Realm of X #1 Spoilers / Review

[CGAR]

So I will just post thoughts like others do:

Starts off with the preview pages; Dani Moonstar, Dust, Curse, Typhoid Mary, Marrow and Magik go through the gate and are in the forest fighting trolls and goblins.

Oh yeah I forget to mention other mutants went through the gate as well.

Curse runs away because she's an annoying child (but lowkey actually powerful and this comes into play later)

Magik cant fight because her powers are not working.

They get back up from a brigade of soilders that knew they were going to be there because of their prophecy seers.

Basically the Vanheim crew is fighting a White Witch (the only reason I picked up this title)

We don't know why they are fighting yet but we do know with of the arrival of Dani, Dust, TM and Marrow that means that the end is coming for the war and that the seers cant see anything past that.

Cut to Curse showing off how powerful she can be and getting the attention of the White Witch which turns out to be DUN DUN DUN Saturnyne.

My review is that the art was decent and the writing was okay but Magik seemed a little off to me; there were certain times where I felt Rasputina definitely would not say that or say it like THAT.

Full disclosure I only picked this up because I was told someone from Otherworld would appear.

I'm kind of also not feeling it anymore when they tell stories in other realms when there is still so much to explore on Earth, Krakoa, and Arrakko.

Like I dont see how this ties in to the other titles but I guess X-editorial likes having its off shoot titles.

Heres hoping we get more Otherworld.

[Phoenix Raptor]

Remember Destiny's prediction to the Cuckoos in Inferno? "One will be forever changed in Otherworld."

I wonder if the Cuckoos are among the dozen "injured mutants" in Vanaheim that we haven't seen anything of, and this mini is where that prediction comes true...?

[Malachi]

Hmm, the art never really soars. It's too unpolished to be beautiful(not talking backgrounds here) and not enough disjointed to be evocative. It's a mesh that doesn't work for me. I think at least the fairytail prose and certain scenes and images needs to be more clean to truly give you that feeling that a fairytail does. More or less it's the characters that don't sell it for me in the art.

Marrow gets lost in the shuffle for me. No real feel for her here so I can't even say if the writer gets her or not.

Dani has at least some scenes and Vanaheim should work for her, I am still a fan of Valkyrie Dani.

Magik just feels in a funk and not a interesting one. The more she talked the more boring it got.

Thyphoid Mary I can't judge because I haven't picked up issues between Nocentis Daredeveil run and this. Back then she really made use of the Typhoid part or her name. Here she feels like a different character, like a diet version of herself.

Dust was there to be powerful.

Curse... I made the misstake of reading X-men green. Not all of the arcs but the first one. This character just sucks. There is no fancy way to describe her. She just takes you out of the comic and makes you want to put it down and not continue reading.

The reveal of the White Witch was a big Meh for me.

I doubt I will continue reading. So much must pick up, especially in the character department.

A weak 6/10

[CGAR]

Yeah I agree this is one of the weaker titles of Fall of X.

[TheRealWashout]

The characterization here is not great (except Dani), but it was mostly fun. It doesn't feel as urgent as the other Fall ox X stuff. I'll probably read all four issues, but I'm not hooked yet.

[Grunty]

Marrow gets lost in the shuffle for me. No real feal for her here so I can't even say if the writer gets her or not.

Her characterization has been rather directionless ever since she was kicked off the X-men, to the point where basicly any writer seems to get green light to portray her in what ever way they like as long as she is angry and hot headed. Si Spurriers "lol i'm so crazy" presentation in X-force certainly didn't help in that regard.

Funny enough the same applies to her appearance where she is constantly being drawn in wildly different designs within the current era.

[Luckystar.]

Found it weak as well. All characters are interchangeable.

[Malachi]

Her characterization has been rather directionless ever since she was kicked off the X-men, to the point where basicly any writer seems to get green light to portray her in what ever way they like as long as she is angry and hot headed. Si Spurriers "lol i'm so crazy" presentation in X-force certainly didn't help in that regard.

Funny enough the same applies to her appearance where she is constantly being drawn in wildly different designs within the current era.

I would be down with angry but focused Marrow. Or Marrow with more control of her powers and perhaps a more mature, but still punk, personality. Or pretty much any version of her that feels like it's based in the character I knew. She was the big draw in me buying this and I am probably more bewildered then disapointed by her here.

[Havok83]

When it comes to the end of year awards, this issue has made Mary the breakout star for me. Absolutely loved her here

Also really enjoyed Curse. What a little sh-t...lol. What are her powers exactly?

[CGAR]

I though she just gave people curses but she seems more reality warper ish with words

[JB]

Thanks for starting the thread!

I struggled with this opening issue and I agree with much of what has been said above. I think Dani sounded great and so did Mary. Dust was kinda just there but she had a cool moment. However Magik and Marrow sounded very off to me and the whole repeated "Do something, Mary!" was weird.

I don't like Curse and towards the end I had decided I wouldn't pick up the next issue until Saturnyne was revealed. After being booted out of Otherworld it's interesting that she has her sights on another odd realm. It's kinda her thing I guess. I'll be checking out issue two to learn more about the game she's playing and how it impacts the protagonists.

[NewMutant]

I sort of figured this would continue the Excalibur storyline. I hope this picks up on the Cuckoos thing Hickman mentioned in Inferno as well. (It was nice to see Emma reference them in Iron Man). I'm going to wait for Unlimited for this one.

[Grunty]

I would be down with angry but focused Marrow. Or Marrow with more control of her powers and perhaps a more mature, but still punk, personality. Or pretty much any version of her that feels like it's based in the character I knew. She was the big draw in me buying this and I am probably more bewildered then disapointed by her here.

That's unfortunate to hear, characters like her are in dire need of being rebuild from ground up, while any weak or forgetable appearance runs the risk of further diminishing their allready low stock.

I though she just gave people curses but she seems more reality warper ish with words

Rule of thumb seems to be that any mutant who's powers are so abitrary that they are more akin to "magic" rather than pseudo scientific, it's usualy some form of reality warping/manipulation.

Like for example "luck", what ever positive or negative and "cursing" seems right in the same alley.

[sunofdarkchild]

I feel like I'm reading too many comics. The overall setup is so similar to last year's Midnight Suns comic. A prophecy of armegeddon that fortells a group of heroes rising to stop it while both sides seek a younger/student character - Zoe in Midnight Suns and Curse here. A character struggling with losing their powers and feeling inadequate while everyone else fights - Nico in Midnight Suns and Magik here. The comparison really hurts Realm of X, both because its primary appeal is being so different from everything else during Fall of X and being so derivative of such a recent story kills the originality appeal, and because so far Midnight Suns is the better-written comic. That's on top of 'Magik's powers not working' being so overused as to be its own trope at this point.

[Kingdom X]

Found it weak as well. All characters are interchangeable.

Yeah I found that the only characters with personality were Mary and Curse (the latter of which I find unbearable). It made all the protagonists around Mary look a bit dull in comparison. The less said about Magik the better because she’s definitely still competent without teleportation.

Think this is my first FoX drop. Will still check out on Unlimited, but one of the drawbacks of knowing this is a mini is now I don’t feel the need to buy because I want to support characters like Dani and Dust.