A Review of X-Men '92 House of XCII #1
X-Men ‘92 House of XCII #1
Steve Foxe words
Salva Espin art
Israel Silva colors
VC’s Joe Sabino letters
From Marvel Comics
Can’t find a gate to Krakoa? Peep the solicit:
THE '90s ARE BACK - AGAIN!
Everyone's favorite '90s incarnations of the X-Men have returned...but this time, everything is even all-newer and all-more different! Mutantkind is taking a huge leap forward by founding their own nation on the island of Krakoa, guided by Professor X, Magneto, and a mysterious long-lived woman who knows more than she should. That's right - the '90s X-Men are tackling the Krakoan Age thirty years early... and it's NOT going to go the way you expect!
I’m a glutton for nostalgia, and that’s one of the factors that lead me to the X-men ‘92 comics. The other factors included all ten of the David Nakayama covers, but I was pleasantly surprised by their content. Those fourteen issues may have spawned from an event, but they ended up finding their own ground on which to firmly stand. They told their own story and wore the skin of characters that impacted our childhoods. These came out back in 2015, and the collected editions have long sold out. Luckily, there’s an X-men ‘92 epic collection set to release in the fall, and a hot new miniseries to quench our animated thirst.
X-men ‘92 House of XCII is a great comic. You should pick it up this Wednesday. You should put the miniseries on your pull. If you’re a recovering variant addict who slipped off the wagon, like me, you should pay the extra bucks for the stellar David Nakayama variant.
Like Jonathan Hickman’s mind-melting X-men reboot, Steve Foxe’s House of XCII is both a fresh start and rooted in the issues that came before. Foxe’s X-men, too, can be grown inside of golden eggs and downloaded back to life. His X-men are living their best lives in the age of Krakoa. They are a unified people of gate travelers who live in an island paradise. Foxe’s X-men walk on the foundation that Hickman erected, but their similarities quickly dissipate the further readers venture into this premier issue.
Foxe has simplified the Krakoan age in a genius way. As a reader, the weight is lessened. Nothing feels quite as Hickman-heavy, and though I adored House of X and Powers of X, House of XCII is a more comfortable read. I didn’t feel like I had to read the issue again; rather, I just wanted to. And the plot isn’t simple. I’d love to talk more about it, but I don’t want to spoil the greatness of these panels. I want other X-fans to find the surprises I did and experience the twists and turns. You’ll find yourself surprised and muttering, “Oh, Jonathan didn’t do that,” while you excitedly thumb to the next page. You’ll gasp at the new secrets Charles is keeping from his trusted soldiers. The gears in your nerdmind will churn and build theories while you wait the long month leading to the second issue.
Yes. It’s that good. And I haven’t even gotten to the art.
Salva Espin and Israel Silva leave infinite gifts in every panel. Each page is beyond gorgeous. It’s vibrant and full of those wondrous Saturday morning vibes. These are the X-men we grew up with, and you’ll feel young again while you tumble through these ludicrously luxurious pages.
Linework and colors are all on point. The action is perfection, and the stakes are high. There’s a wonderful juxtaposition within the stylistic animated imagery and the heaviness of the plot. I’m not quite sure how Silva makes it happen, but, tonally, the issue is vivacious and coats your gaze in color, yet, somehow, there is a foreboding darkness mixed into the formula. It seems oxymoronic, but it works incredibly well.
The Hickman data pages have also resurfaced and been remixed. They look like Saved By The Bell’s title sequences mixed with old Trapper Keeper designs. Gone are the intensified Hickman-era graphs. Instead, they’re replaced with quirks and jokes and idiosyncratic bits of useless knowledge that breathe new life into this narrative. All of this, the new data pages, the new story, each and every panel and their wonderful sound effects, it’s all made better by Joe Sabino’s fine letterwork.
X-Men ‘92 House of XCII is fun and beautiful and, occasionally, a bit silly in the best of ways. It’s also rich in complexities feeling both mysterious and dangerous. It does so much in just one issue, and I cannot wait to see this creative team let loose as the miniseries progresses.
So, yes, buy this. Buy the variants. Give Marvel a reason to keep 1992 alive in 2022 and beyond.
And now for some housekeeping…
Blake’s Buzz episode #32 is currently available featuring New York Times bestselling author and illustrator Jarrett J. Krosoczka. We talk about his hilarious and amazing Lunch Lady comics. We also talk about growing up nerdy, The Batman, and why it’s incredibly fucking dumb to ban books. He was such a pleasure to interview, and I’m super proud of this episode. You can download it anywhere podcasts can be downloaded, or you can click here to go to my Megaphone page.
Please check it out.
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