X-Men: Age Of Revelation Book
B. Radtz
Recap
THE GAME OF POWER COMMENCES! X YEARS LATER, after the assassination of one of his prized Choristers, Revelation welcomes a new mutant to his capital city of Philadelphia. But the capital of the Revelation Territories hides many dangers, not the least of which are her rival Choristers - and Fabian Cortez will allow no one to challenge him for Revelation's favor. But this new mutant has a secret ally - the Ghost of Philadelphia!
Review
The Age of Revelation continues! Following the events of Age of Revelation Overture and Amazing X-Men, we see the anointing of a brand new chorister, Elbecca, following the death of Topaz at the hands of Glob Herman (see: Age of Revelation Overture) in this dark dystopian world X years in the future. Apocalypse sends his Horseman, Death, to alert Revelation of his disappointment with how he’s running the Revelation Areas in the United States, and Fabian Cortez does what Fabian Cortez does, by throwing the new Chorister off a roof, only to be saved by the person you wouldn’t guess (I did)!
The concept is strong, as dystopian alternate realities and universes have been a core staple for the last 45 years of X-Men history, with some being a lot better than others. With a story this massive, with so many tie-ins, some of these chapters feel like filling, and unimportant to the overall narrative. The issue reads really well, and the last page reveal was the biggest highlight for me. Also seeing Cortez just be the absolute horrible, backstabbing character that he is brought me joy. He’s one of those characters you were born to hate, and that’s why I love him. It might be because I’m re-reading the 90’s era for the X-Men titles, but it’s brought me a lot of joy.
Jed MacKay’s X-work has been good, great, and everywhere in between, but it seems to be slightly underwhelming with the crossover. His biggest success has been humanizing these new characters, as well as his handling of these long forgotten 80’s characters, like Trevor Fitzroy and the new Upstarts, Sugar Man, and Fabian Cortez here. Seeing someone show actual affection for these long forgotten characters and brought them to a whole new generation of fans. But with this being billed as a major chapter for this epic, it just needed something more than what we got.
Netho Diaz is on art duties here, and it’s really elevated to what he did before in the main X-Men title. His character work is truly exceptional. I really enjoy his depiction of Revelation, and the rest of the characters depicted here. Doug looks exceptionally good here, which is a huge plus for me. I’ve found his new look to be rather uninspiring, and ugly in a lot of the build-up to this event. He’s giving us some truly stellar stuff, and the character designs are top notch. We don’t see a bunch of Age of Apocalypse knockoffs here, which is something that’s grown frustrating that first big event. Hopefully this arc will allow him to be assigned to a book that’ll get a lot of readers attention.
Final Thoughts
Age of Revelation Book One is solid, but could be more. For being a pivotal chapter for the story, it’s not explosive, and the twists are broadcast from the beginning of the book. Seeing Death brought low before Doug was truly inspired. MacKay’s strongest selling point is his character work, mix in Netho’s art, and it made this middling chapter a lot more palatable, had it been produced by a weaker writer or artist.
X-Men: Age Of Revelation Book One: So Bitter, And Yet So Sweet…
- Writing - 7/107/10
- Storyline - 7.5/107.5/10
- Art - 8/108/10
- Color - 8/108/10
- Cover Art - 7/107/10
