Fall of the House of X #1 - Review/Spoilers

[lefthanded]

Teleportation was my first thought.

We know Nimrod will be back. Either by working around it or being freed by someone else.

Best case with Nimrod he will have a big grandstand fight that ends with some clever “circuit” we didn’t see coming that in one way or other puts him out of commission. He’s that kind of threat. If you want to use him regularly as a villain he needs to be nerfed.

If Duggan was the type of writer with long term planning, one possible route to the Mutants beating a super-powered Nimrod, is if Dr. Gregor develops a change of heart, begins working with the mutants, and manages to deactivate or distract Nimrod by appealing to the last remants of her husband. That would fit thematically (mutants and humans working together) and emotionally (she helped found Orchis and created Nimrod out of grief, but is has now moved to acceptance).

But of course, that wouldn't happen because Gregor is an underdeveloped character, and most writers/readers do want a climactic battle where the heroes correctly are the main characters and unleash their best powers. Even I have to admit, in this issue, to feeling satisfaction at seeing Colossus/Wolverine/Cyclops have little victories despite how dumb a lot of the setups are.

[Malachi]

If Duggan was the type of writer with long term planning, one possible route to the Mutants beating a super-powered Nimrod, is if Dr. Gregor develops a change of heart, begins working with the mutants, and manages to deactivate or distract Nimrod by appealing to the last remants of her husband. That would fit thematically (mutants and humans working together) and emotionally (she helped found Orchis and created Nimrod out of grief, but is has now moved to acceptance).

But of course, that wouldn't happen because Gregor is an underdeveloped character, and most writers/readers do want a climactic battle where the heroes correctly are the main characters and unleash their best powers. Even I have to admit, in this issue, to feeling satisfaction at seeing Colossus/Wolverine/Cyclops have little victories despite how dumb a lot of the setups are.

Yeah I have been thinking about that too. The part that I get stuck on is if there have been any signs of Gregor since Nimrod was created? Any clear signs how he influenced Nimrods AI? Or just glitches, parts where one might see a remnant of Gregor. I can’t remember that but I haven’t reread HoX/PoX or read all of inferno.

I think without establishing Gregor as being partially “alive” in Nimrod it’s a reach to go that route.

[cranger]

Yeah I have been thinking about that too. The part that I get stuck on is if there have been any signs of Gregor since Nimrod was created? Any clear signs how he influenced Nimrods AI? Or just glitches, parts where one might see a remnant of Gregor. I can’t remember that but I haven’t reread HoX/PoX or read all of inferno.

I think without establishing Gregor as being partially “alive” in Nimrod it’s a reach to go that route.

Hickman wrote it so that it seemed as if all traces of Erasmus in Nimrod were gone. It was certainly vague enough (and it is 'comics') that of course there could have been a small amount that continued to grow but given how Hickman also wrote Nimrod being brought in early by Omega Sentinel to betray the humans I would expect him to be aware of any leftover human corruption and have purged it. Even if there is a trace of Erasmus, Alia seemed to have believed it was all gone and I do not think anything about Nimrod's behavior would make her doubt that belief at this point.

[Nivek]

As a Colossus fan, I was pleasantly surprised. He was written in a completely unexpected manor (which, I didn't mind). There was angst, dry humor and rage. It almost channeled Colossus of the Whedon Astonishing X-Men days. I also appreciated the "classic" new X-Men-like approach. On a side note (and I may have missed it), but has Colossus ever interacted with Rasputin? If yes, can y'all please let me know which issue(s)? Thanks!

[yogaflame]

Was Knowhere moved a lot closer to Earth recently? How did Lorna get there so fast?

I don't know where Knowhere is usually, but that planet looked exactly like Jupiter, which is between 32 and 53 light minutes from Earth, give or take a few seconds, depending on it's exact position in orbit. In theory, Lorna could encapsulate herself in an magnetic forcefield, and then accelerate to lightspeed using electromagnetic waves, and get to Jupiter within an hour(assuming she could lock on to Jupiter's impressive EMF as navigation).

Now, Mars/Arrako is much closer(anywhere from 3 to 22 light minutes), and given Storm's recent feats in Red, she could probably do the same, never mind what any of the other million or so super mutants have up their sleeves. So, the idea that Lorna would skip Arrako and go for the Brood, or that the Arraki mutants are completely isolated from Earth, is certainly a choice.

As for the issue at large, I mean, unsuspectingly I was not impressed. I refuse to believe Duggan actually wrote Planet Size X-Men(I swear Hickman ghostwrote it and let Duggan get the credit to legitimize his upcoming X-Men run). This story is garbage. And as for the art, I like Werneck's pin ups when he really focuses, but I do find his interiors/full issues tend to be sloppy. I know it's not easy to keep up the pace 20+ pages at a time, month after month, but that's the gig.

[JB]

Phil Noto 2nd printing variant.



Congrats to the team!

Regarding Werneck I have a feeling the art will be tighter in issue #2. Ryp stepped in to finish Immortal so Werneck could move to this book while also doing Dead X-Men covers.

[ETMike1988]

Yeah, I don’t get:

1. When / why did Xavier go back to Krakoa? He’s supposed to be on Muir?
2. Why did he summon Rasputin away; what does he mean he and Rasputin can save them all?
3. Did Krakoa break a piece off itself away or is that the whole island that now looks like Groot?
4. Is Nimrod now imprisoned inside Krakoa with Doug? If Sabretooth could escape…
5. Whatever happened to Orchis’ ultimatum / threat: Ten humans would be killed for each mutant found on earth? Wasn’t that the threat that broke Xavier? What’s changed?
6. Whatever happened to Xavier’s Immortal / SoS threat: He could kill or change every mind on the planet if he wanted to?

