted had they felt they would be stuck with this insane world? It would have been interesting had we traversed the Age of Apocalypse on a day to day basis with these transformed characters, not knowing how long this aberration would continue. The pace would certainly not have mattered when daily survival was of urgency every issue. Imagine the adventures then!
When I started reading AoA, the first several pages felt all too familiar - almost as if I'd read them before. Well, I had, in the form of X-Men: Days of Future Past, except in AoA, mutants are hunting humans, and neither side is completely safe. But the X-Men still exist and are continuing the good work.
I love Cyclops, everyone else hates him - I obviously haven't read enough X-Men to come to the same conclusion. Cyclops is a high-standing prelate in Apocalypse's, working directly under Mister Sinister. He isn't written as evil, we meet him at the start of his redemption arc, which is bizarre - almost as if the writers didn't want to push the limits with this character. With Havok, however, they do everything to make him a petulant and jealous fool. He's blinded by his brother's excellence and is given no character personality beyond that.
The decision to make Beast a beast seemed cliched at best. Hank is now an evil scientist, experimenting on humans and mutants alike, torturing people to such an extent that he is often ordered to tone it down by Sinister and Cyke. So weird.
Some of the good guys are also different - for one, old bag Magneto has super-young Rogue as his wife. Gambit is still in love with said wife. This love triangle is played out in a cliched fashion: Gambit's all set to profess his love, but just as he's about to do so, Magneto reveals to Rogue that he can manipulate the magnetic fields so they can be with each other. Gambit goes bats*** and no one asks Rogue who she'd actually like to be with. Crikey!
Jean is with Logan, but throughout, I felt like Jean wasn't all that keen on the relationship; just stuck around because Logan got her out of the breeding pens and lost a limb in the bargain. Not great.
Colossus was another weird one - he's almost always in his metal form, and has serious anger issues. He's unlikeable to the max.
Angel is shunted to the sidelines - made a passive collaborator who, in the real world, would be reviled by all for not choosing a side and benefiting from the situation. He's so superfluous to the main story, I don't get why they didn't just add in the above angle to make him more interesting.
I equal parts liked and disliked Nate Grey (or whatever his full name is in this 'verse). He's charismatic and extremely loving - his love for his foster father Forge is clearly mapped out, but he borders on suffering from the Neo 'I'm the chosen one' egotism that writers burden characters with. He is ever so petulant and naive as well, constantly disobeying orders and generally making a hash of things. I don't know why he quickly got romantically paired off with a random woman his team rescues - but it's a comic book and the writers are stupid. I've not read much else of Nate, but he could be interesting if he wasn't so full of it. He gets better over the course of the series, though.
Sugarman is a character that gave me the heebie jeebies when I first came across him in my X-Men video game. I was expecting scary things from this dude, but the writers just wrote him as another Mojo rip-off. Also, all the bads have and use high fandangled biotech to experiment on people (how or what is not explained), making none of them very realistically frightening. Same goes for Sugarman.
Apocalypse and Sinister, the two people who run chills down our spines, are hardly on panel, especially Sinister. There's just not enough showing of what they're doing to make this world atrocious. Everything relies on these big machines with people trapped in them, instead of some tangible danger for the characters or humanity.
What I did like is the Avengers versions in this age. Their storyline was compact, with a credible arc. It still could have been laid out better, but it was one of the brighter sparks in this sometimes underwhelming saga. I don't know the reason for randomly choosing Gwen Stacy of all people to be included with the Avengers. She doesn't do much, and when she does, it ends up being implied and not shown.
There are several other characters - but to remember the significance of them all would be too taxing.
The comic is from the 90s, and has some particularly glaring issues with it because of that. For one, Legion's multiple personality disorder is interchangeable with his autism - I don't think the writers understood autism.
Most of the main players are the white characters - Storm's role is negligible and I'm not sure if Forge is of colour or not, it was hard to make out. What really frustrated me - and this cropped up in Legion Quest more than in the main AoA storyline - was everyone's surrpise that Psylocke was an Asian woman with a British accent. Like what? Had the writers actually thought that sentiment through before pencilling it in? I just can't even...
Another aggravating factor, and a big reason why I read comics in fits and bursts usually, is the art. Seems like none of the female characters had a straight spine, they all walked about in the most awkward manner. I understand this can be referred to as the Rob Liefeld school of art - the man knew zilch about anatomy (or skeletal structure for that matter) and the artists working on all the AoA comics certainly follow his style. It gets really annoying to see these caricatures of female characters on each page. It makes me wonder, when these artists draw (using the present tense, as comics and gaming artists have not outgrown their adolescent fantasies) these abnormalities, do they ever sit back and think 'man, is my desperation showing?' Not only are the female characters' proportions stupid, so are most of their outfits (there is no way in hell Blink can move an inch without being arrested for public indecency) and some of the angles of the camera on these characters.
AoA is an entertaining read, but muddled and confused. The art and text is jumbled, haphazard and not detailed - more often than not it felt like I'd missed a page or a panel. There were typos; characters answered their own questions while attributing the same to someone else. It felt distinctly non-Marvel-esque.
