Swamp Thing #2 Review

Will Alec Holland accept his destiny?

I loved the first issue of Scott Snyder and Yanick Paquette's Swamp Thing. In fact, I reviewed the book a month ago and lavished it with praise, top to bottom. That's why it's kind of shocking, even to me, that I loved Swamp Thing #2 even more. Scott Snyder has somehow managed to make this series not only a continuation of everything that has come before in Swamp Thing, but also a completely accessible origin story for Alec Holland's tenure protecting The Green. Swamp Thing #2 is the issue that lays it all out, defining the legacy of the character and establishing the foundation for an epic struggle to preserve The Green against its darkest hour with Holland trapped in the middle.

Swamp Thing #2 picks up directly where issue #1 ended -- Swamp Thing has come to meet Alec Holland and explain why he is so important to The Green's cause. The vast majority of Swamp Thing #2 features Swampy giving a cliff notes-style history lesson about his life, the importance of The Green, the role of the Parliament of Trees and the imminent threat that is currently trying to track down and kill Holland.

I'll be honest, I was a little skeptical about how Snyder would pull together everything that came before with the character and still manage to create a book that felt easily accessible for new readers -- one of the major selling points of the New 52. Swamp Thing #2 proves he knows what he's doing. What we have here is a completely fresh origin story for Alec Holland's journey into the role of Swamp Thing which respects everything previously established from writers such as Wein, Moore, etc. Snyder has discovered a loophole in the Swamp Thing legacy for him to firmly plant his narrative roots.

One of this series' biggest selling points is, without a doubt, Yanick Paquette's incredible artwork. His pencils once again shines with Swamp Thing #2. Not only are panels incredibly detailed with lifelike figures, but his layouts once again blow the mind. It's the small touches like panels broken up by branches and blood streaks that really make this the complete artistic package. The only criticism I have against the art of Swamp Thing #2, and it's a minor one, is that some double-page spreads are so elaborate that it becomes hard to figure out which word balloon should come next.

In this writer's humble opinion, Swamp Thing #2 is the book of the week. Snyder has set the groundwork for one epic story. It also doesn't hurt that he has an artist like Yanick Paquette to draw all his beautifully creepy imagery, of which this issue is full of. Swamp Thing is a series that you need to be reading, no questions asked. And if you aren't yet, hightail it to your local comic shop and buy into this.

Holland Runs From His Legacy

Swamp Thing #1 Review

Okay, I get it now. Scott Snyder isn't a real person. He's some super intelligent, sentient computer where you put in a concept, a few variables and out pops a brilliant story. This is the only explanation that I can muster to wrap my head around his recent, flawless track record. And if that wasn't clear enough for you, I'll state it bluntly: Swamp Thing #1 is fantastic.

I'll be honest with you, my history with Swamp Thing doesn't run as deep as I wish it did. I've read bits and pieces of Alan Moore's seminal run, but that's about it. I know of the character, his origin and some of the trials and tribulations he's been through. Roll credits. That's why I was really excited to crack into Scott Snyder and Yanick Paquette's Swamp Thing #1. I wanted to see if it truly felt like an entry point for new readers. Cheerfully, I can report it does.

If you consider yourself a fan of Scott Snyder's writing, then you're probably aware of how he loves to frame his stories through metaphor-heavy narration to give added context to situations. Snyder uses the same approach right from the get-go with Swamp Thing #1, penning a beautiful monologue from the point of view of Alec Holland as he remembers back on his younger days helping out at his father's flower shop. This fantastic monologue is then juxtaposed with haunting images of creatures such as birds, bats and fish dropping dead. It's a fantastic way to start this series that sets a dark tone that never quite dissipates. But then again, this is a Scott Snyder comic, did you expect sunshine and rainbows?

Swamp Thing #1 also presents an intriguing mystery to grab the attention of readers. Alec Holland having the ability to remember the memories of Swamp Thing is a nice spin that should provide plenty of twists and turns for this series down the road. Snyder peppers in just enough in this first issue to have us eating out of his hand.

As much as I loved the story of Swamp Thing #1, I think the real star here is the artwork of Yanick Paquette. I mean, holy crap. Paquette proved himself a great artist with his work on Batman, Inc., but he's taken it to a new level with Swamp Thing. He was born to drawn animals dying and plants uprising. And I mean that in the best, most flattering way possible. Paquette also goes above and beyond with page layouts here in Swamp Thing #1. Nearly every page in this book is worthy of being turned into a poster. For my dollar, Paquette has drawn the most visually pleasing book of the New 52 thus far.

