So this is Gordon’s big X-Men theory; it’s all about the end of the world. And it always has been.
Since the get-go, Stan Lee and Jack Kirby’s first issues of Uncanny X-Men were a reaction to the threat of the atomic bomb. I’m still totally convinced that Kirby took influence from the iconic ‘radiation hazard’ symbol when he was first designing the original member’s angular black and yellow costumes.
The first issue was published in Sept 1963 and saw the psychotic evil mutant Magneto attempt to steal a number of nuclear warheads from a US army base. This was less than a year after the Cuban Missile Crisis occurred in October 1962, when the world had teetered on the precipice of actual nuclear armageddon. The timing is not a coincidence, and filmmaker Matthew Vaughn recognised this when he made (in my opinion) the best X-Men movie to date, First Class; and placed his heroes and villains at the heart of the USA/USSR conflict.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kyQKi5-k0UU&w=560&h=315]
Themes of identity and bigotry were quickly introduced too, and through stories like Days of Future Past and Age of Apocalypse, the X-Men explored post-apocalyptic timelines where civilisation crumbled under the tyrannical rule of fascism. In the ‘90s, the creeping threat of the Aids virus was mirrored in a Mutant-specific contagion known as Legacy. The formula shifted slightly in the years following 9/11; which saw more emphasis placed on the marginalisation and subjugation of the mutant population. It’s interesting though, that my favourite X-run from the last couple of decades (Rick Remender’s superbly dark Uncanny X-Force) was a deliberate call-back to the apocalyptic themes of the ‘80s and ‘90s.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ogIZ3-kVDPg&w=560&h=315]
At least, it was my favourite, until comic-book maestro Jonathan Hickman unleashed the blockbuster double-tap of House of X and Powers of X in summer 2019. This is a relaunch that has been on the cards since 2015, when Hickman wrapped up his monumental Avengers run with Secret Wars. It’s since become apparent that the X-Men editorial team have kept the franchise in a holding pattern in the intervening 4 years, maintaining the status quo until the time was right for Hickman to come back and unfold what is clearly intended to be The Biggest X-Men Story Of All Time.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nuu9GThyi4Q&w=560&h=315]
Hickman’s relaunch was marketed as two separate yet interlinked 6-issue miniseries, but I reckon that’s a total gimmick; this is clearly a single unified narrative, told over 12 very cleverly structured chapters. I don’t want to give too much away, as much of the experience comes from the surprises, but I will say that the classic apocalyptic subtext is very firmly back, now in the form of the Singularity; the nightmare hypothesis that Artificial Intelligence, if allowed to grow at it’s current rate, will inevitably match and very quickly surpass human understanding (ref. The Terminator, The Matrix, Lawnmower Man).
I would say that Hickman’s plotting here is new reader friendly. Even though there are multiple throw-backs to some classic X-Men storylines of the past, the writer’s main efforts are focussed on fresh world-building and on establishing a mounting sense of both optimism and dread in the global events that are unfolding. If anything, the best genre I could use to describe this is a metaphysical political thriller, on steroids. Although the overall cast is massive, the only protagonists that are explored in any depth are Charles Xavier and Moira MacTaggart; but the history is so rich that I didn’t mind the loss of characterisation. Ultimately, your mileage may vary; a narrative that I personally found engaging and challenging, you may find dry and overblown. But speaking for myself, I really can’t wait to see what comes next.
If you are at all interested in the history of the X-Men or the themes that have been explored throughout their publication, I can give a massive recommendation to the short series of Seminal X-Men Moment videos that Marvel rolled out to coincide with the release of HoX/PoX; they’re a great retrospective of one of the longest running continuous narratives of our time (apart from Coronation Street, obvs).
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iY3H43y5aKk&w=560&h=315]
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BglgLp7ggbo&w=560&h=315]
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[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=09Trl4Kdczk&w=560&h=315]
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_hfjRpXW-s&w=560&h=315]