The tendency is to be a bit harsher after the fact - I feel like three stars for this epic is too low, but most of that is in lieu of my ever rising blood pressure thanks to the artists. Also, the meandering plot which should have been tighter and more packed with dire world building. It remains an important and iconic read for any X-Men fan, however. And I'd recommend everyone go out and grab a copy of the X-Men: Rise of Apocalypse game after reading this - now that is actually epic.
To start of, the entirety of AoA is created by one act of greed and another of sacrifice.
The trouble with the series is that it felt overlong because the central conceit was so simple. Go back in time with Bishop's help and fix this. But, in this 'verse, the good guys don't know Bish, and Bish has memory issues for story reasons. So we see the characters in action, as we traverse this world. The issue is when Bishop finally reveals the truth, they don't just take it on board and attempt to enable his temporal trip - which is what would happen in 99.995% of the time in most comics. No, Magneto proceeds to split his team up so that one lot head to find the pre-cog Destiny so she can corroborate what Bishop is saying. Another team has to extract the M'Kraan crystal - the doohickey from space whose importance honestly escaped me. Another lot have to rescue the only other living being with temporal powers, Illyana Rasputin, and others have various duties like... save humans?
It's a prolonged, unnecessary distraction from the main plot, especially given that the reader already knows Bishop is telling the truth, and I'm sure even in the 90s, the readers knew everything would go back to normal soon enough.
What they should have done - and yes, I'm saying this 20 years after the fact - was not introduce any acknowledgement that this world was wrong. By starting off with Bishop's mad rants, we know that the status quo will be reached. How would the readers have reacted had they felt they would be stuck with this insane world? It would have been interesting had we traversed the Age of Apocalypse on a day to day basis with these transformed characters, not knowing how long this aberration would continue. The pace would certainly not have mattered when daily survival was of urgency every issue. Imagine the adventures then!
When I started reading AoA, the first several pages felt all too familiar - almost as if I'd read them before. Well, I had, in the form of X-Men: Days of Future Past, except in AoA, mutants are hunting humans, and neither side is completely safe. But the X-Men still exist and are continuing the good work.
I love Cyclops, everyone else hates him - I obviously haven't read enough X-Men to come to the same conclusion. Cyclops is a high-standing prelate in Apocalypse's, working directly under Mister Sinister. He isn't written as evil, we meet him at the start of his redemption arc, which is bizarre - almost as if the writers didn't want to push the limits with this character. With Havok, however, they do everything to make him a petulant and jealous fool. He's blinded by his brother's excellence and is given no character personality beyond that.
The decision to make Beast a beast seemed cliched at best. Hank is now an evil scientist, experimenting on humans and mutants alike, torturing people to such an extent that he is often ordered to tone it down by Sinister and Cyke. So weird.
Some of the good guys are also different - for one, old bag Magneto has super-young Rogue as his wife. Gambit is still in love with said wife. This love triangle is played out in a cliched fashion: Gambit's all set to profess his love, but just as he's about to do so, Magneto reveals to Rogue that he can manipulate the magnetic fields so they can be with each other. Gambit goes bats*** and no one asks Rogue who she'd actually like to be with. Crikey!
Jean is with Logan, but throughout, I felt like Jean wasn't all that keen on the relationship; just stuck around because Logan got her out of the breeding pens and lost a limb in the bargain. Not great.
Colossus was another weird one - he's almost always in his metal form, and has serious anger issues. He's unlikeable to the max.
Angel is shunted to the sidelines - made a passive collaborator who, in the real world, would be reviled by all for not choosing a side and benefiting from the situation. He's so superfluous to the main story, I don't get why they didn't just add in the above angle to make him more interesting.
I equal parts liked and disliked Nate Grey (or whatever his full name is in this 'verse). He's charismatic and extremely loving - his love for his foster father Forge is clearly mapped out, but he borders on suffering from the Neo 'I'm the chosen one' egotism that writers burden characters with. He is ever so petulant and naive as well, constantly disobeying orders and generally making a hash of things. I don't know why he quickly got romantically paired off with a random woman his team rescues - but it's a comic book and the writers are stupid. I've not read much else of Nate, but he could be interesting if he wasn't so full of it. He gets better over the course of the series, though.
Sugarman is a character that gave me the heebie jeebies when I first came across him in my X-Men video game. I was expecting scary things from this dude, but the writers just wrote him as another Mojo rip-off. Also, all the bads have and use high fandangled biotech to experiment on people (how or what is not explained), making none of them very realistically frightening. Same goes for Sugarman.
Apocalypse and Sinister, the two people who run chills down our spines, are hardly on panel, especially Sinister. There's just not enough showing of what they're doing to make this world atrocious. Everything relies on these big machines with people trapped in them, instead of some tangible danger for the characters or humanity.
What I did like is the Avengers versions in this age. Their storyline was compact, with a credible arc. It still could have been laid out better, but it was one of the brighter sparks in this sometimes underwhelming saga. I don't know the reason for randomly choosing Gwen Stacy of all people to be included with the Avengers. She doesn't do much, and when she does, it ends up being implied and not shown.
There are several other characters - but to remember the significance of them all would be too taxing.
The comic is from the 90s, and has some particularly glaring issues with it because of that. For one, Legion's multiple personality disorder is interchangeable with his autism - I don't think the writers understood autism.