So, Swamp Thing #1 is a book full of win. Just buy it, you won't regret it one bit. Scott Snyder and Yanick Paquette have delivered a fantastically written, beautifully drawn opening chapter to usher in Swamp Thing's return to the brave, new DCU. Who's pumped to see where this goes from here? This guy.

Your re-introduction to the Man of Steel.

Action Comics #1 (2011) Review

I've received a lot of feedback regarding my review of Justice League #1,in which I said that the book was fun, if not a balls-to-the-wall explosion of mind-bending proportions -- an expectation that is, in my opinion, unrealistic and perhaps misplaced. The same could be said of Action Comics #1,in which writer Grant Morrison takes his time to introduce (quite economically, I might add) all the main players of the series and establish their relationship to Superman. As far as issue #1 goes, everyone is where we'd expect them to be. Well, for the most part.

Lois and Jimmy are co-workers, Lex Luthor is plotting with General Lane to take down the strange visitor from another planet and Clark Kent is a do-gooder that is nice to his landlady and separates his colors from his whites when he does laundry. Of the entire cast, the only character that truly feels different is Superman himself. Costume aside, this is a Kal-El that is in the early days of career. It's established in Action #1 that Superman is still leaping (and only leaping) tall buildings and that his powers are still growing. Morrison presents him as a cocky, self-assured vigilante, a far cry from the messianistic icon that we know (or I guess, assume) he'll become.

I forsee some Superman purists taking issue with Morrison's take on the younger Kal-El, but as with any of his work, I urge those of you that feel this way to stick with it. As this is an early take on Superman (you can see the current day Supes in Swamp Thing #1 this week), Morrison is clearly setting up a period of growth for the character. More interesting than seeing how Kal-El grows as Superman is how his relations with other characters develop. In Action #1, Clark is working at the Daily Star, the Daily Planet's #1 rival. He's got journalistic integrity and comradery with Jimmy and Lois, but they're only six months into their friendship. Morrison has put the pieces in play for a very different spin on the trio' s relationship.

While the book is chock full of great action (fittingly), my one concern with it is the actual lack of Superman's perspective. Aside from one stellar scene with Clark Kent, the scenes with Superman are prodominately shown from an outsider's perspective, offering no real insight into the character other than his nature as an overwhelming alien force of extreme strength. We understand that he's there to help, but that comes more from our previous knowledge of the character than what we see in the book.

However, it's incredibly refreshing to have a Superman that is active and takes control of the situation he's in. Morrison's Superman is hands-on, but fallible. Action #1 establishes more than once that Superman isn't an all powerful god-like being. Other than being unable to truly fly, Morrison concocts a great scene in which Supes is stopping a speeding train. Upon impact, Superman mutters "ow" ever-so-softly. It's a great moment that, coupled with the glimpse of brilliance we catch from Lex Luthor in this issue, suggests an equal pairing between heroism and villainy for these soon-to-be arch rivals.

The art of Rags Morales captures the action well. The many high-octane action sequences scattered throughout the book shine with Morales' blocking and storytelling. While finer details aren't always the main attraction of his panels, the action sequences in this debut issue are effective because of Morales' ability to adequately pace the scenes. However, the other half of the book -- the talking head dialog scenes -- are less exhilirating. Morales' facial anatomy varies wildly between scenes, depending on angle and facial expression. It's not distracting, necessarily, but the slower nature of these scenes in comparison to the action sequences -- both in writing and art --gives Action #1 a jarring pace.

When all is said and done, this is the first chapter of a very long story (Morrison told us he's got 16 issues plotted out), and it reads as such. Much like Morrison's work previous,the whole will likely be greater than its parts. However, that doesn't mean Action Comics #1 is unenjoyable, not by any means. Morrison presents many interesting ideas in issue #1 that will most certainly blossom in ways we've never even considered.

Red Skull: Incarnate

Chapter 3 Review

s another depressing installment in this series that details the rise of Johann Schmidt from orphaned boy to power-hungry Nazi. Thus far, Greg Pak has done a solid job making Schmidt's transformation feel nature and not heavy-handed or overly melodramatic. However, issue #3 does resort to more exposition than I care to see to move Johann into the next phase of his troubled upbringing. This doesn't make Red Skull: Incarnate #3 a bad issue mind you, but it definitely dampens the dramatic impact of the last page reveal.

