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X-Men

How to (Re)Read the Hickman Era of X-Men: Powers of X #2 Pt. 2, Powers of X #3

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I. POX2: Year 100

So, who else would bi-centenarian Logan call “old man” (POX 1) but the millennia-old Apocalypse? Here, in a world where Xavier was killed as a young man, Xavier’s murderer is also “boss”—made crystal clear, shockingly, by Apocalypse’s reference to Logan as War, and hence one of his Horsemen. This means that the Apocalypse of Moira’s ninth life had infected Logan with a Death Seed, just as the Life-Ten Apocalypse did to Angel, thereby transforming him into Death. It was Rick Remender’s Uncanny X-Force that revealed this specific wrinkle of the Horsemen mythos (in “The Dark Angel Saga,” #10-18, 2011).

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Hickman X-Men Reading Order

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How to (Re)Read the Hickman Era of X-Men: House of X #2 Pt. 2; Powers of X #2 Pt. 1

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A friendly reminder: This HOX/POX reread contains no spoilers beyond these two series that are one. But logical theories will be worked out here and there as we go along.

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Hickman X-Men Reading Order

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How to (Re)Read the Hickman Era of X-Men: House of X #2 Pt. 1

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I. The Cover Story of House of X #2: The Uncanny Life of Moira X

Six Moiras on the cover, forming a hexagram, patterns like fingerprints in the background, each portrait opposite someone else’s—with two more triangular portraits fitted into the corners. It’s as if we’re looking end-on at a prismatic crystal, each facet featuring a grim-faced icon.

Seeing this cover for the first time, the reader would be struck by mystery—primarily: Moira as Apocalypse?!

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Hickman X-Men Reading Order

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Uncanny X-Men Omnibus, Volume 4 Review!

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Uncanny X-Men #185, written by Chris Claremont, art by John Romita Jr., Dan Green, and Glynis Oliver, lettering by Tom Orzechowski

Claremont’s X-Men run is generally referred to as an indisputable comic book classic, one that ran for no less than seventeen years (more if you include his various returns to the books after departing in 1991). There’s no question that it is where the greater world began to take notice and fall in love with X-Men’s suddenly complex and tragic mutants, and the special mix of science fiction, horror, action, and soap opera that Claremont brought to the book continues to define the mood of the franchise all these many years later.

With many of the X-Men’s greatest hits in the bag (The Dark Phoenix Saga, Proteus, The Brood Saga, etc.), this is where we truly start to see the stories diverging and expanding into a more sprawling and convoluted X-Continuity. Soon, Claremont would no longer be the only X-Writer, and we would see more and more of the spin-offs and crossovers that sometimes diluted and sometimes advanced the franchise. Though The Uncanny X-Men Omnibus Vol. 4 might read as more of a sporadic collection of B-plots than a saga, longtime readers and those newer readers that don’t mind being thrown into the deep end of the pool will be able to appreciate the character dynamics alongside many resolving and developing plot threads alike. [Read more…] about Uncanny X-Men Omnibus, Volume 4 Review!