X-Men by Peter Milligan, Vol. 2: Blood of Apocalypse

X-Men (2004) (Single Issues) #177-187

by Peter Milligan, Fabian Nicieza, Salvador Larroca (Illustrator)

In the wake of the Decimation, with the mutant race reduced to extinction levels, how do the X-Men pick up the pieces in a world that has completely changed? A Sentinel arrival and a sneak attack forces the weakened X-Men to re-evaluate who their friends are…and to align themselves with former enemies?! For when his people need him the most, Apocalypse shall return! Cable can see the signs — but can he and Deadpool stop it from happening? Do they even want to? As Apocalypse rises again to lead mutantkind into the future, only the strongest will survive! But just wait until you see En Sabah Nur’s new Horsemen! Will the blood of Apocalypse contain salvation — or damnation? Peter Milligan (X-STATIX) completes his memorable X-Men run!

COLLECTING: Cable & Deadpool (2004) 26-27, X-Men (1991) 177-187

Genres: X Men, Marvel, Comic Book, Comics

336 pages, Paperback

Published March 22, 2022

About the author

Librarian note:
There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name

Peter Milligan is a British writer, best known for his work on X-Force / X-Statix, the X-Men, & the Vertigo series Human Target. He is also a scriptwriter.

He has been writing comics for some time and he has somewhat of a reputation for writing material that is highly outlandish, bizarre and/or absurd.

His highest profile projects to date include a run on X-Men, and his X-Force revamp that relaunched as X-Statix.

Many of Milligan's best works have been from DC Vertigo. These include: The Extremist (4 issues with artist Ted McKeever) The Minx (8 issues with artist Sean Phillips) Face (Prestige one-shot with artist Duncan Fegredo) The Eaters (Prestige one-shot with artist Dean Ormston) Vertigo Pop London (4 issues with artist Philip Bond) Enigma (8 issues with artist Duncan Fegredo) and Girl (3 issues with artist Duncan Fegredo).

Series:
* Human Target
* Greek Street
* X-Force / X-Statix

Reviews

[Matt · Rating 3 out of 5]

Though less cruel and chaotic than the last collection, this was able to take all the fun out of an Apocalypse Horsemen story, which I usually love. This run just faded into obscurity for good reason.

[Brandon Daniels · Rating 1 out of 5]

Truly terrible. Anything that was interesting about the first half of Milligan’s run is gone, and it’s been replaced by an all over the place Apocalypse story that feels like bad fan fiction.

[Tyler · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was trash. All of the characters were written terribly, but especially Cyclops who was portrayed as a dude bro with toxic masculinity.

Some cool concepts but literally so hard to get through.

[Chad · Rating 2 out of 5]

Cable & Deadpool #26-27
I'm not sure why this was even included other than Apocalypse is in it. It's terrible. It also would have made more sense to include Decimation: House of M - The Day After instead as it's the actual aftermath of House of M and flows right into the X-Men.

Decimation: X-Men - The Day After
Takes place immediately after House of M. Mutantkind has been decimated. That's when the Sentinels show up to turn Professor Xavier's mansion into a reservation for mutants. In the last two issues Lorna and Alex go off alone to chase after what Lorna saw in space at the beginning of Milligan's run. Doop from Milligan's X-Force comes hurtling out of space and Lorna keeps calling him Daap. None of it makes any sense and then it ends without a resolution. It's terrible like most of Milligan's writing.

X-Men: Blood of Apocalypse
I don't think Peter Milligan ever read an X-Man comic before getting the job of writing the X-Men. The characterizations are completely off. The stories are stupid. People make decisions they never would like Gambit deciding to become one of Apocalypse's Four Horseman. There's just so much nonsense, especially all of the soap opera elements. At least Salvador Larroca's art is really good.

[MannyLikesPie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Let’s pretend the cable stuff is “The Day After”

[Avri · Rating 2 out of 5]

Turns out my typical love for Peter Milligan's writing couldn't overcome my general indifference to the X-Men . . .