In issue #3, Johann runs into one of his old friends from the orphanage, Dieter. Greg Pak uses Dieter as a measuring mechanism to show how much Johann has changed since he ran away from his past life. Johann is now a man of action, who has also misplaced his moral compass due to the harsh living conditions he's been put through. His interactions with Dieter in this issue are proof of that, and this subplot's outcome winds up being quite tragic, as expected.

However, the final few pages of Red Skull: Incarnate #3 dive into exposition-heavy narration to drive the ship home. While I'm all for getting a history lesson out of an engaging comic, this particular example kind of kills the pacing of this issue dead. Greg Pak might have felt this approach necessary to sell the last page reveal, but a part of me believes Pak could have come up with something a little more creative to drive his point home.

Red Skull: Incarnate #3 might be the weakest link of this series thus far, but it's still a good comic. Outside Pak's exposition-heavy closing, the characterization remains strong and the art by Mirko Colak is still top notch.

And So Begins The New DC Universe

Justice League #1 Review

It's finally here. It's out with the old and in with the new. Flashpoint wrapped up what was left of the old DC Universe and right alongside it came Geoff Johns and Jim Lee's Justice League #1. The book has been set apart from the rest of the New 52, heralded as the movement's flagship title. This is the comic that longtime readers will be picking up to make their judgment calls, but more importantly, it's the title that new readers will be turning to in the aftermath of the media storm that is taking place as you read this. But underneath it all, beyond the hyperbole generating hype machine, is this a comic that will satisfy both crowds?

Justice League #1 brings us five years into the past of the new DCU, a time when superheroes were feared by the public and operated separately from one another. They don't know one another's identities and they certainly don't trust each other. Johns and Lee are clearly aiming to establish the coming together of the Justice League we all know and love, but issue #1 would be more accurately labeled as a Batman/Green Lantern team-up. Johns delivers the goods on the personality clash of Hal Jordan and Bruce Wayne, with a bulk of this issue featuring fun banter that conceals essential exposition to get new readers up to speed on the general concept behind each character. To be honest, reading it as a longtime fan requires some getting used to, as it's a scene so familiar yet ultimately brand new. If you look at it from that perspective, it should put to rest any lingering fears that these characters might not be the same ones you knew and loved as they were a week ago. You'll get that familiar feeling, but without the expectation that you'll be able to predict where the story goes next.

The one real detriment of the book is that it suffers from an extremely slow pace. There's plenty of action to be had, but the centerpiece of this issue is Batman and Green Lantern taking jabs at one another while on a hunt to find the alien in Metropolis known as Superman. It's not dull, but if future installments keep this pace, it could become problematic once the amusement of seeing these characters interacting for the first time wears off. To his credit, Johns recognized this in issue #1 and switched gears just as I grew tired of the back-and-forth between Hal and Bruce. Issue #1 briefly touches upon Cyborg –un-cyborged at this point –and introduces another Leaguer by issue's end that will hopefully kick things into a higher gear come issue #2.

If you're a new reader, curious whether DC is holding their promise of accessibility, worry not. Justice League #1 is entirely competent as an introduction to the DCU, albeit a very small step towards a landscape that will only continue to reveal itself as the New 52 press on.

Jim Lee's return to a monthly book is always exciting, and Justice League #1 looks exactly how you'd expect it to. Lee's layouts give the book a larger visual scope than is implied in the narrative; he often works in widescreen or tall vertical panels, giving the book a cinematic tinge that parallels the theoretical magnitude of what this series represents. His character work is solid and the costume designs look superb "in action," though there are still the common instances of facial identities bleeding together and a limited range of emotion. However, Johns gives Lee plenty of constructs and action sequences to let loose on, and despite the slower pace of the book, the artist gets a chance to concoct some truly awesome stuff (fire truck construct,anyone?). Equally great is the amount of attention that Lee pays to his backgrounds, offering a consistent portrayal of Gotham's rooftops and skyline.

Justice League #1 is fun, no doubt about it. There is a certain sense of feeling underwhelmed after reading it, simply because it's been hammered into our brains that this book represents the ushering of the single biggest comic book industry initiative in years. It's gained a whole lot of external weight. But when you strip all that excess media hype away, you're left with a perfectly entertaining –if somewhat safe –glimpse into a universe we're only just beginning to understand.

