House of M Omnibus

House of M

by Brian Michael Bendis, Marvel Various (Writer)

Omnibus.

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

1368 pages, Hardcover

Published January 10, 2023

About the author

A comic book writer and erstwhile artist. He has won critical acclaim (including five Eisner Awards) and is one of the most successful writers working in mainstream comics. For over eight years Bendis’s books have consistently sat in the top five best sellers on the nationwide comic and graphic novel sales charts.

Though he started as a writer and artist of independent noir fiction series, he shot to stardom as a writer of Marvel Comics' superhero books, particularly Ultimate Spider-Man.

Bendis first entered the comic world with the "Jinx" line of crime comics in 1995. This line has spawned the graphic novels Goldfish, Fire, Jinx, Torso (with Marc Andreyko), and Total Sell Out. Bendis is writing the film version of Jinx for Universal Pictures with Oscar-winner Charlize Theron attached to star and produce.

Bendis’s other projects include the Harvey, Eisner, and Eagle Award-nominated Powers (with Michael Avon Oeming) originally from Image Comics, now published by Marvel's new creator-owned imprint Icon Comics, and the Hollywood tell-all Fortune and Glory from Oni Press, both of which received an "A" from Entertainment Weekly.

Bendis is one of the premiere architects of Marvel's "Ultimate" line: comics specifically created for the new generation of comic readers. He has written every issue of Ultimate Spider-Man since its best-selling launch, and has also written for Ultimate Fantastic Four and Ultimate X-Men, as well as every issue of Ultimate Marvel Team-Up, Ultimate Origin and Ultimate Six.

Brian is currently helming a renaissance for Marvel’s AVENGERS franchise by writing both New Avengers and Mighty Avengers along with the successful ‘event’ projects House Of M, Secret War, and this summer’s Secret Invasion.

He has also previously done work on Daredevil, Alias, and The Pulse.

Reviews

[Rob Marney · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the rare Big Event where the story of the Marvel Universe is actually advanced, and the tie-ins enrich the story and say something about the characters. Coipel's art is excellent, clean and decompressed enough for Bendis' famously short, repetitive dialogue. The core concept is rather silly, and it's pretty weird that from the start of issue #2 we're already on the deconstruction phase, but honestly it's considerably less silly than other "transformation" crossover events like Secret Wars and Inferno. As usual, the series which aren't very good don't have very good crossover issues, but that's to be expected in a 1300 page omnibus.

I also really appreciate that Chris Claremont and Alan Davis snuck in a classic Excalibur story and just called it "Uncanny X-Men".

[José Vitor - zetalendo]

Só abandonei porque estava lendo os issues de todos os personagens nesse evento, não estava muito interessado.

Futuramente pretendo ler só a história central. Até que estava bem interessante, li até o 4º, se não me engano.

[Cristhian · Rating 3 out of 5]

Salvo algunos tie ins, no vale la pena gastar en el omnibus.

Es mucho mejor la versión tpb normal que contiene solo la historia principal.

[Corey Eiseman · Rating 4 out of 5]

The main event miniseries itself was a solid 5, but the tie-ins were a bit uneven.

[John Rudd · Rating 4 out of 5]

The main storyline is amazing and some of the side bits are phenomenal. All in all a good story though the omni itself the best. - 3.78, events are weird, I need ed more event, and less what if, if that makes sense

[Blindingblade · Rating 4 out of 5]

(Read and rating for House of M comics proper—also read spiderman)

[Jérémy Gosselin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pas lu au complet juste les histoires un peu intéressantes

[Pablo]

Como Goodreads no permite "requetereseñar" la misma edición (que es la que he leído las tres veces) pongo aquí mis impresiones de la segunda relectura. Fue provocada por (¿quién sino?) Íñigo Rodríguez, que a ratos ejerce de podcaster, youtuber y sabio tebeístico extraordinaire en Sala de Peligro o Atalaya del Friki, quien suele disparar contra el bueno de Brian Michael Bendis por su falta de caracterización, su escaso respeto por la continuidad y sus apaños narrativos de última hora.

