ICYMI! Fall of the House of X #3: Boom, Crunch

Duggan has sacrificed character development for the sake of expediency, and that’s unfortunate since character is where his narrative gifts really shine. This story focuses a great deal on telling rather than showing (the narrative voice seems to be dedicated to telling us exactly what we can see with our own two eyes) and the pacing has been sped up to the point that it’s difficult for any one moment to have the weight that such a pivotal story deserves.

This isn’t to say that the issue fails to thrill. There are a number of appropriately brutal, even shocking moments (the fate of Dr. Gregor is probably the most brutal) and the story does really sell the idea that these are mutants who have been pushed to the edge. The stakes are high, possibly higher than they have ever been (hint: the mutants aren’t the only earth species with their heads on the block) but if this event had had another issue to build the tension and leave space for the consequences to really sink in, it would have allowed for a more satisfying issue.

As I said, the art did most of the heavy lifting. Lucas Werneck and Jethro Morales work together brilliantly — and absolutely seamlessly — narrating beautiful action with an incredible amount of fluidity and grace. Bryan Valenza’s color art is lucid and, frankly, beautiful. He’s an especially dab hand at depicting explosions.