THE QUIET COUNCIL: The governing body of the mutant, island nation of Krakoa
We have some exciting news from the world of comic books today. Last summer, writer Jonathan Hickman rocked the comic book world with the debut of his dual X-Men miniseries House of X and Powers of X. The two intertwined books were designed to be a prologue for all of the current X-Men comic book series. The miniseries established a dramatic new status quo for the X-Men and the mutants of planet earth. Under the leadership of Charles Xavier, Magneto and Moira McTaggert, an nation of for all of Earth’s mutants is formed on the living island, Krakoa. Mutantkind has never been more united. A general amnesty is give to all citizens of Krakoa. So the X-Men now live alongside many longtime enemiIn fact it was probably my favorite comic book series published last year.es. Even Apocalypse is on board and so far, for the most part, looopeveryone has been playing nice. Despite how complicated it may sound, House of X and Powers of X were both pretty easy for new readers to follow. Personally, I hadn’t read a new X-Men book in years and I was able to follow the story quite. In fact, it was probably my favorite comic book series published last year.
This summer Marvel Comics will be launching their first X-Men crossover under this new status quo. Jonathan Hickman called X of Swords, debuting this July. While details on the plot of the crossover event are scarce, we do know that it will be a 15-part story, spread across all of the X-Men books. From X-Men to X-Force, from Wolverine to Children of The Atom, each of the X-Books will be involved. The entire event will be overseen by Jonathan Hickman who will also be writing the “key” chapters of the miniseries, the rest of the installments in the crossover will be written by the other X-Book writers. Below is the very cool piece of promo art by artist Mark Brooks that Marvel used to announce the crossover. We will have more news on X of Swords as it becomes available!
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Another year has come to an end, but before we ring in the New Year, I wanted to leave you all with one more entry in my recommendation series: Paul’s Picks! Let’s dive in…
House of X/Powers of X by Jonathan Hickman
This is by far the best superhero graphic novel of the year, if not the last several years. Jonathan Hickman has delivered one of the most wildly unique superhero comics I’ve read in a long time. Something about the X-Men allows for new creators to come into that world and wildly shake things up. They put their unique brand on the characters and the story, all the while always feeling like an X-Men tale. Chris Claremont did it with Giant Size X-Men #1, Grant Morrison did it with New X-Men, Joss Whedon did it with Astonishing X-Men, and now Jonathan Hickman has done it again with House of X/Powers of X.
The best part is you don’t have to be familiar with recent X-Men comics understand the story, you just need a basic knowledge of who the X-Men are. The hardcover volume I have is a special edition that actually came with a lithograph signed by Jonathan Hickman, which is pretty cool, but don’t expect it to be come with every edition (this was a special order).
Lithograph signed by Jonathan Hickman
Most other editions of this hardcore graphic novel have a different, but still beautiful wrap around cover. If you’ve ever been interested in superhero comics or if you wanted to get back into comic books, this is a must read.
As I’ve talked about on this website many times, I love the DC animated movies that come out every year. One of the better ones in recent memory has been The Death of Superman storyline which was broken into two different films. The first, The Death of Superman focuses on Clark Kent’s growing romantic relationship with Lois Lane and ultimately Superman’s fight to the death with the vicious monster, Doomsday. While Reign of The Supermen is about how the World, The Justice League, Lois Lane, and even Lex Luthor all deal with the loss of Earth’s greatest hero. Now this excellent story can be watched seamlessly as one beautiful animated film: The Death and Return of Superman. Much like their adaptation of The Dark Knight Returns, which was split into two separate film releases and then eventually released as one film under The Dark Knight Returns Deluxe Edition, The Death and Return of Superman is best enjoyed as one movie.
My last pick is Quentin Tarantino’s latest film Once Upon A Time In Hollywood. I’m a huge Tarantino fan, but to be honest I was disappointed with his most recent directorial effort. Don’t get me wrong, DiCaprio and Pitt are great and there’s a lot to like in this movie, but it just didn’t wow me like Tarantino’s movies usually do. I know I’m in the minority on this one, the film was a huge critical success and most of my friends loved it as well, including World’s Best Media’s own Ryan McDonald. However, just because I wasn’t blown away doesn’t mean I didn’t want to add the film to my Blu-Ray collection. My personal selection was the Best Buy Exclusive Steelbook Blu-Ray/4K edition. I love me some steelbook Blu-rays!
So that’s it for my picks in 2019! Look for me to continue this article series more frequently in the coming year. Have a safe and Happy New Year! See you in 2020!
Thanks for reading! Follow me on Twitter @PJWrightWBM or type Worlds Best Media into the search bar, you can also like and follow us on our Facebook page; World’s Best Media. Those likes and follows, as well as iTunes reviews, which go a long way to supporting World’s Best Media. We really appreciate the loyalty and support shown to us by our fans, so thanks again!
