Last week, Marvel kicked off a blockbuster new story with the release of “House of X #1.” In my review of that first issue, I said this arc could “potentially be one of the all-time great story arcs in Marvel Comics history.” Today, Marvel continued that arc with the release of “Powers of X #1.”
Where “House of X” provides a very grounded, easily understandable look at this new story, “Powers of X” takes a very different approach and, quite frankly, goes to some very weird places.
Writer Jonathan Hickman has chosen to go with a very interesting story-telling technique for “Powers of X,” in that he is telling the story over four different periods of time. Those four periods are being called Year One, Year Ten, Year One Hundred and Year One Thousand. The first issue starts in Year One and goes on to give each time period a few pages.
I could understand readers having issues with this style of storytelling, but to an extent I kind of enjoyed it. It’s definitely unique. Reading the parts set in the future obviously spoil what happens in the past, but in a way it’s more intriguing because now you want to know how we got there.
Seen in the image above, the issue starts with a conversation between Charles Xavier and Moira MacTaggert in Year One. It then jumps to Year Ten, where “House of X” was set. Here, we see Mystique returning from her mission seen in “House of X,” only to receive more demands from Xavier.
This is where things get interesting. Year One Hundred shows us a dystopian future, featuring a war between humans and mutants (certainly nothing new to X-Men story arcs). This future is where “Powers of X” starts to lose me a bit. We’re seeing some new characters who we know next to nothing about. Sure context does follow, but it’s hard to stay interested when you don’t know the characters or even who you should be rooting for.
That’s not to say this stretch was unenjoyable. There’s plenty of action and the story is still very good, albeit very complex. As you get those bits of information and things start to clear up, you’ll find yourself enjoying this comic more and more. Plus, it doesn’t take long to get back to some familiar faces.
Year One Thousand is only show in a few brief pages in the end. We aren’t given much information on this future, but things certainly look very different.
“Powers of X” is definitely strange. It’s telling a very complex story and it’s doing so in a very unique way. It worked for me (for the most part) but I wouldn’t think it would work for the more casual comic reader. Still, I am definitely curious about this new future and how this story is going to get there (if it does at all). I am still completely on board for this “House of X” story arc.
“Powers of X” is available now.