Jonathan Hickman returning to Marvel to shepherd the X-Men books was always going to be an exciting proposition. That said, I don’t know if anyone was prepared for just how different and far-reaching his X-run would be. While “House of X” is telling an important story in the X-world of today, “Powers of X” is telling an important story across 1,000 years of mutants. It’s the type of unprecedented and exciting comic booking that only happens a few times every generation. We aren’t kidding when we say that you absolutely cannot miss this.
Who’s This By?
“Powers of X” is written by Jonathan Hickman, penciled by R.B. Silva, inked by Silva and Adriano De Benedtto, colored by Marte Gracia, and lettered by Clayton Cowles.
What’s This All About?
“Powers of X,” pronounced ‘Powers of Ten,’ is a look at four very distinct time-periods in mutant history: the year the X-Men were founded (maybe…or maybe just the year that Charles Xavier and Moira McTaggert first made contact; that’s left somewhat up in the air), ten years later (our ‘current’ timeline, or so it appears), one hundred years later, and one thousand years later. While there are some connective tissues between the four storylines, they aren’t simply echoing each other, but telling unique stories that dovetail together in interesting ways. They also are quite connected to what is happening in “House of X.”
‘Year 1’ shows Charles Xavier encounter Moira MacTaggert and Magneto, and the three of them together develop plans for the events of “House of X,” as well as the ‘Year 10’ story in “Powers of X,” which is establishing Krakoa as a mutant sanctuary with a tradable commodity to establish it as an important piece of Earth’s economic and sociopolitical structure.
The threats that pop up later in the story are initially introduced into the ‘Year 10’ story, and we see some events carry over from “House of X,” such as Toad and Mystique’s theft that led to Sabertooth’s capture.
In ‘Year 100,’ we see that their plan failed spectacularly, with mutants spread throughout Shi’ar space and on ‘Asteroid K,’ the now space-dwelling Krakoa (although Kraokoa has also taken a physical body…there’s a lot that’s not 100% clear). The mutants are still engaged in war with the ‘man-machine supremacy,’ led by an AI called Nimrod. There are some recognizable mutants still in play: Wolverine and Apocalypse are the big players. There are also chimera mutants created by Mister Sinister who play an important role in this piece of the story.
Finally, ‘Year 1000’ continues Nimrod’s story, introducing ‘the Librarian,’ and bringing back an old Scott Lobdell creation, the Phalanx. This feels very much like the logical endpoint of all mutantkind, though that hasn’t been made explicitly clear.
So, Why Should I Read This?
Notice how many times I’ve called into question things in the prior section? There is still so much unknown about the worlds that we are observing, and yet these books are so dense with information that there are pages of plain text and infographics to deliver information in the most direct way possible. “Powers of X,” specifically, is part history, part current story, part future story, and part epilogue. It is one of the most ambitious comics I’ve ever read, and doesn’t seem to be slowing down at all. Each issue takes the ideas from the previous installment and ramps it up to 10 (or X, if you will), without taking such dramatic leaps that leave the reader unsure of what is happening. Any uncertainty built into these stories is absolutely intentional. Hickman is doling out information at a very deliberate pace, and we are only supposed to know what we are supposed to know at any time.
Because of that, this is a book that is endlessly fun to speculate about. Whether trying to piece together the big picture, imagine the gaps between stories, or just make sense of some of what is on the page, there is so much meat on this bone, and it is one of the more fun books to sit and discuss with friends.
But more than any of that, this is a beautiful comic. While it can be tempting to focus on the big picture story in such an information heavy book, R.B. Silva slaps that temptation away with every panel. Effortlessly jumping between timelines, locations, and types of beings, Silva manages to give each time and place a unique tone. ‘Year 1000’ is all sleek lines and clean design, whereas ‘Year 100’ is even split between a similar aesthetic and the gripping tone of war. The war scenes are messy and damaged, looking every bit as desperate and violent as you’d expect an all out war between mutants, men, and machines to look.
Continued below‘Year 10’ lines up nicely with what Pepe Laraz is doing in “House of X,” and his ‘Year 1’ is clean and full of hope. It would not have surprised me if Hickman initially wanted four different artists to illustrate this book, but Silva does it all without the art suffering one iota.
How Can I Read This?
“Powers of X” #3 hits comic shops today, and the past two issues, as well as “House of X,” are available via comiXology and finer comic shops everywhere.
