The Age of Apocalypse series has been going strong ever since Wolverine’s X-Force revisited it. In a world where mutants live by the code of only the strongest survive it’s been an absolute mess to clean up with. The Apocalypse power was taken from Wolverine and to the masses it would appear to have been diverted into space. Those following the comic know that it was in reality taken into a holding container by humanity.
That power isn’t done being used quite yet.
This issue has two main purposes and really doesn’t try to disguise itself into being anything else.
The first purpose is to wrap up the storyline we’ve been reading to date. All of the main players are still alive though war has been averted. Honestly if you haven’t been following the comic most of what happens next would make no sense to you. It truly is wrapping up all of the loose ends of the current story arc in a very round-up styled manner.
We see Cyclops hunting down Weapon Omega (Wolverine) though quickly see it is actually Logan hunting down his ex-leutenants and killing them all. No reason is given on why he feels they truly must die. Jean tracks him down and attempts to convince him to come back home though he has none of it. Sabertooth is brought back to life once more and for the most part things are going well.
We are shown that the mutant race is giving Hawaii to humanity and are calling a truce on the war against them and one another. While it’s quite a surprise to all it would appear that every side is sick of the war and bloodshed. It also may have been a use of a ‘nuclear deterrent’ that caused the fighting to end but it’s unclear if William actually let the mutant leaders know that humanity had it as a weapon or not.
Time has passed. Peace has come to the land of Age of Apocalypse just in time to be ruined by the X-Terminatd crossover. I honestly feel that the entire issue felt too rushed as we show a lot of time having passed without a lot of resolution. We see scenes and hints of what have happened but it seems like too much of a fast forward and easy way into peace.
Most likely it is trying to be portrayed that way so whatever happens next seems that much worse. Between you and me the standard 616 universe has it bad but the Age of Apocalypse universe just cannot get a break – Even with Apocalypse having been dead for years at this point.
The second purpose is to lead is into the X-Terminated tie-in that is about to happen. This occurs both at the beginning and the end of the issue as we first see AoA’s Nightcrawler at the beginning stating he needs to go home to Mystique. On the last page we see Nightcrawler appearing before Dark Beast. How exactly he found Dark Beast is a question we don’t get answered but his demands are simple. Return him to the Age of Apocalypse or die.
Honestly the X-Terminated lead in was great but felt rather forced around the edges of the issue. I honestly believe they could have done better with a slightly extended wrap up and used the next issue as an X-Terminated lead in.
Overall I felt it was too rushed and confined in it’s space. For a title I’ve been loving so far I felt the ending of it’s current run before the story arc that will probably end it just did not do it the justice it deserves.
Writer: David Lapham
Cover Artist: Greg Land
