HOUSE OF X #1

Jonathan Hickman is back at Marvel and he's rejuvenating the X-Men franchise. The X-Men comic books have been on life support for some time. Can you remember the last time the X-Men books were any good? I suppose the last time they were halfway decent was when Bendis brought back the X-Men from the 60's via time travel in All New X-Men...and that was way back in 2012. Hickman, of course, is not exactly one of my favorite writers. There's a comic book store owner from Ohio that posts a lot of videos on YouTube when he gets his new books for the week and he recently called the writer Jonathan "Boring" Hickman...which isn't a minority opinion. Hickman tends to favor brain over brawn...meaning his books rely less on action and more on intricate, long-form storytelling that sometimes pays off but often gets bogged down in confusion and dullness. Hickman wrote one of the worst Marvel event books in recent memory, Infinity, and followed that up with Secret Wars, which, while semi-interesting, was probably best known for the great Esad Ribic artwork. He also wrote Fantastic Four and The Avengers...but hasn't been at Marvel since 2016. It was rumored that he was all set to go to DC but that never panned out. Meanwhile he's been writing stuff at Image like East of West. The best book he'll probably ever write is The Manhattan Projects for Image...although so far his new X-Men book has gotten off to a fantastic start and could possibly be his masterpiece. I think the problem with the X-Men books is that they're pretty rudimentary and been-there-done-that. You've got a group of superheroes and they fight super villains and that's about it. After fifty years of that, what more can be done with it? Well Hickman has definitely tried to break to mold and try something new, which is a good thing. House of X #1 kicks off what is basically the same thing Bendis has done with Superman over at DC. When Bendis came to DC they gave him both Superman books and he took over the whole character. Hickman is doing the same with the X-Men. He's doing two six part mini-series called House of X and Powers of X that will run until October when he unleashes the new Uncanny X-Men #1. And Hickman has pretty much re-done the entire X-Men world without even setting anything up. It's just completely different from the very first page. Which is a good thing, actually, considering every X-Men book has sucked for years. The story here is bold and also kind of hard to describe. The X-Men have used Krakatoa, who is kind of a mutant creature the size of an island, to create a paradise world where all mutants can live. Professor Xavier is, apparently, able to bring back the dead because of a few new drugs he created that every country on Earth is dying to get their hands on. Magneto is on the X-Men side but says that mutants are the new Gods and that man should start worshiping them. So the X-Men are kind of evil now...sort of? The Fantastic Four, Sabretooth, and Wolverine all show up in this...so it's definitely not one of those lame X-Men books with a bunch of nobody mutants no one cares about. Yes, the book is all set up to a larger story that will probably end up being humans vs. mutants...but it's fresh and interesting and intriguing stuff. It might just be the best book I've read all year...which is saying something considering how God-awful Marvel and DC books are these days. The one drawback is the art. Pepe Larraz is not exactly a superstar, and the art is maybe a little better than average at best. But Hickman is back and his book is excellent, which is a surprise. And the X-Men are relevant again. Fuck...it's been awhile. ***1/2