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X-Men: The Complete Age of Apocalypse Epic
X-Men: Prelude to Age of Apocalypse
Legion, the supremely powerful son of Charles Xavier, wants to change the world - and he's traveled back in time to kill Magneto to do it! Can the X-Men stop him, or will the world as we know it cease to exist? Featuring the last day of Cable's life; Gambit vs. Sabretooth; the beginning of Archangel and Psylocke's relationship; and Mystique, bent on revenge! Witness the final moments in the lives of the X-Men before their world changes forever!
264 pages, Paperback
First published May 18, 2011
26 people are currently reading
437 people want to read
About the author
Scott Lobdell
1,627 books230 followersScott Lobdell (born 1960) is an American comic book writer.
He is mostly known for his work throughout the 1990s on Marvel Comics' X-Men-related titles specifically Uncanny X-Men, the main title itself, and the spin-off series that he conceived with artist Chris Bachalo, Generation X. Generation X focused on a number of young mutant students who attempted to become superheroes in their own right at a separate school with the guidance of veteran X-related characters Banshee and Emma Frost. He also had writing stints on Marvel's Fantastic Four, Alpha Flight, and The Adventures of Cyclops and Phoenix mini-series with artist Gene Ha. He wrote the script to Stan Lee's Mosaic and an upcoming film from POW Entertainment featuring Ringo Starr. He also participated in the Marvel Comics and Image Comics (from Jim Lee's WildStorm) crossover mini-series WildC.A.T.s/X-Men.
He is mostly known for his work throughout the 1990s on Marvel Comics' X-Men-related titles specifically Uncanny X-Men, the main title itself, and the spin-off series that he conceived with artist Chris Bachalo, Generation X. Generation X focused on a number of young mutant students who attempted to become superheroes in their own right at a separate school with the guidance of veteran X-related characters Banshee and Emma Frost. He also had writing stints on Marvel's Fantastic Four, Alpha Flight, and The Adventures of Cyclops and Phoenix mini-series with artist Gene Ha. He wrote the script to Stan Lee's Mosaic and an upcoming film from POW Entertainment featuring Ringo Starr. He also participated in the Marvel Comics and Image Comics (from Jim Lee's WildStorm) crossover mini-series WildC.A.T.s/X-Men.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 41 reviews
November 26, 2021
Probably one of my favorite reads of the year!
It was such a great read and it starts off with the usual X-men adventures and chemistry and with whatever tensions that Cyclops has with Jean, Gambit and Iceman and Rogue and then we follow the drama that Bishop and Storm maybe in with Legion as he seems to have merged all his differing personalities and has combined them into one. Also previously he was being hunted by Mystique. His new mission: Kill Magneto in the past to see his fathers dream fulfilled and thats pretty much the whole of the story. Will the X-Men be able to stop him but what happens when that goes wrong? A new age of Apocalypse maybe...
This was a fantastic story and I love the way this volume focuses on multiple POVs like with whatever is going on with Gambit and Rogue and the great story focusing on Iceman and then obviously Legion as you follow his mind status and the weird thing with his destiny and the new status quo like the end of the world and its kinda like "final days before secret wars (2015)" and the after effects of it and all. So yeah a must read story with great ending and a massive change to the status quo and amazing art by everyone involved!
It was such a great read and it starts off with the usual X-men adventures and chemistry and with whatever tensions that Cyclops has with Jean, Gambit and Iceman and Rogue and then we follow the drama that Bishop and Storm maybe in with Legion as he seems to have merged all his differing personalities and has combined them into one. Also previously he was being hunted by Mystique. His new mission: Kill Magneto in the past to see his fathers dream fulfilled and thats pretty much the whole of the story. Will the X-Men be able to stop him but what happens when that goes wrong? A new age of Apocalypse maybe...
This was a fantastic story and I love the way this volume focuses on multiple POVs like with whatever is going on with Gambit and Rogue and the great story focusing on Iceman and then obviously Legion as you follow his mind status and the weird thing with his destiny and the new status quo like the end of the world and its kinda like "final days before secret wars (2015)" and the after effects of it and all. So yeah a must read story with great ending and a massive change to the status quo and amazing art by everyone involved!
June 4, 2023
An interesting prelude to the epic Age of Apocalypse saga, in which Professor X’s overly powerful son wakes up from his coma in order to travel back in time and rewrite reality.
Only in comics would any of this make sense. The storyline is somewhat out of nowhere, with no foreshadowing at all other than a follow-up from that time years ago when Mystique’s lover Destiny died. Legion was there at that old battle and kind of at fault, so the story begins with Mystique going to Israel to hunt down and kill Legion. Then he reawakens more powerful than ever so when the X-Men come to stop him and a group of them get sucked back into the past.
His plan is to kill Magneto, to help Xavier’s dream or something, and it makes for some interesting flashbacks with young Charles even if it’s ultimately nonsensical. Some of it has also aged badly, which is best glossed over. Let me just make a brief comparison to Back to the Future and then move on.
Legion is way too powerful, and comes across as more of a plot device than valid threat. Time travel rarely conforms to any sort of logic anyway, but suffice to say in the end he accidently kills his dad and this causes a chain reaction which destroys the entire Marvel Universe (and led to the exceptional Age of Apocalypse). This was only a thing in the X-books, where it was portrayed as sufficiently epic as every title ended that much with the universe ending in a weird crystal explosion.
