X-Men: Days of Future Past – Doomsday #1: The Butterfly Effect

X-Men: Days of Future Past – Doomsday #1 is a mouthful of a title that returns to the early days of the Days of Future Past storyline to give more context as to how the world ended up like the dystopian future that the comic popularized. The issue begins quite a ways into the future, showing Kate Pryde-Rasputin and a select few X-Men members running from sentinels. It becomes immediately apparent that this issue will be full of gruesome events and deaths, although little substance surrounds them.

Marc Guggenheim does a fine job contextualizing the event preceding this narrative. However, anyone picking up this book will likely have read Days of Future Past, not requiring all the page real estate dedicated to the recap. That being said, the narrative does move at a breakneck pace, with little time wasted on filler or anything other than specific highlights throughout the years leading up to this dystopian timeline. These snippets lead up to an event revolving around Magneto where the X-Men, more divided than ever, are forced to come together to stop the destruction of the earth. This all comes across as just a list of events rather than a genuinely engaging narrative, with the ending stinger not adding anything to the greater X-Men universe.

The pencils from Manuel Garcia and inks from Cam Smith highlight the issue, harkening back to a very memorable period in the X-Men’s history. Fans of X-Men who have grown tired of the HOX/POX era will definitely want to check out this, as it should give the old-school 90s fans a nostalgia boost. Yen Nitro’s colors give this aesthetic a modern vibe, with everyone feeling classic and as modern as possible. This will make the art more palatable for fans who are not as familiar with the old-school X-Men series, with the emphasis on the bright colors that make the different members unique.

Finally, Clayton Cowles rounds out this issue with clear and concise lettering. This lettering makes it very clear where and when each setting is to ensure there is no confusion. The only suggestion for Cowles would be to match the 90s aesthetic and art style with equal lettering. This likely would be an artistic decision, so he may not have any control over how that looks, but it would have been an added boost for this story.