Primed by X-Men of Apocalypse Alpha #1, Jeph Loeb and Simone Di Meo are coming off the blocks fast and furious with X-Men of Apocalypse. With a team formed from the Age of Apocalypse and on a mission by Magneto, Forge, Sabretooth, Wildchild, Morph, Blink, and Gambit are ready for anything. Or maybe not, as they encounter Nate Grey from their own universe! Can this team hold it together while facing off against the X-Men?
Once you put this comic down, you’ll realize the basic goal: Have a ragtag team from the Age of Apocalypse fight different iterations of the X-Men. In this issue, they face a fairly classic Jim Lee era X-Men, and by the end, it’s time for a new round. It’s a fight comic in its bones.
Before the melee, the team has to figure out Nate Grey, who may be their ace in the hole if they can get him to join them. The first half of the issue is your standard characters fighting each other, not realizing they’re on the same team. It’s a bit tiresome, especially since the team is way outmatched, although Di Meo’s art is electric and fun to look at.
To make this first half a bit more of a slog than you’d like, Jeph Loeb’s captions are dated. They don’t add much, and are spoken from an unseen narrator. They also seem a bit large for a conventional comic with few words in every box. You might see four caption boxes with large font when just one would do.
These two end up fighting for half a second. It’s also a variant cover to the issue.
Credit: Marvel
Once past the halfway mark, the action picks up with Wolverine entering the battlefield. Again, the art is great, with a standout double-page splash featuring all our characters facing off on both sides. There’s ample buildup and tension before a single fist is raised and then…well, Nate Grey is way too powerful for this fight. The battle is over in a panel, leaving a lot to be desired.
After feeling like you missed out on a fight that was hyped but never delivered, the last two pages set up the next battle, which is frankly a bit laughable. The team Nate Grey so easily vanquishes has to be far superior to the one we’re teased on the final page. It’s an odd choice, with little to back up the intrigue the comic wants you to believe is there.
Similar to the Alpha issue, many will buy this comic for the art, and maybe for Loeb’s name on it. Sadly, the art can carry this book so far, and while di Meo’s colors and digital effects are stellar, it’s hard to care when the fights seem so lopsided.
X-Men of Apocalypse #1 bursts out of the gate with electric visuals and fan-baiting promise but stumbles under clunky narration and hollow plotting. Simone Di Meo’s art makes it worth flipping through, but the issue’s structure and missed opportunities keep it from achieving the epic comeback it clearly aims for.
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