This had to do with the M’kraan crystal, even if it needn’t be explained that much. Personally, I just like the rules when every act of time travel creates an alternate reality and there’s no reason to make it needlessly complicated. The cosmic aspect did feel pretty weighted and sufficiently epic.
Ultimately, Legion Quest is somewhat essential reading in order to get to Age of Apocalypse. Also necessary to know that Bishop was stuck in the past, as the only man who remembers the “real” world because he’s a temporal anomaly. Other than that, Legion Quest was of average quality of X-Men in the 90s. The usual characterization, the soap opera of the relationships between the characters and the art etc. was up to par of the time. Fun, if not that literary.
Next up, one of the absolute best crossovers ever…
Only in comics would any of this make sense. The storyline is somewhat out of nowhere, with no foreshadowing at all other than a follow-up from that time years ago when Mystique’s lover Destiny died. Legion was there at that old battle and kind of at fault, so the story begins with Mystique going to Israel to hunt down and kill Legion. Then he reawakens more powerful than ever so when the X-Men come to stop him and a group of them get sucked back into the past.
His plan is to kill Magneto, to help Xavier’s dream or something, and it makes for some interesting flashbacks with young Charles even if it’s ultimately nonsensical. Some of it has also aged badly, which is best glossed over. Let me just make a brief comparison to Back to the Future and then move on.
Legion is way too powerful, and comes across as more of a plot device than valid threat. Time travel rarely conforms to any sort of logic anyway, but suffice to say in the end he accidently kills his dad and this causes a chain reaction which destroys the entire Marvel Universe (and led to the exceptional Age of Apocalypse). This was only a thing in the X-books, where it was portrayed as sufficiently epic as every title ended that much with the universe ending in a weird crystal explosion.
This had to do with the M’kraan crystal, even if it needn’t be explained that much. Personally, I just like the rules when every act of time travel creates an alternate reality and there’s no reason to make it needlessly complicated. The cosmic aspect did feel pretty weighted and sufficiently epic.
Ultimately, Legion Quest is somewhat essential reading in order to get to Age of Apocalypse. Also necessary to know that Bishop was stuck in the past, as the only man who remembers the “real” world because he’s a temporal anomaly. Other than that, Legion Quest was of average quality of X-Men in the 90s. The usual characterization, the soap opera of the relationships between the characters and the art etc. was up to par of the time. Fun, if not that literary.
Next up, one of the absolute best crossovers ever…
July 13, 2011
As a teenager (and some since), I read lots of X-Men comics. I stopped reading them regularly just before this was released in the nineties. However, reading this one again reminded me of how much I enjoy the X-Men. They have a great cast of characters with a powerful organizing theme of a vision of a world without prejudice and oppression. They take on bigotry and hatred straight on, and lift an up an ideal. To me, this is what superhero comics should do.
In this one, they set up the Age of Apocalypse in which Charles Xavier dies before forming the X-Men. However, the lead up to this is filled with well drawn characters, a fairly well organized plot line (a failure of lots of sprawling comic book story arcs), and exploration of a few complex issues related to time and dreams. Great fun! I look forward to reading the Age of Apocalypse in which the world of the X-Men is totally turned upside down.
In this one, they set up the Age of Apocalypse in which Charles Xavier dies before forming the X-Men. However, the lead up to this is filled with well drawn characters, a fairly well organized plot line (a failure of lots of sprawling comic book story arcs), and exploration of a few complex issues related to time and dreams. Great fun! I look forward to reading the Age of Apocalypse in which the world of the X-Men is totally turned upside down.
April 14, 2020
Loved this!!! Had read some of the issues at the start as I read all X-men comics up to the point of Legion Quest!!
For 90’s X-Men this was a big step up!! The plot is fantastic and exciting!! The artwork across all the issues is amazing and so emotive and distinct!! It conveys all the action really well. This had been a problem for me leading up to this event. The 90’s art style was disjointed and frequently very hard to discern the characters and what happened to them on the page.
Have to say, the plot and characters are on point and very true to the OG characters. Very excited for AOA!!
For 90’s X-Men this was a big step up!! The plot is fantastic and exciting!! The artwork across all the issues is amazing and so emotive and distinct!! It conveys all the action really well. This had been a problem for me leading up to this event. The 90’s art style was disjointed and frequently very hard to discern the characters and what happened to them on the page.
Have to say, the plot and characters are on point and very true to the OG characters. Very excited for AOA!!
February 7, 2019
Right off the bat, I have to admit I am biased here. Not only were the X-Men a big part of my childhood and adolescence (thanks largely to the 1990's cartoon), but I have been looking for the complete Age of Apocalypse story for literally decades, so the anticipation I have built up is UNREAL.
A bit of background why I was so eager to read this (skip this paragraph if you don't care) - I had a very hard time following comics as a kid. Comic stores could never survive in my hometown for some reason, and all closed in less than a year. For reasons I don't remember, I didn't think subscription by mail was an option for me. So my only way to get comic books was at the drug store, which was too far for me to walk by myself, so I could only go there when I could hitch a ride with one of my parents. As a result, I could never follow any comic storylines for more than about 2 issues before I would miss some. The Age of Apocalypse storyline is actually the one I read the most of because I got a gift set of 4 whole issues for my birthday once, so that's one reason I really liked it. Also, I have been trying to find collected editions of this for years, but never had any luck. Every bookstore and comic store I checked didn't have it. Even at comic cons, no one had it. I couldn't find it on Amazon for whatever reason. My previous library didn't have it either. FINALLY I was able to get my current library to borrow the whole series from within their system, starting with this here prelude. And so I was already predisposed to like this. Early to mid-90's X-Men is pretty much my favorite thing in all of Marvel.
