X-Men vs. Apocalypse, Vol. 2: The Ages of Apocalypse

X-Men vs. Apocalypse #2

by Karl Bollers (Text), Terry Kavanagh, Alan Davis

The Shi'ar on the Moon, Cable and his wife in Egypt, Wolverine in the Negative Zone - what's wrong with this picture? Apocalypse has risen from the past to change timelines until he finds one he likes - but when the original X-Man looks him in the eye, both men are lost, leaving the X-Men to comb the world for friend and enemy alike Will Cyclops literally become the thing he fears and hates the most, and vice versa? And where does the Red Skull fit into all of this? Anywhere he wants to Guest-starring the Hulk, Machine Man, Deathlok, and more Collects X-51 #8, Uncanny X-Men #378 and Annual 1999, Cable #77, Wolverine #148, X-Men Unlimited #26, X-Men #98, and X-Men: The Search of Cyclops #1-4.

Genres: Comics, X Men, Graphic Novels, Marvel, Superheroes, Comic Book

288 pages, Paperback

First published September 10, 2008

About the author

Bad Idea Managing Editor, former Valiant Ent. Sr Editor, Eisner Award-nominated writer, former Marvel Comics writer, former Sonic the Hedgehog comic book writer.

Reviews

[Shannon Appelcline · Rating 2 out of 5]

Shorts. The X-51 that leads things off is at best semi-comprehensible with some good effort at variant storytelling [4/10]. The X-Men Annual is a more readable if mediocre story [5/10].

Ages of Apocalypse. I just don't understand the purpose of these shorts. Are they supposed to flow together? Are they supposed to be one-offs? In any case, they feel totally irrelevant and unimportant [3/10].

The Search for Cyclops. Certainly the best-written of the stories in this volume, with great art and nice dialogue … but the plot drags horribly, pretty much wasting three and a half issues solely to get to the big fight at the end … and then that pretty much anti-climaxes with Apocalypse dealt with in two panels! [5/10]

Overall, this volume is extremely disappointing. The issues are a mish-mash and the main arc of the "Ages of Apocalypse" doesn't even make sense. I don't know what horrible thing happened at the editorial offices while this story was in the planning stages, but it's a pretty bad follow-up to the OK first part of the storyline.

[Maiq · Rating 3 out of 5]

Except for the Search for Cyclops mini series, the other stories seem unnecessary and forced. But still an enjoyable read.

[Robin Gane-McCalla · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great artwork but convoluted and meandering story without a clear ending.

[M · Rating 1 out of 5]

The horrendous Apocalypse: The Twelve storyline finally concludes here in this mismash volume of alternate realities. With the power transfer interrupted by Cyclops, Apocalypse opts to juggle realities until finding one suitable of completing the energy circuit. The book opens with a story about X-51 fighting his new Sentinel programming, adding little to the overall volume. Next up is a battle between the X-Men and Exodus, who is posing as Magneto and forcing Genosha to live in harmony. The story would have worked better has the title not revealed Exodus as the main antagonist! The first of the altered realities sees Xavier gathering his original X-Men: Iceman, Beast, Jean Grey, Storm and Gambit. As they battle Magneto's Brotherhood over new mutant Colossus, telepath Jean finally discerns that this world is just fiction - prompting a swift reality shift. In Egypt, Cable is preparing to assault the Living Monolith's kingdom, backed by Magneto, Sunfire, and Storm. During the raid, telepath Cable makes a similar conclusion as Jean, prompting Apocalypse to try once again. This time we are treated to the New Fantastic Four, back together in a ruined New York. Wolverine, Hulk, Ghost Rider, and Spider-Man battle various FF threats, but remain blissfully unaware of their current timeshifted status. Another jump brings us to an X-Men/Shi'ar tussle on the moon. Familiar faces like Wolverine, Jean, and Cable meet up with newcomer Siphon and battle the Four Horsemen. Our final reality sees a universe sharing in the dream of Charles Xavier, with the former team coming together to honor their dying teacher. It is with this final ruse that Apocalypse and Cyclops are finally merged, leading to the Search for Cyclops - the miniseries that concludes this volume. Following the merger, a human Scott Summers finds himself hunted by Gauntlet, Anais, and Caliban; each one with a different reason to seek out the new Apocalypse. Lucky for Scott, Cable and Jean are able to locate him and split the two enemies asunder. While the brunt of the tome deals with one-shot alternate realities, the real gem is the FF issue. Revisiting the unique New Fantastic Four combination is always a treat for fans, especially as this story contains no mention of the Apocalypse atrocity. Check it out only is you are an X-Men completist, as the Ages of Apocalypse are easily forgotten.

[TR Naus · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have some mixed feelings about this short run. Alan Davis continues to plot some deeper stories that just don't really seem to work. Part of it might be that the artwork is lighter and more colorful than the subject matter, but I really think that he is trying too hard to tell a cerebral science fiction tale in what really is a character-driven franchise.

