X-Men – Age of Revelation: Book of Revelation is a dense, dense book. I don’t think the writing is dense, I think the book is dense: like, you could really hurt someone with it if you threw it at them. Packing 18 issues of the eponymous crossover, it gives you a large chunk of what feels like the middle of the story, but nonetheless is a satisfying exploration of one of the more interesting X-Events of the century. At $34.99, it’s an absolute steal in terms of value, and in terms of story it’s a compelling glance at an alternate future.
This part is kind of a walk so put your shoes on, please. X-Men – Age of Revelation: Book of Revelation collects the following stories: X-Men: Book of Revelation #1-3, Expatriate X-Men #1-3, Radioactive Spider-Man #1-3, Longshots #1-3, Rogue Storm #1-3, and The Last Wolverine #1-3.
Marvel
If this is your first exposure to X-Men – Age of Revelation, let me break it down for you. Basically, it’s a spiritual sequel to The Age of Apocalypse, an X-Men crossover comic from 1995. In that story, every ongoing X-Men book was cancelled and replaced with short series that showed a possible dystopian future if things had been slightly different. X-Men – Age of Revelation does something very similar but with Doug Ramsey, the Heir of Apocalypse. With newly upgraded powers, Doug puts things into motion and this story takes place 10 years later, showing a very dysfunctional world, full of heroes ready to fight for it.
The stories collected here do a wonderful job of showcasing not just how the world is different, but how they’ve changed because of it. While some may be more entertaining than others, when taken together they really highlight just how low the world has fallen because of people trying to make it better. While not fighting for the former status quo exactly, each of the six stories collected here showcase heroes trying to make their own little slice of hell on Earth just a bit more palatable not just for themselves, but for a great deal of people around them.
What’s most impressive about the books collected here is the wild shifts in tone between the books. It opens with Book of Revelation by Jed MacKay and Netho Diaz (with Sean Parsons, Livesay, and JP Mayer on inks, Fer Sifuentes-Sijo on colors, and VC’s Clayton Cowles on letters), which feels like the closest thing to a lead story this book has to offer. It’s a compelling story of subterfuge, betrayal, and revenge.
Marvel
The succeeding books, while serious in terms of stakes and risk take wildly different approaches. Longshots is a dark comedy. Radioactive Spider-Man is a tragedy. Expatriate X-Men is a road trip. Rogue Storm is a love story. The Last Wolverine is an attempt at redemption. No single one of these stories is what you need to read to ‘get’ X-Men – Age of Revelation, but they’re what you need to read to absorb the point of the story, to see the full breadth of the new world it’s trying to show you.
X-Men – Age of Revelation: Book of Revelation is not a stem to stern examination of the crossover event, but it is an extremely successful exploration of a huge swath of it. It’s a tremendous value of a trade paperback, telling you six complete stories that help paint the picture of a world torn apart by hubris and folly. While I found the most compelling story to be the lead one, it was fun seeing what each respective team of creatives decided to do in a world gone mad. If you like the X-Men side of Marvel, I can’t recommend it enough, but you’ll be feeling like you’re not getting the full story if it’s the only trade you decide to grab.
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