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Death of X #1-4
Death of X
What happened eight months ago that set the Inhumans and X-Men on a collision course? Find out here! The Inhumans travel to Japan where one of the Terrigen Clouds creates a shocking new Inhuman. The X-Men travel to Muir Island where the second Terrigen Cloud causes something truly terrible. When these two events collide a war of catastrophic proportions explodes!
Collecting: Death of X 1-4
Collecting: Death of X 1-4
136 pages, Paperback
First published March 14, 2017
About the author
Jeff Lemire
1,291 books3,722 followersLibrarian note:
There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name
Jeff Lemire is a New York Times bestselling and award winning author, and creator of the acclaimed graphic novels Sweet Tooth, Essex County, The Underwater Welder, Trillium, Plutona, Black Hammer, Descender, Royal City, and Gideon Falls. His upcoming projects include a host of series and original graphic novels, including the fantasy series Ascender with Dustin Nguyen.
There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name
Jeff Lemire is a New York Times bestselling and award winning author, and creator of the acclaimed graphic novels Sweet Tooth, Essex County, The Underwater Welder, Trillium, Plutona, Black Hammer, Descender, Royal City, and Gideon Falls. His upcoming projects include a host of series and original graphic novels, including the fantasy series Ascender with Dustin Nguyen.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 149 reviews
August 30, 2020
I thought this was the comic that Cyclops killed Professor Xavier in. Because, you know, Death of Xavier?
Now, had I read the synopsis, I would have easily understood that this is the one where Cyclops was killed off. However, I am a moron. And I'm only mentioning this because maybe one of my people (the people of Walmart) might make this same mistake.
Ok, so this takes place back in the olden days before Disney bought Fox and got the rights to the X-men.
What's the next best thing to mutants?, said all the higher-ups.
Inhumans!, said a squeaky fart voice from the back of the room.
Excellent idea!, said the higher-ups.
And with this glowing turd in their hands, it then became Marvel's goal to push the mutants off to the side and bring the Inhumans to the forefront of pretty much everything.
The gist is that Terrigen Mist is rolling over Earth in great big clouds due to something Black Bolt did a while back. Any humans with Inhuman DNA get hit with the cloud, go into a cocoon, then pop out with powers. Yay!
It's all good right?
No.
Because it turns out the mists are kinda deadly to mutants. Surprise!
This quickly devolves into a Scott & Emma vs Medusa & Black Bolt fight.
And as the title suggests, it doesn't work out well for the X-folks.
At the end of the day, it didn't work out well for the Inhumans, either.
Nobody gave many shits about the Inhumans' comics, except Ms. Marvel. And that's what you call turning lemons into...well, a popular character.
And for some unknown reason, the tv show didn't fare well as well as they hoped.
Five minutes of: Hey! Cool hair!
Then 7 episodes of: Just kidding! Due to budget cuts, we give you Great Value Medusa.
Yes. It was hard to figure out where the misstep may have been with the Inhumans.
No matter. Because as I mentioned before, Disney is a juggernaut that eventually snagged the mutants (and the Fantastic Four) from the slavering jaws of Fox.
So should you read this?
If you're interested, yes. You don't need to, but it was short and...short. I can't say I was crazy about the art, but it didn't make me want to gouge my eyes out. Plus, I had always wondered exactly how this whole storyline went down. And now I know. There was a lot of fighting for the sake of plot, and a lot of the characters were way too quick to jump on the They did it on purpose! bandwagon for it to seem organic, but if that doesn't bother you too much...?
Go for it.
In the end, I'm glad I took the time to read this because there was a little twist to the story that I didn't realize had happened.
Now, had I read the synopsis, I would have easily understood that this is the one where Cyclops was killed off. However, I am a moron. And I'm only mentioning this because maybe one of my people (the people of Walmart) might make this same mistake.
Ok, so this takes place back in the olden days before Disney bought Fox and got the rights to the X-men.
What's the next best thing to mutants?, said all the higher-ups.
Inhumans!, said a squeaky fart voice from the back of the room.
Excellent idea!, said the higher-ups.
And with this glowing turd in their hands, it then became Marvel's goal to push the mutants off to the side and bring the Inhumans to the forefront of pretty much everything.
The gist is that Terrigen Mist is rolling over Earth in great big clouds due to something Black Bolt did a while back. Any humans with Inhuman DNA get hit with the cloud, go into a cocoon, then pop out with powers. Yay!
It's all good right?
No.
Because it turns out the mists are kinda deadly to mutants. Surprise!
This quickly devolves into a Scott & Emma vs Medusa & Black Bolt fight.
And as the title suggests, it doesn't work out well for the X-folks.
At the end of the day, it didn't work out well for the Inhumans, either.
Nobody gave many shits about the Inhumans' comics, except Ms. Marvel. And that's what you call turning lemons into...well, a popular character.
And for some unknown reason, the tv show didn't fare well as well as they hoped.
Five minutes of: Hey! Cool hair!
Then 7 episodes of: Just kidding! Due to budget cuts, we give you Great Value Medusa.
Yes. It was hard to figure out where the misstep may have been with the Inhumans.
No matter. Because as I mentioned before, Disney is a juggernaut that eventually snagged the mutants (and the Fantastic Four) from the slavering jaws of Fox.
So should you read this?
If you're interested, yes. You don't need to, but it was short and...short. I can't say I was crazy about the art, but it didn't make me want to gouge my eyes out. Plus, I had always wondered exactly how this whole storyline went down. And now I know. There was a lot of fighting for the sake of plot, and a lot of the characters were way too quick to jump on the They did it on purpose! bandwagon for it to seem organic, but if that doesn't bother you too much...?
Go for it.
In the end, I'm glad I took the time to read this because there was a little twist to the story that I didn't realize had happened.
February 6, 2018
Thanks for crapping all over one of my all-time favorite characters and forcing him to suffer an ignominious demise. Appreciate that.
