Earth X Trilogy Omnibus: Omega

Earth X (Collected Editions) #4-5

by Alex Ross, Jim Krueger, Steve Pugh

Alex Ross' dark vision of the Marvel Universe's future concludes! Captain Marvel led a charge against Death -and killed her! Now no one will ever die again. They may writhe in pain, their bodies broken beyond repair...they may cry out for their suffering to end...but they will not perish. Death is truly dead. What has Mar-Vell done?! Now, the remaining heroes of Earth X must band together to end the torment of the paradise they helped create. Will their desperate quest to restore death succeed? Collecting the full epic climax of the Earth X Trilogy -plus the story behind Nighthawk's demonic visions, starring Daredevil and Mephisto! And an enormous and comprehensive array of sketches and background material! COLLECTING: PARADISE X: HERALDS 1-3; PARADISE X 0-12, XEN, DEVILS, A, X, SPECIAL EDITION; PARADISE X: RAGNAROK 1-2; NIGHTHAWK (1998) 1-3

Genres: Marvel, Comics, Graphic Novels, Science Fiction, Action

840 pages, Hardcover

Published March 5, 2019

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.

Reviews

[Anthony · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first omnibus of this I enjoyed for the most part. It was wordy and dense but it gave a good in-depth look into the marvel universe as well as an alternate earth.

This volume, however, was boring. I found it hard to follow, but I think that was a little due to not being invested enough in it. It just felt too repetitive a times.

If I was to recommend Earth X to anyone I’d say to begin and end with the Earth X mini. Because that’s the best part

[Neil · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a disappointing end to the series. The art was okay; there was one beautiful two-page spread towards the end and some individual pictures (panels) throughout the series, but, overall, it was probably average. There really wasn't any character development. The plot plods along; not only that, but they left it open for a sequel. There are moments where the story seems to be leading up to 'something' or where a character's particular arc seems to be gaining momentum, and then it just stops. The movement stops; the flow stops; the arc just 'ends' and there is little, if any, resolution. it continues some of the blathering from the first two-thirds of the series, where you have these various characters pontificating from what is apparently supposed to be a 'higher perspective' than those around them, but it fails pretty dramatically.

Alex Ross's covers are awesome! I cannot deny that.

This series continues the whole "prequel stuff" where there are too many pages about characters and the how's and why's their lives turned out the way they did. I suppose, on the one hand, it does 'make sense' as it somewhat allows the reader to disassociate the characters with whom they are familiar from the 'new backstory' being told at the start of each comic. At the same time, it got kind-of old, pretty quick. I did not feel like every backstory that was presented was necessary for the overall flow of the story, for the overall plot, but that is just my opinion.

It is 'funny' how characters in comics can be 'evil' or make 'bad decisions' or live a life of stupidity or 'sell their soul to the devil', and yet one act of selflessness somehow redeems them, somehow redeems a life that is not even close to being 'well-lived.' It's a nice thought, I suppose, that such an act of perceived selfishness can cleanse one's soul from having to face the consequences of bad decisions. Doctor Doom's mother sold her soul to Mephisto so that Victor von Doom could be 'an important man'; she never asked that he also be a 'good man' as well. Yet, apparently when Doctor Strange joined Doctor Doom on Doom's quest to save Doom's mother from Mephisto's torment, his mother performs an act of selflessness that "redeems" her and frees her from Mephisto's grip. The same is true of the Silver Surfer; he could be said to be an accessory to mass murder because of how he would lead Galactus to populated planets brimming with life so that Galactus could feed. Yet, because of his 'deep sorrow and guilt' over what he did as a Herald of Galactus, he is somehow 'redeemed' and 'cleansed' for his former actions? There were some other 'acts of selflessness' mentioned in which people are supposedly redeemed by one good act; it was just so goofy and unbelievable.

I wish the writer and the artist(s) had agreed on how the story was going to be laid out. There were times when you read it one page at a time; you'd start on the left page, read the entire page, and then go to the right page. So, hypothetically, nine panels per page; you'd read the first three panels, then the next three panels, then the final three panels (for example). Not so much in this book. There were times the reader was supposed to read straight across, then drop down 'a line' to read, and then drop down to the 'final life' and read straight across. There was no real rhyme or reason as to how the pages were laid out, and it was both annoying and distracting. It took away from the story.

The authors still hold to the whole notion of 'there is not Good. There is no evil. There are just consequences to actions. There are no morals. There is not 'right or wrong.' There is no purpose at all in the universe (other than being Celestial food/bait, I guess). I know the authors were trying to create a 'cosmic consciousness' and 'cosmic perspective' that is 'above it all' and looks to the long view (i.e. - do any actions performed 'today' really matter in terms of the future? Obviously, some do, but if you go far enough 'into the future,' do they really matter?), but I felt that they fell far short of the goods they were trying to sell in terms of the story its underlying "philosophy."

