OK, this is it. This is the piece where I truly unleash my inner (and outer) nerd. I’ve been reading comic books since I was eight years old—these days, dozens of millions of people turn out for every adaptation of each superhero story, but what not nearly as many know is that the comics these films are based on are still being published. Marvel’s publishing wing is going strong, just as it was 10 years ago when yours truly started making weekly pilgrimages to his local comic book shop.
It’s worth mentioning that I’ve always felt comfortable entering said comics shops. “Simpsons” caricatures aside, these stores can be a welcoming home for nerdy folks, or toxic swamps of neckbeards only interested in catering to dudes. Anyway, since I started buying comics every Wednesday (the world standard for new comic book day), the X-Men have… suffered. On a lot of levels.
Some company context: Back in 2009, Disney purchased Marvel—they put the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) movies into theaters, but they’re also responsible for comic distribution. Meanwhile, the film studio Fox has been making X-Men movies for the last two decades, even though Marvel (Disney) still controls the comic rights. Somewhere in the last 10 years (around 2012), as competition between the companies was really heating up, an order came down the corporate ladder: Stop making quality X-Men comics. Then last year, Disney purchased Fox. This is a bad thing (for reasons I don’t really have time to get into), but there is one clear silver lining: The X-Men are allowed to be good again.
Enter Jonathan Hickman. Hickman’s been writing comics for the better part of the last 20 years. He’s an ideas guy, and even if you’ve never read a word he’s written, he’s responsible for some storylines and images you’re likely familiar with. Remember the Hydra twist from “Winter Soldier?” That’s taken from a Hickman book called “Secret Warriors.” Remember Thanos’ henchmen, his towering, circular spaceship and the invasion of Wakanda in “Infinity War?” That’s all from his 2013 crossover “Infinity.”
Hickman seemed to walk away from Marvel in 2015 after completing a couple legendary runs and wrapping up his “Secret Wars.” He did some more work on the independent side of the industry—which is even more confusing than his superhero stuff. Then Marvel seemed to approach Hickman with an offer he couldn’t refuse: Come back, and you can have the X-Men. Just make them matter again.
This summer, that’s exactly what Hickman did.
Comics generally run monthly—not so here. Instead, Hickman launched two parallel, six-issue series starting in July. The first, “House of X,” is set in Marvel’s present, and chronicles the radical new status quo of the X-Men. The second, “Power of X,” has a bit of a twist: that X is actually the roman numeral for 10, and the series is set across four different timelines. Each issue begins at the beginning, the moment Charles Xavier has a dream of human and mutant co-existence, then flashes ahead 10 years, to the present (the same moment when “House of X” is set). Then the next section of each issue is set 100 years later, and the last thousand years into the future—again, powers of 10. Both books were published on alternating weeks, meaning we got three solid months of weekly Hickman books (the final issue hit stores last Wednesday).
If you can’t tell, this story can get pretty heady. Some of the exposition can’t be delivered diegetically, so Hickman includes pages of text and graphics that convey the necessary information to the reader. They’re engaging and formally inventive but not as stimulating as the rest of the pages, drawn by up-and-coming artists Pepe Larraz and R.B. Silva. Larraz and Silva both have their own distinct styles, but they’ve both learned a lot from Stuart Immonen (perhaps the single best comics artist of the 21st century). As a result, their art shares a similar, vibrant sensibility, coming together to create a cohesive aesthetic for this new status quo.
And the story itself? It’s a radical redefinition of who the X-Men are and what they mean. Professor X—who’s always been the good-natured, J-Street-esque idealist of the mutant community—has changed. As a result, the X-Men are no longer confined to a mansion in Westchester. Instead, they’ve established their own nation-state, promising to distribute a set of helpful designer drugs to mankind in exchange for sovereignty. Magneto—the separatist, former ideological-opposite of Xavier—has joined forces with his old friend. What does it all mean? What are the consequences of Xavier abandoning his dream for this concrete, potentially superior reality for all mutant-kind?
It’s also exciting to watch Hickman re-contextualize one of the X-Men’s sidekicks as the key to the entire saga. Moira MacTaggert has been hanging around since the mid ’70s, but Hickman incorporates her—and time travel as a whole—into the broader story in a way I’ve never quite seen before. But what’s even more shocking is the accessibility of this 12-issue story. Even with all its conceptual heavy-lifting, “House of X” and “Powers of X” are a great jumping-on point for people who haven’t been reading the X-Men comics for the past few years.
In fact, I’m willing to go a little further: It’s a great place to start for people who’ve never picked up a comic before. After umpteen feature films, pretty much everyone has a passing knowledge of the X-Men, and everything else you need to know to grasp the story is in these pages. The movies are great, but comic book characters really thrive in the medium they were built for. Stories like “House of X” are proof. The whole thing will be published as a trade paperback soon—but honestly, I’ve got all the issues in my dorm room. I’d be happy to lend them out! After all, with great nerdiness comes great responsibility.