May 22, 2017
I read this for two reasons; 1) professional responsibility, because I teach courses in comics and graphic novels and have to dabble in lots of areas I’m not very interested in, and 2) because Jeff Lemire wrote it (with Charles Soule) and I feel like I have to keep up with him in this area a little bit even though I much much much prefer his Essex County stuff to his superhero stuff. I have zero interest in the subject of Marvel’s Death of X, or the Inhumans. So? Boring, dull writing, lame conception, no characterization, little attention to motivation, even plot. Only for comics nerds, no chance it would make someone fall in love with comics.
Reading this I felt like the days my mother used to make me drink a spoonful of cod liver oil because she (and the world of adults generally) though it would be good for me. She was wrong, and Marvel is wrong. Not good for me. Boring for me.
Npw if you can’t say something nice about something. . .. Okay, I liked seeing the crazy manic Emma Frost here. And the ending has a bit of a twist to it, it does. This short volume (there’s a good thing, it is only four issues!) is apparently a set up for the Inhumans vs. X-Men battle which I may just have to swallow, too, but I don’t wanna, mom! Gag!
Reading this I felt like the days my mother used to make me drink a spoonful of cod liver oil because she (and the world of adults generally) though it would be good for me. She was wrong, and Marvel is wrong. Not good for me. Boring for me.
Npw if you can’t say something nice about something. . .. Okay, I liked seeing the crazy manic Emma Frost here. And the ending has a bit of a twist to it, it does. This short volume (there’s a good thing, it is only four issues!) is apparently a set up for the Inhumans vs. X-Men battle which I may just have to swallow, too, but I don’t wanna, mom! Gag!
March 30, 2017
The post-Secret Wars X-Men titles bizarrely began eight months after the Marvel Universe was put back together again. We found out Cyclops had died in those eight months and the Terrigen Mist spelled the extinction of homo superior! That was bonkers enough but why did Marvel structure it this way with the time jump? Dunno. So we could get Death of X, I guess, which takes us back eight months to show us how Cyclops died? And boy is it unnecessary and boring!
Even at a mere four issues this book feels overlong. Jeff Lemire’s terrible X-Men series crosses over with Charles Soule’s dismal Inhumans title (arguably two of the worst current Marvel ongoings) and the Terrigen Mist is still floating around. At this point this bloody mist has been on a FOUR YEAR jolly – calling it “mist” is a misnomer isn’t it? It should’ve dissipated a LONG time ago if it was!
And even though it’s never harmed mutants before, it’s suddenly poisonous to them now – how utterly contrived and nonsensical! Cyclops finds out and broadcasts to everyone on Earth telepathically via Emma Frost that the Terrigen Mist is lethal to mutants AND humans, based on NOTHING! And, for no reason, humans everywhere believe him and start rioting?! It’s such unconvincing, trite storytelling.
Even though obviously the Inhumans didn’t engineer the Terrigen Mist to be harmful to mutants, Cyclops et al. decide to believe that they did because the conflict between the two sides is what this book is predicated on. And if that premise wasn’t flimsy enough, the actual fighting between X-Men and Inhumans is even more pathetic and forced. This is the actual story of the book, by the way! And, even though the X-Men these days really suck, they still look a helluva lot better than Soule’s bland, uninteresting Inhumans – no wonder that title never took off! I can’t wait for Marvel to give up trying to make the Inhumans a thing. NOBODY. CARES.
And to close out this forgettable trash, Cyclops dies in the most underwhelming, unimaginative and utterly pointless death ever! What a worthless, stupid, horribly dull book. Who knew that the truncated version of Cyclops’ demise in other X-books was more than sufficient than the story itself? Nobody needs to read this crap.
It’s ironic that the title works on a meta level too. I get that Death of X is about the supposed death of mutantkind (again) and the death of one of the original X-Men but it could also be applied to the dying sales and interest in Marvel’s current X-titles (the Inhumans were never bestsellers or nearly as compelling). But when they’re this bad, who can blame the readers for not spending money on them? I still want to read good X-Men comics though so here’s hoping the X-Men rise like the Phoenix above this useless rubbish and somehow get good soon!
Even at a mere four issues this book feels overlong. Jeff Lemire’s terrible X-Men series crosses over with Charles Soule’s dismal Inhumans title (arguably two of the worst current Marvel ongoings) and the Terrigen Mist is still floating around. At this point this bloody mist has been on a FOUR YEAR jolly – calling it “mist” is a misnomer isn’t it? It should’ve dissipated a LONG time ago if it was!
And even though it’s never harmed mutants before, it’s suddenly poisonous to them now – how utterly contrived and nonsensical! Cyclops finds out and broadcasts to everyone on Earth telepathically via Emma Frost that the Terrigen Mist is lethal to mutants AND humans, based on NOTHING! And, for no reason, humans everywhere believe him and start rioting?! It’s such unconvincing, trite storytelling.
Even though obviously the Inhumans didn’t engineer the Terrigen Mist to be harmful to mutants, Cyclops et al. decide to believe that they did because the conflict between the two sides is what this book is predicated on. And if that premise wasn’t flimsy enough, the actual fighting between X-Men and Inhumans is even more pathetic and forced. This is the actual story of the book, by the way! And, even though the X-Men these days really suck, they still look a helluva lot better than Soule’s bland, uninteresting Inhumans – no wonder that title never took off! I can’t wait for Marvel to give up trying to make the Inhumans a thing. NOBODY. CARES.
And to close out this forgettable trash, Cyclops dies in the most underwhelming, unimaginative and utterly pointless death ever! What a worthless, stupid, horribly dull book. Who knew that the truncated version of Cyclops’ demise in other X-books was more than sufficient than the story itself? Nobody needs to read this crap.
