Random Thoughts On... House of X/Powers of X

Other titles for this post were the following:

• Random Thoughts On… Jonathan Hickman having his way with the X-Men Books
• Random Thoughts On… wondering what the crap Jonathan Hickman is doing with the X-Men Books
• Random Thoughts On… Jonathan Hickman returning to Marvel to do some more greatness
• Random Thoughts On… Jonathan Hickman flirting with your mother, your ex, your current spouse, and rebuilding two houses while helming the X-Men books for the foreseeable future

Okay, that last one was a stretch.

Next up for the month, I thought I would come to the present and get back to the X-Men. It’s been a minute since I’ve talked about Marvel’s “Merry” Mutants. One of these days, I’ll actually watch Dark Phoenix (I got it for my sister for Christmas), but today is not that day. I got two posts planned for them this month. While one is in the more usual mode for the team (psychics and aliens, ‘yo!), this is one that is definitely different for the team and mutants as a whole.

Erik may be wearing white, but that mouth hasn't changed.

During March 2019, Marvel announced that Jonathan Hickman would be returning to Marvel. Hickman’s done quite a bit for the comics industry. He’s done quite a few books for Image Comics like East of West, The Manhattan Projects, and The Nightly News. During his time at Marvel, he did a lot of stuff like working in the Ultimate Universe and having long runs with Fantastic Four and the Avengers. He also helmed events like Infinity and the new Secret Wars. He even helped write a couple of issues of Avengers vs. X-Men.

I pretty much like his runs on Secret Warriors, New Avengers, Avengers, and Secret Wars. Him coming to X-Men definitely made me curious. I tried to get back into the X-Men for a few times over the years, but I never stuck for whatever reason. I mostly stuck around on the recent Uncanny X-Men book, but it just felt like the same old stuff. I know that the X-Men have to protect a world that hates and fears them, but that can get tiring especially when the real world is also looking like that. Suddenly, Hickman comes in promising something new, and it got me interested in what will happen next.

So... what's going on here?

Hickman started his X-Men run with two miniseries: House of X and Powers of X (10). They were released weekly from July 2019 to October 2019. One week, you’d get HOX. The next week, POX would be released. Hickman wrote both books. Both books had different artists. On HOX, we had Pepe Larraz on pencils and inks. For POX, R.B. Silva did the share of pencils and inks while Adriano Di Benedetto helped with additional inks. So, why in the #### did Professor Xavier team up with Magneto and decide to form a sovereign mutant nation?

House of X

HOX pretty much sets the new status quo for the X-Men and mutants in general. To keep it simple (and somewhat spoiler-free), Professor Xavier, Magneto, and Moria McTaggart (it’s a long story) end up forming a sovereign mutant nation on Krakoa. Any and all mutants are invited to live there. The only way to the island is to use these custom-made gateways that are parts of Krakoa. These gateways are all set up all around the world. Some surprising mutants even get an invite to Krakoa. They’ve also even set up imports and exports of pharmaceutical drugs that can help humanity.

And he's back...yeah, I think Scott Summers is a BAMF.

While things seem to be pretty nice for the mutants, the X-Men are still going to do their thing in protecting themselves from enemies of mutants. A new human enemy enters the fray: ORCHIS, a rogue anti-mutant group that’s composed of former members of Marvel organizations. When the X-Men get word that ORCHIS is up to no good in space, Xavier has Cyclops assemble a team to stop the plan they’re hatching. They succeed in their mission, but it comes at a cost…, or so that’s what we’re to believe at first. Let’s just say that death may not be too final.

Xavier and the others also set up their own government with its own rules. We find out personally happens when one breaks one of their three cardinal rules. I’ll just say that it’s Sabertooth. That jackass has to always make trouble for folk, ya know? Anyway, after all the business is settled up and… Cyclops team “returns”, we get to have a little ‘ole rave. Luckily it’s not bland and off-putting like the one from the Matrix Reloaded.