Most of the main players are the white characters - Storm's role is negligible and I'm not sure if Forge is of colour or not, it was hard to make out. What really frustrated me - and this cropped up in Legion Quest more than in the main AoA storyline - was everyone's surrpise that Psylocke was an Asian woman with a British accent. Like what? Had the writers actually thought that sentiment through before pencilling it in? I just can't even...
Another aggravating factor, and a big reason why I read comics in fits and bursts usually, is the art. Seems like none of the female characters had a straight spine, they all walked about in the most awkward manner. I understand this can be referred to as the Rob Liefeld school of art - the man knew zilch about anatomy (or skeletal structure for that matter) and the artists working on all the AoA comics certainly follow his style. It gets really annoying to see these caricatures of female characters on each page. It makes me wonder, when these artists draw (using the present tense, as comics and gaming artists have not outgrown their adolescent fantasies) these abnormalities, do they ever sit back and think 'man, is my desperation showing?' Not only are the female characters' proportions stupid, so are most of their outfits (there is no way in hell Blink can move an inch without being arrested for public indecency) and some of the angles of the camera on these characters.
AoA is an entertaining read, but muddled and confused. The art and text is jumbled, haphazard and not detailed - more often than not it felt like I'd missed a page or a panel. There were typos; characters answered their own questions while attributing the same to someone else. It felt distinctly non-Marvel-esque.
The tendency is to be a bit harsher after the fact - I feel like three stars for this epic is too low, but most of that is in lieu of my ever rising blood pressure thanks to the artists. Also, the meandering plot which should have been tighter and more packed with dire world building. It remains an important and iconic read for any X-Men fan, however. And I'd recommend everyone go out and grab a copy of the X-Men: Rise of Apocalypse game after reading this - now that is actually epic.
March 20, 2023
This is a huge event, one that isn't for everyone. But if you like a lot of world building and what-if moments, this book is one of the best I read IMO.
Now this is like 8 titles going on at once. Amazing X-Men, Astonishing X-Men, Factor X, WEAPON X and more. And basically each title gives focus to different mutants/groups that all lead back to one big storyline by the end. This isn't a quickly paced title as most of the first issues of each series are letting characters breath and get used to their new look/viewpoints.
The entire Omnibus actually begins with Legions Quest. You know David, Xavier's son? Well he didn't get enough love in his life, and blames Magneto of all people. So he goes back in time, when Magneto and Xavier were best buddies, and decides to try and kill him. However, Xavier jumps in-between, and this leads to his death which creates the alternate universe of Age of Apocalypse.
Fractions are broken up different here. You are either with Apocalypse, basically running this world into the ground and owning people or Magneto and the X-Men trying to fight back. Magneto is on the verge of losing and sends his people out on different missions which is why we lead into so many different comic storylines.
And this is where some people might not be fully invested. The main core storyline takes a backseat to let the world build it's characters. So many pieces of shit, such as Sabertooth, become bonafide heroes in such interesting ways. Characters not much talked about like Blink become heroes you wouldn't expect to. Things change, people change, all based on events.
I will say I think the weapon X stuff is the worst of the bunch. The worst written for sure, nothing was very exciting or fun to read. I really couldn't wait to get past these chapters, and luckily there were only 4 of them but still, 100 pages of nonsense hurts it overall a bit. I also think some of the next generation art is REALLY hard to see at times. And just in general it can get messy with how much is going on, both writing and art style wise.
But honestly I was pretty hooked the whole time. Moments that really shocked me with Nightcrawler, or Colossus. Things going ways I never expected with some nasty kills. The ending having a shocking confrontation that kind of cemented Magneto as a badass. And while some of the art is over the top 90s galore there's some art that is outstanding at times.
So worth checking out for the name and history alone. A event that I had very little expectations for and was kind of blown away how fun it was to read. I think this is also a very re-readable event that'll I'll come back to.
A 4 out of 5.
Now this is like 8 titles going on at once. Amazing X-Men, Astonishing X-Men, Factor X, WEAPON X and more. And basically each title gives focus to different mutants/groups that all lead back to one big storyline by the end. This isn't a quickly paced title as most of the first issues of each series are letting characters breath and get used to their new look/viewpoints.
The entire Omnibus actually begins with Legions Quest. You know David, Xavier's son? Well he didn't get enough love in his life, and blames Magneto of all people. So he goes back in time, when Magneto and Xavier were best buddies, and decides to try and kill him. However, Xavier jumps in-between, and this leads to his death which creates the alternate universe of Age of Apocalypse.
Fractions are broken up different here. You are either with Apocalypse, basically running this world into the ground and owning people or Magneto and the X-Men trying to fight back. Magneto is on the verge of losing and sends his people out on different missions which is why we lead into so many different comic storylines.
And this is where some people might not be fully invested. The main core storyline takes a backseat to let the world build it's characters. So many pieces of shit, such as Sabertooth, become bonafide heroes in such interesting ways. Characters not much talked about like Blink become heroes you wouldn't expect to. Things change, people change, all based on events.