We see Cyclops sacrifice himself to stop Apocalypse at the end of "The Twelve", but we learn in "Ages of Apocalypse" that the two have merged to become Cyclopalypse with the evil persona maintaining control of the shared body. Cyclopalypse needs the combined power of the Twelve to complete the transformation, so he attempts to trick them by creating alternate realities that force them to use their powers in unison. He starts by reimaging the classic X-Men origins with the characters changed, and he ends with the X-Men victorious in their cause but about to lose their beloved Professor X.

The title and premise clearly attempt to capitalize on the popularity of the Age of Apocalypse which makes this appear like a hack job. This watered down version does not commit to an alternate reality, and there is nothing that had me rooting for the characters. I just wanted it to be over which is unfortunate because I now see where he was going.

[JT Foster · Rating 3 out of 5]

The war with Apocalypse continues from The Twelve and temporal shifts begin to resemble the out-of-step Age of Apocalypse universe. The X-Men's first class is different, so are the mutants of Fantastic Four, and a few other historic units are rearranged. The home stretch X-Men: The Search for Cyclops are 4 beautifully illustrated comics by Tom Raney, who is most definitely the MVP of this entire story arc. Although it's still the same conflict from The Twelve, most of the mutants, including Professor X, aren't really involved much. The Ages of Apocalypse is mostly centered around Cable, Jean Grey, Cyclops, and Apocalypse himself, and it represents the struggle to suppress the dark urges within all of us. Definitely worth a read for Marvel fans, even though it ends rather abruptly and doesn't leave much substance to reflect on.

[B · Rating 2 out of 5]

What a confusing mess. There are a lot of ideas here but none of them is really developed or related to any of the others. The whole story does not make sense as a whole. Each part feels incomplete. The art also is not really up to snuff. A lot of the characters look a little cartoony with incomplete backgrounds.

It seems like someone in editorial demanded some sort of tie-in the Age of Apocalypse and no one could figure out what it should be. But they published anyway.

Re-read this: they used this story as an excuse to do really short House of M What Ifs but never explained why and none of them mattered

[Kristina · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had the same problem with Volume 2 as I did with volume 1 - considering the build up through the years in the comic books about who the "12" were, it did not come off a strong a storyline as I would have liked. Far too much time spent plotting out "what-if" scenarios that derailed what should have been the main thread of the storyline. Reading it as a graphic novel also means that you see the holes in how the plot connected through the comic books. Still good to read about some favorite characters, but could have been a much stronger storyline.

[Christopher E. · Rating 1 out of 5]

A story with a shameless title cash-in that had potential but did not need to happen. The so-called future look at the X-Men has its moments. The rest is awful, particularly the cliche-ridden, anti-climactic "Search for Cyclops."

Look: If Apocalypse can re-write reality, why not just make one where his "The Twelve" experiment was completely successful? Brutal logic gap.

[Matthew Ledrew · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first half of this trade is just meandering one-shots that take place in boring dream realities. Or something. It didnt make much sense and still doesnt. Its an annoying chapter in X-Men history and started the trend of Uncanny X-Men just being the worst title on the stands. Fail.

[Jdetrick · Rating 2 out of 5]

There were soooo many comics printed in the 1990s, so I guess they needed a lot more writers, and standards must have been lowered, because I am amazed at some of the people who wrote this book. Many of these issues are mediocre, while others are just plain bad.

[Roman Colombo · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was going to give it 2 stars. Most of the conclusion to The Twelve was horrendous, except for Cable's issue. And the finale of it all was REALLY BAD. But then the Search for Cyclops had to go and be awesome. So, 3 seems fair.

[J. · Rating 1 out of 5]

Unnecessary crap. Plots that would have fit in the Exiles forced on other books. Ugh.

[Adam Stone · Rating 1 out of 5]

A dull rehash of previous storylines. Because no one demanded it. Apart from most of the art not being terrible, I struggle to find anything positive to say about this collection.

[Iliyan Iliev · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Search for Cyclops mini-series is what saves this volume from being a complete dud.

[Wreade1872 · Rating 1 out of 5]

Ok.. so lets get the first couple of issues and the last 4, out of the way. The first one an X-51 comic, i don’t even know why its here. Its not like it would have made this mess make less sense if it was left out. I guess they just needed the extra pages.
Anyway it follows on from an issue last volume where we found out the X-mansion was being hacked and the Xavier Protocols (how to kill each x-man) were being undeleted.

The main issue here is that Bastion took everything from the x-mansion. Meaning none of these computers (and where did all the replacement furntiure, new computers, danger room etc. even come from this time?) EVER had the xavier protocols on them. If you wanted to recover them you’d need to do it in Bastions base where that equipment was taken.

Anyway.. whatever.. then we have an annual, probably the highlight here but ruined by plastering Exodus’ face all over the cover.

