Age of X Chapters 1 and 2

[long_silence]

So in previous posts I've tried to explain the plot of the current X-Event, Age of X.

Well last week the first two chapters both came out on the same day, due to that odd tendency where every month all of Marvel's major titles are all shipped out on the same week and here are some pages from each.

Technically the event started in January with the anthology book Age of X Alpha #1, And the crossover kinda suffered due to the month long wait between the release of AoX Alpha and the start of the actual story in these two issues. But they were definitely worth the wait.

4 Pages from X-men Legacy 245

The story drops us in right in the middle of the action with the mutants defending their homebase Fortress X (which is made up of dozens of New York City skyscrapers, including the Chrysler Building) from an invading horde of baseline human soldiers and sentinels attempting to wipe them all out.

The humans have gotten through to an area with the least mutant defenses and they've brought a Battle Wagon with them (which basically seems to be heavily armed gigantic tank). So Field Commander Cannonball sends in Tempo's squad to take them out.



I've got to say I really like this confident and a little perverted Pixie, or as she's known in Age of X Nightmare.

Tempo's team slows down the Battle Wagon while Warlock takes it out from the inside and the battle ends. Unfortunately Tempo takes a bad hit from the tank in the process and so Cannonball is forced to call in the Reaper.


Just a very chilling page.


There's just so many things I love about this page. The Force Warriors enter with a badass hero walk, Psylocke in her original British Body, seeing Legion and Hellion as respected heroes amongst mutants (Julian especially, he's been toeing the line of villainy lately), appearances from five New X-men students, more perverted Nightmare, and even the concept of the Force Walls. That's not a blue sky we've been seeing up until now, it was a combination of their forcefields.

BTW the brunette Force Warrior is Carmella Unuscione, known as Stand-Off. I'm a little disappointed since I was hoping she was Sofia Mantega. But this is pretty cool too.

And so we get an idea of the daily lives of mutants in Fortress X. The humans spend hours breaking through these Force Walls and the mutants fight to push them back and hold the line until the Walls are rebuilt. The mutants go back to their base and wait for it to start again the next day. This is a dire situation and they're slowly being picked off. It's mentioned that Rogue/Reaper has already had to take Nightcrawler and Madrox.

While everyone else leaves to unwind and rest for the night, Legacy is still trying to adjust to her latest absorption. So she stays on the battlefield where she encounters what appears to be a sapien soldier who has breached the barrier.

A strike team consisting of Gambit, Angel, Dazzler, Northstar and oddly enough Vertigo (who is not a mutant) knock the soldier out.



About 4 pages from New Mutants 22
( I cut out some panels off of two pages in order to make room for two panels that amount to about a quarter of a page, if it's too much Mods I'll remove it).

Basilisk (Scott Summers who has had his eyelids cut off and is forced to wear this mask at all times) has noticed something odd.

Our first hint of what caused this Age of X reality.

I'm really digging this Basilisk/Frenzy marriage, they make an interesting couple. Other seemingly random AoX couples include Storm/Namor and Psylocke/Iceman (there's a really great scene in Chapter 1 where Namor asks Psylocke if she misses being a Lady in London and she replies that's she's always preferred slumming it)

I also really like that since Scott was never leader of the X-men in this universe, Cannonball has taken up the leadership position, it's really interesting to see that everyone seems to have switched roles. There's another really great scene where Sam confronts Basilisk about using his powers recklessly and threatens to take him off the field.

Legacy, curious about what Kitty saw outside the Walls finds a camera that Kitty hid before she was captured. All that was on it was 247 pictures of blank space, Legacy can't let this go as an oddity. And so steals Madison Jeffries technopathic powers to sneak into the Brig in order to ask Kitty herself.






Legacy has been caught in the brig and General Magneto broadcasts to the mutants to apprehend her, using all necessary force

And so a team of mutantkind's most brutal killers are going to be sent after her.


Here's another look at the AoX New Mutants on the cover of X-men Legacy 246 Age of X Chapter 3



And that was the beginning of the Age of X storyline. There seems to be a mystery on top of this alternate reality X-men story. Clearly not everything is what it seems and a lot of the pieces don't quite fit yet. But I'm excited to see where Carey goes with this and how the Age of X is going to affect the 616.

