X-Men Age Of Revelation Overture #1: Talkin About A Revelation…

I don’t know who came up with the idea of naming this comic X-Men Revelation Overture #1 but it’s an apt name if you look at the definitions of what the word can mean:

1. Overture: An orchestral piece at the beginning of an opera, play, etc. This issue is the opener in the next chapter of the ongoing opera of mutant kind. Mackay and the creative team have been able to do some setup previously but this issue is it’s full establishing shot, positioning pieces on the board orientating us as readers in a world X years later. That’s 10 years in the future. As for the opera part there is certainly no lack of drama. There’s bodies dropping like flies in this one. I won’t spoil it but some people are gonna be mad and surprised as Mackay and the creative team violently draw the lines between Revelation (Doug Ramsey) Heir of apocalypse and now ruler of the Revelation territories, which was once part of the United states. Mackay and the team move quickly to show you who is who and what side they are on without delving fully into the reasons some mutants are with Revelation and some are against. Although Magneto does make it clear why the rebel X-Men are against Revelation and what he has done, which he explains to Scott summers Sucked 10 years into his future self’s body. Scott’s joined by someone else from 10 years in the past but you can read the issue to find out who.

2.Overture: An introduction to something more substantial. That’s just what this issue is. There’s quite a bit going on with several character who readers will recognize but not really understand their motivations or why they are acting the way they are. The biggest example of this is one Glob Herman. This is not the chicken raising, dinner cooking good boy we know and love from the current timeline. No This is a gun toting, radicalized mutant assassinating (I kid you not) version of the character from MacKay, Stegman and co that is so wildly different from what we know that it’s mesmerizing in it’s glaring departure from the character that you just can’t look away. Mackay and the team doesn’t offer any details as to why he is like this, there’s your introduction to something more substantial right there as I really want to know why Glob is behaving as extremely as he is. This also applies to Revelation himself who is very different from the Doug Ramsey who just joined the X-Men in the previous adjective less issue. So Mackay has left a great deal of room for exposition going forward.

3. Overture: An approach or proposal made to someone with the aim of opening negotiations or establishing a relationship. The creative team open with their foot flat on the gas and just enough explanation to orientate oneself in the landscape before the proverbial hits the fan. Is it enough? I certainly think so. While it needs to be said that nothing in this opener is in any sense of the word wildly original. We have done this before but tropes are tropes for a reason, especially the ones that work. The creative team do enough in my opinion to establish the shot, then use a bunch of story hooks like why is Bei running from her husband, what terrible thing has Revelation got planned? Why did Kwannon leave the X-Men and other character positions to suck you ion and make you want to know why, including a Glob Herman that would probably scare the Punisher. Mackay doesn’t forget the work he’s doing in the current time line either and it’s used in this story to establish a straight line connection to the current adjectiveless title.

As for the art. Stegman’s best work is in the action shots and splashes to be sure, The establishing shot of Glob after he’s fired his weapon from the trees is superb, the battle between the rebel X-Men and Revelations Angel of Death is superb, cleverly punctuated by Magneto telling Scott he’s sorry before the forest resounds with the word no one on the run from him wants to hear: SNIKT! Stegman and the crew get to show mutant versus mutant action and get to blow heads off, blow people up, stab characters and have a whale of a time with a large amount of mayhem from the word go. What is very interesting is how this book carries the same kind of feeling of dystopia that say AOA did as a story but in a completely different environment. There are trees and living things galore from Stegman, inker JP Mayer and colorist Edgar Delgado and the story feels like it takes place in an endless forest of green. The art teams close up work in the quieter moments works too, you pick up the emotions of Revelation, Kwannon and several other one on one conversations throughout the book. Characters look like they are feeling what they are saying and this also helps sell this opener for me. Cowles get’s to have fun with some sound effects and I think it’s a very solid opener to the series from Stegman, Mayer and Delgado who sell this future ten years from the present from the first panel to the last. There’s a gritty but still cartoonish (not in bad way, in a good way) dynamism to the art style on offer here that I personally really enjoy, while others may prefer everything a little prettier, I think the art team deliver solidly on the tone the book is trying to set as we delve into the Age Of Revelation.