I will say I think the weapon X stuff is the worst of the bunch. The worst written for sure, nothing was very exciting or fun to read. I really couldn't wait to get past these chapters, and luckily there were only 4 of them but still, 100 pages of nonsense hurts it overall a bit. I also think some of the next generation art is REALLY hard to see at times. And just in general it can get messy with how much is going on, both writing and art style wise.
But honestly I was pretty hooked the whole time. Moments that really shocked me with Nightcrawler, or Colossus. Things going ways I never expected with some nasty kills. The ending having a shocking confrontation that kind of cemented Magneto as a badass. And while some of the art is over the top 90s galore there's some art that is outstanding at times.
So worth checking out for the name and history alone. A event that I had very little expectations for and was kind of blown away how fun it was to read. I think this is also a very re-readable event that'll I'll come back to.
A 4 out of 5.
April 22, 2019
*******Second Reading******
Goddam is this amazing. Even better the second time. Between readings, I’ve done this massive, all-inclusive, chronological X-Men marathon starting with Lee/Kirby. You’d think I’d be fatigued by now, but I’m not. This is still some of the best, and I mean very best material.
This is an epic fucking story. There’s no way to mince words. Shit has hit the fan. Evil reigns supreme. At no point here are the stakes not through the roof. The evil is very very evil. Apocalypse, Holocaust, Dark Beast and Mister Sinister are irredeemable. Never have you ever wanted good to prevail this much.
In the greater X context, the emotional beats are more poignant. There are certain moments (like when Jean dies) that harkens back to the established lore in ways that really sting. I found myself more deeply moved this time around.
Nate Summers is an exciting character. He kicks ass. I really can’t get enough if him.
It’s also awesome to see Bishop and Gambit at the forefront. These are the guys who save the entire fucking universe.
Honorable mention goes to awesomely revamped former D-listers like Morph and Blink getting the treatment they deserve. I couldn’t wait to see them back on the page. When Blink beats the fuck out of Holocaust, I damn near cheered.
This book is the shit, and you have an obligation to read it if you call yourself an X Men fan!!!!
*******original review********
This is one of the darkest story arcs of all time. The bulk of it conveys a feeling of frantic hopelessness. It’s fun seeing so many familiar characters in such unfamiliar roles. The ending is triumphant.
The best: X Man (Nate Grey) is a badass character. I found myself looking forward to him the most.
The worst: how the hell is The Beast such an irredeemably psychopathic POS?!
This is a must read for all comic book fans. At times, it’s a little dense (a lot of story and characterization gets thrown at you all at once,) but once it gets it’s groove, it’s manageable.
The allusions to the Shoah are obvious and heavy handed, but in a strange way, that unabashed gloominess raises the stakes and enhances the narrative.
April 19, 2014
I had originally read parts of this story (the fracturing of the original Marvel Universe, Weapon X, etc.) back when this originally came out in the late 90s. I never got too into it because there were too many crossovers and I didn't want to have to buy eight different series. This omnibus collects ALL of these stories and presents them in chronological order and I happily picked this tome up from the library. It took me about a month to read, but I have to say that I enjoyed it. I almost wish that I would have bought all the comics when I was younger as I may have enjoyed it more. That being said, there are WAY too many characters involved in this whole thing. Every story line did come together at the end, but they didn't really have to make it THAT expansive (and therefore require you to buy eight comics a month), but hey... capitalism. Also, the art was very inconsistent between some of the sections. Not within the same comic, but between comics. Some of the females had short hair and then long hair and then short hair again. You'd think that they would have checked with each other before the started storyboarding. Whatever. I still enjoyed it overall and this has been by far the most epic graphic novel that I've read start to finish.
March 21, 2015
Tak konečně je to za mnou. AoA trpí neduhem starých eventů - neexistuje tu nic, jako hlavní řada a čtenář se musí prokousat VŠEMI sériemi, které v danou dobu vychází. Díky tomu se mi AoA rozečítal fakt blbě. Nejdřív tu je Legion's Quest, což je docela roztahaná nuda a potom už hurá do alternativní budoucnosti - kde je úvodní sešit Alpha a potom 8 nových sérií. Omnibus je řadí chronologicky, protože událost v jedné řadě ovlivní dění v další, případně mezi nimi přeskakují některé postavy. Ve výsledku ale člověk musí číst 8 prvních čísel, pak 8 druhých čísel atp. a příběh dostává strašně rozkouskovanej a natáhlej.
Celkově ale povedená věc, Apocalypsova realita je parádní a některé postavy výborné (Beast jako šílený genetický vědec). Škoda, že záporáci a samotní Horsemani mají strašně málo prostoru a většina času se soustředí na skupinku hrdinů co bojuje proti béčkovým padouchům.
Hodnotil bych mezi 3-4, ale jakmile jsem překonal ten roztahanej start, začalo mě to i dost bavit. Nakonec mě i štve, že do omnibusu nedaly dvě řady, které v té době taky vycházely =).
Celkově ale povedená věc, Apocalypsova realita je parádní a některé postavy výborné (Beast jako šílený genetický vědec). Škoda, že záporáci a samotní Horsemani mají strašně málo prostoru a většina času se soustředí na skupinku hrdinů co bojuje proti béčkovým padouchům.
