Duality. If I had to sum up a major theme of the Krakaon Age of X-Men, it would be duality. Krakoa was a paradise, yet its leaders formed Faustian pacts and did whatever it took to maintain that paradise. It granted humanity medicines that extended their life, yet humanity turned against them the first chance it got. Even its inception has been marked by duality, especially in the House of X/Powers of X miniseries that launched the whole enterprise. It’s only fitting that Rise of the Powers of X #1 from Kieron Gillen, R.B. Silva, David Curiel, and Clayton Cowles continue the tradition – especially as it serves as a companion to Fall of the House of X.
Taking place ten years in the future, Rise of the Powers of X #1 finds the X-Men at the end of their rope as they intend to topple Orchis. Little do they know that the threat of annihilation lingers over their heads as the technological singularity known as the Dominion enters our universe. But what role does Dr. Stasis – a.k.a. the clone of Mr. Siniser – have to play? Better yet, how does it play into the grand plan Professor X has to save the X-Men?
The answers to these questions unfurl with the same mix of wit and craft that Gillen has brought to his previous work, most notably in Immortal X-Men and Judgement Day. He has a gift for grounding big ideas like time travel, artificial intelligence, and superheroism in character moments; the most notable comes in a conversation between Gambit and Mystique right before they find themselves surrounded by Orchis’ forces. It’s so raw, so real, so achingly human. Gillen also manages to touch on elements that Jonathan Hickman introduced all the way back in HOXPOX, often casting them in a new light. It’s enough to make readers wish he’d tackled Fall of the House of X; what made HOXPOX such a compelling read was that Hickman was presenting two sides of a story, which made it flow better.
Credit: Marvel
That being said, Gillen did inherit one element of HOXPOX – namely, Silva, who illustrated Powers of X. In that series, he leap-frogged through decades, showcasing the evolution of mutant-kind through 10, 100, and even a thousand years. Here, he continues that trend, drawing a new set of X-Men in radically different ways. Kamala Khan traded her Ms. Marvel uniform for Captain Krakoa’s bio-organic armor. Iron Man has become a fusion of technology and plant life, with Krakoan branches jutting out from his armor. Kate Pryde is now Shadowtiger, having grown to massive size via ingesting one of Apocalypse’s Death Seeds. You can tell that Silva went wild with the design process.
It doesn’t just stop at the designs, though. Silva also draws some of the most intense battles in an X-Men comic, pushing powers to their limits. He also displays the terrifying power of the Dominion; as the massive artificial intelligence enters our atmosphere, it starts to swallow all light until it erupts in a brilliant, blinding conflagration. Curiel splashes light in various parts of the page, making it feel like the Dominion will jump off the page and consume the reader – terrifyingly good use of color art, if you ask me.
Rise of the Powers of X #1 continues laying the foundation for the end of the Krakoan Age with a creative team that’s more than willing to swing for the fences. Even if this period of X-Men comics is at an end, it’s willing to go back to its roots in more ways than one.
Rise of the Powers of X #1 is available wherever comics are sold
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