HOUSE OF X #1 by Jonathan Hickman, Pepe Larraz, and Marte Gracia

If you are a consumer of Marvel comic books, then you already know that today was the debut of HOUSE OF X #1 by Jonathan Hickman (writer), Pepe Larraz (artist), and Marte Gracia (color artist) with VC’s Clayton Cowles providing lettering and Tom Muller doing some inspired logo design work. With the launch of this new six issue series (along with next week’s launch of POWERS OF X), fans have been promised a total relaunch of the X-Men franchise. All other X-Men titles were canceled to make room for the new status quo. Marvel has been promoting these titles as vociferously as anything they have done since before the bubble burst on the speculator market in the 1990s. Even other writers and artists employed by Marvel have been gushing about the content of these comics in the lead up to their release. So after all of that, could HOUSE OF X #1 possibly live up to the hype?

In a word: absolutely. I had already braced myself for a slow buildup in these two miniseries. I had read Jonathan Hickman’s runs on FANTASTIC FOUR/FUTURE FOUNDATION, ULTIMATE COMICS: ULTIMATES, AVENGERS/NEW AVENGERS, S.H.I.E.L.D., and SECRET WARS, so I was familiar with his tendency to tell stories epic in scope that take their time getting to the major payoffs. Some seeds that were planted in FANTASTIC FOUR issues he had written in 2009 didn’t culminate in major moments until SECRET WARS in 2015. These moments felt very impactful to readers who had invested six years in reading these stories, but they could have easily fallen by the wayside to readers who didn’t stick around during the early issues. Imagine my surprise then when HOUSE OF X #1 contained multiple earth-shattering moments that completely upended not just the world of the X-Men but the entire Marvel Universe.

WARNING: THERE WILL BE SPOILERS FROM THIS POINT FORWARD.

The issue opens with mutants being birthed from some sort of organic pods as Professor Xavier (walking and wearing a portable Cerebro helmet) whispers, “To me, my X-Men” with a sly grin on his face. The first thing I’ll note from these opening pages is just how beautiful the artwork is from Larraz and Gracia. Beams of sunlight are filtering down through a bizarre looking tree and forest floor (we will later learn the significance of this strange plant life). There are vibrant blues and purples that make up the forest surroundings with orange pods that brightly stand out. After marveling at the art, my next thought was about those pods. What is going on here? Who are these mutants? One appears to possibly be Cyclops. These opening pages are intentionally mysterious, and I suspect this will play a major role going forward.

From there we see various well-known X-Men planting flowers from the sentient mutant island of Krakoa in various locations including Westchester, Washington, D.C., the Savage Land, the Blue Area of the Moon, and even Mars. The caption boxes let the reader know that this activity has been going on for at least the last five months until we reach present day Jerusalem. This is when we begin to see what’s been happening in the world. Ambassadors from several different nations are in attendance after receiving a global telepathic message from Xavier offering nations miracle drugs that can extend human life, cure mental illness, and cure a variety of infectious diseases in exchange for the leaders of these nations recognizing the sovereignty of Xavier’s new mutant nation-state located on Krakoa. We also learn that Xavier is granting amnesty to all mutants regardless of their previous crimes if they agree to relocate to Krakoa and become a citizen of this new nation. These human ambassadors are greeted by mutant ambassadors Esme and Sophia (two of the telepathic Stepford Cuckoos) and Magneto. The thing that was most interesting about the introduction of these mutants is how completely in control they are. They are written and drawn to exert a bit of dominance over their human counterparts.

We are then provided a data page on “The Flowers of Krakoa.” Hickman had commented previously in interviews that he wanted to use data pages in these series to provide the reader with as much information as possible, and they are certainly put to good use in this first issue. Essentially Krakoa flowers have been used for both humans and mutants. Krakoa flowers for humans have been used to create the aforementioned synthetic drugs. Krakoa flowers for mutants serve different purposes. One is to create gateways throughout the world (and beyond) that only mutants are able to travel through. It is “a pathway from where one is planted to its twin gateway on Krakoa.” Krakoa flowers are also used to produce habitats. “A habitat is a self-sustaining environment — a biome — that is part of the interconnected consciousness of Krakoa.” The last kind of Krakoa flower can create No-Place. This is “a place within the island ecosystem that Krakoa doesn’t know exists. A Krakoan tumor.” We have not seen a No-Place yet, but I imagine this will be something that serves as a point of conflict for our protagonists at some point.

The next few pages then show how Krakoa is being utilized by mutants. Marvel Girl is shown leading some children through a gateway to a habitat on Krakoa. Cypher, a mutant who is able to read and decipher any language, and Sage then provide some exposition explaining how Cypher has been able to create “an entire system to manage the traffic of the Krakoan network from scratch” which serves as a way to show the reader how mutants have been using the Krakoan gateways effectively. It’s here that we get a brief glimpse of Wolverine playing with children and Xavier once again wearing a portable Cerebro helmet and sporting an uncomfortable grin as he welcomes Marvel Girl home. We are also treated to another data page providing a map of Krakoa and naming a dozen locations on the island. I won’t name them all, but House of X and House of M (presumably House of Xavier and House of Magneto) definitely caught my attention.

Artwork from HOUSE OF X #1 drawn by Pepe Larraz and colored by Marte Gracia.

