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Easily one of the most confusing times to start reading comics, The Age Of Apocalypse was a six month alternate reality story where every X-related book stopped and were replaced by similarly named titles that took place in a world where Charles Xavier was dead, and Apocalypse ruled the world. It's a fun, if complicated dystopia tale. There are some wonderful moments, and interesting new takes on characters but when it ended, most of the characters you'd just started to care about ceased to exist. A couple immediately bubbled over into "the regular world", Marvel 616, changing some of the long-term continuity, and a few characters would eventually return in sequels to the series or world hopping books like Exiles, which was several years away when Age Of Apocalypse concluded. I have made several attempts at reading it, and usually ended up skimming parts because I knew most of it wasn't canon. But I gave it a more focused read this time, and it was pretty good. Was any of it so good that I included it in the headcanon? No. But the series is decent enough that you could read JUST the series, forgetting all of the X-Men lore before and after it, and you'd get an interesting experience of reading The X-Men.   Xmen Age Of Apocalypse Prelude by Fabien Nicieza, John Francis Moore, Todd Dezago, Scott Lobdell, Mark Waid, Jeph Loeb, Andy Kubert, Jan Duursema, Steve Epting, Terry Dodson, Roger Cruz, Ron Garney, and Ian Churchill X-Men: Prof X, Jean Grey, Cyclops, Beast, Iceman, Angel, Storm, Rogue, Psylocke, Gambit, Bishop, X-Factor: Forge, Havok, Polaris, Wolfsbane, Strong Guy Also Featuring: Sabretooth, Carter Ryking, Adam, Mystique, Nightcrawler, Val Cooper, Nick Fury, Avalanche, Legion, Gabrielle Haller, Destiny, Belladonna, Lillandra, Magneto, Wolverine, Cable, Domino The beginning of this collection was so much better than I remembered. It begins with my favorite Fabien Nicieza story yet, as he pulls together a bunch of continuity strands to set up his Legion Quest event. Everything's spelled out pretty clearly and it really draws you into the impending story. The X-Factor issues surrounding Mystique's quest to kill Legion are decent, and also prep the reader for a killer crossover. We then get a few Uncanny and adjectiveless X-Men issues with strong character beats and tension that ramps up to the actual Legion Quest event. Which sucks. Legion Quest is an uneven mess that throws you into the middle of a battle scene and then winds back to the inciting event, and then goes back to the battle scene, and then does a poor job of handling a trite time traveling story. It's really disappointing, given how good the lead-in is. Unlike most of Nicieza's misfires (which make up at least 90% of his output), the problem here is that he had a very clear endpoint but no idea how to get there. I do think that one of the benefits of the entire Age Of Apocalypse experience is that, if you love alternate reality tales, you can revel in this expansive universe, but if you don't, well you can just skip this entire event and miss almost zero continuity.  X-Men The Age Of Apocalypse The Complete Epic Vol 1-4 X-Men: Magneto, Iceman, Nightcrawler, Storm, Banshee, Quicksilver, Scarlet Witch, Sunfire, Rogue, Dazzler, Sabretooth, Blink, Morph, Nanny, Wildchild Generation Next: Colossus, Kitty Pryde, Chamber, Husk, Skin, Mondo X-Ternals: Gambit, Jubilee, Lila Cheney, Strong Guy, Sunspot Weapon X: Wolverine, Jean Grey, Moira MacTaggert, Captain Britain, Emma Frost, Mariko, Bolivar Trask X-Force: X-Man, Forge, Toad, Sauron, Mastermind, Brute  Also Featuring: Apocalypse, Mr Sinister, Cyclops, Havok, Bishop, Sentinels, Dark Beast, Candra, Gideon, Emplate, Rbbie Robertson, Corsair, Misty Knight, Colleen Wing, The Brood, Diablo, Absorbing Man, Sugarman, Threnody, Madelyne Pryor, Holocaust, Blastaar, Annihilus, Unus, Switchback, Juggernaut, Angel, Mystique, Proudstar, Dani Moonstar, Grizzly, Deadpool, Destiny, Madrox, Rictor, Peter Corbeau, Magma, Carlysle, Northstar, Aurora, Toad, Pyro, Artemis, Phantazia, Cannonball, Bedlam Brothers, Henry Gyrich, Domino, Siryn, Abyss, Karma, Shadow King, Polaris, Donald Pierce, Guardian, Starbolt, Oracle, Deathbird, Hepzibah, Ch'od, Raza Longknife, Callisto, Damask, Magik, Domino, Caliban, Cypher, Carol Danvers, Gateway, Cable, Vultura, Gwen Stacy, Norman Osborne, Kingpin, Arcade, Owl, Iron Man, Hawkeye, Thor. Invisible Woman, Thing, Mikhail Rasputin, Dr Doom, Daredevil, Hulk, Trish Tibly, Amelia Vogt, Shatterstar, Warpath, Marrow, Boom-Boom  The Great X-Periment of the 90s was this mega crossover alternate reality story: The Age Of Apocalypse. For six months, all the X-related titles went on hiatus and were replaced by similarly named books featuring reimagined versions of X-characters who lived in a world where Charles Xavier had been killed before he recruited the X-Men. In his absence, Apocalypse rose to power and conquered North America and ruled over mutants and humans. Many of Marvel's giant crossovers suffer from having clear beginnings but getting muddled in the middle and never really recovering. This story is kind of a mess at the beginning with a ton of timejumps and an invredibly vast world of characters to set up but as it continues along, it gets sharper.  After a slow build to the ending, the final issue is sort of a whirling chaos of a conclusion. It's not overly satisfying nor narratively fun but it definitely wraps up the mission statement served up in Volume 1 of the series.
We also get a preview of some future AoA-related books, and we get an X-Men issue that reminds us where all the characters were before AoA and what they were up to . And then we see them all swept towards new storylines. It's a lot to digest but it's fun. Overall, I wouldn't put this series in continuity because it is A Lot. But it's not a bad read on its own.
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January 2025
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