It’s ironic that the title works on a meta level too. I get that Death of X is about the supposed death of mutantkind (again) and the death of one of the original X-Men but it could also be applied to the dying sales and interest in Marvel’s current X-titles (the Inhumans were never bestsellers or nearly as compelling). But when they’re this bad, who can blame the readers for not spending money on them? I still want to read good X-Men comics though so here’s hoping the X-Men rise like the Phoenix above this useless rubbish and somehow get good soon!
July 5, 2017
Cyclops and his X-Men head to Muir island and find everyone dead. Turns out the terrigen mist cloud has turned deadly to mutants. Cyclops broadcasts to the world that the terrigen mist is deadly to mutants and maybe humans too. The cloud heads towards Madrid. Storm and her X-Men along with the Inhumans try to stop the cloud from hitting the city. Things get misconstrued which puts the 2 teams at odds even though Storm is trying to end things diplomatically. Cyclops has had enough and is determined to disperse the cloud which puts him at odd with the Inhuman Royals at which point the s#it hits the fan.
The Good: This was actually the best X-Men book I've read since the relaunch after Secret Wars. The ending was fantastic and sets up Emma Frost in a very interesting direction. Aaron Kuder's art is fantastic. His art has picked up some Art Adams influence with this book.
The Bad: All of the X-Men and Inhumans books have been really bungled since Secret Wars. If they had released this first, X-Men vs. Inhumans could have been very interesting. Instead, the big build up to war after the death of Cyclops gets neutered because of how things have already been established with the X-Men hiding out in Limbo and peace established between the two races.
The Ugly: Marvel is still trying to shove the Inhumans down our throats as replacements for the X-Men. The problem is that they are in no ways interesting.
The Good: This was actually the best X-Men book I've read since the relaunch after Secret Wars. The ending was fantastic and sets up Emma Frost in a very interesting direction. Aaron Kuder's art is fantastic. His art has picked up some Art Adams influence with this book.
The Bad: All of the X-Men and Inhumans books have been really bungled since Secret Wars. If they had released this first, X-Men vs. Inhumans could have been very interesting. Instead, the big build up to war after the death of Cyclops gets neutered because of how things have already been established with the X-Men hiding out in Limbo and peace established between the two races.
The Ugly: Marvel is still trying to shove the Inhumans down our throats as replacements for the X-Men. The problem is that they are in no ways interesting.
March 12, 2018
Er this is a mess dressed up as an "epic event". Death in Marvel and DC is roughly about as serious as losing a pinky finger. Nothing you want to do, but if it happens, you'll live. I know I know strange metaphor. But hey unlike these "writers" I don't get paid to write. So back to "death" in comics, this one regards the death of Cyclops. Or "X". (Why is he X? What happened to Professor Xavier?).
Now of course it is likely Cyclops will be back. In fact it is pretty much a given. So wait a year, likely less, and viola! Cyclops will be back on some tenuous excuse. So what's the deal with this mess? Ummm the Inhumans for some reason have released Terrigan mists on Earth. Apparently the mist kills mutants. For some reason the Inhumans don't know this. Then for some reason the X-Men, instead of talking to them, immediately attack them before getting all the info. Big fight. Oh and Magneto's back. To help the X-Men. All these people fight the Inhumans. Cyclops and Black Bolt have a heart-felt conversation. Which is a terrible idea since Black Bolt's whisper can level mountains. So in course of conversation (actually it was just one word) Cyclops dies. Or does he? No..he dies...for now.
There. That was it. Now you don't have to read it. You can thank me later.
Now of course it is likely Cyclops will be back. In fact it is pretty much a given. So wait a year, likely less, and viola! Cyclops will be back on some tenuous excuse. So what's the deal with this mess? Ummm the Inhumans for some reason have released Terrigan mists on Earth. Apparently the mist kills mutants. For some reason the Inhumans don't know this. Then for some reason the X-Men, instead of talking to them, immediately attack them before getting all the info. Big fight. Oh and Magneto's back. To help the X-Men. All these people fight the Inhumans. Cyclops and Black Bolt have a heart-felt conversation. Which is a terrible idea since Black Bolt's whisper can level mountains. So in course of conversation (actually it was just one word) Cyclops dies. Or does he? No..he dies...for now.
There. That was it. Now you don't have to read it. You can thank me later.
November 25, 2016
Cyclops and his X-Men get a distress signal from Muir Island and they head there to investigate.
What they find terrifies them.
The terrigen mist clouds that were released into the atmosphere can kill mutants. Cyclops and Emma Frost warn the world.
Then they formulate a plan to destroy it.
Death of X suffered from it's year long build up. I expected something excellent after such a lengthy wait, but it was mediocre. The series simply fills in some minor details to information that seemed more than obvious after a year of Inhuman and X-Men comics talking about it. All that being said I have to agree with the mutants on this issue. I can't imagine respecting someone's holy cloud if it would kill me. It was a matter of destroy or be destroyed so the actions Cyclops X-Men took were easily warranted.
What they find terrifies them.
The terrigen mist clouds that were released into the atmosphere can kill mutants. Cyclops and Emma Frost warn the world.
Then they formulate a plan to destroy it.
Death of X suffered from it's year long build up. I expected something excellent after such a lengthy wait, but it was mediocre. The series simply fills in some minor details to information that seemed more than obvious after a year of Inhuman and X-Men comics talking about it. All that being said I have to agree with the mutants on this issue. I can't imagine respecting someone's holy cloud if it would kill me. It was a matter of destroy or be destroyed so the actions Cyclops X-Men took were easily warranted.
August 29, 2020
I can't think of a single thing I liked about this. We get Scott having his standard knee-jerk reaction and starting a war, we also get Scott trying his standard "sucker punch" move where he tries to blast someone who disagrees with him before they know what hit them. We have art that is way too cartoony for the subject matter, and we have a story that is just pretty boring overall.
July 29, 2024
X-Men be all
Also, can we just take a moment to acknowledge how irredeemably goofy the idea of clouds of Terrigen Mist randomly blowing around the planet was? I mean, seriously Marvel...