It’s here that we are introduced to the antagonists of the story. I hesitate to use the word “villains” until we progress further in the series, but these characters will certainly be in opposition to Xavier and his mutant nation. These characters are part of an organization known as ORCHIS. Through a data page we are told that the ORCHIS PROTOCOL called for the “establishment of doomsday network based on evolutionary research regarding the extinction level population density of Homo sapiens superior…Absorption and adaptation of various organizational assets into next-generation infrastructure: BUILD FOR DOOMSDAY.” This new organization is comprised of members of A.I.M., S.H.I.E.L.D., S.T.R.I.K.E., S.W.O.R.D., ALPHA FLIGHT, H.A.M.M.E.R., A.R.M.O.R., and HYDRA. In other words, virtually every clandestine organization that exists within the Marvel Universe has had members recruited and pilfered by ORCHIS. The two members that we are introduced to are Dr. Alia Gregor of A.I.M. and Karima Shapandor, the Omega Sentinel. They are currently on a space station orbiting the sun that seems to be a combination of Tony Stark’s doomsday weapon Sol’s Hammer (a weapon with the power to obliterate entire planets using the power of the Sun) and the head of a Master Mold sentinel (a massive robot that can manufacture the mutant-hunting robots). This new weapon is referred to as The Forge. These few pages convey in very clear detail just how dangerous this new organization is. Much like how Cassandra Nova’s use of a Master Mold at the beginning of Grant Morrison’s NEW X-MEN run conveyed how dangerous the new villain was to mutantkind, ORCHIS is given similar instant-threat-status by The Forge and the types of people within the organization.

At this point, the reader is introduced to a new version of the group DAMAGE CONTROL. While the original version of the group was essentially a construction company specializing in cleaning up after superhero destruction, this new version “operates as the archival unit for government-contested metahuman machinery and technology that belongs to missing, incapacitated or deceased individuals where either a chain of custody does not exist or the items in question pose an existential threat to the United States” (per another data page). In this particular instance, they are operating a data storage facility that is being raided by a strike team comprised of Mystique, Sabretooth, and Toad. This does not go over well with the Fantastic Four who rush in to try and apprehend the mutants before they can escape through a gateway to Krakoa. Mystique and Toad manage to get through, but Sabretooth is caught in an invisible force field from Invisible Woman. We are then treated to a conversation between the Fantastic Four and Cyclops who has emerged from the gateway. While initially friendly in nature (Cyclops congratulates The Thing on his recent marriage), things get chilly when Cyclops says that he’ll be taking Sabretooth with him since he’s been granted amnesty in Krakoa. Reed Richards and the rest of the Fantastic Four are not so enthusiastic about this, so Cyclops diffuses the situation by saying they can keep him until they come up with a different way to handle the problem later (much to Sabretooth’s chagrin). Cyclops delivers some iconic dialogue where he tells the Fantastic Four that he and the rest of mutantkind have had enough of being hunted and hated and simply are not going to take it anymore. As he leaves through the gateway, he makes one last comment to them that Franklin (Reed and Sue’s Omega level mutant son) is welcome to join his family on Krakoa.

That’s when we get our last data page where Hickman once and for all provides a definition for what exactly an Omega level mutant is. The term has been used for years to vaguely describe a very powerful mutant. Here Hickman gives a true definition: “A mutant whose dominant power is deemed to register — or reach — an undefinable upper limit of that power’s specific classification.” So there you have it, folks. No longer is the term a catchall for “a really powerful mutant.” Hickman even makes a note that if an Omega level mutant has multiple powers, the term only applies to the power that mutant has that has an undefinable upper limit. His example is Jean Grey. She is both telepathic and telekinetic, but only her telepathy is Omega level. A few other examples he gives include Magneto, Storm, and Proteus among others. Hickman also introduces the OMEGA PROTOCOL: that it is a priority of the mutant nation to secure its greatest natural resource (Omega level mutants).

This takes us to the final pages of the issue where it is revealed by the Stepford Cuckoos that the human “ambassadors” in attendance are actually agents and representatives from various clandestine organizations and corporations. One is armed with a handgun that Magneto effortlessly disassembles with his magnetic powers. Magneto then reveals that this was never meant as a negotiation. The point of this meeting was to let humanity know that things have changed and mutants are in control. The issue ends with Magneto stating that choosing Jerusalem as the meeting location was done intentionally due to its religious symbolism that humans seem to love so much. The final panel sees Magneto look back over his shoulder with one last statement: “You have new gods now.”

And thus concludes the first issue of HOUSE OF X. This was the best single issue of a comic book that I have read this year. The star of the book was Professor Xavier. Despite appearing in only a few panels and saying little more than a few sentences, his presence looms over everything that happens in this issue. I am very curious to learn how his plan came to be and what inspired it. For nearly the entirety of X-Men publication history, Xavier has preached integration while Magneto has been the one constantly trying to create a separatist mutant nation-state. The glee Magneto is feeling from Xavier moving to his way of thinking is palpable throughout the issue. Beyond the writing, the artwork is incredible. Larraz’s pencils and inks are fabulous, and Gracia’s colors really bring every page to life. I’m amazed that this issue lived up to the absurd hype that has been building for the better part of four months. I look forward to picking up POWERS OF X #1 next week to see what this creative team has in store for us.