Three marvel superstars offer just about nothing.
When the Scarlet Witch reshaped the world handing it over to her father Magneto, this lead to the mutants taking over and humans reduced to being second class. In the process superheroes were effected in different ways with the Scarlet Witch giving those close to her their hearts desire. But is this the world they really wanted? -summary
Normally I love crossovers in big events because they usually expand on the main story and help them see their true potential. Events such as Secret Wars II and even The Infinity War pulled it off very well. The crossovers during those two mega events into multiple characters books pushed those storylines into the awesome category, and when I learned House of M received that same treatment, I was very interested in seeing how far Marvel would take this alternate world. Well, House of M: Wolverine, Iron Man, & Hulk doesn't seem to take it anywhere. It's bad enough these stories feel so bland on their own, but it feels like being mugged that they're billed as House of M crossovers when they feel completely unnecessary. I mean these star writers to me did almost nothing in taking advantage of quite possibly Marvel's greatest idea since Age of Apocalypse. This TPB collects Wolverine 33 - 35, Iron Man: House of M 1 - 3, Incredible Hulk 83 - 87, Captain America 10, The Pulse 10, Cable & Deadpool 17, and material from Hulk: Broken Worlds 1. These stories are written by various writers; Peter David, Daniel Way, Greg Pak, and others.
This book may be the biggest waste of time in the crossover. The story begins with Wolverine going A.W.O.L. from S.H.I.E.L.D. with his lover and partner Mystique being questioned by director Sebastian Shaw. It appears that Wolverine has a long standing grudge with Nick Fury and he left to go kill him. The gist of this story is Wolverine still searching for reasons to fight despite pretty much being in peace time. The alternate twist on his relationship with Nick Fury has some impact if you're already familiar with their original history, but the story itself really did nothing for me. It feels pointless and random if you already read the main story to House of M. Wolverine is a main character in that story, and the focus was on him regaining his lost memories which lead to assembling a group to take down Magneto. This book does not expand on that story, and what little bit of details it does go into on his and Mystique's relationship can be overlooked, because it's obvious in the main story that they were close.
The Iron Man story delves deeper into Hank Pym's scientific discovery concerning his research on the mutant gene. He develops a bomb that can destroy the mutant gene rendering them powerless, and this forces Stark to try and stop him. At first I found this story puzzling on why he would want to do that, but when looking at what the Scarlet Witch wanted I guess it makes sense. Had the action been more creative and not so boring then this story would have been OK at best. The Hulk story is him once again finding some type of peace, only to be dragged into battle and becoming the reluctant hero. He forms an alliance with A.I.M. (Advanced Ideas & Mechanics) to take on one of Magneto's mutant chapters lead by Exodus. It's a typical Hulk story and nothing more, if you enjoy watching Hulk smash then you'll dig this.
This book is a total disappointment; the only stories worth a damn are Pulse 10 featuring Hawkeye and the Captain America story. Hawkeye is alive in this alternate world, and he opens up about actually having strong feelings for the Scarlet Witch, which explains how come he's so heartbroken learning that she killed him, in which this explains his actions in the main story. Cap is by far the best, and he definitely got his wish for the most part. He made it completely through World War II killing all of his major enemies and was never trapped in ice. Although he always believed that as Americans mutants had rights, he has grown old to 80 years old and he is disgusted by this new world, even likening Magneto to Hitler. Deadpool and Cable.... The less said about that the better.
Since these are various main title crossovers then you can expect different artwork across the board. Wolverine and Captain America have the best artwork; the former has some really fine character designs and coloring with action. The backgrounds are done very well with nice looking explosions, and one panel even has Wolverine being burned alive. An elderly Captain America receives cool points for the hell of it. The facial designs for him are noteworthy because you can see the anger on his face, and you just know he wants to take action. The Hulk story has some decent action filled moments with him taking on a giant robot. Iron Man has the worst artwork though, I didn't like this alternate version at all. The armor has way too many lines and he resembles a Transformer far more than himself, plus the action was beyond stale.
In all honesty, these stories seem like most of the writers never glanced at the main story even by accident. Almost the entire book feels like filler. This book is a money grabbing cash-in, a shameless cash-in at that. There's really nothing here to offer if you're looking for a deeper look into the House of M. I only recommend this to serious completest and fans of these characters, but if you really want to see a writer take advantage of this alternate world. Then I highly recommend Christos Gage's House of M crossovers: House of M: Avengers, Masters of Evil, and Civil War.
Pros:Some good artwork here and there
Cons:Unnecessary and feels way too forced