The DC Universe Takes Flight, Again

When the latest issue of Justice League is released on Wednesday by DC Comics, it will be scrutinized like no other installment in the 76-year history of that publisher of superhero adventures.

Some readers may be drawn in by its cover depicting revised incarnations of Superman and Batman, or a story line that tells of a tense first meeting between these costumed characters before they became allies.

But DC is betting that more potential customers will be attracted by an insignia that boldly declares this to be issue No. 1 of Justice League; never mind the hundreds of chapters that came before it.

Starting on Wednesday, the publisher is resetting all 52 of its continuing series, including venerable titles like Action Comics and Detective Comics that introduced Superman and Batman in the 1930s,at issue No. 1, and using the opportunity to revise or jettison decades of continuity in the heroes' fictional lives.

Within the DC universe, this new status quo is the result of efforts by the fleet-footed Flash to alter the course of history. But in the real world it is a last-ditch plan to counteract years of declining sales throughout the comics business.

The success or failure of this plan will have far-reaching implications: it could alienate longtime fans for the sake of new readers. And it could portend a more widespread exhaustion with film and television projects that are adapted from comic books and that are constantly starting over from scratch.

In an entertainment industry that is perpetually looking to breathe new life into old properties, and that has planned several years of movies and multimedia projects about back-to-basics superheroes, this revisionist strategy could determine "whether or not DC Comics, as a comic-book publishing company, will continue in the future," said Rich Johnston, a blogger who covers the comics business for the Web site Bleeding Cool. "There's an awful lot at stake here, and that's why they've thrown everything and the kitchen sink at this."

DC, which is owned by Time Warner, has long lagged behind its rival Marvel Comics, the Disney-owned publisher of Spider-Man and Captain America, in market share if not audience enthusiasm. Its latest company-wide overhaul has been almost a year in the making, devised in October at an editorial retreat where staff members were trying to create a love triangle for Superman, who wed Lois Lane in 1996.

Once the team decided it did not have to be bound by this marital detail, "we started talking about a lot of crazy, what-if situations, and out of that openness came the idea of renumbering the entire line," said Jim Lee, co-publisher of DC Comics and an illustrator of the new Justice League series.

The publisher says its streamlined storytelling efforts are aimed at its existing readership as well as at new or lapsed comics buyers, but acknowledged that an issue labeled "No. 1" was particularly inviting to first-timers.

"I certainly wouldn't buy a DVD series of a hit show and start at Season 7," Mr. Lee said. "I would want to go back and start from the beginning."

The process of restarting a long-running narrative at Page 1 - known in industry parlance, and with growing derision, as a reboot - is nothing new to comics: in the 1980s DC dismantled its narrative architecture in the venerated mini-series "Crisis on Infinite Earths," and has sought to recapture its anything-could-happen spirit in story lines with titles like "Infinite Crisis" and "Final Crisis." DC and Marvel have been revising their World War II-era characters since at least the 1950s,and Marvel has an entire publishing line, Ultimate Comics, that features contemporary takes on its traditional heroes (like a Spider-Man who is of black and Hispanic descent).

In Hollywood the reboot impulse has yielded hit films like "Batman Begins" (and its billion-dollar-grossing sequel, "The Dark Knight") and noncomics properties like this summer's "Rise of the Planet of the Apes."

The DC reboot arrives at a crucial moment for the comics business, which, like the publishing industry as a whole, is experiencing continued erosion in sales.

Recent reports by ICv2, a research company that tracks pop-cultural products, said that in July dollar sales of periodical comics were down 4.27 percent from the same month last year, down 4.6 percent in June and down 6.3 percent for the second quarter over all. Sales of graphic novels at traditional bookstores were up, though this was partly because of the liquidation of the Borders bookstore chain.

The success of superhero movies like "Thor" and "Captain America: The First Avenger" did not entirely rub off on the comics that inspired them, with individual titles struggling to sell more than 100,000 copies at $2.99 or $3.99 a copy. One possible bright spot: DC says preorders for Justice League No. 1 have exceeded 200,000 copies.

Meanwhile, the increasing number of entertainment franchises that apply a back-to-basics approach to comics characters is suggesting a paucity of original ideas. Next summer Sony Pictures Entertainment will release "The Amazing Spider-Man," a 3-D retelling of the origin story seen in the 2002 hit "Spider-Man." Warner Brothers has a new Superman movie, "Man of Steel," coming in 2013, following an unsuccessful reboot, "Superman Returns," in 2006, and is contemplating a new Batman series to follow the 2012 sequel, "The Dark Knight Rises."