This is the ind of X-men story I love. There's a huge cast and everyone is given a bit of spotlight and is treated with respect. Former Acolytes who haven't done anything in a while like Frenzy, Tempo and Unuscione and even characters we haven't seen in a while because they were depowered on M-Day like Jubilee and Chamber are all given a chance to shine. This is why Mike Carey is my favorite of the current X-Writers.

Also if anyone is curious about the alternate pasts of some of these characters, Mike Carey wrote a series of character profiles for CBR. It's an interesting read and it makes a nice companion to the Age of X storyline.

Magneto, Basilisk, Legacy
Cannonball, Gambit, Revenant
Berserker, Hellion, Nightmare
Frenzy, Magma, Cypher

Comments

[ghosty732]

This actually does seem really interesting. Seems like a really well contained, well thought out mystery. Hopefully it delivers all the way through.

I'd definitely buy something like this once its all collected, so long as it has a decent beginning (check!) middle and end.

[shadowpsykie]

sooo what was the hint? other than identity theft....?

so did this story just start off straight off as an alt reality story?
what about Blindfold? is she OUR Blindfold? if so how did she get there?

[ghosty732]

The fact that Kitty's camera was blank.

One theory is that there's nothing outside the force wall, and whoever is controlling this reality just wants to keep all the mutants contained for some reason.

Also, all of the telepaths are locked in the brig, and those that are not locked there are only using telekinesis and not telepathy.

[long_silence]

Yeah I tried replying to your earlier but I realized that ghosty732 pretty much covered it better. Also my reply had too many potential spoilers and I don't want to ruin the mystery for anyone. Plus it was really hard to read.

[joasakura]

I read these today, and I loved them. But I swear, I will be very unhappy if this turns into "OMG, MAGNETO IS HIDING A HORRIBLE SECRET AND IS REALLY A BAD PERSON" :T

[long_silence]

Magneto is definitely hiding something, but a big part of the mystery is figuring out what and how much he's involved. Danger seems to have more power than Magneto when it comes to the prison, so there may be someone manipulating them both.

I don't think AoX Mags ends up being evil though since it seems that the repercussions of AoX has Magneto teaming up with Xavier, Legion, Frenzy, Gambit and Rogue.

[halloweenjack]

The force fields remind me a lot of the War Walls in City of Heroes. Also, one thing that I wish the writer would drop is having Rogue say "ah" instead of "I"; it's an irritating tic that Claremont used as a way of constantly reminding the reader that HEY ROGUE IS FROM THE SOUTH just as he'd have the English-as-a-second-language characters randomly drop words from their native language in their speech, completely unlike just about every ESL person I've ever met, and I've met lots and lots. (And it's not as if Claremont wouldn't have met them either, living in Brooklyn.)

[righthondude]

I really love it so far! It's the only thing I'm buying issues of instead of trade-waiting. I loved Clay Mann's art in legacy so the shift in new mutants was a bit disappointing but I can't wait for the next issue. I also like Danger's look in this, and the way the characters interact with X, who/whatever it might be.

[ghosty732]

I find it funny that, not only is the ratio to half-naked men to half-naked women entirely (and unusually) skewed towards the men, but that the girls in the book actually comment on it in the above scans.

[eamelion]

I'm all for it :D Clay Mann is an amazing artist. I'm so glad he's stuck with Carey so far.

[eamelion]

There is no question in my mind that Mike Carey is the best X-Men writer ever. More than Claremont, more than even Morrison. He's absolutely perfect for this franchise. I never thought his original team would work, and it was the best book at the time. There was no way I was ever going to read a Xavier solo series, and then it was the most reliable book at the time. And the Rogue and the X-kids stories have been great.

I'm psyched about Age of X. I'm even more psyched about the collected edition, because this is going to be phenominal as a solo read as long as the ending sits right. A little dismayed that he didn't use this as an opportunity to show Iceman in a gay relationship, considering he's mentioned that he was open to the idea, but other than that I'm hooked.