El grueso de sus críticas me parece muy bueno, lleno de fundamentos y argumentos atendibles, pero no estoy de acuerdo en las caracterizaciones. Bendis es, creo, perfecto para los treintañeros puesto que a diferencia de Millar, idóneo para adolescentes, tiene un sentido bastante grato de la compasión, propia y ajena, y sus historias giran alrededor de las movidas en las que están sus personajes, superheroicos de condición pero en todo lo demás seres humanos que son una madeja de enredo, chapucilla, apaño, brío ocasional, bondades que a veces devienen inteligencia.

En este sentido, Dinastía de M va de si te puedes deshacer de alguien y la ironía fundacional, escasamente comentada, es si a lo mejor ese alguien se deshace de ti. En un plano literal, es Charles Xavier quien reúne a todos los héroes del universo Marvel a debatir si pueden ejecutar a la ultrapoderosa bruja, Wanda Maximoff. Pero alguien se adelanta y todo cambia unas páginas más tarde. Logan se da cuenta y empieza a interrogarse por ello. Lo más normal es buscar al padre de ella, Erik Magnus, cuya Dinastía de repente reina en el universo Marvel.

En un plano simbólico tiene unos sentimientos bastante más interesantes de lo que se le admite. A Bendis se le dan tan bien estos personajes (¿alguien ha escrito tan bien a Sam Wilson o Luke Cage o esos diálogos inacabables?), pero creo que la parte que más extraña me parece otra, pese a que Bendis sea un maestro del whowhwohwho-they're-cookin' y no sepa resolverlo como gusta a los lectores de tebeos de SH (con tollinas bellamente coreografiadas, toneladas de lore y algo de épica).

La parte más extraña es quien decide cómo sobrellevar la angustia, la pena y la desolación. El gesto final de Wanda Maximoff en el final de la historia es, en ese sentido, una interrupción prodigiosa: pues no más mutantes. Es un deus ex machina o una triquiñuela, que será desvelada, o deshecha, porque esto es el universo Marvel, pero es un gesto de ira, protectora, defensiva y brutal, que me parece perfecto para cerrar esta historia.

¿Si no dejamos a alguien a solas con sus fantasmas seremos condenados?

[Michael · Rating 2 out of 5]

House of M and Decimation are the only good stories in the omnibus.

[Cyril Corbaz · Rating 5 out of 5]

My impressions after a first read (3rd read for the main storyline)

As always, rating an omnibus as large and diverse as this one proves quite the challenge. Since the base House of M storyline ranks at a solid 5 stars for me, that's the overall score I'm going to set. However, since the many storylines are very diverse, you shouldn't expect all of them to rank as high as that one. Here goes my appreciation, series by series:

- House of M (8 issues) - Outstanding narrative, memorable art by Olivier Coipel, peak Marvel.

- Spider-Man: House of M (5 issues) - Creative narrative, but I didn't like the art. The story does exactly what I'd expect from an alternate storyline. JJJ steals the show!

- Purple Reign (1 issue) - I... somehow liked it to some extent, I guess? Didn't know much about the characters beforehand, so it was harder to get into the narrative. About average.

- Fantastic Four: House of M (3 issues) - Loved this one! Dr.Doom at his best. Short, nice, and sweet.

- Black Panther (1 issue) - Despite a forgettable story, Trevor Hairsine's gorgeous grittier art made this one special to me.

- Uncanny X-Men, Season of the Witch (4 issues) - While the art is decent, I didn't like this one. Granted, I've never been a huge Captain Britain fan, yet I didn't manage to really delve into the narrative, and ended up skimming the end of that storyline.

- Wolverine: Chasing Ghosts (3 issues) - This was a very welcome storyline to add to the main one. The focus on Raven is an interesting twist that manages to add some depth to Wolverine.

- Iron Man: House of M (3 issues) - I didn't like the art (except mechas, including the suits and sentinels), but this storyline was unexpected. I ended up really liking it for its twists.

- Captain America: House of M (1 issue) - Loved it! This simple issue manages to turn the otherwise frustrating 1-page detour on Cap in the main storyline into a satisfying mini story-arc.

- Pulse: House of M (1 issue) - I found Michael Lark's art gorgeous and spot-on for this grittier story arc. Enjoyed it thoroughly.

- Cable and Deadpool (1 issue) - Does exactly what you'd expect a Deadpool comic issue to deliver. The humor is welcome after sour stories like Cap and Hawkeye's, that's a sound editing choice. I'll never look at Midwest chicken the same way, I guess.