Powers of X

POX shows how the new status quo came about and why it’s ended up being the way it is. We also get three other timelines, and we see how they play into the present day know as X1-Year 10. X0-Year Zero is pretty much the past. It shows Moira and Xavier setting their plan into motion over the years. X2-Year 100 shows a post-apocalyptic future for the X-Men… a usual thing. Machines have taken over Earth, and only a few Mutants are left standing to fight. The final timeline is X3-Year 1000. In this era, humanity has evolved even further with machines while what’s left of the mutants is in a literal zoo. I ain’t going to spoil all of this, but just know that ‘ole Moria is the key in all four timelines.

OPINION

This was a pretty great read. When you got me wanting to come to the LCS every week to pick up an issue, you’re doing something right! When I heard Hickman was coming to the X-Men, I already was getting ready for what might come. I didn’t expect this, though. Talk about changing the game for the X-Men and mutants as a whole. That first issue pretty much lets you know that things have changed. You got Magneto in white, Xavier looking even more shady (and kinda dressed up like the Maker, a Marvel villain), Logan laughing with kids, Jean Grey in her old Marvel Girl outfit for some reason, and Cyclops being an ass to the Fantastic Four. It’s awesome!

The X2 timeline was a pretty interesting one.

Hickman does some retconning with this new venture and you can look at Moira McTaggart as the big change. It’s revealed her that she’s a mutant who basically reincarnates into her own body and resets the timeline. You find out that she lived ten lives as herself with the current day being the 10th one. In her issue, you pretty much find out why she’s done all of this for Xavier. With the island, they end up doing some really crazy stuff. The pharmaceuticals is probably the least crazy thing the mutants do here.

At that moment... Xavier learns that Moira is into a lotta things... oh my.

One of the things I really like about it all is how much thought goes into the island itself. It’s not just  another Asteroid M scenario. A lot of thought gets put into how this island will function and operate. A government gets set up, they get imports/exports set up, and they even get some custom laws set up. With their new status quo, they gotta set up some new rules. Another that was pretty cool was Hickman’s info dumps. Anything he couldn’t explain in the story gets thrown into a page of text. Luckily, most of it is actually interesting to read since you get the idea that he’s setting up more for the future there.

The buzz on this image and a couple of other things involving these three has been funny.

Seeing the various timelines was also a treat. It was cool to see how Xavier went around to pretty familiar characters to get the house set up. The X2 timeline was particularly interesting since you not only saw a couple of familiar faces, you also saw combinations of certain characters lumped into one person. We also got one of the funniest and scariest Sentinels in Nimrod. For a robot, That dude was all over the emotional spectrum. The final timeline, X3, was just okay. You really don’t know why we’re here until the last issue. Before that, it’s just some weird stuff involving the Phalanx, the X-Men’s version of the Borg.

I wasn't the biggest fan of the X3 timeline, but the ending makes up for it.

The artwork is pretty good all-around. Larraz did an awesome job with House of X, and Silva did great with Powers of X. There’s really nothing bad thing I can say about the art here. It does what it needs to and then some. We got some new but familiar designs for all the X-Men. For example, we got Logan back in a classic suit, and Magneto looks awesome in white. I also liked how Krakoa looked in general. It’s like a weird organic and technological combination.  The only thing I do think is weird is that Jean’s back in her 70’s costume with the skirt. I wonder if there is a story reason behind that…

Overall, this was cool. The only issues I do have is that it can geta little too wordy at times. Also, that X3 timeline thing could’ve been handled a little better. Even those issues and any small nitpicks don’t hurt the overall story. This was a good start for this new era for X-Men. It helped me, someone who’s had a hard time getting into the X-Men in recent years, stay with an X-Men book. I’m only getting the main X-Men book for now, but that may change. Anyway, I’m off to read some Asimov. Until then, Peace, God Bless, and don’t tick off the really giddy Sentinel.