Age of X

[nefrekeptah]

Well, after reading this post, my disinterest has turned to cautious optimism. The trite old "everybody gangs up on the mutants, oh we hate them so much" plotlline turned me off, but the hints that there is something much more complex going on behind the scenes has peaked my interest. I may give this a look-see in the future.

Re: Age of X

[long_silence]

To be honest it was your comment in the X-men Anime thread that inspired me to scan these pages and make this post. I'm a Carey fanboy and I just wanted to prove that his stories are never simplistic.

[auggie18]

So, any conformation as to whether or not that firebird woman is Jean? 'cause I'd really like to know.

[long_silence]

Not yet. I'd like to know too.

All I know for sure is that Carey confirmed that she is not Hope (at least I'm fairly sure he did, writers can be tricky with their wording).

That Revenant character profile I linked to in my post was written by Carey (in Henry Gyrich's voice) and it seems to imply that the humans have no idea sure what Revenant is or where she came from. She doesn't seem to even be flesh and blood.

[okkult3000]

How come, in all these alternate realities with no X-Men, Magneto isn't an 80 year old man? Without the various X-Men adventures, he wouldn't have had the opportunity to be turned into a baby and then re-aged to about 40. In Age of Apocalypse, he looked to be about 25.

[mrstatham]

Given the sheer number of adventures he could've had when we haven't been seeing him in the single stories, I wouldn't be surprised if there were some sort of equivalent events that resulted in him being deaged or something along those lines.

Hell, given Magneto's more than just 'magnetism', these days, I wouldn't be surprised if Carey or someone could figure out a way to explain how he consciously slows his ageing through his powers.

[blackruzsa]

So who else started hearing the Lion King 2 themesong when Rogue said 'You live in me'?

He lives in you...
he lives in me....
he watches over... everything we see...

[icon_uk]

Not just you... :)

[greenmask]

Hello naked boys..!

Also, yes Gambit, please do do lunges and say "that thing is big". Hee heee!

Unsure about Rogue in this. I just want her to be happyyyyyy

But I am cautiously interested! Which I was hoping for, when I saw the preview pics way back whenever.

[icon_uk]

I liked the... dignity that Legacy/Reaper had, especially when talking to the dying Tempo and asking if she wanted anyone there. Gave the moment some unexpected pathos.

Interesting bio pages too, thanks for the link.

[zenbro]

Sorry Roxy and Meg, but personal canon has just decreed Julian and David a broodingly delicious couple. Mmm, telekinetic on telekinetic action.

[salinea]

Roxy is secretly pleased as that shall give her occasions to hit on Meg.

[zenbro]

Uh, Dani? Arrows don't shoot well on that side of the bow.

[neuhallidae]

On one hand, this actually looks interesting, on the other, I'm still pissed that it's yet a-fucking-nother AU/Might-Not-Be-AU in which one or all of the Magneto kids have been killed off by writers in order to fuel his hate.

[proteus_lives]

Looks kinda cool.

[goblinthebamf]

I feel a little slighted that Roxy is suddenly swooning over Julian, last I checked she identified as lesbian.

I can't be too annoyed, though, because 1) this is an alt reality (in which case, are there any straight characters that identify as queer?) and 2) it wouldn't be the first time that a lesbian or gay youth has later identified as bi.

I just suspect that it's 3) the writer flat-out forgot.

[long_silence]

3) I'm not sure about that. Carey is writing all of Age of X, and he's written Bling! before he even wrote that Roxy had a little crush on Rogue after she saved her from Emplate.

I think Carey might have just wrote the scene with any New X-men girl saying that line and the artist just chose her and just forgot/never knew.

[brallaqueen.insanejournal.com]

I stand corrected. When I saw the previews I dissed this from top to toe as a bad idea and not woth the effort.

Thnkas for bringing this to my attention, I think it has some really interesting characterisation going on especially with Rogue/Legacy and her role in the group as being the archive of lost comrades.

I'm also surprised and pleased to see Magneto being the stalwart leader but there is a sense of tired compassion coming through.