Yesterday was a day of much anticipated by many of an X fan, especially my friends over on CBR. For today was chapter 1 & 2 of Mike Carey's Age of X.
Age of X, for those of you not in the know, is pretty much the love child of Age of Apocalypse and Days of Future Past. AoA was an AU where Apocalypse ruled the Earth, Xavier was dead and Magneto formed the X-Men: DoFP was a dark future where Sentinels/Anti-Mutant people ruled and the majority of Mutants are dead. AoX is an AU where there are no X-Men, mutants are hunted down and all of the remaining Mutants have banned together at Fortress X under the leadership of the General aka Magneto.
AoX chapter 1 starts in X-Men Legacy 245 and we find ourselves in the middle of a war zone where the motley crew of mutants battle hordes of anti-mutant forces. Our heroes are led by Cannonball, whom I assume is Magneto's field commander, and under his leadership the mutants win the day...but they loose one of their own in the process: Tempo.
With Tempo down for the count Cannonball calls in the Reaper aka Legacy aka the mutant we all know as Rouge. Rogue tells Tempo that "she'll leave on in her" as she adds Tempo's psyche to the horde of other fallen mutants she's absorbed like Madrox and Nightcrawler.Also during the battle Canonball has a wee bit of an argument with Basilisk(Cyclops). Let me add that Basilisk is the most bad ass version of Scott Summers I've ever seen.
As the battle comes to an end the Force Warriors( Reveanat, Legion, Psylocke, Hellion & possibly Uniscone) show up and redo the barrier around Fortress X. It seems these 5 are pretty much the reason that everyone has been alive for the last 1000 days. Also it should be noted that my boy Hellion looked like a total G during the scene. He even managed to make Bling! (whom in the 616 is a lesbian) hot and bothered.
Any ways after the barrier is restored/reinforced the mutants return home for some poker and beer. We also learn in AoX Basilisk is with Frenzy, Storm is with Namor and Psylocke is with Iceman. And also during this segment we learn the fate of everyone's favorite Canadian: Wolverine.
You might recall in Age of X Alpha, that on a special covert mission Wolverine destroyed the mutant cure that Dr. Rao created by using his healing factor to negate it...all 16 vials of it. Now instead of going out and hack n slashing everything...he's sidelined to being Fortress X's bartender. I wonder if he makes his own moonshine....
We then shift back to Legacy, whom on a walk about around Fortress X discovers a trespasser, which we find out is actually Kitty Pyrde an escapee from the X-Brig. Magneto shows up and takes her back to the brig where we see Magik, Emma, The Cuckoos, Martha Johansen, and Professor X all locked up.
Outside Legacy discovers something that Kitty left behind: a camera.This is where Chapter 1 ends.
Chapter 2 is New Mutants # 22:
The book opens up with a scene of Chamber and Jubilee talking before it switches too Legacy asking Magneto if she can talk to Kitty, which Mags immediately tells her no. But wanting answers she visits Madison Jeffries and takes his ability to talk to machines and heads off to the brig.
We then flash to the lovely home of Basilisk and Frenzy where they have an interesting conversation about a previous battle and Basilisks hobby: collecting the dog tags of the soldiers he's killed. His most recent addition is the dogs tags of a young girl named Jackson from the 45th Infantry 2776, but the bizarre thing is this...he already has Jackson from the 45th Infantry 2776 and the guy was African American.
Once in the brig Legacy passes by an incarcerated Blindfold, whom immediately calls her Rogue and tells her to taker her back and she will be good. And she'll ignore that people are not acting like themselves and to ask the Professor.
After a rather unsuccessful attempt to get information out of Kitty, Danger attacks Legacy. And during the process Legacy comes into contact with Professor X and absorbs some of his Telepathy which causes her to unleash her mind across Fortress X.
Danger's drones catch up with Legacy and she manages to escape by jumping out the window and catching a ride from Jeffries' hover car. When X informs Magneto of what has happened, Magneto sounds the alarm and the team of Moonstar, Cypher/Warlock, Magma, Karma and i think Dust are ready to start the hunt.
Mike Carey has brought his A game with AoX. That's all I can really say. These two issues get better each time I read them. Each character in this book is great. While I might not share the same opinion as my CBR colleagues Agent Torpor or Brian M on their favorites Cyclops and Pixie (nor do they share the same opinion on my fav Hellion); Basilisk and Nightmare jump off the pages and rise above their peers. Basilisk especially. His relationship with Frenzy though somewhat out of left field, feels organic and natural. Hell they're few panels together so far have been above and beyond what I've seen Scott and Emma in 616. And Pixie's innuendo's are great and intellectual. She's like The Todd from Scrubs but 10 times better.
Revanent still being an uber mystery there's plenty of time for him to do his thing.
The art in these issues are great as well. Carey's usual partner in crime Clay Mann art is always top notch and his new character designs are bad ass whether it be Solid Snake Gambit, Ray-Man Hellion, or Shao Khan Basilisk. Steve Kurth does the art for New Mutants and while its not as good as Mann, its good enough to get the job done.
Overall I give this 5 Gs out of 5 and would I highly recommend it to everyone.
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