I have a lot of big feelings about the X-Men. That is kind of just my… constant state. I will admit, while I was obsessed with the idea of the Age of Revelation, I did not love every miniseries that came with the event, although I did read them all. However, I thoroughly enjoyed the experience of reading the X-Men: Age of Revelation – Overture trade paperback, which successfully introduces and then builds upon Marvel’s newest twisted future. The mini-series may be hit or miss, but the art is gorgeous throughout, the alternate universe is introduced successfully, and the trade itself is beautifully designed.
If you did not read any of the Age of Revelation – first of all, I wouldn’t blame you – either because you weren’t interested, or it was simply too expensive to buy a million issues, this might be the trade for you. It is the first of three trades publishing at the same time that collect the entirety of the Age of Revelation. This one contains 17 full-size issues at only $34.99, meaning you are able to read every issue at over 50% off, which, in my opinion, is a great deal and well worth it to read an undeniably fun event, even if it was perhaps not the best use of X-Men’s current era.
Marvel
X-Men: Age of Revelation – Overture collects X-Men Age of Revelation #0 from Jed MacKay and Humberto Ramos, X-Men Age of Revelation Overture from MacKay and Ryan Stegman, Amazing X-Men #1-3 from MacKay and Mahumud Asrar, Binary #1-3 from Stephanie Phillips and Giada Belviso, Cloak or Dagger #1-3 from Justine Ireland and Lorenzo Tammetta, Iron & Frost #1-3 from Cavan Scott and Ruairi Coleman, and Laura Kinney: Sabretooth #1-3 from Erica Schultz and Valentina Pinti. WOW! That was a long sentence…
This trade reads very well as a collection, starting with the perfect introductions to the event in MacKay’s Age of Revelation #0 and Overture, which really explains all even a very new reader needs to know to be able to understand the basics of this dark age. The trade goes on to expand the messed-up universe by explaining how iconic characters like the X-Men, Carol Danvers, Cloak & Dagger, Iron Man, Emma Frost, and Laura Kinney are faring 10 years into Revelation’s reign. Not every mini is a homerun (personally, I would much rather have had Omega Kids than Laura Kinney: Sabretooth), but they are all undeniably fun to read. My favorites are Amazing X-Men and Binary, for both art and story. In particular, I have reread Binary several times just to experience Giada Belviso’s art again and again.
Marvel
To be clear, my rating of 8.5 for this trade is not for any one individual miniseries contained within, but for the experience of buying and reading this trade. The trade is designed really well and will definitely look gorgeous next to the other two Revelation trades publishing alongside it. I am sure some folks will have gripes about how the series are split across each trade, but I like that this trade is the “introduction and character-focused” collection. Also, my god, this trade has so many bonuses at the end! There are several design pages showing early sketches of the Revelation main characters, and there are TWENTY PAGES OF VARIANTS, including several full-page displays. I have never seen so many variants collected before, so that’s very exciting.
This is certainly not a light, easygoing collection of stories. There is horrible death, trauma, and betrayal throughout the pages (No spoilers, but the final page is actually heartbreaking), but it is still an enjoyable experience to read it all through start to end. As I stated at the beginning, I am not the biggest fan of the Age of Revelation, and yet the X-Men: Age of Revelation – Overture was pleasantly surprising. The story flows really well when all collected together, the art is just truly special to experience, and if you were waiting to read this event until it was published as a trade, well then, this is truly the perfect collection for you.
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