All my bitching aside I actually enjoyed this one, I've read most of Soule's work on Inhumans so I more or less knew who a lot of these randos were and it was fun to see the X-People go into Survival Mode versus a threat other than human prejudice or mutant extremists for a change.
As for Cyclops,
Also, can we just take a moment to acknowledge how irredeemably goofy the idea of clouds of Terrigen Mist randomly blowing around the planet was? I mean, seriously Marvel...
All my bitching aside I actually enjoyed this one, I've read most of Soule's work on Inhumans so I more or less knew who a lot of these randos were and it was fun to see the X-People go into Survival Mode versus a threat other than human prejudice or mutant extremists for a change.
As for Cyclops,
August 3, 2022
One giant middle finger to Cyclops fans.
February 25, 2017
[Read as single issues]
Anyone reading my reviews of the X-books recently knows that I'm not very enthused with them right now. I'm hoping that Death of X and Inhumans Vs. X-Men will be the shot in the arm the line needs right now, and Death Of X is a promising start.
The first and last issues of this series are excellent stuff. The bait-and-switch, and the focus on Emma Frost who has been severely lacking in the Marvel Universe lately is a welcome change, and there's really tight storytelling going on. The middle two issues meander a little more, but are still surprisingly solid. I especially like the handling of Cyclops, and the fact that re-reading the series knowing the ending will be rewarded with more layers of story to uncover. This is a good primer for the upcoming IvX crossover, as well as a nice gap-filler that explains why the X-Men have been so scattered since Secret Wars.
Aaron Kuder and Javier Garron tag team these issues, and while Kuder's art sometimes veers into the super-deformed, I appreciate both of their visuals. Garron is also helping to pencil IvX, so there's visual continuity there too.
This mini-series makes me cautiously optimistic for the X-books future, and that's a nice thing to be able to say.
Anyone reading my reviews of the X-books recently knows that I'm not very enthused with them right now. I'm hoping that Death of X and Inhumans Vs. X-Men will be the shot in the arm the line needs right now, and Death Of X is a promising start.
The first and last issues of this series are excellent stuff. The bait-and-switch, and the focus on Emma Frost who has been severely lacking in the Marvel Universe lately is a welcome change, and there's really tight storytelling going on. The middle two issues meander a little more, but are still surprisingly solid. I especially like the handling of Cyclops, and the fact that re-reading the series knowing the ending will be rewarded with more layers of story to uncover. This is a good primer for the upcoming IvX crossover, as well as a nice gap-filler that explains why the X-Men have been so scattered since Secret Wars.
Aaron Kuder and Javier Garron tag team these issues, and while Kuder's art sometimes veers into the super-deformed, I appreciate both of their visuals. Garron is also helping to pencil IvX, so there's visual continuity there too.
This mini-series makes me cautiously optimistic for the X-books future, and that's a nice thing to be able to say.
April 4, 2017
This really suffered from the long build up. Marvel has been teasing this exact event in half their books since Secret Wars. Probably not a good plan, because what could stand up to what they'd built this up to be? Certainly not this book. It's not a bad book, and there are genuinely good moments. The ending in particular is a legitimately surprising and effective twist. And I don't hate the idea of terrigen being potentially lethal to mutants. Isn't that just the sort of luck Marvel's mutants can expect? I'm hoping that the upcoming Inhumans vs. X-Men event explores the idea in more detail, because this is ultimately kind of a shallow glance at the issue.
January 8, 2019
Once again adult story telling seems to annoy the fanboys! This is a nicely apt piece of work - a fitting legacy for the last 5+ comic years of Cyclops. 8 months ago in the real world post Secret Wars, we know Cyclops is dead... this is the story. The story that sees a time of rejoice and joy for the inhuman nation become a time of pain and suffering for the mutants. Scott Summers, Cyclops, father, brother, son, fighter, defender, hero, revolutionary, X-Man. 8 out of 12. Don't like this? Give it a year or 2... then read it again. That's what I did :)
April 8, 2017
As an event of great importance it fails in so many levels, it's bland, uninteresting, uneventful and it probably has the most uncharacteristic cyclops ever.
2.5 stars
And then the twist ending happened.
I pretty much feels like Loki just tricked me.
So the X-Men walked into the Muir Island station and walked out forever changed.
Every awful part of this book had a good reason for happening.. Or am I giving the writer too much credit? Ok bland is bland.
Overall my mind was blown by the ending, it shook me to my very core. This mini-series was just a good steppingstone leading to Inhumans vs X-Men.
2.5 stars
And then the twist ending happened.
I pretty much feels like Loki just tricked me.
So the X-Men walked into the Muir Island station and walked out forever changed.
Every awful part of this book had a good reason for happening.. Or am I giving the writer too much credit? Ok bland is bland.
Overall my mind was blown by the ending, it shook me to my very core. This mini-series was just a good steppingstone leading to Inhumans vs X-Men.
July 26, 2017
(2.5)Should have been better for such a big moment. So the inhumans are pushing around their terrigan clouds skipping and laughing, have a good time. The x-men notice the terrigan clouds are different now... not good. So of course Cyclops is pissed, beast and storm are level headed and decide to talk with Medusa. But remember Cyclops is pissed... and well yeah he's always pissed nevermind. Anyways beyond any spoilers the ending was better than the rest of the book, meaning the twist with Emma. Otherwise they really didn't put much thought into this book, it was pretty much a tie into the inhumans vs. x-men. I suppose they needed a good start but i didn't feel the impact like i was expecting. Besides that panel with black bolt and cyclops...WEAK!!!! the art was O.K. once again they gave no special treatment for this book.