But anyway, back to the comic. The various X-teams are still dealing with some of the fallout from the X-Cutioner's Song arc (another favorite of mine) in which Stryfe unleashed a mutating virus upon mutantkind that is wreaking havoc. Cyclops and Jean finally got married. Rogue and Gambit are pretty much as together as they can be, given the limitations of her powers. Psylocke has recently started to get her act back together after being mentally fragmented into two people, and is now developing a romance with Archangel. Somehow the X-Men have captured Sabretooth (I missed that issue so don't know how it happened). So overall, many of the X-Men are doing quite well (except for Iceman, who is dealing with a crisis of confidence after Emma Frost recently mind controlled him and used his powers far more impressively than he ever had used them himself).
Enter Legion.
Legion is the son of Professor X, who is extraordinarily powerful but severely mentally handicapped. Not only is he autistic (or at least, a not-very-accurate version of autistic since it was the 90's and autism wasn't that well understood), but he has several distinct personalities living in his head, each of which has their own mutant powers. Legion is comatose after previous adventures, but that doesn't last. He sets in motion a chain of events that leads to one of the greatest storylines in all of X-Men history (at least in my opinion).
Overall, the journey is a fun one. There are little bits that bug me a little, such as the aforementioned less than stellar portrayal of autism. But I'm willing to cut some slack there because I think they were at least trying, based on available knowledge at the time, to portray it well and sympathetically. Legion is seen not as evil, but as someone whose unique combination of of autism, fractured personality, and overwhelming mutant powers make him extremely dangerous and difficult to help.
Another little detail that bugs me has to do with Psylocke. Early on, she is sporting a new short haircut instead of her usual flowing purple locks. However, it seems like not everyone got the memo, because during some of her scenes with Archangel she has long flowing hair, only for it to be back short again in the next scene. It's a minor detail but it's very noticeable to me.
Overall I enjoyed this quite a bit, despite those little issues I had with it. It really sets the stage for Age of Apocalypse, and drives home just how big of a change everything was. While readers know everything will turn more or less back to normal eventually because it's comic books, the ending still felt very impactful to me. I dig this and will definitely read it again.
A bit of background why I was so eager to read this (skip this paragraph if you don't care) - I had a very hard time following comics as a kid. Comic stores could never survive in my hometown for some reason, and all closed in less than a year. For reasons I don't remember, I didn't think subscription by mail was an option for me. So my only way to get comic books was at the drug store, which was too far for me to walk by myself, so I could only go there when I could hitch a ride with one of my parents. As a result, I could never follow any comic storylines for more than about 2 issues before I would miss some. The Age of Apocalypse storyline is actually the one I read the most of because I got a gift set of 4 whole issues for my birthday once, so that's one reason I really liked it. Also, I have been trying to find collected editions of this for years, but never had any luck. Every bookstore and comic store I checked didn't have it. Even at comic cons, no one had it. I couldn't find it on Amazon for whatever reason. My previous library didn't have it either. FINALLY I was able to get my current library to borrow the whole series from within their system, starting with this here prelude. And so I was already predisposed to like this. Early to mid-90's X-Men is pretty much my favorite thing in all of Marvel.
But anyway, back to the comic. The various X-teams are still dealing with some of the fallout from the X-Cutioner's Song arc (another favorite of mine) in which Stryfe unleashed a mutating virus upon mutantkind that is wreaking havoc. Cyclops and Jean finally got married. Rogue and Gambit are pretty much as together as they can be, given the limitations of her powers. Psylocke has recently started to get her act back together after being mentally fragmented into two people, and is now developing a romance with Archangel. Somehow the X-Men have captured Sabretooth (I missed that issue so don't know how it happened). So overall, many of the X-Men are doing quite well (except for Iceman, who is dealing with a crisis of confidence after Emma Frost recently mind controlled him and used his powers far more impressively than he ever had used them himself).
Enter Legion.
Legion is the son of Professor X, who is extraordinarily powerful but severely mentally handicapped. Not only is he autistic (or at least, a not-very-accurate version of autistic since it was the 90's and autism wasn't that well understood), but he has several distinct personalities living in his head, each of which has their own mutant powers. Legion is comatose after previous adventures, but that doesn't last. He sets in motion a chain of events that leads to one of the greatest storylines in all of X-Men history (at least in my opinion).
Overall, the journey is a fun one. There are little bits that bug me a little, such as the aforementioned less than stellar portrayal of autism. But I'm willing to cut some slack there because I think they were at least trying, based on available knowledge at the time, to portray it well and sympathetically. Legion is seen not as evil, but as someone whose unique combination of of autism, fractured personality, and overwhelming mutant powers make him extremely dangerous and difficult to help.
Another little detail that bugs me has to do with Psylocke. Early on, she is sporting a new short haircut instead of her usual flowing purple locks. However, it seems like not everyone got the memo, because during some of her scenes with Archangel she has long flowing hair, only for it to be back short again in the next scene. It's a minor detail but it's very noticeable to me.
