Fall of the House of X #3 - Review/Spoilers

[lefthanded]

This was a better issue than last. I enjoyed it more, but it still wasn’t quite as great as it could’ve been. It feels like a lot of the big moments aren’t landing because not enough work has been done to make them feel earned. Firestar’s story has been almost non-existent since her Unlimited arc. Shadowkat’s murderous streak seems to just be who she is now rather than part of a meaningful character arc.

However, I loved Cyclops and Rogue in this issue. Cyclops showing he was toying with his captors the whole time was awesome - it’s about time he got something meaningful to do in this era! And Rogue leading a mutant army back down to Earth was a great moment for her too.

I’m still hopeful that this could end strong…it’s just a shame there’s been so much disappointment along the way.

Exactly that. While the imagery of Sword stations in the sky creating an X-symbol is a neat idea, neither station played a role in the story, until now.
X of Swords used the same idea of teleporting in Sword station in to show the heroes are rallying ... but it means so much more because the word 'sword' had been seeded throughout the whole event and the characters traveled to the Sword station to do actual plot point stuff. Duggan here is just uses the imagery of twin Sword stations approximating an 'X', didn't put in any work to build up, and is saying job done.

Like you said, Firestar's story has been speedrun, where Firestar incinerating Stasis' corpse doesn't even feel satisfying as readers were never shown Stasis-Firestar's relationship dynamics at all.

[MythicalChicken]

Exactly that. While the imagery of Sword stations in the sky creating an X-symbol is a neat idea, neither station played a role in the story, until now.
X of Swords used the same idea of teleporting in Sword station in to show the heroes are rallying ... but it means so much more because the word 'sword' had been seeded throughout the whole event and the characters traveled to the Sword station to do actual plot point stuff. Duggan here is just uses the imagery of twin Sword stations approximating an 'X', didn't put in any work to build up, and is saying job done.

Like you said, Firestar's story has been speedrun, where Firestar incinerating Stasis' corpse doesn't even feel satisfying as readers were never shown Stasis-Firestar's relationship dynamics at all.

I'm not subscribed so correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't that addressed in X-men Unlimited? I actually think it's cool they have plot-relevant stories there even if I'm not reading them.

[OG Storm]

Exactly that. While the imagery of Sword stations in the sky creating an X-symbol is a neat idea, neither station played a role in the story, until now.
X of Swords used the same idea of teleporting in Sword station in to show the heroes are rallying ... but it means so much more because the word 'sword' had been seeded throughout the whole event and the characters traveled to the Sword station to do actual plot point stuff. Duggan here is just uses the imagery of twin Sword stations approximating an 'X', didn't put in any work to build up, and is saying job done.

Like you said, Firestar's story has been speedrun, where Firestar incinerating Stasis' corpse doesn't even feel satisfying as readers were never shown Stasis-Firestar's relationship dynamics at all.

Agreed those sword stations should be important because of the giant sentinel city above the moon.

[nightw1ng]

It's sad how this mini series is feeling so rushed. I understand they had a ton of subplots to finish, but they're just wrapping each one up in the quickest way possible all at once. Orchis has been giving the X-Men a run for their money for years, but now they just come off as incompetent.

[lefthanded]

I'm not subscribed so correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't that addressed in X-men Unlimited? I actually think it's cool they have plot-relevant stories there even if I'm not reading them.

You're right, I was not aware of it being covered in Unlimited.

[Captain Nash]

Oof. Had some moments but this is definitely not up to par with the RotPoX storyline, in terms of intricacy and subtlety. It just seems to simplistic. Too "Saturday morning cartoon"-ish, if you ignore the fact they're killing people. The part on Arakko was probably the cheesiest scene I've seen in quite some time. Here comes the cavalry, good thing we had all these extra spacesuit helmets lying around. And I can't be the only person who thinks that Juggernaut toting Krakoa around is ridiculous. Looking forward to when this meshes up with its sister title. Hopefully it'll take more of that cerebral tone than what's in here.

That said, I did like the Emma/Kitty vs. Stasis scene.

[Mutant X]

Moira, Omega Sentinel and now Alia Gregor.
What is the problem X-office has with the nice female characters Hickman had developed?
They are just getting dumped like trash.

