Fall of the House of X #1 is all callbacks and no pushforwards

Orchis has had mutantkind up against the ropes for months now. All they need to destroy the Krakoan dream is to win one last battle. The Trial of Cyclops is meant to be the death knell for mutantkind on Earth, but the X-Men aren’t likely to go down without a fight. The battle begins in Fall of the House of X #1, written by Gerry Duggan, drawn by Lucas Werneck, colored by Bryan Valenza and lettered by Travis Lanham, with design by Tom Muller and Jay Bowen.

Armaan Babu: Fall of the House of X #1 is the culmination of a lot. It’s the beginning of the end for one of the most interesting eras of X-Men in a long time. It’s the first issue of two miniseries that are essentially going to wrap that era up for good. It’s finishing what the X-office rushed into with the last Hellfire Gala sending the mutants on the run. So how was Fall of the House of X #1?

The bar was low — and I was still disappointed. So much of this issue fell flat for me, and nothing about it makes me look forward to the rest of this series — or, for that matter, Rise of the Powers of X. 

I will give it this: Holy hellfire does Polaris’ new costume look cool!

Tony Thornley: So there was so much conversation about this in the ComicsXF Slack that I think it boils down to one thing — there’s no way this was going to live up to the beginning of this era. By the title alone, this was evoking comparison to House of X — you know, the best X-Men story of all time?

The Trial of Cyclops

Armaan: We begin with a dream. It’s an idea I love — the dream is something that comes up so often in X-Men comics. Xavier’s dream of mutant and human coexistence, Magneto’s early dreams of mutant supremacy, and the underlying dream they both shared: of a world where mutants were free to be their best selves. Krakoa was that dream, and that dream is being shattered. Beginning the end with a dream is a lovely idea.

The execution … significantly less so.

Cyclops is guided through some cheap attempts at symbolism, a lone cowboy awaiting his execution, all contrived to lead up to the kicker: “The world drops out from under my feet … but I do not fall.” He does not fall because in the dream, Jean Grey holds him aloft. It’s sweet, sure, but … small. Simplistic. And uninspiring.

It does, at least, very accurately set the tone for the rest of the issue.

Tony: It’s so painfully obvious what this is foreshadowing. And I think frankly when it comes down to it, the foreshadowing makes so much sense.

Think back on the last four years. How many huge moments of this era are centered on Jean? The raid on the Mother Mold. The call to arms in X of Swords. The Terraforming of Mars. The X-Men reveals. Even the small moments — Beast being held accountable, Madelyne Pryor’s resurrection. Without saying it here, Duggan points to Jean being the central figure in all of Krakoa.

But it just doesn’t land. The idea that Jean is the most important figure in Cyclops’ life, as well as the X-Men’s … I like it, but there’s something missing in the execution of it. I can’t totally put my finger on it, but I struggle.

Armaan: Is it possible that, for all that he’s placed her as a central figure, Jean hasn’t actually had a hand in anything since the Hellfire Gala? She’s a distant symbol that Cyclops puts faith in, she’s as active a character as God is in your average Daredevil comic — technically important, but more as a concept than an actual force.

Tony: Which is funny considering the Jean Grey miniseries and the final arc of Immortal X-Men. She’s central and present but also not. Extremely weird dichotomy.

Armaan: Cyclops wakes up, in a version of the costume he wore when he was sixteen — although, of course, his visor does not allow him to release his concussive beams. I liked this choice. One of the moments that sold me on the Krakoan age was Cyclops talking about how he’d spent his entire life being hated and hunted — asking the Fantastic Four, his distinctly human allies, whether they really expected mutantkind to sit around and just take it.

Here he is, all this time later, dressed in the costume of his youth, and very little has changed. Mutants are hunted. Mutants are hated. They’re not going to take it. I like the symbolism, even if it’s a mish-mash of no fewer than three cheap callbacks.

The creative team is throwing a lot at the wall here. Very little of it sticks, but we should definitely take a moment or two to appreciate the bits that do.

Tony: I’m going to say though the narration is ROUGH, the stuff going on on panel is so good. We go from Captain Commander Scott Summers four years ago — strong, confident and fully in control — to a version of Cyclops that’s frankly infantilized. His eyes have been robbed from him, his Krakoan heritage, and he’s been reduced to his childhood. Just like you said, there’s a lot to struggle with, but the moments that land WORK.

Armaan: The next we see Cyclops (we’ll get to the other X-Men in a bit) is in a one-on-one conversation with Orchis’ Dr. Alia Gregor, with Omega Sentinel on the side.

It says a lot for how rushed a group of villains Orchis is that I completely forgot Dr. Gregor even existed until this moment. She is an extremely underdeveloped villain, who’s not had the spotlight for a while, so setting her up to be some kind of personal nemesis for Cyclops, for this to be a final calm confrontation before the storm? It doesn’t work. In fact, this whole scene would have outright irritated me if Lucas Werneck did not make villains drinking coffee look so danged cool.