Hodnotil bych mezi 3-4, ale jakmile jsem překonal ten roztahanej start, začalo mě to i dost bavit. Nakonec mě i štve, že do omnibusu nedaly dvě řady, které v té době taky vycházely =).
October 27, 2012
This is the storyline that reignited my love of the X-Men and it was also the beginning of the end of comics. Multiple covers and the speculators of the 1990's killed comics. Luckily, this was a great story of an alternate universe that had seen the X-Men not become the good guys. This was the universe that threw major curveballs with key X-Men either dead already or totally different than their counterparts. Like Beast, who became a deranged mad scientist who did more harm than good!
Loved the fact they collected all the series and pieces into one volume, but it is heavy! Not something to walk around with.
Excellent book!
Loved the fact they collected all the series and pieces into one volume, but it is heavy! Not something to walk around with.
Excellent book!
May 5, 2016
Very decent X-Men event, especially if you compared it to others released around the same time.
Overall I would give it 3.5 stars rounded up to 4 stars.
Overall I would give it 3.5 stars rounded up to 4 stars.
Read
July 9, 2016I've made some decisions and boy, reading this tome sure was one of them
February 23, 2015
I will always love reading about the Age of Apocalypse. Now I'm glad I have the full collectiin.
March 11, 2016
Holy moly.
April 7, 2025
First, let me say that if you are not an XMen fan already, do not start here. This book, while wildly lauded, is the greatest "What If?" product Marvel ever produced. Characters are wildly different from their main series counterparts, designs are wild and bombastic. It's not a beginners book.
If you are a fan, I don't know if I would even call this required reading for all the "What If?" reasons above as well. It is at times fun, so there are reasons to dive in.
This story is a product of the times, and those times were not the greatest. At its best, the story is "oh that is clever" entertaining, while at its worst, it is edgelord melodrama with incomprehensible art. It is a slog and feels at times like you are being punished for wanting to see the strings tie together at the end. The good is not good enough to forgive the bad, and we have too many storylines and characters to give ample time to any of it properly. In the end, it feels like the good, there is good stuff here, is being drowned by the dead weight of the bad, which there is so much more of.
However, my biggest complaint is that we are hurtled into this brave new world without any guidance, and Bishop, who obviously should be the main character for at least one of these books, is left in the background, along with our main antagonist Apocalypse, relegatedto being the evil silhouette in his chair 95% of the time.
Quick Ominbus critique: It is out of order. Read The Chosen, and Ashcan after Xmen Alpha. This helps so much, and why it is at the end is beyond me, especially when they came out the same time as Xmen Alpha.
This series may be your thing, and if so, more power to you. It is not for me, and I think we have moved past this era of comics, thankfully - 2.0, at the end, I am more soured than I was 5 issues ago, and that is sad
***SPOILERS AHEAD***
I don't want to go into too many spoilers here, just a few things that stood out good and bad.
Good: Wolverine's whole thing is great, the missing hand, the working with humans, being with Jean, even the art is better in Weapon X. Cyclops is the only character with an arc, and it is good, though Havok is extremely one note. I'm not going to cover everyone, because most are fine.
Bad: The horsemen have awful designs and are under explained. Actually, this sentiment can go for 99% of Apocalypse's army, world, and retinue. Beyond the individual books being out of logical order, the end of the story is wrong. It ends with a fade to white, which honestly left me thinking, "That's it?" It should have faded to white the Age of Apocalypse, then shown the Bishop and Legion stuff, leaving us in the unaltered past. Like that is standard, climax, and resolution writing.
If you are a fan, I don't know if I would even call this required reading for all the "What If?" reasons above as well. It is at times fun, so there are reasons to dive in.
This story is a product of the times, and those times were not the greatest. At its best, the story is "oh that is clever" entertaining, while at its worst, it is edgelord melodrama with incomprehensible art. It is a slog and feels at times like you are being punished for wanting to see the strings tie together at the end. The good is not good enough to forgive the bad, and we have too many storylines and characters to give ample time to any of it properly. In the end, it feels like the good, there is good stuff here, is being drowned by the dead weight of the bad, which there is so much more of.
However, my biggest complaint is that we are hurtled into this brave new world without any guidance, and Bishop, who obviously should be the main character for at least one of these books, is left in the background, along with our main antagonist Apocalypse, relegatedto being the evil silhouette in his chair 95% of the time.
Quick Ominbus critique: It is out of order. Read The Chosen, and Ashcan after Xmen Alpha. This helps so much, and why it is at the end is beyond me, especially when they came out the same time as Xmen Alpha.
This series may be your thing, and if so, more power to you. It is not for me, and I think we have moved past this era of comics, thankfully - 2.0, at the end, I am more soured than I was 5 issues ago, and that is sad
***SPOILERS AHEAD***
I don't want to go into too many spoilers here, just a few things that stood out good and bad.
Good: Wolverine's whole thing is great, the missing hand, the working with humans, being with Jean, even the art is better in Weapon X. Cyclops is the only character with an arc, and it is good, though Havok is extremely one note. I'm not going to cover everyone, because most are fine.