- The Hulk (6 issues) - The Australian take on Hulk was interesting to start with, but some issues made me rise an eyebrow (Incredible Hulk 85 and 86 namely). I quickly lost interest, and the art wasn't anything to write home about.

- X-Men: House Divided (4 issues) - Too many different characters for me, especially since I wasn't very familiar with them in the first place. However, the narrative really drew me in, and the plot was memorable. Really enjoyed reading it!

- World Tour: House of M (3 issues) - I liked that engaging arc, including some mutants I didn't know well. A good read.

- Mutopia (5 issues) - Wow, since I didn't know any of the characters in the story (apart from Bishop, who is only a secondary character here), I didn't expect to engage into this story as much as I did. A compelling read, with relatable characters.

- Decimation: House of X (1 issue) - Too bad this one is so short, I would have liked to explore the post-final situation more. As a result, I felt the story didn't provide enough time to get into it. Disappointing.

- Giant-size Ms. Marvel : Moment of Clarity (1 issue) - I had been expecting this (and the final Pulse edition that comes right after it) since reading the initial story arc! I was not disappointed.

Overall, the general quality of the stories is above average (or even good) as far as crossovers are concerned. Well worth the read!

[Marina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Almost all pretty enjoyable. I've never read House of M before, so it was pretty cool to get my hands on this monolith of a book. The best part was definitely the core of the event itself - great art, great writing, a great mystery - which comes right at the front of the book.

I also quite liked the House of M Spider-Man, but I wasn't quite sure how it fit into the timeline of what we'd already seen. I just took it as an alternate world within an alternate world and ran with it - I mean, how else are you supposed to read superhero comics? Alternate Fantastic Four was also excellent. But my favourite might have been the comparatively lower stakes Mutopia, which had a great, character-driven plot. That comes right at the end, so I'm glad I read the whole tome through.

The weak links for me were probably either the Iron Man or the Captain Britain issues. Iron Man had a problem with characterization - everyone felt all over the place depending on the plot. As for the latter, this was probably not the best Captain Britain story for a new reader of his to start with. It was pretty confusing for a good while.

Overall, this is a pretty solid omnibus, but I've not read much Marvel in a long time. So this was a pretty wild ride of a reintroduction, but one I was glad to have shelled out for.

[Nick Pratt · Rating 4 out of 5]

My last 2 omnis of the year were this and the House of M companion. They are truly a mixed bag, which is to be expected when you are taking in over 2,000 pages of story. The main event itself is excellent, but it would absolutely feel hollow if you didn't read the side stories. Some of those tie-ins are excellent, as well. The Hulk story is really good, as is Black Panther. Others like Mutopia will grind the story's pace down to a screeching halt. I've been reading about 12-15 omnis per year for several years now and I think the key is not to pound the material you really aren't digging. I give every side series a shot, just in case, but when I find myself frustrated, bored or indifferent, I move on *coughCaptainBritaincough* I'll add that I enjoyed a lot of the material in the companion as much as the best parts of the main story omni, so the whole thing was lifted by the choice to read both back to back. Glad I read it, some forgettable stuff, some skippable, but some that will stick with me. I'll give the experience of reading both a 3.75/5 on the whole.

[Matthew Ledrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

COLLECTING: House of M (2005) 1-8: 5 stars
Spider-Man: House of M (2005) 1-5: 3 stars
Fantastic Four: House of M (2005) 1-3: 5 stars
Iron Man: House of M (2005) 1-3: 5 stars
New Thunderbolts (2004) 11: 5 stars
Black Panther (2005) 7: 5 stars
Uncanny X-Men (1981) 462-465: 3 stars
Wolverine (2003) 33-35: 5 stars
Captain America (2004) 10: 5 stars
Pulse (2004) 10: 5 stars
Cable & Deadpool (2004) 17: 3 stars
Incredible Hulk (2000) 83-87: 5 stars
New X-Men (2004) 16-19: 5 stars
Exiles (2001) 69-71: 3 stars
Mutopia X (2005) 1-5: 5 stars
Decimation: House of M - The Day After (2005): 5 stars
Giant-Size Ms. Marvel (2006) 1: 5 stars
Secrets of the House of M (2005): 5 stars
Pulse: House of M Special (2005): 5 stars
House of M 1 Director’s Cut (2005): 5 stars
House of M Sketchbook (2005): 5 stars
material from Hulk: Broken Worlds Book One (2009): 5 stars

[Merlin Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 Stars.

