A review by crookedtreehouse
Dawn of X Vol. 1 by Benjamin Percy, Jonathan Hickman, Gerry Duggan
4.0
[b:House of X / Powers of X|45032046|House of X / Powers of X|Jonathan Hickman|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1575584673l/45032046._SY75_.jpg|69718791] was easily the best X-book in years, if not the best X-book since the turn of the millenium. It birthed some new ideas, gave a logical reason why the universe was, essentially being reset, brought back dead characters in a deliberate way that seemed more clever than forced, and thus opened up the X-world to a slew of new story ideas to shake off the stale constant retelling of classic X_books from the 80s and 90s (seriously, how many times did they need to go to The Age Of Apocalypse, or a dark future? how many times did they need to kill Jean Grey, or have the Phoenix return, how many times did Cyclops and Wolverine need to....you get the idea)
There are six new X-books that spin out of the HoX/PoX, and they're not all for the same readers. Hickman's flagship title, X-Men, is a series of one shots stories establishing the new status quo. Reading the first collection of his run, and some of the other first collections wasn't satisfying.
The idea to intercut all of the six titles so that you get one issue of each is genius For This Particular Series. It wouldn't work for a lot of titles, but I like it here, as it turns the other five books into extensions of the main run, and I think they need it.
The idea of Kate (formerly Kitty) Pryde running a group of pirates held no appeal for me. I assumed it would be an extension of the Excalibur storylines with Kitty, Nightcrawler, maybe Rachel Grey, and Storm having swashbuckling adventures. And while the book doesn't have my favorite premise (seriously, we're still doing Russian enemies in 2020?), it wasn't at all what I was expecting, and I enjoy the idea of occasionally checking in with these characters rather than having them be the focus of a book.
I hate the Otherworld/Excalibur/magic hoodoo/Captain Britain part of the mutant Marvel universe. There are parts of Claremont's run ([b:Excalibur Classic, Vol. 1: The Sword is Drawn|324398|Excalibur Classic, Vol. 1 The Sword is Drawn|Chris Claremont|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1431861671l/324398._SY75_.jpg|1108484]) that were interesting, and when it was a brief detour in the [b:Exiles, Volume 1: Down the Rabbit Hole|620618|Exiles, Volume 1 Down the Rabbit Hole|Judd Winick|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1525110471l/620618._SY75_.jpg|606992] books, I liked it. But it can't hold my interest for long, even though I love Betsy Braddock (formerly Psylocke), and many of the characters that tend to show up in Excalibur books.
New Mutants is another book that Hickman is half-writing (switching every other issue), and while the art is not my favorite style, it's some of the best art I've seen in that style. Unlike many of the other titles, this one feels like the beginning of a story, not the middle massive continuity. And its first issue makes as much sense as an X-Men story as any of the actual X-Men issues collected in the first trade.
X-Force is always a potentially dangerous book. Its quality is all over the map. I don't think I would have enjoyed reading the X-Force trade, but I haven't read enough of the run to know. As a snippet of story where we get to check in with Domino, see how certain characters are already evolving in the post HoX/PoX world. The art is so gloomy and muddy that there's no way I would have picked up an entire trade of it. So, again, this format was perfect for only having it be a chapter in a larger story. Also, the ending of the issue is a garbage plot point that might be Hickman's fault, and I feel bad that this [a:Benjamin Percy|215907|Benjamin Percy|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1362111803p2/215907.jpg] got saddled with it.
I've not heard anything good about Fallen Angels. I think because it is completely New Reader Unfriendly. It focuses on Formerly Kwannon/once Psylocke's body but with her original personality. That story is a continuity slog. But I like seeing this part of the character that we didn't really ever encounter, even with the Two Betsy storylines from the 90s, or the times that story was rehashed in the inferior 2000s X-era. I'm more curious about this story than X-Force, Excalibur, or the Marauders.
If you loved the HoX/PoX run, I would definitely check this out. If you're a long time X-fan, looking for an interesting way to read the entire universe, one that's more true to reading comic issues and than trades, this is fantastic. Perfect? No. Could it completely fall apart in the second volume? Of course. But I really do think this is a better way to read the new era of X-books than investing in buying volume one of each of the individual titles.
There are six new X-books that spin out of the HoX/PoX, and they're not all for the same readers. Hickman's flagship title, X-Men, is a series of one shots stories establishing the new status quo. Reading the first collection of his run, and some of the other first collections wasn't satisfying.
The idea to intercut all of the six titles so that you get one issue of each is genius For This Particular Series. It wouldn't work for a lot of titles, but I like it here, as it turns the other five books into extensions of the main run, and I think they need it.
The idea of Kate (formerly Kitty) Pryde running a group of pirates held no appeal for me. I assumed it would be an extension of the Excalibur storylines with Kitty, Nightcrawler, maybe Rachel Grey, and Storm having swashbuckling adventures. And while the book doesn't have my favorite premise (seriously, we're still doing Russian enemies in 2020?), it wasn't at all what I was expecting, and I enjoy the idea of occasionally checking in with these characters rather than having them be the focus of a book.
I hate the Otherworld/Excalibur/magic hoodoo/Captain Britain part of the mutant Marvel universe. There are parts of Claremont's run ([b:Excalibur Classic, Vol. 1: The Sword is Drawn|324398|Excalibur Classic, Vol. 1 The Sword is Drawn|Chris Claremont|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1431861671l/324398._SY75_.jpg|1108484]) that were interesting, and when it was a brief detour in the [b:Exiles, Volume 1: Down the Rabbit Hole|620618|Exiles, Volume 1 Down the Rabbit Hole|Judd Winick|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1525110471l/620618._SY75_.jpg|606992] books, I liked it. But it can't hold my interest for long, even though I love Betsy Braddock (formerly Psylocke), and many of the characters that tend to show up in Excalibur books.
New Mutants is another book that Hickman is half-writing (switching every other issue), and while the art is not my favorite style, it's some of the best art I've seen in that style. Unlike many of the other titles, this one feels like the beginning of a story, not the middle massive continuity. And its first issue makes as much sense as an X-Men story as any of the actual X-Men issues collected in the first trade.
X-Force is always a potentially dangerous book. Its quality is all over the map. I don't think I would have enjoyed reading the X-Force trade, but I haven't read enough of the run to know. As a snippet of story where we get to check in with Domino, see how certain characters are already evolving in the post HoX/PoX world. The art is so gloomy and muddy that there's no way I would have picked up an entire trade of it. So, again, this format was perfect for only having it be a chapter in a larger story. Also, the ending of the issue is a garbage plot point that might be Hickman's fault, and I feel bad that this [a:Benjamin Percy|215907|Benjamin Percy|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1362111803p2/215907.jpg] got saddled with it.
I've not heard anything good about Fallen Angels. I think because it is completely New Reader Unfriendly. It focuses on Formerly Kwannon/once Psylocke's body but with her original personality. That story is a continuity slog. But I like seeing this part of the character that we didn't really ever encounter, even with the Two Betsy storylines from the 90s, or the times that story was rehashed in the inferior 2000s X-era. I'm more curious about this story than X-Force, Excalibur, or the Marauders.
If you loved the HoX/PoX run, I would definitely check this out. If you're a long time X-fan, looking for an interesting way to read the entire universe, one that's more true to reading comic issues and than trades, this is fantastic. Perfect? No. Could it completely fall apart in the second volume? Of course. But I really do think this is a better way to read the new era of X-books than investing in buying volume one of each of the individual titles.