Age of X-Man: Apocalypse and the X-Tracts #3: Tell Me Sweet Little Lies

We finally start to get to the heart of Apocalypse and the X-Tracts with the third chapter, in which we see En Sabah Nur begin to expose himself for what he is– not a liberator but a slaver of a different type. Call it indoctrination, socialization, interpellation, what have you, but the issue of the counter becomes, in turn, an issue of the same. Forced ideology begets forced counter-ideology. His overt manipulation of Kitty lifts the veil off of Apocalypse’s schemes here in a wonderfully powerful way as he objects fully to the notion of “free will” and all that it entails.

The framing and page-layouts in this issue continue to blend beautifully with the psychedelic color palates and effects to give this series an almost dream-like state fitting to a series about embattled dreams.

The interrogation of religiosity hits a high point in the conversation between Evan and Eye-Boy as they play out the conversations of conversion versus life long socialization within a religious institution and the many pitfalls therein for both, contrasted nicely by the introduction of Omega Red and his contrary ideologues.