Overall I enjoyed this quite a bit, despite those little issues I had with it. It really sets the stage for Age of Apocalypse, and drives home just how big of a change everything was. While readers know everything will turn more or less back to normal eventually because it's comic books, the ending still felt very impactful to me. I dig this and will definitely read it again.
August 7, 2018
Thanks to the library and marvel unlimited, I have now read every single comic with Legion in it. My trade paperback recommendations for any Legion (FX) fan then will be (mostly in publication order, except for X-Men: Legacy - Legion):
X-Men Legacy: Legion Omnibus
This actually as Legion as a main character, and that part in Legion (FX) where he actually looks like Legion (Marvel Comics)? That what he looks like in this one. No knowledge of X-men required. David Haller struggles to become one with himself. Instead he becomes Legion.
X-Men: Legion - Shadow King Rising
Particularly the New Mutants storyline where Legion makes his first appearance. Then the Shadow King Rising one, just because, you know... Shadow King. But that storyline kinda sucks, in my opinion. And the art is... very much this time period. Very much... the fantasy of a 13 year-old boy. And compared to the fantastic art of Bill Sienkiewicz, it's like... huh? You will need to know basic X-men stuff. Legion has problems... so many problems. Poor David (DANIEL?!! wut) Haller buttmonkey. They don't even get his name right. So sad.
X-Men: Age of Apocalypse Prelude
Much better than the Shadow King storyline! But this is like, the height of 90s X-men-ness. But if you remember the 90s cartoon show you are good. Legion destroys the universe. Good going, Legion.
New Mutants, Volume 1: Return of Legion
Legion Returns! After more than 10 years absence, Legion comes back as your standard crazy antagonist. Do you know the New Mutants? You're gonna have to know who the New Mutants are (but if you have read Shadow King Rising TP then you will).
X-Men: Age of X
Legion creates a Universe! It sucks. Good going, Legion. This is the hardest one to get into if you don't know anything about the X-men. It's like... meta x-men. Decent self-contained story though, otherwise.
X-Men Legacy: Aftermath
X-Men Legacy: Lost Legions
The aftermath of Age of X. Lost Legions focuses more on Legion than Aftermath (but he is still in a couple of issues in the Aftermath trade). Legion's lost some pieces of himself, then he finds and absorbs them. Pretty basic, but hey! Legion.
Legion: Trauma
Did you know they made a new Legion comic in 2018? And it's written by Peter Milligan? Exciting! But it sucks (so far, anyway). This trade focuses on getting rid of Legion's trauma... I am hoping so they can do more exciting stuff in the future, where Legion actually does things?
X-Men Legacy: Legion Omnibus
This actually as Legion as a main character, and that part in Legion (FX) where he actually looks like Legion (Marvel Comics)? That what he looks like in this one. No knowledge of X-men required. David Haller struggles to become one with himself. Instead he becomes Legion.
X-Men: Legion - Shadow King Rising
Particularly the New Mutants storyline where Legion makes his first appearance. Then the Shadow King Rising one, just because, you know... Shadow King. But that storyline kinda sucks, in my opinion. And the art is... very much this time period. Very much... the fantasy of a 13 year-old boy. And compared to the fantastic art of Bill Sienkiewicz, it's like... huh? You will need to know basic X-men stuff. Legion has problems... so many problems. Poor David (DANIEL?!! wut) Haller buttmonkey. They don't even get his name right. So sad.
X-Men: Age of Apocalypse Prelude
Much better than the Shadow King storyline! But this is like, the height of 90s X-men-ness. But if you remember the 90s cartoon show you are good. Legion destroys the universe. Good going, Legion.
New Mutants, Volume 1: Return of Legion
Legion Returns! After more than 10 years absence, Legion comes back as your standard crazy antagonist. Do you know the New Mutants? You're gonna have to know who the New Mutants are (but if you have read Shadow King Rising TP then you will).
X-Men: Age of X
Legion creates a Universe! It sucks. Good going, Legion. This is the hardest one to get into if you don't know anything about the X-men. It's like... meta x-men. Decent self-contained story though, otherwise.
X-Men Legacy: Aftermath
X-Men Legacy: Lost Legions
The aftermath of Age of X. Lost Legions focuses more on Legion than Aftermath (but he is still in a couple of issues in the Aftermath trade). Legion's lost some pieces of himself, then he finds and absorbs them. Pretty basic, but hey! Legion.
Legion: Trauma
Did you know they made a new Legion comic in 2018? And it's written by Peter Milligan? Exciting! But it sucks (so far, anyway). This trade focuses on getting rid of Legion's trauma... I am hoping so they can do more exciting stuff in the future, where Legion actually does things?
