Get ready to be hit in the childhood feels by a hefty dose of nostalgia, skillfully distributed by Steve Foxe, Salvador Espin, Israel Silva, and Joe Sabino. This trade paperback collection contains the complete five-part mini-series X-Men ’92: House of XCII, and it is a perfect read to enjoy in one or two sittings as it will have you hooked. What is also fun about this is the taking of something familiar and casting it into something new, so to see the animated series team of X-Men tossed into the modern-day stories of House of X was such a treat.
The way writer Steve Foxe tackles this adventure is an excellent homage to how the animated series would adapt X-Men comic stories from the past for their programming of the time. The story felt like watching five episodes, and mixed well with the established animated version. This might be a wild take, but the animated version of the Dark Phoenix Saga is the best adaptation of the story that has been done so far. This adaptation of House of X/Powers of X helps showcase how the animated series can survive with modern comics. Steve Foxe knows and loves these characters and plays to the pop culture of the ’90s for some great Easter eggs.
Salvador Espin and Israel Silva do an excellent job recreating the energetic vibe of the ’90s for this adventure. The characters resemble the Jim Lee era of costumes and have that style that makes them look straight out of a cartoon. Espin wonderfully recreates visuals that pay homage to House of X/Powers of X, Inferno, and ’90s-era issues of X-Men – the art shows us how real the situations are but also makes it as light as the animated series would. Silva’s colors are spot on for the time vibe, and these would sneak in ideally with your back issues of X-Men Adventures. The font styles that Joe Sabino uses add that extra touch.
Sadly, the trade paperback edition doesn’t give too much in the way of extras, just a couple of variant covers. It would’ve been nice to see some bonus material or character design sheets. Now, the creative team does add some material that helps to enhance the story, in style with how Jonathan Hickman and company do with the modern X-Men comics. If you want some insights, I recommend you check out Chris Hassan’s X-Men Monday #147 and #172 as he interviews writer Steve Foxe.
The pros of the trade would be the price point – MSRP of $15.99 – and having the story in one complete book. This trade paperback will look very nice to the upcoming collections of X-Men Adventures, which is the tie-in comic to the animated series and is a fantastic X-Mas gift for the comic fan in your life. It has the nostalgia that would bring back a fan and engage them to want to see what is happening in the modern stories while entertaining the fans of the current series. Yet no matter what, this will help to build the hype for the debut of X-Men ’97 next year, and if we’re lucky enough to have a tie-in comic, I hope this creative team returns for that.
X-Men ’92: House of XCII is an excellent read that continues the fun of the ’90s animated series while inserting modern stories like House of X. Once you start, you will not want to put this down as it’ll bring back memories and eXcite you with its visuals. Steve Foxe and Salva Espin carry the torch perfectly, bub!
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