[Frontier]

This was a better issue than last. I enjoyed it more, but it still wasn’t quite as great as it could’ve been. It feels like a lot of the big moments aren’t landing because not enough work has been done to make them feel earned. Firestar’s story has been almost non-existent since her Unlimited arc. Shadowkat’s murderous streak seems to just be who she is now rather than part of a meaningful character arc.

However, I loved Cyclops and Rogue in this issue. Cyclops showing he was toying with his captors the whole time was awesome - it’s about time he got something meaningful to do in this era! And Rogue leading a mutant army back down to Earth was a great moment for her too.

I’m still hopeful that this could end strong…it’s just a shame there’s been so much disappointment along the way.

I guess it's just an extension of how Duggan wrote Kitty in Marauders. She could get pretty violent there...actually, most of the team could.

[Frobisher]

This is still weaker than it needs to be. It’s a shame, as Duggan does very well when writing books for a small cast that are just fun with a dash of bathos thrown in.

Still feels like the main action is happening offscreen. Synch was mercifully spared being portrayed as a cold-blooded killer a la Kurt and Piotr, but why did Stasis have Firestar in a box? (And does the x-men really need another redhead with atomic/fire powers?)

Dr Gregor’s death was baffling; not in a “people don’t always act rationally” kind of way, but because we’ve never been shown her still thinking of Nimrod as her husband in the story. We’ve seen her eavesdropping on Nimrod and Omega Sentinel like inhuman machine conspirators.

Also, as mentioned Manifold was not required to move the station. Lila Cheney could also have done it, and she’s on the loose. Moving it from the surface of Mars - where the mutants could board by a ramp - to Earth orbit just to set up the “X” also means that the mutants have to all have space helmets and fall to the surface, which will make them super vulnerable to all sorts of attacks in the way down. Just dump it in the Grand Canyon or something!

[GeneTitan]

I was so hype for FoX...now, I just can't...
I still can't get past the depiction of Krakoa. It just looks so damn silly.
And I get all the evil ish Stasis has done, but I still don't see Emma doing what she did.
We will eat for the next two weeks with "X-Men '97", "Resurrection of Magneto" and "Rise of the Powers of X."
But, this is giving scraps.

[Captain Nash]

I was so hype for FoX...now, I just can't...
I still can't get past the depiction of Krakoa. It just looks so damn silly.
And I get all the evil ish Stasis has done, but I still don't see Emma doing what she did.
We will eat for the next two weeks with "X-Men '97", "Resurrection of Magneto" and "Rise of the Powers of X."
But, this is giving scraps.

I'm so glad someone else thinks the depiction of Kraoka is silly.

I thought Krakoa was supposed to be the island. Like way back in GSXM. he was the entire island. So all this time with the head monolith, I assumed that was Krakoa's focused totality of awareness, he grew himself a quasi-human looking head, possibly be more relatable to his mutant inhabitants.

but now...apparently Krakoa is an Ent. Where does that leave the rest of the island? Was that not Kraoka? And if it wasn't, then what was it? Or are we supposed to assume it was Okkara at this point? It's so confusing. And really does look ridiculous.

[king81992]

Gregor went out like a fraud.



I think Devo shows up in some Hickman issues of X-Men and only once during Duggan. He's the Snoke of X-Men villains.

She died as she lived: a fraud duped by machines.

[Havok83]

So Magik just swooped in and saved Cyclops using her stepping discs. Exactly why did we wait 8 months for this when Synch could have done this last summer considering in the last issue of X-men, we learned that he had her powers? Relying on Kitty's use of the gates, the stupid flying card, X-parachuting into countries were all done bc we didnt have access to a teleporter like Magik or Manifold when they really did all the time with Everett

[Galen Nycroft]

Lucas Werneck's worst work IMO. We've seen them do much better work in Immortal X-Men, but I suppose with a terrible writer like Gerry Duggan, it is hard to be inspired. I imagine he was rushed by editorial to get this work out.

I don't expect anything nuanced or thought provoking from writers like Gerry Duggan or Ben Percy, any more than I would expect a cat or a dog to write a dissertation, but dammit for something that was touted as so important to the X-Men comic brand, I would have thought Jordan White would have put better talent on this event. It really is just filler and a money grab in between now and the inevitable flop that will be Gail Simone's reboot (if the list of rumored writers is true).

[captain Qball]

Another day, another Duggan.

How many Arraki mutants burnt up on entry to have a cool rallying moment?

At least Cyclops felt pretty good.