Fall Of The House Of X #2: A Bit Of The Old Ultraviolence

Once again, Duggan has managed to tie up a frankly unbelievable number of the dangling plotlines that Hickman left behind when he departed the books. A brief list of the nods, conclusions, and abandoned but now resumed plots that he has incorporated (miraculously organically) into this story include Broo’s revamped Brood, the possibility of human resurrection indicated by the creation of Nimrod, and the fate of Manifold.

It’s worth noting that none of these nods, Easter eggs and plots detract (in any way) from the exploration of character and morality that is going on beneath the surface of all this shiny Ultraviolence. As Burgess wrote in A Clockwork Orange, “To devastate is easier and more spectacular than to create.” Orchis destroyed the nation of Krakoa in mere seconds. The X-Men are devastating the work of years in exactly as little time, and yes, it is spectacular, but it’s also difficult to witness heroes like Nightcrawler and Colossus brutally murdering the people who (evil or not) they were sworn to protect.

And this unsettling difficulty is exactly the point. We, as readers, are meant to feel as alienated by this violence as we were during Krakoa’s creation. These are the characters that we know and love, pushed to the ultimate ends of their emotional limits, and although it is fairly obvious that this timeline is going to be finally and permanently reset, it is still devastating to see, especially while the question of whether or not the unfulfilled promise of Krakoa is worth the cost of this brutality.

Lucas Werneck’s art is, as usual, brilliantly spectacular. It’s unsettling to watch him use his signature clarity of line to produce scenes which involve people’s intestines rendered visible outside of their bodies, but like Duggan’s queasy tone, this was an intentional artist choice, and it is exceptionally well executed.