I still really could not quite figure out what the whole point of the story was, in this series, let alone the entire "maxi-series." I think that it had too many sub-plots weaving through the overall story, for one thing. I could not decide if it was supposed to be focused on Mephisto and removing him from 'history,' of preventing him from creating more 'alternate realities' into which he could escape, or if it was supposed to be trying to 'undo' what Mar-Vell did by removing Death from reality, from being a part of daily existence. Or, was it that "Paradise" was set in the Negative Zone and expanding, causing all sorts of destruction as it replaced the Negative Zone with whatever bill-of-goods that Mar-Vell was selling? Or, was it the need to replace Death with a 'new avatar of Death' (as found in Jude, the Entropic Man)?

There is SO MUCH that doesn't happen in this series, in these final issues! Some examples are:
[1] Hyperion. I did not like how they had Hyperion seeking his death the entire series, how he has a 'goal' in mind, how he realizes he can find his beloved Zarda, how he goes to attack the man he considers his doppelganger, and then nothing happens. I was "what the heck just happened?" when I read that part of the story. It sucked! It wasn't that there was "zero resolution" to that specific moment in the story (where I expected to see the two Hyperions battling it out a la issue 8 or 9 of the Squadron Supreme limited series). Hyperion has somewhat forgotten his quest to die AND his quest (responsibility?) to save Reed Richards when he sees Zarda is "alive and well." Aaaaand, then, his moment ends. That's it. It's not even a cliff-hanger. It's "just" anticlimactic. A letdown. It sucked. I mean, what was the point of bringing him and the other heralds into the story if they were not going to be used to their 'fullest potential' in the story?

[2] Brian Braddock and Medusa. Brian Braddock marries Medusa the Inhuman Queen. Beyond that, nothing happens. Medusa 'whines' about how Blackbolt was 'the perfect king' (but still failed to love her or show her any kind of affection). X-51 pontificates that Blackbolt was the perfect king, as well. It is funny how Blackbolt really seems to do very little to justify the title of 'the perfect king' for his people, considering how badly he failed his family. So, what was the point of Brian Braddock, King of England, marrying Medusa? To form a 'bizarre triangle' when Mephisto, disguised as the Grey Gargoyle, returns his former wife, Meggan, back to life (or, 'restores her to life' by changing her from being a former statue back into a living, breathing being)? (Well, not so much a 'bizarre love triangle' as much as a 'stupid love triangle.') Comments are made in spots about how important Brian Braddock is to 'saving this reality,' but it takes a looong time to get to that point, and it is almost not worth it except I was pretty shocked that the Brian Braddock who was killed by Mephisto turned out to be Meggan, instead. I 'have to admit' that was well-played indeed! I suppose I could have seen it coming, but I did not..

[3] The other six heralds. I know I mentioned this above, but what was the point of bringing the heralds into this reality if they were not going to be used? Sure, they had a four-issue mini-series in which they visited a couple of realities (in which some of those realities had already 'killed off' the Celestial Egg/Seed sleeping at the center of their world). Beyond that, there was not much point for their being in the maxiseries. We never see what happened to the Wolverine of the Days of Future Past reality or the vampire-infected Storm (Bloodstorm), if she was ever healed of her 'hunger' (I think it is safe to say that she was healed, as the Storm of this reality readily agreed to donate her blood to see if replacing Bloodstorm's infected blood via transfusion would cure her). Arno Stark returns to the future with the Guardians of the Galaxy (who are, themselves, from an alternate timeline). Killraven (of War of the Worlds fame) apparently returns to his 'dead future' after discovering there are some timelines in which the Martian invaders were defeated and humanity survived. Hyperion probably ends up having the 'biggest part to play' of these "Heralds" in the final maxiseries, but even he did not have much to do when it was all said and done. Spider-Girl lives with Peter Parker and Parker's daughter in this reality, another version of Spider-Girl. They both drop off the map, as it were, well before the series is over. Deathlok is getting a new body grown for him, but we never see him receive it. It just seemed like a huge waste to introduce these various characters into the mix and then do nothing with them.

[4] Mephisto. I did not like how there was this huge 'build-up' about having to defeat Mephisto, about having to stop him from continuing to create alternate realities in order to make time a loop and no longer linear; that way, if time is no longer linear, he never has to worry about his 'impending judgment for his actions, for his rebellion, for his evil, at the end of time." Then, when it was all said and done, he was killed and that was that. His ability to bounce around to other dimensions to escape had been removed from him (due to the Paradise X: Ragnarök issues, I think?) and he was now 'stuck' in this dimension. He just got to be such an annoying character! I found myself wishing early on that he had been killed far earlier in the series, so some of the 'dangling plot lines' associated with him would have had some kind of resolution and cleaned up the overall story, somewhat.

