X-Men: The Rise of Apocalypse

X-Men: Apocalypse/Dracula #1-4

by Terry Kavanagh, Peter Milligan, Frank Tieri

Follow the epic journey of a baby from ancient Egypt, cast out for the color of his pale blue skin, as he rises through the ages to become humanity's greatest enemy! Rescued and raised to believe in the survival of the fittest, the child of destiny known as En Sabah Nur is targeted by the pharaoh's scheming vizier Ozymandias -and the time-traveling Rama-Tut! Millennia later, join timetorn Cyclops and Phoenix in the 19th Century, caught between Apocalypse and Mr. Sinister! COLLECTING: RISE OF APOCALYPSE 1-4, FURTHER ADVENTURES OF CYCLOPS & PHOENIX 1-4, X-MEN: APOCALYPSE/DRACULA 1-4, BLACK KNIGHT: EXODUS, FANTASTIC FOUR (1961) 19

Genres: Comics, X Men, Graphic Novels, Marvel, Comic Book

375 pages, Paperback

First published June 7, 2016

About the author

Terrence "Terry" Kavanagh is an American comic book editor and writer. Kavanagh's last new comics project was the Before the Fantastic Four: The Storms limited series in 2000–2001.

Reviews

[Silas]

I enjoyed this more than I would have expected. I liked how Apocalypse's origin story was woven together with an old Fantastic Four story (which was also, itself woven to an Avengers story elsewhere). That helped to give this a bit more of a tie to the rest of the Marvel universe, and I particularly appreciated that that story was reprinted at the end. The collection with the origin of Mister Sinister was even better, I thought, just filled to the brim with texture and character. I'm pretty sure I have read the Dracula vs Apocalypse story before, but enjoyed rereading it, just the same. Even though I've generally found Apocalypse a rather bland and uninteresting villain in general, this made him a bit more interesting.

[Adan]

Collecting three minis and a one-shot, chronicling three X-Villain origins (Apocalypse, Exodus, and Sinister) plus a fight against Dracula because why not. Overall, it's okay, but it was more interesting to me to see the various continuity errors in having four stories from four different eras (in the story and in real life) in the same collection.

[Judah Radd]

Talk about unrealized potential.

Apocalypse is an awesome villain. He’s like a big, grey and blue Hitler with devastating superpowers.

So why was his origin so underwhelming? I blame a few things. First of all... the art layouts made this hard to read. Every page was so cluttered. It was a little hard at first for me to even tell who was who. The entire first story “Rise of Apocalypse” was like this, and it was a but of a chore.

The Black Knight story was barely about apocalypse. It was cool seeing some Eternals... but the story was lacking (although the art was an improvement.)

I skipped “The Further Adventures of Cyclops and Phoenix” because I have it collected in another TPB that I plan on reading later... so this is an incomplete review.

Apocalypse vs Dracula was decent. Probably my favorite part of this TPB. The art was good, and it was fun to see these characters make war. Was it great? No... but it wasn’t boring.

Overall, this just wasn’t what I thought it would be. It wasn’t a cohesive collection. I didn’t leave feeling a better sense of understanding of Apocalypse.

**one cool thing; there’s a very old Fantastic Four issue at the end that ties into Rise of Apocalypse, and it’s actually kind of cool how those stories connect.

[Walaa El-Bana]

When I picked the Rise of Apocalypse I thought that it will be really exciting and fun to read, but I was disappointed because: first the art was so hard to follow I didn't understand what was happening there except for The art of Apocalypse Vs. Dracula which was really good and easy to follow. Second the stories were not that interesting as should be the case with a villain like Apocalypse and some endings felt forced for me.
I think the problem with this book is not that it is bad, I think that the problem is that I had really high expectations when I started it and the book turned out to be good, but not as great as I expected it would be.

[Ryan Fohl]

Well I understand this villain better now. The sinister story and the Dracula story were both good. The origin of apocalypse was crap and had crappy artwork too. Apocalypse has four horsemen because of the fantastic four?

Blinking a head off is cool and brutal.

If apocalypse’s worshipers ask him for help, he will kill at least on of them for showing weakness.

“At first your work was for the benefit of mankind… now mankind, and your family, is there for the benefit of your work.”

What I learned: Amentet is the Egyptian goddess of the dead, and the personification of the Land of the West.

[Diamond Feit]

More of an anthology than a single story, all involving Apocalypse to one degree or another. Opens with the weakest of them all, a go-nowhere tale set in ancient Egypt where Apocalypse was born but apparently did very little!
The rest of the book fares much better, with a Mr. Sinister origin story and then Apocalypse fighting Dracula for no real reason but these encounters are far more entertaining.

[Laissez Farrell]

Broken down:

Rise of Apocalypse mini: 3 stars, very 90s and would’ve been 4 stars if a 3 parter instead of 4.

Further Adventures if Cyclops and Phoenix mini: 5 stars; good/great art and solid plotting

Apocalypse Vs. Dracula: 3 stars, dumb but more fun than it has any right to be

Black Knight one shot: pretty unnecessary but liked the continuity nod to explaining Exodus’s origin.

[S.O. Lessey]

The rise of el Saba nur

An excellent compendium of apocalypse comics with his birth and rise to the arch villain we’ve come to know and love being the primary entry. Quality artwork and storytelling brought the concept of this arch villain to life in a unique way that makes you appreciate the animated version even more. A rare 5 star entry of mine.

[Eric]

I'm a bad X-Men fan that I only just picked this up during season two of X-Men '97. It's weird! There's not too much to say besides that the art gets trippy but the series is just here to illustrate cliff notes, there's not much of a story to tell.

[Michael]

A collection of three separate series plus a Fantastic Four reprint. Expect disparate art styles. The second story (Apocalypse and Sinister) was my favorite.

[Daniel Clifford]

Further Adventures of Cyclops and Phoenix and the Black Knight one-shot are fantastic. But I wasn’t as keen on the rest.

[Christopher E.]

Neat in concept, if not in execution. Linking Apocalypse's origin with the Fantastic Four's first encounter with Rama Tut is brilliant. It just doesn't play out very well. The highlight of this book is the Mr. Sinister origin story in the "Adventures of Cyclops and Phoenix" sequel. It's the reason I bought this collection and plays out fairly well, even though it's not as strong as the couple's original trip through time. In all, this is very skippable, and Apocalypse's true origins have been significantly beefed up in the years since as to render this null. The same could be said for Sinister.