"That whole attitude of, 'Oh, go ahead, start over, reboot,' people get tired of that and it worries me," said Jim Shooter, a former editor in chief of Marvel Comics who now holds that title at the comics publisher Illustrated Media. "As storytellers, I don't know where we wandered off to."

Henry Jenkins, the provost's professor of communication, journalism and cinematic arts at the University of Southern California, said the idea of returning classic heroes to their origins long predated comic books.

"Part of the nature of culture is that we retell stories that are meaningful to us, again and again, in different ways," Mr. Jenkins said, pointing to Homer's "Iliad," Virgil's "Aeneid" and Dante's "Inferno" as "continual reboots of Greek mythology."

But Mr. Jenkins said that he - like other fans -has come to question the motives behind many of the pop-culture reboots. "We can see revamps that have no clear purpose, endless numbers of '80s TV shows being brought to the screen with no innovation to speak of," he said. "Or we can talk about revamps that actually go someplace," like the recent revival of "Battlestar Galactica," which "is much deeper than the original 'Battlestar Galactica.' "

DC Comics executives were nonetheless enthusiastic about their chances for success and said there was no undo button for the changes about to be put in place.

"We're not looking for a way of going back to what we did before," said the DC editor in chief Bob Harras,who was Marvel's top editor in the mid-1990s. "We like to say here, 'No trap doors.' This is what we're doing."

But others are contemplating the possible outcomes if DC's latest clearing of the table does not increase sales over the long run.

Laura Hudson, the editor in chief of the Web site Comics Alliance, said the business was eventually headed for a reckoning in which "this very specific ritual of going to the comic-book shop once a week to get your new 22-page comic" becomes obsolete.

"It's hard to see it persisting into the future in exactly the way it's existed before," Ms. Hudson said. "It's going to stop as soon as it stops becoming profitable."

Though DC seems to be laying the groundwork for such a transition by selling digital versions of its new comics on applications for tablet devices, Mr. Harras said he hoped to see the traditional sales model endure. "I love print, I love going to the comics shop, I've done it for more years than we can count," he said.

One colleague who does not seem to share Mr. Harras's optimism is the prolific comics writer Grant Morrison, who in a recent interview with Rolling Stone said there was "a real feeling of things just going off the rails" in his industry, and that the superhero narrative had perhaps outgrown the printed page and "found a better medium through which to replicate" in movies or video games.

Among the various assignments currently on Mr. Morrison's plate, he is the writer of DC's newly rebooted Action Comics.

The Origin Of The Red Skull Continues

Red Skull: Incarnate #2 Review

Red Skull: Incarnate #2 takes us further down the road of Johann Schmidt's descent into darkness. It's a true testament to Greg Pak's skills as a writer that he can manage to gradually pepper the bread crumbs that lead to the eventual rise of the Red Skull. Just as it would be in real life, a transformation of this magnitude would not be instantaneous, which Pak is able to successfully convey once again with issue #2.

Issue #2 of Red Skull: Incarnate may be even more tragic than last issue, and that's saying a lot. While the killing of dogs is definitely not cool, the conclusion of issue #2 really hits like a punch to the stomach. You wind up feeling sorry for just about every character involved, including the issue's antagonist, by the time you reach the issue's final page.

A lot of the book's emotional resonance stems from its artwork and coloring provided by Mirko Colak and Matthew Wilson, respectively. Colak's pencils nail the right emotional chords, while Wilson's colors almost turn the book's panels into painted real-life stills. I think it's also a nice artistic touch to give Schmidt's rage-filled moments a stark red background to foreshadow the monster he eventually becomes.

So far Greg Pak and company have not disappointed with Red Skull: Incarnate. This is a brutal book that not only pays respect to history, but also delivers a believable origin story for one of the Marvel Universe's biggest villains. If you haven't bought into this series yet, I recommend you do so.

The man pulling Major Sharp's strings is revealed

Batman: Arkham City #4 Review

Batman: Arkham City is a prime example of how to do a video game tie-in comic right. Between Paul Dini's wonderful script and Carlos D'Anda's eye-grabbing art, Batman: Arkham City is a comic that acts as a perfect hype tool for Rocksteady Studios' upcoming bat-sequel game. But what's maybe most impressive is that this series can also be enjoyed by those not interested in the upcoming video game, but are instead just looking for a quality, standalone Batman tale.