[5] The Eternals. What happened to them? Iron Maiden left with a group of individuals to free them from their Vibranium prison, and that is the last we hear about them! Nothing else is said about them. I guess that stems from the Inhumans discovering them and it being an “excessively long voyage,” but I think Reed Richards should have been able to develop something that would have made it easier for the Iron Maiden and her crew to reach the Eternals, free them, and return them to Earth.

Now, there were some parts that I did like in the series, that I thought the author(s) did a good job. I did like how the authors showed the consequences of removing "Death" from reality, of removing people's ability to die (or, the ability of higher beings to die). People were suffering from traumatic injuries that should have killed them, but since Death was now 'dead' the seriously injured could no longer die. They had no choice but to suffer, and suffer forever, because they were now immortal.

I did like the two Wolverines interacting like they did. I thought it was well done, as the Logan of ‘this’ reality had become “older” and overweight; his drinking and smoking were beginning to affect him. The ‘healthier’ version from the DoFP-U was giving him a bunch of crap about his weight, his health, and how his healing factor should be preventing the “unhealthier” Logan from becoming unhealthy.

I also liked the meeting between the different surviving members of the X-Men as well as the newest members of the team under Mr. S (Scott Summers). That was a lot of fun to see and read, to be honest.

I also thought it was “hysterical” how after Peter Parker saw the two Spider-Girls fighting, he accurately predicted how they would react when they found out they were alternate realities of each other (they would declare themselves “Sisters!” and want to become roommates at Peter’s domicile). That is ‘exactly’ what happened – he broke up the fight, they figured out they were alternate versions of each other, declared themselves sisters, and wanted to move in together under Peter’s roof.

I did like the Ragnarök issues. I thought it was interesting how Thor, Loki, and Surtur joined forces to free the Asgardians from Odin’s rule as well as destroy the means by which Mephisto could safely move between realities without causing any problems or paradoxes himself in the process. The artwork was pretty decent, too. It was an interesting turn of events, though, that the Asgardians returned to Odin after being set free from the fantasy that had ensnared them; they were willing to accept the ‘bondage’ of their former fantasy lives, for some reason, instead of seeking to rediscover themselves and what they could become.

I also liked how Loki formed a new group, a new assemblage, that would be based around a ‘new trio’ – himself (as a new Thor), the Black Knight (Blackbolt’s son, to replace Iron Man), and the Reject (a Deviant who is perfect, to replace Captain America). He recognized the “New World” needed a new assembly of heroes, and that the Avengers were formed around a solid core of three individuals, a trio that formed a stable foundation for the team. He and his chosen cohorts would form the new basis of a team of heroes to protect the new Earth. I thought it was pretty cool, to be honest, and I felt it showed Loki probably had some of the best character development over the course of this series.

I ‘loved’ how Hyperion was referenced (described as) being “Superman” in some of the later issues; I thought it was pretty cool and a nice backhanded reference to Hyperion’s “true origins” (i.e. – Marvel’s version of DC’s ‘Superman.’ The panels in the last issue of him flying through the Negative Zone and fighting with the Kree soldiers was pretty tight.

While I am glad that I finally got a chance to read this maxiseries, I was very happy when I finally finished it. It was a long road to hoe, and it strongly reminded me of DC’s Trinity maxiseries. There was too much going on in this series; it was hard to keep track of everything and everybody as well as hard to really care about anybody in it. It was okay; I was really hoping for a stronger finish, for a stronger ending to the series; the fact that it was so anticlimactic was a huge disappointment for me. Plus, it takes place outside of the ‘normal Marvel continuity,’ so the author(s) could really have taken some chances and done some really crazy things without having to worry about how it would affect the regular continuity, but it felt like they chose to ‘play it safe,’ in some respects. I guess the ‘fact’ that they reinterpreted the whole Marvel U from its ‘very foundations’ moving forward and how superhumans gained their powers was a bold reimagining and retelling of the Marvel U, but it started to feel tired and overdone long before the last issue takes place. In any case, two stars for being so disappointing by the story's end.

[Lucas Carlos · Rating 3 out of 5]

Une 2eme partie de saga pas si longue mais très complexe. On reprend sur les conséquences du premier album, et on développe encore et toujours plus. Assez pénible et prise de tête honnêtement, j'ai lu en diagonale car j'étais pas du tout dans l'esprit du récit. Mais clairement pas le récit qui est mauvais, mais ça méritera clairement une relecture entière plus tard.

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not quite as good as the first book but worth a read.