December 6, 2023
The gist (with S P O I L E R S): Professor X (Charles Xavier)'s son, David Haller (known as Legion), wakes from his coma with all three of his personalities mended and his reality warping mutant power fully realized. Legion decides to kill Magneto out of some warped sense of love for his father's dream of humans and mutant living together in harmony. To accomplish this, he travels into the past to kill Magneto back when Magneto and Professor X first formed their friendship, before Magneto became a mutant terrorist. Four X-Men, including the time-displaced Bishop, follow him as he makes the jump to try and stop him. Legion and the four X-Men (Storm, Iceman, Bishop, and Psylocke) all suffer from temporary amnesia as a result of the time travel. They slowly begin to piece together who they are and what is going on when Cable, Professor X, and Phoenix (Jean Grey) somehow telepathically contact Bishop in the past and tell them to stop Legion. Legion attacks Magneto, and during the battle Professor X gets killed, creating a divergent timeline where the X-Men were never formed. Apocalypse, sensing this mutant battle, awakes and sets his plans into motion a full decade earlier than he did in “our” timeline. (End S P O I L E R S)
This is an expanded version of the old X-Men: Legionquest trade paperback which was released in the '90s with the original series of gold foil-covered Age of Apocalypse trades. All of those were re-released and expanded in four chunky books several years ago. There is also an Omnibus hardcover that collects the core of the crossover.
I normally despise '90s X-Men, but this is a really good read. While the artwork ranges from laughably bad to palatable, I try to chalk it up to it being the '90s. Garish costumes, long hair past the ass swimming in the air like it was underwater, and everyone having pouches on their belts were the order of the day. The writing is generally good with occasionally clunky dialogue or narrative. This holds up pretty well for the most part here in 2013. Many of today's superstar creators got some of their early breaks in this era. This is before they became great.
Gambit, Bishop, and Cable have got to be the worst X-Men ever. Bishop's jerry curl mullet and huge M tattoo over his eye, Gambit's ugly costume and cringe inducing dialect, and Cable's Paul Stanley eye star...who thought that these were good character designs and ideas? It set comic books back and lost an entire generation of kids to Manga and video games.
Oh come on. The printer substituted the paper with an uncoated stock paper not much thicker than the toilet paper DC uses on their book of vintage material. This was a one-time substitution that Marvel had nothing to do with. My conspiracy theory is that Marvel did this on purpose to force us OCD sufferers to double dip on the Omnibus. I imagine the Collected Editions department sitting around, conspiring ways to get us to buy this material ad infinitum.
This is an expanded version of the old X-Men: Legionquest trade paperback which was released in the '90s with the original series of gold foil-covered Age of Apocalypse trades. All of those were re-released and expanded in four chunky books several years ago. There is also an Omnibus hardcover that collects the core of the crossover.
I normally despise '90s X-Men, but this is a really good read. While the artwork ranges from laughably bad to palatable, I try to chalk it up to it being the '90s. Garish costumes, long hair past the ass swimming in the air like it was underwater, and everyone having pouches on their belts were the order of the day. The writing is generally good with occasionally clunky dialogue or narrative. This holds up pretty well for the most part here in 2013. Many of today's superstar creators got some of their early breaks in this era. This is before they became great.
Gambit, Bishop, and Cable have got to be the worst X-Men ever. Bishop's jerry curl mullet and huge M tattoo over his eye, Gambit's ugly costume and cringe inducing dialect, and Cable's Paul Stanley eye star...who thought that these were good character designs and ideas? It set comic books back and lost an entire generation of kids to Manga and video games.
Oh come on. The printer substituted the paper with an uncoated stock paper not much thicker than the toilet paper DC uses on their book of vintage material. This was a one-time substitution that Marvel had nothing to do with. My conspiracy theory is that Marvel did this on purpose to force us OCD sufferers to double dip on the Omnibus. I imagine the Collected Editions department sitting around, conspiring ways to get us to buy this material ad infinitum.
July 13, 2025
this was great! i was a small child during the 90s so i only read a handful of issues of x-men across a smattering of various x-men family crossovers many deep in continuity. it was like catnip to child me, there wasn't a comic shop in my town so i had to rely on when my grandpa would pick one up for me at a visit. anyway, the age of apocalypse always loomed heavily over all of those events, over x-men history, and, most importantly, its being revisited this year as age of revelation with doug ramsey standing in for the big man =|A|=. After all the character development and rich depth to his character and newfound motivations he had in the krakoan era its kinda wild to see apocalypse as a straight villain in this event. This is just the prelude issues that were collected later, including the legionquest crossover. David Haller is such a tragic figure! Once you get past the crazy hairstyle its pretty cool, i like the concept and i wish the 90s writers had more...well let's say nuance towards his mental condition. At times he's schizophrenic at times they label him as autistic (while not understanding autism at all???), but its obvious he has Dissociative Identity Disorder from a more modern understanding 30 years later. He makes a pretty good heel and i'm not sure his age i think he's just a teenager? But him mastering his mental state to merge all his alters together for mental control so he could go back in time and kill magneto and prevent him from killing xavier's dream and more importantly: preventing his father xavier and his mother from leaving each other and xavier being a more active father in his life? Chef's kiss, perfectly captures how children feel helpless to stop divorces they don't want while also holding themselves as the true cause. There was SO MUCH going on here in case you couldn't tell, you're thrust right into 1994-5 x-men continuity, i had to consult the marvel wiki for a lot of the plot threads and storylines which had ended recently lol, buckle up, let's hope i survive the experience of the age of apocalypse.
November 3, 2016
Marvel goofed with the new paperback editions of Age of Apocalypse. None of them have the Complete version kick-off story-line Legion Quest. You'll need a copy of this book for that. *%#@!!(*^ -Marvel. Not in either Omniboo neither! What's up with that?
