X-Men: Age of Revelation Finale #1: See What You’ll Become

X-Men: Age of Revelation Finale #1 brings the 20-title event meant to set up the future of X-Men storytelling to a close.

So, Cyclops. Used as the main vehicle for this event, Cyclops’ consciousness has been sent from the past into the future à la “Days of Future Past” style but in reverse. This positions him as a possible prophet or pariah for the next era of X titles beginning with “Shadows of Tomorrow” in 2026. As for the end of this event, Cyclops’ “revelation” is that there is yet another bad future waiting for mutants off on the horizon that, if comic history tells us anything, we’ll never actually reach. We as readers, fans, collectors, etc., have seen for decades that bad futures plague that horizon. In that time, Marvel has used this Sword of Damocles time and time again to create tension in story arcs without ever actually dropping the sword.

But what about the Age of Revelation’s own namesake? Revelation is as much the heir to apocalypse as any random mutant off the streets of Philadelphia is. He doesn’t echo Apocalypse as a character, nor do his motivations spring from the ancient mutant mastermind. Short of his cosmetic overhaul and complete abandonment of morality, he is just another character in the massive list of Marvel mutants. Instead of honoring the title he has been given, Doug has been portrayed throughout the event as an iron-handed tyrant who is in over his head.

There isn’t much to go on in this issue either, as he has been used as this big threat across multiple titles for several months with no narrative payoffs in terms of character motivation or sweeping changes. He wants to create a mutant utopia; he wants peace, but nothing Revelation does or says ever drives the plot in that direction. This choice, whether it was the writer’s discretion or if it came down from editorial, is a complete miss at what could have been a compelling villain. In other words, there is no real “revelation” to be had here. It’s just a guy cosplaying Apocalypse with a lot of support from his fan club of murderers and maniacs.

The art team for the Age of Revelation’s big finish consists of Ryan Stegman, Netho Diaz, and JP Mayer. Together the art team pens an immersive dystopian future. Doug Ramsey, aka Revelation, is particularly well drawn with easily readable facial expressions. The rubble of Philadelphia and the arrival of all sides to this battle are well drawn, but the page gets cluttered by the sheer amount of detail, which lacks layering to make it feel textured. The action scenes capture motion, and the special effects of all the different superpowers at play are really well done, but they’re used to deliver dialogue more than to shift the pacing of the issue. That pacing remains more or less the same from start to finish. There isn’t a whole lot to say here; it’s the same current-era X-Men artwork we’ve seen for a while, and it does a solid job.

My biggest criticism of the finale issue is it doesn’t really end; threads are not tied up, and many questions are left unanswered as writer Jed MacKay pulls the ripcord on the entire thing. It also fails to justify the existence of many of the extra titles, like Radioactive Spider-Man or Binary, for that matter, which didn’t contribute much of anything to the “event” as a whole.