3. In one of Moira's previous life Krakoa was also appeared as a humanoid tree. One billion years ago Okkara was an intersex(?) human looking mutant who later turned into a humanoid tree.
https://marvel.fandom.com/wiki/Okkara_(Earth-616)
https://bleedingcool.com/comics/marv...ore-xspoilers/

[Micabe]

Yeah I have been thinking about that too. The part that I get stuck on is if there have been any signs of Gregor since Nimrod was created? Any clear signs how he influenced Nimrods AI? Or just glitches, parts where one might see a remnant of Gregor. I can’t remember that but I haven’t reread HoX/PoX or read all of inferno.

I think without establishing Gregor as being partially “alive” in Nimrod it’s a reach to go that route.

Hickman wrote it so that it seemed as if all traces of Erasmus in Nimrod were gone. It was certainly vague enough (and it is 'comics') that of course there could have been a small amount that continued to grow but given how Hickman also wrote Nimrod being brought in early by Omega Sentinel to betray the humans I would expect him to be aware of any leftover human corruption and have purged it. Even if there is a trace of Erasmus, Alia seemed to have believed it was all gone and I do not think anything about Nimrod's behavior would make her doubt that belief at this point.

Erasmus Mendel (as a human), sacrificed himself to stem the mutant's breaching the Orchis Forge defenses in House of X Vol 1 #3 -- but, somewhere before his death, Mendel's consciousness was transferred into the newly constructed Nimrod unit that later sacrificed Mendel's consciousness leaving the Nimrod unit devoid of a human presence in X-Men #20 (2021).

[Devaishwarya]

I'll wait to see what Duggan does with X-Men 30 before I decide to clock out entirely on this "Final act" because this issue did absolutely nothing to alleviate my apathy.

[useridgoeshere]

Isn't the premise of Rise that all this stuff the X-Men are doing fails miserably? So, while Xavier, Polaris, Scott and others can have moments, it won't do much until the future comes back to fix the past?

[GeneTitan]

Definitely a setup issue, but solid. I would have liked maybe one kind of OMG moment but alas!

I thought the art was great. I've been a longtime fan of Werneck from way before he booked the X-Men gigs. He has a great love for the characters and is obviously very into things looking beautiful/pretty/pinup-y. So his earlier work kind of reflected that and the more dynamic moments were not as compelling. I think that's where this issue showed his growth. The layouts and choices were much more mature. I understand the criticism that some of the pencils looked a little rushed, but overall the work looks great. He seems to be hitting his deadlines and hasn't really faltered so there's that!

Pepe Larraz would've ate this up! But, he just finished "The Big Game" over at Image and is working on "'Blood Hunt" for Marvel.
Werneck's art was "good" here, but it was rushed and didn't quite deliver the way it needed to.
Again, Larraz would've ate this up and elevated the script.

[Triniking1234]

As a Colossus fan, I was pleasantly surprised. He was written in a completely unexpected manor (which, I didn't mind). There was angst, dry humor and rage. It almost channeled Colossus of the Whedon Astonishing X-Men days. I also appreciated the "classic" new X-Men-like approach. On a side note (and I may have missed it), but has Colossus ever interacted with Rasputin? If yes, can y'all please let me know which issue(s)? Thanks!

Colossus knows who Rasputin IV is because they were both in Immortal X-Men after Sins of Sinister ended but I don't think they had any scenes together like she did with Storm.

Yeah, I don’t get:

1. When / why did Xavier go back to Krakoa? He’s supposed to be on Muir?
2. Why did he summon Rasputin away; what does he mean he and Rasputin can save them all?
3. Did Krakoa break a piece off itself away or is that the whole island that now looks like Groot?
4. Is Nimrod now imprisoned inside Krakoa with Doug? If Sabretooth could escape…
5. Whatever happened to Orchis’ ultimatum / threat: Ten humans would be killed for each mutant found on earth? Wasn’t that the threat that broke Xavier? What’s changed?
6. Whatever happened to Xavier’s Immortal / SoS threat: He could kill or change every mind on the planet if he wanted to?

1. There's obviously a time skip between Immortal and this issue.
3. Remember Krakoa can mainfest itself in the trees on the island. He just uprooted one and ran off.

[Raz]

Temporary. The problem is how relatively easy it was done.

Yeah, I think that was my issue with it - I can see the amber being enough of a surprise to throw him off for a second or two, but not for long enough that Krakoa's got time to finish stomping him and run away.

It is what it is I guess, but I wonder if that scene was maybe not fleshed out particularly well in the script and the artist just had to do his best to make it work?

[Triniking1234]

Yeah, I think that was my issue with it - I can see the amber being enough of a surprise to throw him off for a second or two, but not for long enough that Krakoa's got time to finish stomping him and run away.

It is what it is I guess, but I wonder if that scene was maybe not fleshed out particularly well in the script and the artist just had to do his best to make it work?

Nimrod jobbed. C'mon.

[Gray Lensman]

Nimrod jobbed. C'mon.

Nimrod adapts to every power, and every attack it encounters, and has faced off against the X-men dozens of times at the minimum. He either jobs or wipes them out, there isn't much space in between anymore.

He was one of those concepts that only works if used once every decade or so.