April 10, 2017
What a bunch of crap. Everything is incredibly forced! Just about all of the characters, except maybe Storm, don't act like themselves and jump to conclusions. And not just the "let's fight and be friends after" kind. Within 5 minutes, war is declared between mutants and humans, based on one little piece of evidence. This actually happens a couple times, once from each side. The whole things is clearly to generate a reason for the inevitable crossover between the two groups and doesn't feel organic at all. There are also some evil machinations which I assume will be answered in the crossover. The art is terrible as well, just not to my liking at all.
March 5, 2017
Ah well. At least now Hank Pym isn't the only completely tarnished and trashed former hero to be killed off because Marvel's treated so abysmally horrible that there's no where else left to go with him. Yup, Cyke - you're too low to be even worthy forgiveness or redemption.
A sad end for one of Marvel's greatest characters. I'm sure he's still be a living vital hero if it weren't for the Logan/Jean/Scott thing. Wolverine's popularity is really what doomed him. Was a cancer that took decades to metastasize.
A fairly weak effort. I think he deserves better.
A sad end for one of Marvel's greatest characters. I'm sure he's still be a living vital hero if it weren't for the Logan/Jean/Scott thing. Wolverine's popularity is really what doomed him. Was a cancer that took decades to metastasize.
A fairly weak effort. I think he deserves better.
December 13, 2016
Not a bad read. I really like the twist. I especially like that you can see it coming. What I kills this book for me is that
December 10, 2016
Hated this, the art the story and the ending!
My fav character deserves better then this!
My fav character deserves better then this!
May 20, 2017
Man what a sucky way to die.
July 27, 2019
War is often the result of a breakdown in communication and failure of diplomacy, both of which are illustrated pretty damn well in Death of X by writers Jeff Lemire and Charles Soule. After a number of X-books detailed a post-Secret Wars world after an eight month gap, we finally get a look at what happened during that missing time. There were a number of questions built into the premise of Lemire's Extraordinary X-Men, particularly what happened to Cyclops and why were tensions between X-Men and Inhumans so damn high? Well, for those answers, the writers take us back to the start of the conflict, as Muir Island becomes a flashpoint for war.
Responding to a distress call, Cyclops and his team arrive at the island only to find all of its mutant inhabitants dead. The culprit, as expected, is the terrigen mist that had been unleashed in the atmosphere only a short while prior. Previously, the mist was harmless to mankind and only activated those with latent Inhuman genes. Being released so high into Earth's atmosphere, however, has changed its nature (the writer's are sure to skip the scientific whys of all this, though) and it is now a deadly plague to all of mutant-kind.
Lemire and Soule give us a three-pronged conflict, with each viewpoint vying for supremacy amidst various misunderstandings, miscalculations, and manipulation. Cyclops has fully accepted his role as revolutionary and is out for blood, publicly declaring war on the Inhumans. Former ally Storm is hoping to avoid war and seeks peace. Medusa, queen of the Inhumans, is also hoping to avoid conflict but is drawn into the fray when the mist they worshiped is threatened by Cyclops's actions.
Death of X is pretty straightforward, but at only four issues it's well paced and certainly not any longer than it needs to be. The writers get in and do what they need to do, and even manage to deliver a nice little twist at the end that puts a welcome spin on what preceded it. It also gives a bit more form and a solid foundation for the conflict that's been building over the various X-books and through the Civil War II event as this particular phase of Marvel stories close out with the Inhumans vs X-Men crossover. This one's a quick, action-packed war story and it's pretty solid overall.
Responding to a distress call, Cyclops and his team arrive at the island only to find all of its mutant inhabitants dead. The culprit, as expected, is the terrigen mist that had been unleashed in the atmosphere only a short while prior. Previously, the mist was harmless to mankind and only activated those with latent Inhuman genes. Being released so high into Earth's atmosphere, however, has changed its nature (the writer's are sure to skip the scientific whys of all this, though) and it is now a deadly plague to all of mutant-kind.
Lemire and Soule give us a three-pronged conflict, with each viewpoint vying for supremacy amidst various misunderstandings, miscalculations, and manipulation. Cyclops has fully accepted his role as revolutionary and is out for blood, publicly declaring war on the Inhumans. Former ally Storm is hoping to avoid war and seeks peace. Medusa, queen of the Inhumans, is also hoping to avoid conflict but is drawn into the fray when the mist they worshiped is threatened by Cyclops's actions.
Death of X is pretty straightforward, but at only four issues it's well paced and certainly not any longer than it needs to be. The writers get in and do what they need to do, and even manage to deliver a nice little twist at the end that puts a welcome spin on what preceded it. It also gives a bit more form and a solid foundation for the conflict that's been building over the various X-books and through the Civil War II event as this particular phase of Marvel stories close out with the Inhumans vs X-Men crossover. This one's a quick, action-packed war story and it's pretty solid overall.
March 5, 2017
This book is gorgeous, too short, and very weird.
In terms of its narrative scale, the story pretty much plays like a skimpy version of Avengers vs. X-Men, a book I really loved that most everyone else didn't. But instead of the X-Men fighting against Iron Man for the survival of their species, this time they're against the Inhumans -- rather than representing the privileged majority, the Inhumans are a similarly-oppressed group of overpowered freaks whose abilities come from genetic tampering/weird science/aliens? instead of mutation.
The beats are pretty well-tread; the X-Men discover a threat to their existence in the opposing faction and declare all-out war. Partly because of its brevity, and partly because of the way the X-Men's portrayal has changed in recent years, the notes of the story ring pretty shrill -- it's not really clear why the X-Men are so belligerent, and it basically seems like the book is simply speeding through plot development in order to get to the followup Inhumans vs X-Men and sell some freaking books. And while sales are no doubt a factor in the book's rush toward its own climax, there's actually deeper reasons for why the X-people are so ready for a dustup, and some interesting story developments when it's revealed who is really running the X-Men, and who really isn't.
I still find the modern X-Men comics a sort of fascinatingly weird read. They're escapism, surely, but also so full of existential quandary and genuinely unlikable characters doing genuinely unlikable things for very noble reasons. I like X-Men because I don't quite understand how I'm supposed to feel about it, and Death of X delivers on this in spades.