I always heard about this event as one of the most important Scarlet Witch stories. And while that is technically true, there actually is not very much Scarlet Witch in this story. In other words, it was not what I expected when I picked it up.
The main story nevertheless is compelling. But the tie-ins are a mixed bag. Some were really great and showed me characters I didn't know and would like to learn more about (Psylocke and Rachel for example), but others seemed quite pointless.

[RubiGiráldez RubiGiráldez · Rating 3 out of 5]

Es curioso que para que Los Vengadores cobrasen esa relevancia ante el público que parecieron perder en los últimos años del S. XX, se necesitase justamente hacer un borrón y cuenta nueva bastante literal. Brian Michael Bendis comenzó a gestar con Vengadores: Desunidos, un rumbo editorial que no solo incidiría en esta formación. Llegando a eventos como la Civil War, el Universo Marvel entraría en un nuevo siglo de historias que miraban bastante la realidad socio política de los Estados Unidos ya marcados por el atentado del 11-S.

En todo este maremágnum de crudas situaciones, el autor acudía a Wanda Maximoff, un nexo de unión de dos grandes formaciones de héroes de Marvel como son los Vengadores y los X-Men. Por no hablar que su pasado la enlaza directamente con el megalómano especista Magneto. De cuyas filas de la Hermandad de Mutantes Diabólicos pertenecía tanto ella como su hermano mucho antes de conocer los lazos paternos con el Amo del Magnetismo. Y la vida de la Bruja Escarlata no sería un lecho de rosas tras superar su pasado villanesco. Como Vengadora, podría conocer las mejores amistades e incluso amores como el impensable romance con el sintezoide Visión. Que el destino haría que esta felicidad se tornase totalmente amarga llegando a un punto crítico con una mefistotélica intriga cuando Wanda y Visión fueron padres de unos gemelos... que pronto fueron arrebatados a la desconsolada madre. Quien necesitó de una "lobotomía" como solo los superhéroes saben hacer... Pero esos recuerdos regresan a Wanda. Y lo último que hay que saber de la Bruja Escarlata, es que sus poderes enlazan con fuerzas que pueden moldear la misma Realidad... Esto hace que sus crisis nerviosas pasen de acabar con las vidas de algunos de sus más queridos amigos hasta poder poner en jaque toda la creación... En este punto, surge la saga de "House of M". Donde la Realidad se deforma para hacer surgir un mundo donde los mutantes se han posicionado como el pueblo dominante por encima de los Homo Sapiens. Con Magneto como máximo regente y sus familiares directos como familia Real... El Sueño de Magnus... ¿Wanda es la responsable o solo se ha visto manipulada por sus familiares más cercanos?