Issue #4 of Arkham City picks up with Batman attempting to hightail it out of the titular prison after his cover gets blown to bits. The majority of this issue features Batman on the run with a mysterious man whispering in his ear that surprisingly knows a lot about him. But just when you think you have his patterns pegged, Batman pulls a new surprise out of the ol' utility belt. This issue also features a fantastic interlude with the Joker where Paul Dini once again proves that he's a master of handling the character. I can almost hear Mark Hamill's eerie delivery of the lines explode from the pages.

Ever since I first saw Carlos D'Anda's artwork in this series I've been in love. He's got a great style and is really skilled at blocking out action sequences. D'Anda is also an ace at facial expressions to get across the mindsets of our characters.

As I said previously, Batman: Arkham City is a series that can be enjoyed by both comic fans and those just dabbling in the book because they're excited about the upcoming video game. Issue #4 is another worthwhile installment in this series and I can't wait to see how it all wraps up next month.

Enter the Joker

Detective Comics #880 Review

Let's get the obvious out of the way. Detective Comics #880 is not only a contender for the best cover of 2011, but also for the creepiest splash page of the year.

With that said, what's left? Another impossibly solid issue of Detective from Scott Snyder and Jock. Opening on a narration by Gordon about Gotham City's true architect being the one and only Joker and concluding with another chill-inducing cliffhanger, everything in between is a gripping, tight read. With the Joker escaped from Arkham, he seemingly beelines for the Gordons while the Bat-team reevaluate the threat and learn about their own relationship to Gotham City. Snyder concocts another chilling entry into his ongoing saga that successfully harkens back to the Black Mirror through-line that he's been building since his very first issue. Here's the thing: if you've been reading Snyder's run since the get-go, I'm almost positive that I don't have to sell you on it. But if you haven't been reading in a while and were drawn in by Jock's amazing cover, then maybe I do.

Everyone loves the Joker. But we've seen him escape from Arkham a hundred times over. However, Snyder's Joker isn't like a Joker we've seen before. He feels less blissfully demented and more tragically insane, almost child-like. Letterer Jared K. Fletcher gives him a lowercase font that separates him even more succinctly from the rest of the characters. But the true stroke of genius on Snyder's part is that, at least as he suggests in this issue, that Joker might not be the bad guy of this story after all. Despite Joker being off his rocker, his recognition of Dick as a different Batman displays his sheer genius. Snyder plays up the eternal feud that will forever rage between the Dark Knight and the Joker, using that idea to send the minds of readers (and Batman himself) in a different direction.

I mentioned the splash page earlier, but Jock's work on this issue is as phenomenal as everything that's come before it. This issue lets him play up all aspects of the run thus far, from the gritty street level investigation to the laboratory scenes to the downright horrifying. In many ways, Detective Comics #880, artistically, is the perfect cocktail of everything that's made this run such an enormous success. Something I particularly enjoyed is that a key sequence with the Joker –one of the most disturbing in the entire book –is colored predominately with whites by colorist Dave Baron, a juxtaposition that makes the scene all the more successful and a perfect complement to Snyder's overall usage of the Joker.

There isn't much time left on this run, but I have absolutely no qualms about saying that this will go down as one of the greatest runs on a Batman book ever. I doubt many of you will disagree.

First Look: X-Men: Schism

Preview art from Carlos Pacheco and Frank Cho

X-MEN: SCHISM #1 & #2 (of 5)
Written by JASON AARON Pencils and Covers by CARLOS PACHECO (#1) AND FRANK CHO (#2)
Issue #1 Variant Cover by FRANK CHO
Issue #1 Variant Cover by NICK BRADSHAW
Issue #1 Blank Variant Cover also available
The X-Men event of the decade starts here! It’s never been a more dangerous time to be a mutant. Even with their numbers at a record low, the world refuses to trust mutantkind…and after a mutant-triggered international incident, anti-mutant hatred hits new heights. Of course it’s at this moment, when the mutant race needs most to stand together, that a split begins that will tear apart the very foundation of the X-Men. From superstar writer and Marvel Architect Jason Aaron and a full roster of comics’ top artists, this is an X-tale that will reverberate for years to come! Come October, the X-Men landscape will be irreparably changed.
(#1) 48 PGS/Rated T+ …$4.99 -- ON SALE 7/13/11
(#2) 32 PGS /Rated T+ …$3.99 -- ON SALE 7/27/11