In terms of its narrative scale, the story pretty much plays like a skimpy version of Avengers vs. X-Men, a book I really loved that most everyone else didn't. But instead of the X-Men fighting against Iron Man for the survival of their species, this time they're against the Inhumans -- rather than representing the privileged majority, the Inhumans are a similarly-oppressed group of overpowered freaks whose abilities come from genetic tampering/weird science/aliens? instead of mutation.
The beats are pretty well-tread; the X-Men discover a threat to their existence in the opposing faction and declare all-out war. Partly because of its brevity, and partly because of the way the X-Men's portrayal has changed in recent years, the notes of the story ring pretty shrill -- it's not really clear why the X-Men are so belligerent, and it basically seems like the book is simply speeding through plot development in order to get to the followup Inhumans vs X-Men and sell some freaking books. And while sales are no doubt a factor in the book's rush toward its own climax, there's actually deeper reasons for why the X-people are so ready for a dustup, and some interesting story developments when it's revealed who is really running the X-Men, and who really isn't.
I still find the modern X-Men comics a sort of fascinatingly weird read. They're escapism, surely, but also so full of existential quandary and genuinely unlikable characters doing genuinely unlikable things for very noble reasons. I like X-Men because I don't quite understand how I'm supposed to feel about it, and Death of X delivers on this in spades.
May 22, 2017
Can't tell much without spoiling.
The Inhumans have released terrigen mists to reveal the hidden agent in humans DNA. Everybody knows what's going on and some are even eager to it.
I don't know where that comes from so I'm a little baffled here. Nobody says anything? Everyone hates mutants but being reborn as a Nuhuman is deemed cool? Weird.
Then Scott Summers and his team discover that the mists can kill mutants-and actually did.
And then everybody's on the war foot.
The speed with which events come to a head is what disturbed me more. No talks, no attempts to find a solution or whatever. Scott is intent to lash out in a second and Medusa seems narrow minded and determined to clear everybody in her path. This seem out of character, even after Secret Wars.
There's a little more to it than meets the eye but like I said that would be spoiling and basically doesn't change what I've just written.
I'll add that Aaron Kuder art is terribly under average. First issue on Muir Island should spell f.e.a.r. but fells flat. The rest is a sore for my eyes considering it marks the death of a major character. I clearly expected better.
The Inhumans have released terrigen mists to reveal the hidden agent in humans DNA. Everybody knows what's going on and some are even eager to it.
I don't know where that comes from so I'm a little baffled here. Nobody says anything? Everyone hates mutants but being reborn as a Nuhuman is deemed cool? Weird.
Then Scott Summers and his team discover that the mists can kill mutants-and actually did.
And then everybody's on the war foot.
The speed with which events come to a head is what disturbed me more. No talks, no attempts to find a solution or whatever. Scott is intent to lash out in a second and Medusa seems narrow minded and determined to clear everybody in her path. This seem out of character, even after Secret Wars.
There's a little more to it than meets the eye but like I said that would be spoiling and basically doesn't change what I've just written.
I'll add that Aaron Kuder art is terribly under average. First issue on Muir Island should spell f.e.a.r. but fells flat. The rest is a sore for my eyes considering it marks the death of a major character. I clearly expected better.
January 1, 2017
Esta historia que recien me entere que ya estaba saliendo explica lo que todos queriamos saber, ¿como Cyclops murio contra los inhumanos? Se descubre durante una alarma de la Isla Muir que las nieblas terrigenas que dan poder al antipatico grupo de "heroes" conocidos como INHUMANOS son letales para un grupo de mutantes, tanto que eso lleva a una alarma general para ellos. Es un conflicto muy corto que explicara el fatal desenlace, me gusto mucho el final sobre todo porque demuestra en parte lo mucho que Emma quiere a Cyclops y tambien lo que se viene en el evento "X-Men vs Inhumans"
July 24, 2018
So this is a comic that's pretty impossible to talk about without spoilers; you've been warned, but it's old enough that you'd have to be superhuman not to have been spoiled.
The basic premise was to backpaper what had happened to set the Inhumans and X-Men at each others' throats in the wake of Secret Wars and prior to the resumption of all the comics. The problem was always that the authors were unlikely to be able match the mystery of what people didn't know. However, their answer was even more problematic than that because the act that everyone reviled Scott for (getting murdered after destroying one of the two Terrigen clouds) was something that the general public and most of the X-Men should have applauded him for. So it never fit.
This comic is also problematic because of the ridiculousness of its premise. Scott keels over and dies immediately upon touching the Terrigen cloud, even though it's never caused anyone problems before and no one else (other than one other character in this comic) would ever have as extreme of a reaction. So Emma goes totally insane, creates a psychic-illusion-Scott that fools everyone but the Cuckoos and this dreary shadow play continues.
Besides the unlikeliness of all of that, the other issue is that it depends on the total character assassination of Emma Frost: one of the strongest women in the X-franchise totally loses her mind because of her boyo's death and is literally cackling insanely by the end of the comic. Without that premise you have no comic, but with that premise you've got a case of horrible characterization that doesn't match what came before. And as of this writing (2018), Emma still hasn't recovered from it.
Nor has Scott, for that matter. I'm generally a fan of removing characters to allow a franchise to move forward. The (now-reversed) deaths of Xavier and Jean Gray fit into that category. Scott, not so much, because his rebellious, mutants-first view was actually one of the freshest things in the franchise. The problem, I suspect, was the same one that keeps driving Marvel to bring their dead characters back: they become uncomfortable with their popular franchise showing growth. So, one push of the big red button, and it's back to the way things used to be. And we get entirely mediocre stories like the recent X-Men Gold comic.
So, as with most of the recent X-event comics (Death of Wolverine, Phoenix: Resurrection, et.al.), call this a small step backward for the X-writers, and a giant step backward for mutantkind. The fact that none of them have actually been good stories just adds insult to injury.
