Book Review: X-Men: The Age of Apocalypse Vol. 3 by S. Lobell et al.

X-Men: The Age of Apocalypse Volume 3 Omega written by Scott Lobdell, Mark Waid, Jeph Loeb, Warren Ellis, and others

See my review of Volume One here and Volume Two here.

Magneto's grand scheme to reverse history is coming to fruition. Nightcrawler brings the mutant Destiny to New York to confirm Bishop's claim that the alternate, proper history has Charles Xavier alive and Apocalypse no where in sight (so, a better world). Colossus has freed his sister from a horrible prison in the Rockies and brings her to help get Bishop back in time so he can prevent Charles's death. Gambit has gotten a piece of the M'kraan Crystal also needed to travel back in time and to other timelines. A lot of other plot lines are added to keep things exciting.

While the book does move quickly to an expected conclusion, the story still feels like it is padded with a lot of unnecessary subplots. Sure, they add color and let the reader see re-imagined X-Men and have some cool action sequences. But they could easily be dropped with hardly any consequences for the main story.

The art is a bit grungier than usual comic art and is interesting for a while but gets a little wearisome for me. About half of the X-Men have tattoos around their eyes or wild, unkempt hair, which is supposed to make them look edgier, but looks more like a fad from the 1990s (when the comics were written). I understand the choices narratively but don't find them enjoyable.

For a big epic sprawling story The Age of Apocalypse ultimately feels rather ho-hum. It lacks any great moments or character insights. The drama is as compelling as most "fix the time stream" stories, which I usually find not too compelling. All the big sacrifices people make in the alternate time seem less weighty when that time is basically erased by the end of the story.

Overall, this is an average series. There is a fourth volume with supplemental material and stories but I've already had too many extras, so I won't be reading number four.

Book Review: X-Men: The Age of Apocalypse Vol. 2 by S. Lobdell et al.

X-Men: The Age of Apocalypse Volume 2 Reign written by Scott Lobdell, Mark Waid, Jeph Loeb, Warren Ellis, and others

See my review of Volume One here.

The saga of a world without Charles Xavier continues. Magneto has taken his place as head of the X-Men and is leading a desperate fight against Apocalypse, a mutant who has taken over most of the Western hemisphere. Apocalypse is either recruiting or destroying all the mutants in the Americas. What regular humans are left he uses as slaves or as genetic fodder for creating more mutants. Or he just "culls" them. One mutant, Bishop, is from the normal timeline where Xavier didn't die and he is helping Magneto craft a plan to restore history. So some X-Men are seeking out a special telepath while Nightcrawler is headed to the hidden refuge Avalon (which is apparently the Antarctic Savage Land from the normal timeline). Jean Grey and Wolverine work with the European humans to make a plan to contain or defeat Apocalypse. The Europeans' solution is to nuke Manhattan (Apocalypse's headquarters). Jean wants to warn whoever's left, but can she get there in time? Can the humans' plan come off? These questions and what happened with the rest of the non-X-Men heroes are looked at in this issue. Age of Apocalypse runs for another two books, so nothing is resolved yet, but the plot is still intriguing enough to keep me reading.