I really love how we’ve been seeing trailers for big comic books lately. It’s mostly been from DC Comics, but now it’s nice to see that Marvel got in on the game. Jonathan Hickman is absolutely crushing it right now with his dual miniseries House of X and Powers of X, both will be leading into this new era for Marvel’s Mutants, Dawn of X and new books like Jonathan Hickman’s X-Men #1. House of X and Powers of X are unlike anything I’ve seen in the superhero genre in years. They are changing the game. The future looks bright for the X-Men, so all of these books are going to be must reads. Check it out:
Follow us on Twitter @PJWrightWBM or type Worlds Best Media into the search bar, you can also like and follow us on our Facebook page; World’s Best Media. Those likes and follows, as well as iTunes reviews, go a long way to supporting World’s Best Media. We really appreciate the loyalty and support shown to us by our fans, so thanks again!
Look for a MUCH MORE detailed take on today’s subject coming in the near future, but I couldn’t wait any longer. I had to get the word out about what Marvel Comics has started with their X-Men books! You guys know that I love an excuse to write an article about comic books. It doesn’t matter if you’re a long time reader or someone who’s seen the X-Men movies, but never actually read a comic book: PICK. UP. THESE. COMICS!!!!!
Last week Marvel launched writer Jonathan Hickman’s vision for the next several years of X-Men stories with two interconnected miniseries: House of X and Powers of X. House of X #1 came out last week 7/24 and Powers of X came out this past on Wednesday 7/31. Each 6 issue miniseries will be coming out every week, alternating between the two. So next week House of X #2 will come out and the following week, we will get Powers of X #2 (New Comic Books come out every Wednesday for you new readers out there).
I don’t want to say too much because these books are too good to give away any major SPOILERS, so I’ll keep things vague. The plan is that Jonathan Hickman is writing House of X, which will deal with the new status quo of the X-Men being chronicled in that book. While Powers of X will look at Mutants during crucial moments for their species throughout the past, present, and future of the Marvel Universe. The idea is that the events of each book play off one another, so something that happens in Powers of X will make you look at the events House of X in a new and different way.
Having read both books, I can confidently say that they’re phenomenal. They immediately grab you’re imagination in ways I haven’t had a comic book do since probably one of Hickman’s last superhero books. You really should read these for yourself, but I will say House of X is about Charles Xavier, and Mutants as a species, in a dramatic and unique new status quo, that has the whole world and even other Marvel superheroes… concerned to put it mildly. Trust me, you’ve never seen the X-Men quite like this before. Charles Xavier has united Mutants in a unique way for the first time and he’s putting the world on notice. Xavier doesn’t want trouble, in fact he wants to help the rest of the world. But Charles Xavier wants one thing made very clear: Mutants are DONE asking anyone’s permission for anything. Charles has a plan and he doesn’t much care what the rest if humanity thinks about it. In other words “I’m here to help… but stay out of my way.”.
Powers of X #1 jumps into 3 points in time. The not too distant past and two very different points in the future. The parts of the story taking place in the future definitely deal with how the consequences of the events of House of X #1 effect The X-Men and Mutantkind in the years to come, but I don’t want to say any more than that.
One of the coolest devices both of these books employ, are pages of prose sprinkled throughout the books. They’re designed to look like very cool computer encyclopedia pages, with fascinating information that explains places, characters, and events going at that moment in the story and puts them in greater context. You really have to read it to see how cool and effective this storytelling device is.
I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the incredible art in both of these books. Pepe Larraz handles art for House of X and R.B. Silva does beautiful work as the artist on Powers of X. Neither of these stories would work without the spectacular contributions of both of these artists.
The two miniseries’; House of X and Powers of X are the preludes. When they conclude their 6 issue runs, Marvel is relaunching all of their X-Men books. The events of House of X and Powers of X will lead into Marvels flagship new X-Men book, X-Men #1 written by mastermind Jonathan Hickman with art by Leinil Francis Yu. As his work on Avengers, Fantastic Four, and Secret Warriors attests to, Hickman is known for telling epic, sprawling narratives. With story points sometimes paying off years later in a book, through Hickman’s meticulous planning. However, it never reads like a drawn out, overly long tale. It’s more like an edge of your seat saga, filled with twists, turns, surprises, and great payoffs for long time readers. Hickman plans to bring this same kind of storytelling to the X-Men and I’m here to tell you, he’s off to one hell of a start and I can’t wait to go along for the ride.
Review for House of X #1 & Powers of X #1: 9/10 Pick Of The Week!!!
You can buy House of X #1 & Powers of X #1 at your local comic book store (which you can find using the link below), most Barnes & Noble, or digitally on your tablet or other device on ComiXology.
It’s that time of year again! SDCC 2019! The San Diego Comic Con begins this weekend! This is where we get our first look at some of the coolest upcoming movies, TV shows, and comics from Marvel, DC, Netflix, HBO, The CW, Warner Bros. and a lot more. All the biggest names in geek and genre entertainment will be there to show off their upcoming projects. In this episode of The World’s Best Podcast, I’m here give you the low down on all of the best stuff to keep your eye on at this year’s convention. Including some material that has already been released like the trailer’s for IT: Chapter 2 and The King’s Man, the 20th Anniversary of Batman Beyond, and the launch of the brand new X-Men comic book from Marvel, House of X #1 hitting shelves on July 24th! Listen here or subscribe on Stitcher, Google Podcasts, iHeartRadio, and iTunes: https://www.spreaker.com/episode/18587209
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