The basic premise was to backpaper what had happened to set the Inhumans and X-Men at each others' throats in the wake of Secret Wars and prior to the resumption of all the comics. The problem was always that the authors were unlikely to be able match the mystery of what people didn't know. However, their answer was even more problematic than that because the act that everyone reviled Scott for (getting murdered after destroying one of the two Terrigen clouds) was something that the general public and most of the X-Men should have applauded him for. So it never fit.
This comic is also problematic because of the ridiculousness of its premise. Scott keels over and dies immediately upon touching the Terrigen cloud, even though it's never caused anyone problems before and no one else (other than one other character in this comic) would ever have as extreme of a reaction. So Emma goes totally insane, creates a psychic-illusion-Scott that fools everyone but the Cuckoos and this dreary shadow play continues.
Besides the unlikeliness of all of that, the other issue is that it depends on the total character assassination of Emma Frost: one of the strongest women in the X-franchise totally loses her mind because of her boyo's death and is literally cackling insanely by the end of the comic. Without that premise you have no comic, but with that premise you've got a case of horrible characterization that doesn't match what came before. And as of this writing (2018), Emma still hasn't recovered from it.
Nor has Scott, for that matter. I'm generally a fan of removing characters to allow a franchise to move forward. The (now-reversed) deaths of Xavier and Jean Gray fit into that category. Scott, not so much, because his rebellious, mutants-first view was actually one of the freshest things in the franchise. The problem, I suspect, was the same one that keeps driving Marvel to bring their dead characters back: they become uncomfortable with their popular franchise showing growth. So, one push of the big red button, and it's back to the way things used to be. And we get entirely mediocre stories like the recent X-Men Gold comic.
So, as with most of the recent X-event comics (Death of Wolverine, Phoenix: Resurrection, et.al.), call this a small step backward for the X-writers, and a giant step backward for mutantkind. The fact that none of them have actually been good stories just adds insult to injury.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 3, 2020
Mno, první věc - je to hnusně nakreslené, ale má to své světlé chvilky. Druhá věc - příběh je fakt špatný a to díky Cyclopsovy a Lemirovy, který prostě neumí psát plástěnky.
Btw: dokonce i variant covery jsou hnusně nakreslené.
Btw: dokonce i variant covery jsou hnusně nakreslené.
December 30, 2016
For more than 75% of superhero comics, especially event books, you are reading through the story to find out specific details---- is this character going to die? Is this person going to leave the team? will this Bad guy be killed, or will they be arrested. A lot of the book is filler.
for some reason, when I am writing this review, I think about the original Civil war, written by mark Millar. There was a scene, in the first or second issue, where Johnny Storm goes out, to have a night on the town, but because of the anti-superhero backlash, he gets attacked by an angry mob.
Sure, that moment is a story beat. It is to show the new status quo for super heroes, in the public, but there was something about that scene that stuck with me. Johnny's dialogue, before he was attacked, and where he was going, it seemed realistic. It seemed like this is, in fact, what Johnny Storm does on the weekends.
I think the main reason we comic book nerds love the Marvel Universe or the DC universe, is because there are many examples of specific details, piled layer on top of layer, that show each superhero's personality, where they live, what their supporting cast is like. It truly does seem like a place you could escape to, to get away from this world.
Then, you have the books that are truly just to establish a Status quo, a status quo that might be in place, because of a corporate agenda, and you really feel that each issue is just filler, so that you can hit a certain story beat. Civil War II is a good example of this, and this book sure as hell is a good example.
Who gives two flying fucks about the Inhumans' mission to help New inhumans adjust to being transformed by the Terrigen mist? There is no one. that isn't even hyperbole. No one cares, at all. We are constantly being told to care about this, but there is not a single Marvel fan who would rather learn about the Inhumans trying to spread their culture, than to read a good X-men story, where the mutants aren't being reduced to near extinction levels.
Who cares, though, right? Because The X-men are not owned by marvel Studios.
Cyclops, he ends up being the perfect metaphorical sacrifice for this event. The X-men are not owned by Marvel Studios, so Cyclops- Mr.X-men himself is killed by the very plot point that sets up the all New, All Different Marvel status quo.
I am actually ok with Cyclops dying, and I am ok with exactly how he died in this book. Cyclops, unlike many other superheroes, has had a legitimate character arc, which has been going on for ten years now. His personality has changed, and it has been based around the events the X-men have been through.
will he ever come back/ I don't think so. I think eventually, what will happen, is that the time displaced X-men will just be accepted as the regular X-men, and it will become an unspoken thing that they were from a different time period. let's see what the corporation will allow
for some reason, when I am writing this review, I think about the original Civil war, written by mark Millar. There was a scene, in the first or second issue, where Johnny Storm goes out, to have a night on the town, but because of the anti-superhero backlash, he gets attacked by an angry mob.
Sure, that moment is a story beat. It is to show the new status quo for super heroes, in the public, but there was something about that scene that stuck with me. Johnny's dialogue, before he was attacked, and where he was going, it seemed realistic. It seemed like this is, in fact, what Johnny Storm does on the weekends.
I think the main reason we comic book nerds love the Marvel Universe or the DC universe, is because there are many examples of specific details, piled layer on top of layer, that show each superhero's personality, where they live, what their supporting cast is like. It truly does seem like a place you could escape to, to get away from this world.
Then, you have the books that are truly just to establish a Status quo, a status quo that might be in place, because of a corporate agenda, and you really feel that each issue is just filler, so that you can hit a certain story beat. Civil War II is a good example of this, and this book sure as hell is a good example.
Who gives two flying fucks about the Inhumans' mission to help New inhumans adjust to being transformed by the Terrigen mist? There is no one. that isn't even hyperbole. No one cares, at all. We are constantly being told to care about this, but there is not a single Marvel fan who would rather learn about the Inhumans trying to spread their culture, than to read a good X-men story, where the mutants aren't being reduced to near extinction levels.