Bad: The horsemen have awful designs and are under explained. Actually, this sentiment can go for 99% of Apocalypse's army, world, and retinue. Beyond the individual books being out of logical order, the end of the story is wrong. It ends with a fade to white, which honestly left me thinking, "That's it?" It should have faded to white the Age of Apocalypse, then shown the Bishop and Legion stuff, leaving us in the unaltered past. Like that is standard, climax, and resolution writing.
February 9, 2017
I approached reading this as other reviewers have said, with some caution. I wanted to like it, but was afraid I wouldn't. Overall I can say that it was pretty good, but it was too long and not nearly as good as it could've been. Some of the writers were noticeably better than others and though the art was better than I expected, in places it really is quite poor.
The basic idea of the story is great, and it starts well enough. Quickly though the issues sprawl off in their own directions without a great deal of point to them, and around the half way mark I found myself wondering if any of it was actually going anywhere. Like so many other X-Men events I felt that there were just far too many characters and nowhere near enough time spent with each of them to give any of their stories meaning. So many of them are just wheeled out to show us what their AoA version is like, and then they die two pages later or don't really do anything of note.
Many of the arcs just fizzle out at the end without much of a conclusion for all the time spent building up to it. By the end though, the final issue (Omega) sums it up nicely and we are left with a decent X-Men adventure. I just wish it hadn't taken so long to get there.
The basic idea of the story is great, and it starts well enough. Quickly though the issues sprawl off in their own directions without a great deal of point to them, and around the half way mark I found myself wondering if any of it was actually going anywhere. Like so many other X-Men events I felt that there were just far too many characters and nowhere near enough time spent with each of them to give any of their stories meaning. So many of them are just wheeled out to show us what their AoA version is like, and then they die two pages later or don't really do anything of note.
Many of the arcs just fizzle out at the end without much of a conclusion for all the time spent building up to it. By the end though, the final issue (Omega) sums it up nicely and we are left with a decent X-Men adventure. I just wish it hadn't taken so long to get there.
May 3, 2021
Average, is basically the entire book. I was going to give it three stars, mostly because of how big the story is, but the dialog is cringeworthy too many times to give it any higher than a two. These are characters I grew up reading about, and honestly by the end I didn't care about anyone.
This is a sub par story, with way too many characters, and far too long for what it had to say at the end.
Read only if you are a completionist with event storylines.
This is a sub par story, with way too many characters, and far too long for what it had to say at the end.
Read only if you are a completionist with event storylines.
February 20, 2022
I haven't read these since they were originally published on newsstands, so this took me back. This fares pretty well for the time, with solid writing and good art.
December 3, 2014
There were parts of this story line worthy of 4 stars--maybe even 5--but overall, I've got to call it a 3.
My biggest beef with Age of Apocalypse is what I call the "Game of Thrones" problem: we switch between characters so often that it's hard for me to keep going whenever I hit a break point. In A Game of Thrones, I was generally interested in each chapter, but by the time I reached the end of any character's section, I found myself wanting to read more about their plot line; instead, I had to swap perspectives, which brought all my momentum to a screeching halt.
And that's what happened here: after finishing an issue, I never really wanted to move on to the next, because I knew I was pretty much starting over. This became less of a problem as the story lines progressed and started mingling with one another, but for the first few issues of each book, my motivation to continue was minimal.
That being said, there were a lot of things I liked about AoA. For example, it was fun to see how all the characters were re-imagined (both in terms of their visual design and personalities) in a world where Professor Xavier died young and never formed the X-men. Some people, like Cyclops, looked awesome and were fun to follow; some, like Colossus, looked like big metal ninja turtles, and were dumb.
Although the whole event was a three-star affair that took me almost a month to read, I don't regret the time I spent on the project. Age of Apocalypse is an important story line in the history of the X-men, and if nothing else, I enjoyed seeing the results of what must have been a massive creative effort on the part of the writers and editors at Marvel.
EDIT: I forgot to mention that Fabien Nicieza, one of the writers for this event, was consistently painful to read. It seemed like he was the only writer in the bunch who insisted on including terrible, action-describing exposition in his stories. I just can't stand when characters say things like, "Remember, I have the mutant ability to [whatever], which is why I'm able to do this awesome trick right now!" Blech!
My biggest beef with Age of Apocalypse is what I call the "Game of Thrones" problem: we switch between characters so often that it's hard for me to keep going whenever I hit a break point. In A Game of Thrones, I was generally interested in each chapter, but by the time I reached the end of any character's section, I found myself wanting to read more about their plot line; instead, I had to swap perspectives, which brought all my momentum to a screeching halt.
And that's what happened here: after finishing an issue, I never really wanted to move on to the next, because I knew I was pretty much starting over. This became less of a problem as the story lines progressed and started mingling with one another, but for the first few issues of each book, my motivation to continue was minimal.
That being said, there were a lot of things I liked about AoA. For example, it was fun to see how all the characters were re-imagined (both in terms of their visual design and personalities) in a world where Professor Xavier died young and never formed the X-men. Some people, like Cyclops, looked awesome and were fun to follow; some, like Colossus, looked like big metal ninja turtles, and were dumb.
Although the whole event was a three-star affair that took me almost a month to read, I don't regret the time I spent on the project. Age of Apocalypse is an important story line in the history of the X-men, and if nothing else, I enjoyed seeing the results of what must have been a massive creative effort on the part of the writers and editors at Marvel.