Tony: See, I liked it. This is the portion of the issue where the parallel to HoXPoX worked for me. Gregor falling by the wayside is frustrating. But bringing her story back full circle is a great touch that I think a few fans won’t fully understand.

The villains of the Krakoan era aren’t the humans. They’re the machines. And here’s Gregor gloating that they got Cyclops right in front of the Omega Sentinel, who knows the REAL plan. And like you said, the whole sequence looks great. When Werneck’s work lands, it rules.

Armaan: Speaking of Werneck’s art — I don’t think it’s the best choice for an event that’s supposed to be as momentous as the Fall of X is. Singular poses, Werneck does great. There are moments where he shines, like this coffee scene, or Polaris’ new outfit reveal later. But for the majority of this book, the art looks a lot sloppier. Rushed. Fewer details, stiffer bodies, looser lines. A poorer quality read overall.

Tony: This brings up the exact problem this issue has over and over — it’s going to be compared to House of X at every turn. That’s the problem with having Werneck, who is a good artist but isn’t Pepe Larraz. He’s still young, still developing, and frankly his sequentials don’t measure up to his covers yet. I get that Larraz is doing Marvel’s Avengers event, and sure, they have Silva on RoPoX, but Werneck just falls short.

But like I said, Werneck is good. This is what he’s good at.

Armaan: As for the trial itself, there’s … not a lot to say here. This isn’t me being dismissive, the comic simply skipped over it. We get the tail end of it — international courts simply accepting without question the claims of Orchis, and Cyclops choosing not to offer up a defense. Mutankind, as a species, is determined to be … guilty.

Whatever that means.

One thing the Fall of X has made clear is that it’s important that we, the fans, know that mutantkind resists. It’s not important that we have a clear understanding of what it is they’re resisting, or that it even makes sense. It is enough to stand tall, and proud, and to state that you’re against bigotry without any kind of examination of what that means.

We also have time for another cheap callback, this time to Judgment Day.

Tony: Do we even know what crime Scott is being tried for? I mean, I don’t understand that, and that would improve this reading experience about a dozen times over. I read over the pages a couple times, and it just seems like it’s a general “war crimes” or “crimes against humanity,” which is just a cop-out.

Armaan: Cyclops’ response comes after the trial, in a statement released by his lawyer, Jennifer Walters (Hey, it’s She-Hulk, technical representative for aaalll of Krakoa (it’s canon!)). His strategy in doing so, instead of even trying to defend himself is … confusing, to put it kindly. Best as I can figure out, he was refusing to engage in a sham trial, which … I suppose is fair enough?

There’s a fine line with Cyclops. It’s easy to have him sound unsympathetically self-righteous instead of inspiring, just as it’s easy to have Deadpool sound more annoying than funny, or have Superman sound more preachy than hopeful. Duggan fails at this, and fails hard.

It’s the smugness. It’s the statements that say, “I was right, and I told you so. I knew this would happen,” without him having done anything, apparently, to stop it. Nothing, that is, but resisting. 

I like Cyclops as a character, and the mutant metaphor is one that can, when done well, work powerfully. But Orchis is a severely underdeveloped group of villains. This story is rushed, and empty. And an empty metaphor feels like nothing but lazy writing.

Tony: You’re exactly right, but I did think the last two lines were kind of badass. 

This is incredibly frustrating though because I feel like Duggan has generally written Cyclops well the last two and a half years (Brood story aside). I really dislike how Scott’s written here, and it’s entirely because I know it can be better.

Screwball Specials

Armaan: Cyclops isn’t the only X-man featured in this book, however. Early on, we have Colossus and Wolverine form a sort of reverse version of the fastball special as the narration talks about mutant technology. It is extremely difficult to try to figure out what’s meant to be going on here, beyond a lead-in to Wolverine ripping an Orchis agent to literal shreds.

It’s a moment that isn’t clear about what it’s meant to evoke, and a moment that nonetheless wants to subvert what it’s doing a very good job of evoking. The dialogue can’t seem to decide whether it wants to be clever or grim. It’s a cringeworthy hodgepodge of both.

Tony: I think it’s a setup for a touch of gross-out humor, which uses the mutant machine storytelling mechanism. I agree though, it’s too grim to be more than cringe.

Armaan: We also get moments with the other X-Men — Professor X has apparently had enough, and calls upon the time-displaced Rasputin IV to help him with a secret mission. It would appear he’s been secretly working with her for quite some time. But despite following along with his adventures in Immortal X-Men, this is the first we’re hearing of it.

Tony: OK, you’re making a big assumption there. Sinister has been using Charles like a meat mech. Is it actually Essex pretending to be Chuck? But this did bug me a little, because you’d think Rasputin would at this point say to Xavier, “Give me ten minutes.” Rasputin’s whole deal is not having blind loyalty, and this just seems like exactly the sort of thing she wouldn’t be down for.