Who cares, though, right? Because The X-men are not owned by marvel Studios.
Cyclops, he ends up being the perfect metaphorical sacrifice for this event. The X-men are not owned by Marvel Studios, so Cyclops- Mr.X-men himself is killed by the very plot point that sets up the all New, All Different Marvel status quo.
I am actually ok with Cyclops dying, and I am ok with exactly how he died in this book. Cyclops, unlike many other superheroes, has had a legitimate character arc, which has been going on for ten years now. His personality has changed, and it has been based around the events the X-men have been through.
will he ever come back/ I don't think so. I think eventually, what will happen, is that the time displaced X-men will just be accepted as the regular X-men, and it will become an unspoken thing that they were from a different time period. let's see what the corporation will allow
May 9, 2018
This was a real mixed bag for me. I really like Jeff Lemire and Charles Soule as authors, but I think the book suffered from editorial mandates or scheduling or something. The main problem is that everything felt rushed. Maybe it will get fleshed out more when I read Inhumans vs. X-Men. Until then, though, this feels like an outline that is missing a few chapters.
I enjoy most of the notes they manage to hit here. Cyclops and Emma feel like themselves, and they’re really the stars of the book. Storm and Magneto and others make appearances, but not as central. Everyone is just acting so irrationally and quickly. The urgency somewhat makes sense, but I kept thinking to myself, “Why can’t everyone just sit down to talk for like half an hour? It seems like that could help to solve this.” It would’ve benefited from a little more room to breathe to emphasize why Scott and Emma are so emphatic about their perspective. I also saw the end coming, at least to an extent. That said, I think the way things play out makes sense given what happens. I don’t quite understand why Black Bolt does what he does, or when he became a weapon that Medusa just points at a problem.
The art by Aaron Kuder and Javier Garron was probably the weakest point for me. I’m used to seeing stylized and vivid interpretations of these characters. Everyone in this book looks pretty standard, even leaning a little toward bland. A couple of panels have a nice impact, but not enough to redeem it overall.
Overall, it’s a decent addition to the X-Men mythos. I almost wish it was approached more as flashbacks in IvX or something.
I enjoy most of the notes they manage to hit here. Cyclops and Emma feel like themselves, and they’re really the stars of the book. Storm and Magneto and others make appearances, but not as central. Everyone is just acting so irrationally and quickly. The urgency somewhat makes sense, but I kept thinking to myself, “Why can’t everyone just sit down to talk for like half an hour? It seems like that could help to solve this.” It would’ve benefited from a little more room to breathe to emphasize why Scott and Emma are so emphatic about their perspective. I also saw the end coming, at least to an extent. That said, I think the way things play out makes sense given what happens. I don’t quite understand why Black Bolt does what he does, or when he became a weapon that Medusa just points at a problem.
The art by Aaron Kuder and Javier Garron was probably the weakest point for me. I’m used to seeing stylized and vivid interpretations of these characters. Everyone in this book looks pretty standard, even leaning a little toward bland. A couple of panels have a nice impact, but not enough to redeem it overall.
Overall, it’s a decent addition to the X-Men mythos. I almost wish it was approached more as flashbacks in IvX or something.
October 17, 2017
Interesting, but mostly I'm hoping that none of this "counts" in the continuity.
I've always really liked Cyclops and I really enjoyed Uncanny X-Men, Volume 1: Revolution (the Bendis series) & I'm really bummed to see it end like this.
Also, why throw away a perfectly wonderful character like for the sake of the story?! Grrr. He's actually one of my favorites, and I'm really upset!!
Issue #1 death. Lame. :(
Otherwise, I like the issue of Mutants vs. Inhumans. I think it's interesting to see one marginalized community being chosen over another. Especially since Inhumans are alien related & Mutants are evolved humans. It's an interesting power struggle.
The twist at the end was good and creepy (and pretty powerful), but overall, I wish this story had never happened. It felt too short and rushed, and honestly, now what? Ok, so Cyclops/Scott Summers is dead. For reals? And for how long?
I've always really liked Cyclops and I really enjoyed Uncanny X-Men, Volume 1: Revolution (the Bendis series) & I'm really bummed to see it end like this.
Also, why throw away a perfectly wonderful character like for the sake of the story?! Grrr. He's actually one of my favorites, and I'm really upset!!
Issue #1 death. Lame. :(
Otherwise, I like the issue of Mutants vs. Inhumans. I think it's interesting to see one marginalized community being chosen over another. Especially since Inhumans are alien related & Mutants are evolved humans. It's an interesting power struggle.
The twist at the end was good and creepy (and pretty powerful), but overall, I wish this story had never happened. It felt too short and rushed, and honestly, now what? Ok, so Cyclops/Scott Summers is dead. For reals? And for how long?
August 11, 2018
The mystery behind the Inhumans vs. X-Men conflict is finally revealed. While the death of several mutants was unfortunate to say the least, it was accidental due to the release of the Terrigen Mists. If the Inhumans had known the mists would kill the mutants, I'm sure they would have taken steps to be sure that didn't happen. No one knew what would happen (at least at this point, if it's a secret plot I haven't seen it revealed yet) so it seems a little strange to go to war over something accidental. Then again, this was a pretty major accident seeing as how it lead to several deaths. I have to admit, I come across a little nonchalant when discussing deaths in the Marvel Universe seeing as how everyone seems to come back. And I don't just mean major characters, even minor characters that really have no reason to return end up popping up again. It's gotten beyond old, but that's just how it is. This one had a major death, but...well, was it really? We'll see.
Just seemed as if things could have been handled a little differently, but I suppose more will be told in the Inhumans Vs. X-Men series.
Just seemed as if things could have been handled a little differently, but I suppose more will be told in the Inhumans Vs. X-Men series.
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