EDIT: I forgot to mention that Fabien Nicieza, one of the writers for this event, was consistently painful to read. It seemed like he was the only writer in the bunch who insisted on including terrible, action-describing exposition in his stories. I just can't stand when characters say things like, "Remember, I have the mutant ability to [whatever], which is why I'm able to do this awesome trick right now!" Blech!
January 11, 2015
The story is very interesting and quite entertaining. It's very refreshing to see all the characters from a different point of view and with some of their roles reverted. I've specially enjoyed seen .
That said, I don't like at all how things had ended up to be.
Finally, I should praise that the story is pretty rich in deep details that canalize quite well the horrors Apocalypse has brought.
That said, I don't like at all how things had ended up to be.
Finally, I should praise that the story is pretty rich in deep details that canalize quite well the horrors Apocalypse has brought.
July 7, 2015
Charles Xavier was killed in a tragic accident when his crazy and misguided son, Legion, traveled twenty years into the past to try to murder Magneto before he could ever oppose his father's dream. Because of Xavier's death, he never became Professor X, never founded the X-Men, and never made the world a much rosier place than what it turns out to be. Apocalypse, the ancient mutant who holds the value of his "survival of the fittest" dogma above all else, has been awakened earlier than he would have been due to Legion's actions, and he proceeds to take over almost the entirety of North America, killing much of its human populace, and endangering the rest of the world through his nefarious plans of expansion across the globe. Characters you know and love from the X-Men's original world are now darker, far different versions of themselves. Villains may now be heroes, and vice-versa, in a place where every day is a fight for survival. Opposing Apocalypse's machinations are a quite altered team of X-Men, formed by Magneto in Xavier's absence as a way of honoring his friend and his dream. These X-Men include classic characters like Rogue (who has married Magneto), Iceman, and Storm, but also surprising choices like Sabertooth, Sunfire, Morph (originally Changeling), Exodus, Dazzler, Wild Child, and the breakout hit Blink. The team runs into a mysterious figure who may hold the key to what happened in the past -- and how to bring back the world that none of the X-Men knew had been lost. Bishop, having absorbed time-travel energy from Legion, was left stranded in the new world, and remembers enough of the way things should have been to give Magneto a new mission, and a small grain of hope that he had almost lost. Can the X-Men stop Apocalypse's most recent dark agendas and find a way to traverse the timestream to rewrite history -- again? Or will En Sabah Nur be ultimately triumphant? This is one of the most amazing roller coaster rides in X-Men history, and it remains my favorite plotline in 60+ years of X-stories. If you like the X-Men, you've GOT to read this collection!!!
September 23, 2020
Originally read this series when it first came out. I have not been able to reread most of it as I lost those issues long ago. This year, my wife picked this up for me and I have been savoring it for awhile.
I was worried that it wouldn't hold up this long after release. I mean, this thing was a freaking seismic event when it happened. It seems normal now in some ways, but cancelling your best selling books to create a completely different universe in those books was a huge deal then (especially considering most readers had no idea if the original timeline would be restored. I mean we "knew" it would but there was a chance...). I was already starting to lose interest in the X-books at that point in time and this crossover *still* had me all in. Did I think it was the best comics writing at the time? Not even close. But it was better than the X-men had been for quite some time and it was exciting.
And surprisingly, this holds up. Sure, there are quite a few 90s cliches thrown in there and some of the side-stories are a little extraneous but it is so tightly plotted compared to so many crossovers that seem half-planned at best. There is a variety of tones (Man, Generation Next was *dark* compared to the rest) and art styles (Bachalo's art probably remains my favorite but there is a lot of other decent work here as well) but the story propels itself through the many issues without overstaying its welcome at all in my opinion. And that is a huge achievement.
I will say that (as huge as this book is - and it is MASSIVE) I was a little disappointed that the X-universe and X-men Chronicles issues were not included. I know they are the easiest thing to cut but it is hard to call this volume complete without them...
Otherwise, I have no real complaints. This is still in the upper tiers of my favorite X-men stories and I am pleasantly surprised with how well it has held up.
I was worried that it wouldn't hold up this long after release. I mean, this thing was a freaking seismic event when it happened. It seems normal now in some ways, but cancelling your best selling books to create a completely different universe in those books was a huge deal then (especially considering most readers had no idea if the original timeline would be restored. I mean we "knew" it would but there was a chance...). I was already starting to lose interest in the X-books at that point in time and this crossover *still* had me all in. Did I think it was the best comics writing at the time? Not even close. But it was better than the X-men had been for quite some time and it was exciting.
And surprisingly, this holds up. Sure, there are quite a few 90s cliches thrown in there and some of the side-stories are a little extraneous but it is so tightly plotted compared to so many crossovers that seem half-planned at best. There is a variety of tones (Man, Generation Next was *dark* compared to the rest) and art styles (Bachalo's art probably remains my favorite but there is a lot of other decent work here as well) but the story propels itself through the many issues without overstaying its welcome at all in my opinion. And that is a huge achievement.
I will say that (as huge as this book is - and it is MASSIVE) I was a little disappointed that the X-universe and X-men Chronicles issues were not included. I know they are the easiest thing to cut but it is hard to call this volume complete without them...
