In this anniversary installment of Comics Anatomy, features editor Harry Kassen digs into House of X and takes a look at the ways in which Jonathan Hickman and Pepe Larraz contextualize and recontextualize X-Men history and elements from their own series to create new stories and meanings.
Read MoreBy Zack Quaintance — While the debut issues in October probably got more attention, there were also some significant conclusions last month, too. First of hall the Jonathan Hickman-mastermined House of X / Powers of X combo finished its drastic and visionary reinvention of the X-Men line of comics (you know, the one basically everyone is talking about), which paved the way for all those Dawn of X reviews.
Read MoreBy Zack Quaintance — This week’s Excalibur #1 brings us right to the edge of the halfway point of Dawn of X, which is the new wave of six X-Men titles springing out of the recently-concluded House of X / Powers of X reconceptualization of Marvel’s X-Men franchise. Next week, a double-punch of New Mutants and X-Force will hurdle us over that halfway point, but for now, here we are. So, about this comic...Excalibur #1 is the first title of the new X-Men era that I, quite frankly, don’t really know what to make of.
Read MoreBy Zack Quaintance — Since Jonathan Hickman launched a new era of X-Men comics back in late July with House of X #1, there have been quite a few surprises in store for fans of Marvel’s mutants. Chief among these surprises is the entire concept of the new era, wherein guided by the lessons learned through Moira McTaggert’s reincarnations (she too is a mutant), Professor X, Magneto, Apocalypse and everyone else (pretty much) have unified, creating a separate mutant state on the living island of Krakoa, where they have also figured out how to revive any mutants that are killed….there is some tension between the newly-empowered mutants and humanity, however, and it is played out through the ongoing development of AI and robots. Phew.
Read MoreBy Garrett Rooney — House of X and Powers of X, the recently-concluded series that launched a new era of X-Men comics, are a complicated pair of interconnected stories. While they are clearly telling one larger story, Jonathan Hickman has chosen to tell us that story by breaking it into two separate six-issue mini-series that are mostly released on alternating weeks. This is somewhat unusual, because you really can’t appreciate either of these series alone. In fact, in the back of each issue of HoXPoX (for brevity I will be referring to the overall work as HoXPoX going forward, and the individual books as HoX or PoX), you’ll find a reading order that makes it very clear that you are intended to read the issues in a particular intertwined order, “two series that are one” as it says.
Read MoreBy Allison Senecal — Welcome back to Thirsty Thursdays. Now, you may be wondering...is this still a MUTANTS ONLY affair? Let me just stop you right there — the answer is yes, but now it also involves a sex and resurrection cult. Now that everyone’s property excited, let’s get to this month’s thirstiest panels.
Read MoreBy Jamie Grayson — In the recent 'two-series-that-are-one' combo of House of X and Powers of X, writer Jonathan Hickman and artists Pepe Larraz and R.B. Silva tackle many complicated subjects, including alternate futures and pasts, reincarnation through parallel timelines, and the fate of a newformed utopia. But behind all that high-concept, flashy blockbuster business lies one key concept — unity, built upon mutual trust.
Read MoreBy Zack Quaintance — As regular readers must have noticed by now, there have been some big changes to the site this week, namely...the name. We are no longer Batman’s Bookcase, moving instead to the less ironic (and, in my opinion, less funny) but far more original content friendly title of Comics Bookcase. As I wrote on Twitter, the main reason for this is that the site has grown bigger than I ever thought it would, covering an increasingly broad range of comics, and I wanted a new name to reflect that.
Read MoreBy Allison Senecal — This is a “NO HUMANS” thirst zone this month (and possibly forever, let’s be real). All HOUSE OF X and POWERS OF X, as well as some sweet sweet covers from the announced Dawn of X titles. A mutants-only VIP list, if you will.
Read MoreBy Allison Senecal — Jonathan Hickman is making his return to Marvel Comics this July, and when he arrives, he will be taking over the—gasp—X-Men. This news hit a few months back, and yes, when it did, I was a Hickman doubter…
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