Far as I can tell this is the only edition that reprints the full version of the Legion Quest story that begins the Age of Apocalypse. It's also one of the most artful and well accomplished books in the X-Men library. It's cohesive across different titles and artists, including Andy Kubert at the top of his game. It's a down-right page-turner. Lots of working parts all moving well together. And that's hard to do with so many characters.
The newer editions of Age of Apocalypse paperbacks and the Age of Apocalypse Omniboo give a very shortened version of "Prelude". Be a sport. Treat yourself to the full ride. You'll only increase your pleasure. Buy this version. Oh and yeah - it's one of the best X-Men books I've read. And I've read them all.
Far as I can tell this is the only edition that reprints the full version of the Legion Quest story that begins the Age of Apocalypse. It's also one of the most artful and well accomplished books in the X-Men library. It's cohesive across different titles and artists, including Andy Kubert at the top of his game. It's a down-right page-turner. Lots of working parts all moving well together. And that's hard to do with so many characters.
The newer editions of Age of Apocalypse paperbacks and the Age of Apocalypse Omniboo give a very shortened version of "Prelude". Be a sport. Treat yourself to the full ride. You'll only increase your pleasure. Buy this version. Oh and yeah - it's one of the best X-Men books I've read. And I've read them all.
September 11, 2025
Content-wise, the collection is a 10/10. (Or 5 stars if you will)
However, printing quality is not up to par with what we come to expect today from Marvel. Physically it has cheap paper and colors, sometimes even blurred text when small from the poor resolution. This is my only complain and if there’s a digital version I’m sure it’s inconsequential. The issues collected here are great, nothing feels extra padding or out of place and together form an amazing storyline that’s not only a great read but an important set up and required reading for any X-fan. The writing, dialogue, and art are all equally good. Everyone brought their A game.
However, printing quality is not up to par with what we come to expect today from Marvel. Physically it has cheap paper and colors, sometimes even blurred text when small from the poor resolution. This is my only complain and if there’s a digital version I’m sure it’s inconsequential. The issues collected here are great, nothing feels extra padding or out of place and together form an amazing storyline that’s not only a great read but an important set up and required reading for any X-fan. The writing, dialogue, and art are all equally good. Everyone brought their A game.
April 22, 2019
Great prelude. Really sets the stage for this event. I recommend reading this and not relying on the end of LegionQuest that’s included in the AoA Omnibus.
I’ll have more to say in my Age of Apocalypse review, but this is an easy perfect score. This is one of the greatest comic book sagas of all time.
I’ll have more to say in my Age of Apocalypse review, but this is an easy perfect score. This is one of the greatest comic book sagas of all time.
March 10, 2022
While Legion Quest itself was a bit underwhelming--just like it was when I first read it--the lead up to it was really solid. My biggest gripe with LQ was that it seemed really fractured, in a bad way. Like the different writers didn't quite communicate with one another to make a complete story. But it's super solid and I'm looking forward to my reread of the entire series.
May 7, 2017
Oh, the drama!
June 1, 2017
Fun. I love the collections where they put the relevant issues from different titles.
August 19, 2017
For X-Men issues, these aren't bad. They're kicking off a major plotline and they're doing it well.
August 25, 2017
By far the coolest X-Men story I've read in a while. Interesting premise that actually makes sense.
Plus, Legion.
Plus, Legion.
October 18, 2018
Essential stories leading up to the Age of Apocalypse cross over event of the mid 1990's. Much has been written of this X-Event.
January 12, 2020
The beginning of the coolest X-Men story lines ever.
February 3, 2023
Most disoriented collection I have ever read.
May 17, 2023
I generally don't read this far back in Marvel, but this was easy to pick up and understand.
May 14, 2024
3/5 - Graphic Novels
4/5 - Superheroes / X-Men
3/5 - Story
3.33/5 - Rating
4/5 - Superheroes / X-Men
3/5 - Story
3.33/5 - Rating
October 29, 2025
I never got to read the books before the Age of Apocalypse, so this was great. I only give it 4 instead of 5 stars because it doesn't have the high-color, glossy pages.
June 21, 2019
Na to, že jsem čekal čistě přípravu na hlavní event + že se budu ztrácet ptž X-meny moc načtené nemám, tak mi to přišlo překvapivě dobré.
Samozřejmě kvalita sešitů není úplně vyvážená a styl devadesátkové kresby mi taky nesedí, celkově ale spokojenost.
Samozřejmě kvalita sešitů není úplně vyvážená a styl devadesátkové kresby mi taky nesedí, celkově ale spokojenost.
September 29, 2024
Update for a 2024 reread:
The beginning of this collection was so much better than I remembered. It begins with my favorite Fabien Nicieza story yet, as he pulls together a bunch of continuity strands to set up his Legion Quest event. Everything's spelled out pretty clearly and it really draws you into the impending story.
The X-Factor issues surrounding Mystique's quest to kill Legion are decent, and also prep the reader for a killer crossover. We then get a few Uncanny and adjectiveless X-Men issues with strong character beats and tension that ramps up to the actual Legion Quest event.
Which sucks. Legion Quest is an uneven mess that throws you into the middle of a battle scene and then winds back to the inciting event, and then goes back to the battle scene, and then does a poor job of handling a trite time traveling story.
It's really disappointing, given how good the lead-in is. Unlike most of Nicieza's misfires (which make up at least 90% of his output), the problem here is that he had a very clear endpoint but no idea how to get there.
