X-Men: Before the Age of Revelation

In case you haven’t heard, the entire “X-Men” line underwent a three-month event called “Age of Revelation” at the end of last year.  It involved sixteen(!) different three-issue miniseries plus prologue, opening, and closing issues that showed us what the world was like after Apocalypse’s Heir, Doug Ramsey – formerly known as  Cypher, now known as Revelation – took over the world.  I’ll be discussing my thoughts on all of it once the event is available on Marvel Unlimited.  Before that, we’ve got the two core “X-Men” titles, “Adjectiveless” and “Uncanny” to talk about; of which, only one is interested in actively setting up the event.

Uncanny X-Men by Gail Simone vol. 3:  Murder Me, Mutina carries on much in the same way it has been since the start of this writer’s run.  That’s to say it’s been more concerned with doing character-driven stories that showcase its cast playing off each other and the world at large.  This is also true here as we get to see how the main cast – Rogue, Gambit, Wolverine, Jubilee, and Nightcrawler – along with the Outsiders kids react to a new horror/exploitation movie featuring a mutant killer, whose star is also secretly a mutant.  Then it’s time for a trip to the fair with a side of superheroing, a fraught encounter with Deadpool and Outlaw  with a callback to the start of this run, and a trip to Brazil with Wolverine and Ransom as the former gets to mentor a character who’s more like him than not for once.

All of these stories are fine on their own terms and it’s honestly nice to see these characters having that don’t involve how terrible the world is being to them and engaging in some small-stakes struggles here.  Even so, there’s a general lack of surprise here with a lot of the interactions here deriving their charm from nostalgia rather than offering us something new.  I get that the introduction of the Outsiders is the writer’s effort to counter that, but I can’t say that anything they’ve done has made me eager to see them in their own solo title down the line.

The art is good enough, however.  Luciano Vecchio illustrates the majority of the volume in a conventionally pleasing superhero style.  He does well enough with conversational scenes and action, even though the most memorable part of his work here is when he gets to illustrate a Brazilian comic convention with lots of cosplayers.  Ostensible regular artist David Marquez shows up for the Deadpool issue, and that’s handled solidly enough.  Which really sums up my feelings on Simone’s run so far:  Its charms don’t really compensate for the fact that we’re not getting anything more than basic competence here.

That’s not to say Jed MacKay’s run is a shining example of what the line should be doing right now.  It just  happens to be doing straightforward superhero action in a better fashion while also delivering more forward momentum in its storytelling.  You get to see that in X-Men by Jed MacKay vol. 3:  The Hellfire Vigil as it sets up Revelation’s worldview in the wake of being declared the Heir of Apocalypse.  That begins with determining what defines “survival of the fittest” in a breakfast conversation between himself, his wife Bei, and Warlock.  Which is (naturally) interrupted by some humans who have their own thoughts on how to handle the successor to one of the most powerful mutants to have ever lived.  It’s mostly a talking issue, and much of it is good as you get an idea of how much Doug has changed with the knowledge that this is all going to set up the event later on.

This is followed by the issue the volume takes its title from, and it’s a weird one.  “The Hellfire Vigil” is meant to act as a memorial to Krakoa and offer the reader a chance to check in on the casts of the other titles in the line.  The parts where we see everyone interacting with each other at the Vigil are all generally enjoyable, while the departures to check out what’s happening to everyone in “Phoenix,” “X-Force,” and “Storm” are more of a distraction than anything else.  It does further the 3K storyline MacKay has been building since the start of the series after the villains crash the party at the end of the issue to let everyone know that they’re going to do what they think is right for mutanity.

Which involves throwing Cyclops’ team under the bus and leading to another encounter with Agent Lundqvist that has the two getting into a straight up fistfight while they hash out their issues.  While this is going on, the rest of the team takes a moment to catch their breath back at the base in a way to show us that everyone’s got their own issues to deal with.  Even Glob Herman.  Then, in the next issue, we get some follow-up on Trevor Fitzroy and the Upstarts as the team gets another crack at them, and new member Jen Starkey gets a chance to put her trauma behind her.  It’s a well-crafted action issue that gives each of the primary characters involved – Magik, Juggernaut, Kid Omega, and Jen – moments to shine, wrapping up one subplot, and spins up a potentially interesting new one.

Then we get to the final issue in the volume, which serves as a transition between what’s happened before and what’s coming next.  That means we get some follow-up from the previous two issues as Revelation and his companions show up on the team’s doorstep asking to join.  There are some fun and interesting bits leading up to the final part of the issue, where Cyclops asks the team to vote on Revelation’s admission – and then fate intervenes.  It’s actually a solid build-up to the “Age of Revelation” event as the implication is that we’re also getting a fair amount of “Days of Future” past along with it.

Given that MacKay is writing the issues most central to the upcoming event’s storyline, it’s not surprising that he’s doing the most setup for it here.  What I’ve read elsewhere implies that it’s also an event you can enjoy just by reading his issues, and then just follow the miniseries you’re most interested in.  As for its relevance to the stories here, the fact that MacKay is building towards it gives the stories here some momentum as we know that he’s got a plan and is carrying it out.

That’s the main difference between “Adjectiveless” and “Uncanny” at this point.  Simone appears perfectly content to let her characters bounce off each other and see where that takes them, while MacKay is clearly building to something here.  The thing is that MacKay is also doing a good job of providing enough character moments for his cast that I don’t feel he’s falling too far behind Simone in that regard.  “X-Men” is also generally better at delivering solid action and self-contained stories that feed into his larger plot that compare favorably to the title’s history.  That’s also furthered by the work from Netho Diaz and C.F. Villa in this volume that continues the 90’s throwback vibe established by original artist Ryan Stegman.

The current “X-Men” line has had considerable difficulty in following up the Krakoan Era, if the number of titles cancelled since its relaunch is anything to go by.  While it seems unlikely that anyone in the future will be mining this era for nostalgia in ten-to-twenty years’ time,  that’s not to say that there isn’t good work being done right now.  MacKay’s work here is proof of that while Simone’s is, well… as I said above, it’s fine.  It’s enough to get me to look forward to seeing what the writer does in the “Age of Revelation” even if I’m fearing that everything outside of his core miniseries might be more of a chore to get through than anything else.