House of M, supuso un interesante ejercicio argumental por el cual Brian Michael Bendis abordaba una de esas "realidades paralelas" tan recurridas por La Casa de las Ideas. Pero normalmente, en sagas independientes de la cronología base del 616. Con esta Dinastía de M, el autor logró implicar a todas las partes del Universo Marvel. Jugando a su favor que los Vengadores y los dirigentes de la Patrulla-X debían de tomar una decisión final para lidiar con la creciente amenaza de la Wanda cada vez más sumida en la crisis nerviosa y la locura. Desde luego, a nivel editorial estos eventos llevan a generar tie-ins ya sea con números de cabeceras establecidas que deben de atender a la trama general (dirigiendo a los lectores al evento base) o generar nuevos números para poder abarcar todas las perspectivas posibles. Así es como contamos con este Ómnibus que busca recopilar bastante de lo que derivó en su día House of M. Pues, como vemos en la saga troncal, en esta situación, gran parte de los héroes pierden sus capacidades sobrehumanas y se ven o bien atendiendo a sus cargos previos a la obtención de sus poderes (Stephen Strange sigue siendo solo un médico) o conformar una Resistencia liderada por Luke Cage (o de formas más ilegales como Shang-Chi). Logan (quien será la pieza clave al ser consciente del cambio de realidad del mundo de la noche a la mañana), resulta que lidera una SHIELD que está encargada de detener toda insurgencia en nombre de Magnus. Y Peter Parker, además de descubrir que ha conformado una familia con Gwen Stacey y un tío Ben que nunca murió, resulta que es una superestrella en su faceta de trepamuros. El mayor héroe... ¿mutante?... Con Spiderman, tendremos la historia anexa que parecen sentir más relevante. Desarrollándose en varios números que llevarán como leitmotiv el cómo el "secreto" de su naturaleza no muti acabará por convertir su vida de ensueño en un infierno... Si bien en la saga troncal, todos estos detalles de las biografias "adaptadas" de los personajes suenan interesantes. En estas historias spin-offs se descubren menos fascinantes. Ya sea tanto por el menor "despliegue" gráfico en comparación de los números del evento troncal. Como lo poco que realmente aportan a un interés de esta nueva iteración del Universo Marvel. Ni en el caso de los que realmente deberían influir en la perspectiva general de un mundo donde una Dinastía de Magneto colinda claramente con un montón de intereses geopolíticos como puede ser la Latveria de Victor Von Muerte o Wakanda. Si bien es más fácil pensar hoy día con autores como Jonathan Hickman habiendo regalado interesantes e inteligentes sagas que reformulan o por lo menos abordan de verdad las propuestas de sus historias, que un planteamiento como House of M, ofrece de forma orgánica increíbles posibilidades. Sí que puede que la Marvel "dosmilera", aún tenía una perspectiva "terrenal" más modesta. Además de un plan de sagas hacia la arrolladora Civil War y Secret Invasion, que sí que afianzarían un horizonte más provechoso.


En conjunto, este Omnibus de House of M sí que me parece difícil de recomendar incluso a completistas que adoren esta saga.

[Ewan Clements · Rating 4 out of 5]

An overall good event with a fun new twisted version of the marvel world to explore. While the tie-ins could be hit or miss they were definitely more good than not and even when they weren't fantastic it was still cool to learn more about these versions of the characters and their place in this world.

[Alberto González · Rating 2 out of 5]

Un tocho de 690 páginas de las que solo vale la pena el evento principal (las primeras 200 páginas, que son una pasada). Tenía el tomo de Marvel Deluxe con el evento principal y lo vendí para comprar el omnibus. Error.

[Alena Xuan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Outside of the main story, the House of M is…just not worth it. The main story: 5 stars
Everything else: BAD

[Adam · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had trouble getting into the bulk of this series when i knew the entire new reality would likely just morph back to normal by the end, and was already familiar with what Decimation was going in.

[Christian Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some really great stuff. Some less than great
Some that I’ve never read before
Definitely a product of its moment in time

[Fe · Rating 3 out of 5]

40.
Il dolore e la potenza di Wanda Maximoff si estendono nel multiverso e mi commuovono sempre

[Cid · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.7
The concept is good as are the main character’s stories, with a lot of nice ideas BUT
-there’s a lot of marginal marvel universe characters that seems where put in there just to call attention to(/sell more) their comic series, instead of developing the main storyline.
-(maybe because of the latter) the way the story flows goes is something like:
”this is good … very good… good stuff… ok… oook… eh…. aaaaand I don’t care anymore”
-And the ending is almost non existing especially relatively with the size of the story:

So what could have been an amazing saga
Instead is just a good idea with some nice moments and a poor finish.

[Eric · Rating 3 out of 5]

The parts are good, but the sum feels a bit empty as a story. The art is fairly good in most of the tie-ins but phenomenal in the main event by legend Olivier Coipel, but it doesn't really feel like a lot happens. Of the tie-ins, Spider-Man and Wolverine are the strongest, well some of the others just feel like filler.

[Jos Trinidad · Rating 3 out of 5]

The highs of this omnibus were great, but the story of the House of M feels unfinished. I thought that this would be more akin to the Children's Crusade Omnibus that brought a more cohesive narrative to the lives of those affected by the House of M, but it felt like an Absolute Omnibus if DC were to make one. Just a bunch of different stories thrown together because they were sparked by the same event, but had no connection to each other outside of that.

Overall, unfulfilling, but the highs of the book were so great that I can't rate it lower. 3/5