Review of Age of X (Complete TPB)
Age of X is a more of a visual treat with an “alternate” dimension take on the X-Men and their myths that fails to live up to the visual style presented. Majority of the book was written by Mike Carey who seems to have his own little universe to play with. Problem is that the story is lacking and seems to be like something we have seen before done better with ‘House of M’.
The artwork is pretty good but the character redesigns really stand out and in some ways really improve on some key characters. It seems like they are trying to capture what they had with Age of Apocalypse but as I havn’t kept up with the X-Men recently, it got hard for me to tell which characters were what.
The X-Men in particular has always been known for their splintered history and future so the story fits, its just seems small especially by the end. You know what will happen halfway into the book. By the end you find that it is another reality altering mutant and everything goes back to normal. Nothing like ‘No More Mutants’ to create a lasting impact.
The X-Men just sort of shrug it off as another shit day at the office. The main focus is on Cyclops, Wolverine and Rogue, dealing with a different take on their characters forced by their environment. Cyclops basically became a weapon against his own people, forced to execute with his optic blast. Wolverine just becomes regular old James Logan. Devoid of his healing abilities which keeps him on a leash for a majority of the book. Popping his claws out means he will die quickly. Rogue is the focal character that we see through the entire adventure but she is used as a tool for her people, getting the memories of fallen heroes.
By the end you are really waiting and hoping something cool will happen. This almost reminds me as a “videogame” sort of story that they would do. Doesn’t need the years of continuity but the characters all look cool. Again cooler than they normally do. It is a worth while pick up on the cheap if you enjoy alternate reality stories, even if it pales in comparison to other books tackling the same subject matter.