I do think that one of the benefits of the entire Age Of Apocalypse experience is that, if you love alternate reality tales, you can revel in this expansive universe, but if you don't, well you can just skip this entire event and miss almost zero continuity.
***
Original Reveiw:
An essential story in the X-Men universe, this expanded version of X-Men Legion Quest sets up the most ambitious, complicated era of the X-Men, an alternate reality that engulfed all of the X-Men and spinoff books for over a year. While X-Men: Age of Apocalypse Omnibus is generally regarded as a cool, reimagining of the X-Men, it's also a mess of convoluted character relationships and plot points that get completely undone by the final issue, with very few ramifications to the restored timelines, sooooo...I'm skipping it.
This volume is one of the better Lobdell X-Men books. It has a clear purpose, and a large but managable cast. Cable, X-Factor, and both teams of X-Men are all trying to prevent Professor X's son, David, newly awakened from (sigh....what a trope) a coma, and more powerful than ever, from...well...they're not sure what he's trying to do. But he eventually travels into the past, followed by some of the X-Men. It's there that his plan to rewrite the Marvel Universe is revealed. But it, uhhh, doesn't end up the way he hoped.
The beginning of this collection was so much better than I remembered. It begins with my favorite Fabien Nicieza story yet, as he pulls together a bunch of continuity strands to set up his Legion Quest event. Everything's spelled out pretty clearly and it really draws you into the impending story.
The X-Factor issues surrounding Mystique's quest to kill Legion are decent, and also prep the reader for a killer crossover. We then get a few Uncanny and adjectiveless X-Men issues with strong character beats and tension that ramps up to the actual Legion Quest event.
Which sucks. Legion Quest is an uneven mess that throws you into the middle of a battle scene and then winds back to the inciting event, and then goes back to the battle scene, and then does a poor job of handling a trite time traveling story.
It's really disappointing, given how good the lead-in is. Unlike most of Nicieza's misfires (which make up at least 90% of his output), the problem here is that he had a very clear endpoint but no idea how to get there.
I do think that one of the benefits of the entire Age Of Apocalypse experience is that, if you love alternate reality tales, you can revel in this expansive universe, but if you don't, well you can just skip this entire event and miss almost zero continuity.
***
Original Reveiw:
An essential story in the X-Men universe, this expanded version of X-Men Legion Quest sets up the most ambitious, complicated era of the X-Men, an alternate reality that engulfed all of the X-Men and spinoff books for over a year. While X-Men: Age of Apocalypse Omnibus is generally regarded as a cool, reimagining of the X-Men, it's also a mess of convoluted character relationships and plot points that get completely undone by the final issue, with very few ramifications to the restored timelines, sooooo...I'm skipping it.
This volume is one of the better Lobdell X-Men books. It has a clear purpose, and a large but managable cast. Cable, X-Factor, and both teams of X-Men are all trying to prevent Professor X's son, David, newly awakened from (sigh....what a trope) a coma, and more powerful than ever, from...well...they're not sure what he's trying to do. But he eventually travels into the past, followed by some of the X-Men. It's there that his plan to rewrite the Marvel Universe is revealed. But it, uhhh, doesn't end up the way he hoped.
July 30, 2020
Reread July 2020:
So my awesome wife got me the Age of Apocalypse Omnibus as a gift and this slimmer volume came with it. I lost a lot of my x-books issues from when I originally read them in one move or another and all of the AOA books were gone. Recently, I had really been wanting to reread the story and she came through with an awesome gift...
Rereading this, I am surprised. Memory is a weird thing. I *loved* the Age of Apocalypse story and kind of see it in the glory days of the 90s x-books in my head. When this volume started and I saw the odd art (man, that X-factor issue is bad...) and later costume designs, etcetera, I realized that this was the point that I had started losing interest in the x-books to a point. Not really important to this review, but I thought it was interesting how the mind works... (I do remember really disliking when the books came back from the AOA series with their forced new mysteries/weird time jump...but I digress.)
At any rate, I wouldn't put this story up there with the best x-tales out there, especially removed from what would follow it but it has its moments. Anything with Mystique and Legion I am there for. In the end, though, this whole book really is a prelude. Once could read AOA without this and it would still make sense. But wow, was this a big deal when it came out... I'm so glad that this storyline predated heavy internet usage, that we didn't know if the regular x-books would ever come back... It made the whole thing more exciting.
But at any rate, this is important as a lead-in but maybe not the best x-book on its own.
So my awesome wife got me the Age of Apocalypse Omnibus as a gift and this slimmer volume came with it. I lost a lot of my x-books issues from when I originally read them in one move or another and all of the AOA books were gone. Recently, I had really been wanting to reread the story and she came through with an awesome gift...
Rereading this, I am surprised. Memory is a weird thing. I *loved* the Age of Apocalypse story and kind of see it in the glory days of the 90s x-books in my head. When this volume started and I saw the odd art (man, that X-factor issue is bad...) and later costume designs, etcetera, I realized that this was the point that I had started losing interest in the x-books to a point. Not really important to this review, but I thought it was interesting how the mind works... (I do remember really disliking when the books came back from the AOA series with their forced new mysteries/weird time jump...but I digress.)
At any rate, I wouldn't put this story up there with the best x-tales out there, especially removed from what would follow it but it has its moments. Anything with Mystique and Legion I am there for. In the end, though, this whole book really is a prelude. Once could read AOA without this and it would still make sense. But wow, was this a big deal when it came out... I'm so glad that this storyline predated heavy internet usage, that we didn't know if the regular x-books would ever come back... It made the whole thing more exciting.