Armaan: After Cyclops and the mutants are declared “guilty,” we start to see Orchis go into battle mode. Here, the rushed nature of this comic starts to feel more apparent, especially in the writing. Wolverine’s voice is strangely dramatic in a way that feels very out of character, while Nimrod, attacking Krakoa, veers in the other direction, sounding like a petulant teenager instead of the ominous but oddly polite villain he’s been.

I’m being nitpicky, but there’s a reason. The incongruous voices. The cheap callbacks. The art, the rushed trial, the underdeveloped villains, the heavy handed narration. It all reeks of a comic that’s been rushed. And it’s felt that way ever since the beginning of the Fall of X, when Duggan suddenly introduced a dozen elements from out of nowhere just to justify how Krakoa could fall so fast, and so quickly.

This series isn’t a farewell to Krakoa. It’s a rush to sweep it all under the rug and return to the safe, uninspired stories that X-Men fans are apparently clamoring for. 

The Krakoa era wasn’t perfect, but it was exciting. It forced X-Men creators to work outside their comfort zone and create new kinds of stories. That’s a large part of what made it so exciting. What we have here makes one thing clear: Marvel did not appreciate being pulled out of its comfort zone.

Take a look at the X-Men featured here. The most classic of X-Men, and the whitest, straightest and … er … male-est of those, too. Where is Synch, who was meant to be leading the X-Men in this era? Where is Storm? Where is Ms. Marvel, besides a background cameo? Hell, can we at least get Emma Frost to get involved here, or is she entirely tied to bestest ally Iron Man now?

Fall of the House of X isn’t a good comic. That’s OK, Marvel puts out a lot of bad comics. We’re used to that, but we read them anyway. What FoHoX is doing, however, is showing us just how uncomfortable the current X-office is with anything that might challenge it to actually think about the stories it’s telling. 

It’s clear, because there’s not a lot of thought that went into this issue.

Tony: See, here’s what it seems to me. It feels like editorial edict. Like the top brass said, “‘Kay, we’re done, wrap it up.” It’s the same narrative problem you see with a lot of series that you can tell got their cancellation notice mid-issue, except writ large. Instead of getting five pages, or an issue and a half, the current X-office got a year. So however many months of plot (I think Gillen said he had about 30 issues of story?) has now been compressed into this yearlong timeframe between the Gala in July and whenever this era ends.

Armaan: What we end this issue with is a group of teases. Orchis officially declares war on the X-Men, and the X-Men are ready to retaliate. Iron Man’s got a plan, Forge has a fleet, Juggernaut has a really big gun and Polaris … Polaris has an amazing new costume, and a Brood army in tow.

They’re definitely going big. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen the X-Men go all out to war like this (that is, not counting the planet-wide war on Arakko in X-Men Red), and while I’m not optimistic about the quality of the story coming up, I’m definitely curious about how it’s all going down.

But we end with the reveal of Polaris’ new costume, and I have to say, this might be her best one yet. It leaves behind the casual, I’m-just-here-for-coffee-and-day-saving dress and jacket for a full-on cape and bodysuit — and let’s not forget that helmet. The green is glorious. It’s a costume that attains the full gravitas of Magneto while being entirely Lorna. Hands down my favorite thing to have come out of this issue!

Tony: I loved the reveal, and Polaris leading the Brood into battle is probably the best reveal of the issue. If that pays off, I’ll end up forgiving a LOT.

This issue again pales in comparison to the core of this era. I didn’t dislike it, but it was largely just kind of there. I think with a stronger lead-in, maybe this could have worked. But it has the same problem — among others — as a lot of what we’ve gotten since July. This is a story trying to fit a gallon of plot into a thimble. It’s something that’s generally a problem in the comics industry at the moment (I’ve felt it in at least two other comics this week that were either the conclusion or penultimate part of a run). As the capstone for what I feel is generally one of strongest eras of X-Men in the franchise’s history, this is absolutely glaring.

I try to not pre-judge an entire story by its first issue, but MAN this issue makes it hard not to.

X-traneous thoughts

• We’ll be sharing/handing over coverage to other esteemed ComicsXF colleagues, but we had to include this quote from Anna Peppard: “The adolescent white boy fantasy vibes were strong in this comic (“hi I’m Scott and I’m the most oppressed person in the world but also the smartest and best hero in the world with the hottest immortal girlfriend and sometimes I monologue with the cadence of a crappy romantic poet”).
• Duggan has an uncomfortable comfort with straight-up murder for Orchis agents. Not that they don’t have it coming, but the ease of it, in a superhero comic, is not the best.
• That said, kick their asses.
• Amazing how many X-Men can have their asses kicked by a giant magnet, considering, you know, Magneto.
• It’s strange to see Krakoa, whose entire thing is being the island that walks like a man, being reduced to a single tree. To be fair, it does make the island less of a target.
• Where is poor Doug?
• Man, Wolverine is a busy dude with everything happening in X-Force, in his solo title and here. It’s like it’s 2004 all over again!

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