Otherwise, I have no real complaints. This is still in the upper tiers of my favorite X-men stories and I am pleasantly surprised with how well it has held up.
July 27, 2016
"The road to hell is paved with good intentions."
What if something went terribly wrong? What if the world as we know was changed due to one mistake? What if it gave birth to a nightmare of a place that where hope is rare, and death is just as familler as your next door neighbor? And what if...by some chance...hope has come?
This is the story that shook up the X-men universe and comics taking the world by storm. Legion, a very powerful mutant and the son of professor X goes back in time with one mission: Kill Magneto! By this, he will make a world where his father's dream of humans and mutants will come true! Legion goes back to a time when the to foes were still good friends, and at the last second, Xavier took the killing blow meant for Magneto. This created a alternate world...a world without Xavier...a world where the heroes we know are changed. Some heroes are villians, some villians are heroes, some alive are now dead, some dead are now alive, some heroes are still that but made harder by a harsher world, and Magneto leads the heroes known as the x-men....in a world where the insane Apocalypse rules half the world. While he and horsemen with an unstoppable army kill and kill in what is known as "The cullings" the x-men fight to save what is left of mankind, mutant and human....till a stranger came...a man named Bishop, who has memories of a better time and place...where Xavier lives...and this nightmare never came to be.
This story is amazing. It's dark, surprising, wonderous, and will become maybe one of the best things you ever read.
What if something went terribly wrong? What if the world as we know was changed due to one mistake? What if it gave birth to a nightmare of a place that where hope is rare, and death is just as familler as your next door neighbor? And what if...by some chance...hope has come?
This is the story that shook up the X-men universe and comics taking the world by storm. Legion, a very powerful mutant and the son of professor X goes back in time with one mission: Kill Magneto! By this, he will make a world where his father's dream of humans and mutants will come true! Legion goes back to a time when the to foes were still good friends, and at the last second, Xavier took the killing blow meant for Magneto. This created a alternate world...a world without Xavier...a world where the heroes we know are changed. Some heroes are villians, some villians are heroes, some alive are now dead, some dead are now alive, some heroes are still that but made harder by a harsher world, and Magneto leads the heroes known as the x-men....in a world where the insane Apocalypse rules half the world. While he and horsemen with an unstoppable army kill and kill in what is known as "The cullings" the x-men fight to save what is left of mankind, mutant and human....till a stranger came...a man named Bishop, who has memories of a better time and place...where Xavier lives...and this nightmare never came to be.
This story is amazing. It's dark, surprising, wonderous, and will become maybe one of the best things you ever read.
August 7, 2016
What I expected the Age of Apocalypse to be is not what it ended up to be, and that is one of the work's strengths. I had anticipated it to be the story of Apocalypse's origins, but instead this omnibus details the creation of an alternate reality centering around the question, "What if Charles Xavier never started the X-Men?" The volume combines elements of the '90s X-Men I grew up watching on television, but complicates those elements, integrating themes of Darwinism and dystopia. In its complex scope, the book reads akin to any entry within George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series, but its subthemes were not as complex as they could have been. This is the volume's flaw. There is not as much that merits close-reading, but it does pull at one's emotions and the subtext of the larger issues at play within the book is interesting to think about. I didn't feel as if my world changed having read this, but I don't regret reading it in the least and see the text meriting future rereads.
June 7, 2015
Well, here is my mea cupla. Kael Wilson called me out when I bagged on the general notion of "too many mutants, and Marvel's 1990's were stoopid", and challenged me to read this entire series. Challenge accepted -- and I am humbled.
This series is amazing!
Huge kudos for the dozens of writers, artists, and editors who were able to keep so many divergent elements on target, plot-wise. I was having doubts that they would all get back together again in time and in a logical way for the grand finale, but lo and behold -- not only did that happen, but it was presented in such a way as to not make it forced or wonky, by any means.
Although it takes a bit of a "nod & a wink" with why all of the non-mutant superheros were not in the picture to combat Apocalypse's rise to power, I'm okay with this particular suspension of disbelief. The resulting story is worth buying into, even if it's *only* the mutants that are fighting the good fight.
Highly recommended!
This series is amazing!
Huge kudos for the dozens of writers, artists, and editors who were able to keep so many divergent elements on target, plot-wise. I was having doubts that they would all get back together again in time and in a logical way for the grand finale, but lo and behold -- not only did that happen, but it was presented in such a way as to not make it forced or wonky, by any means.
Although it takes a bit of a "nod & a wink" with why all of the non-mutant superheros were not in the picture to combat Apocalypse's rise to power, I'm okay with this particular suspension of disbelief. The resulting story is worth buying into, even if it's *only* the mutants that are fighting the good fight.
Highly recommended!
March 9, 2013
I remember reading this storyline when it came out monthly. After reading it again I am still bothered by this storyline. They took characters rich in history and personality and distorted them to be unlike-able. The entire storyline seems drawn out and not much has happened when you reach the conclusion. The main characters leap of faith seems unrealistic and forced. The redesign of the main villain makes him look comical and not powerful or scary at all. The artwork is inconsistent.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 98 reviews