But at any rate, this is important as a lead-in but maybe not the best x-book on its own.
November 5, 2011
A collection of stories leading up to the Age of Apocalypse universe. I've only read a smattering of X-Men here and there, and this was a really interesting intro to a very famous storyline. It made quite a splash in the '90s, even as a non-comics reader I recall the cover of Magneto clutching a (dead? injured?) Charles Xavier.
This "prelude" starts as a somewhat disjointed collection of episodes to introduce the cast, but it all comes together by midway and really begins to gather steam as we see Legion awake and set off on his misguided journey to the past. The characterizations and dialogue throughout are quite good, having read very little classic X-Men this was nonetheless a great intro to many of the characters, making it easier to jump in without their backstory.
The final pages are exciting and poignant as the characters consider their final moments, in some cases, or fight to their deaths, in others. I find it hard to get very wrapped up in superhero stories because they are often so over the top, but this story proved that they can have both great suspense and emotional depth.
This "prelude" starts as a somewhat disjointed collection of episodes to introduce the cast, but it all comes together by midway and really begins to gather steam as we see Legion awake and set off on his misguided journey to the past. The characterizations and dialogue throughout are quite good, having read very little classic X-Men this was nonetheless a great intro to many of the characters, making it easier to jump in without their backstory.
The final pages are exciting and poignant as the characters consider their final moments, in some cases, or fight to their deaths, in others. I find it hard to get very wrapped up in superhero stories because they are often so over the top, but this story proved that they can have both great suspense and emotional depth.
December 30, 2015
I have every one of the single issues in this volume except the issue of Cable. Until just now I've never read that issue before. The rest I've read numerous times in the 19 years since this originally came out as single issues. I'm not going to break down all of the people that worked on all of these issues. Fabian Nicieza and Scott Lobdell were 2 of the writers involved in the different series collected here. Lobdell is largely known as the man responsible for Age of Apocalypse. Those 2 guys were and still are some of my favorite comics writers of all time. This story and what follows is a big part of the reason I feel that way about them. They were definitely some of the elite writers in comics back then. Some of the art was great and some was just fair. Ian Churchill had the best art of all in the Cable issue. Andy Kubert's issues would be a close second. As a whole, this prelude and the rest of Age of Apocalypse is one of the best multi-title crossover events in the history of comics. It deserves a place with Blackest Night and a couple of others on the Mount Rushmore of comics. 5 stars.
December 20, 2013
Legion returns the land of the living! That can't be good, right? Even his currently sane state, David isn't only crazy, but really stupid as well. He should have anticipated that his father, being the saint he is, would sacrifice himself to save Magnus' life. And even if he didn't and Magnus had died at the hands of Legion, who's to say that Xavier wouldn't turn into the monster Magneto is today (okay, he didn't as seen in What If... Legion Had Killed Magneto), but he should have considered that. This story line was confusing at first but then I understood what was meant when the Shi'Ar predicted the destruction of the entire universe. What they really meant was the destruction of the 616-reality involving Xavier and his X-Men, resulting in the birth of the Age of Apocalypse reality where the X-Men are lead by Magneto and not Xavier. Comic books can be so fucking confusing. I also liked the build-up throughout the other X-titles into the Age of Apocalypse. This was superbly done!! Kudos, to sir Scott Lobdell!!
December 19, 2015
It's weird. I think the Golden (Pewter?) age of quality X-men comics where the X-men were the clear American #1 never really happened. There's the 1980s stuff, which few will really own outside the Phoenix Saga. I never really see a lot of attempts to bring back the glory days where Havok led the X-men in the Australian Outback.
So then there's the big 90's X-Men that are practically the only group not to require a storyline to get a Secret Wars comic:
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...
But they really only existed in small gaps between Fatal Attractions, Phalanx Covenant, AoA, and Onslaught. Of those, only AoA is generally considered to be good, I think. From experience, I can tell that Fatal Attractions and Phoenix Covenant are not.
So here the X-men seem to be partly marking time as a crystallization wave comes for them. And Legion, who always seems so interesting, isn't especially. It's fine, but this is only really interesting for AoA completionists, I think.
So then there's the big 90's X-Men that are practically the only group not to require a storyline to get a Secret Wars comic:
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...
But they really only existed in small gaps between Fatal Attractions, Phalanx Covenant, AoA, and Onslaught. Of those, only AoA is generally considered to be good, I think. From experience, I can tell that Fatal Attractions and Phoenix Covenant are not.
So here the X-men seem to be partly marking time as a crystallization wave comes for them. And Legion, who always seems so interesting, isn't especially. It's fine, but this is only really interesting for AoA completionists, I think.
July 12, 2022
Pretty disappointed by this title due to how this story is being presented. I don't know if I can call it a story since all of the individual issues are all over the place. It is supposed to help introduce the Age of Apocalypse storyline, but it feels like it needs an introduction to this introduction. I am familiar with all of these characters, but again, it feels like I don't know any of the stories that are being told. The best part is the art that resembles the 90s animated X-Men. I really wanted to like this more. I will say the story about Legion is excellent. I see why so many X-Men fans like Legion as a character. He actually adds real depth to the story.
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