Skipping forward the last 4 issues are the Search for Cyclops which came out about a year later then the rest of the material. This is actually ok stuff. Although isn’t Ozymandias an omnipath? I thought that was how he did his job.. and yet he can’t find cyclops? And even if cyclops was somehow hidden from him, he also can’t find the person he sent after cyclops? But he can also presumably track them to a particular city, so he can track them sort of?
In addition Cable and Jean think apocalypse is dead, why? I can accept them thinking cyclops is dead but they literally saw Apocalypse teleport away the last time they met.

The other person, sent to kill cyclops is, just really crap, like if you gave the Toad a gun he’d be twice the assassin this guy is. Was he really the best option available?
The ending is also a bit too pat. Oh yeah.. and Cyclops had a plan? What was it.. was it really necessary to go where he did. Was his entire plan just to ask Cable to kill him, kinda seems like he could have down that earlier?

But now to the real reason this gets 1-star. All of the Ages of Apocalypse stuff are like rejected What If ideas at best. At other times it feels like pure market research to see what people think of different lineups.
There’s a little moment of poignancy seeing super old Xavier just because of Patrick Stewarts age now. I don’t even object to a What if? now and then, ‘What if Xavier was Juggernaut’, ‘What if Phoenix didn’t die on the Moon’, ‘What if the New Mutants stayed in Asgard’.. but this crap, its just all so pointless and yet sort of mandatory by being in main continuity.

[Fez Vaccaro · Rating 3 out of 5]

This collection starts off pretty awkwardly. The first story is X-51, which involves a few of the X-Men after the Wolverine/ War horseman side story from the Wolverine issues. Apart from featuring those characters, it really has no ties to the overall narrative. This is followed by X-Men Annual, which again features the characters but again has no ties to the Twelve storyline. My issue with this Annual is that it's a waste of space. After Cyclops merger with Apocalypse at the end of X-Men #97, I don't know why we're wasting an oversized issue on Genosha. There's a lot of material to mine that wasn't addressed so far and could have been covered in this Annual - Apocalypse's manipulations plans throughout history to make the Twelve fall into place; Destiny's visions that led to her documenting this and the effect on her life; more internal Cyclops dialogue as he watches his life as an X-man flash before his eyes before the merge, or; just do an alternate reality story like most of this volume.

So after this, as mentioned, we get launched into a couple of alternate realities, called the "Ages of Apocalypse". The Wolverine story is a lot of fun, with Wolverine again being part of the new Fantastic Four. Uncanny #378, Cable #77 and Unlimited #26 are ok without being anything necessary. It gets tied up in X-Men #98 and Davis at least like Larsen in Wolverine, seems like he's having some fun with this alternate reality concept here. The collection ends with The Search for Cyclops, not a bad mini but it would have been better resolved in 2 or 3 issues, rather than 4.

I think the Twelve storyline as a whole is ok, its certainly not the worst X-Men comics have been but it's not the best either. The Revolution relaunch by Claremont is practically around the corner, so this isn't a necessary story in the grand scheme of things also.

[Kris Shaw · Rating 1 out of 5]

These stories show a marked improvement in writing and artwork when compared to just a few years earlier in the Complete Onslaught trades, but still mostly suck. The artwork is sloppy and still Liefeld-esque, or showing signs of the forthcoming Manga influence and/or cartoony look. Why in the Hell would they draw Nightcrawler with a goatee? There's still too much corny dialogue and "over writing", as I like to call it, and way too many *boxes. The brightest spot in all of this is Alan Davis' story and artwork in X-Men #98.

All of the cheeseball '90s characters with nonsensical names like Cable...why would they call him that? At least in the days of yore a name had something to do with the character's powers. Wolverine had claws, Cyclops had a visor that looked like one eye, Colossus was...well, colossal! Cable? He's the most powerful super badass psi-mitar wielding cybernetic techno-virus organism fighting Omega squared level psychic in the world, man! I think I may have missed one of his multitude of powers. I know he uses a gun as well. What does all of that have to do with the name Cable? Beats me! Equally stupid is Siphon, whose only displayed power are eyebeams. If she can indeed siphon people's powers they don't show it here.

With the exception of the Uncanny X-Men Annual and The Search For Cyclops mini-series, all of these issues carried a March, 2000 cover date, and goes to show you how many damn X-Men titles Marvel used to publish! It also shows how stupid it is for there to be variant covers for a mini-series like this! I bet you I could find those "valuable" variants in a quarter box if I look hard enough.

[Jason Tanner · Rating 3 out of 5]

Okay. So. This is part 2 of the story that began with the Twelve. Which I had built up in my head as THE Apocalypse story. Then I read it. And it was... disappointing. The potential was there, but the story was half-baked and full of chaff.

This book, Ages of Apocalypse, is that, but so much worse. In the first half of the book, we're treated to a series of fill-in quality alternate reality stories with the common theme of Apocalypse working behind the scenes to recreate engine he failed to achieve in The Twelve. I don't mind going into alt-reality cul-de-sacs if they further the story, or if they are done well. These weren't. They were rushed and amateurish and just totally repetitive. And the art was, in my opinion, atrocious.

Then, at the end of the collection, we get The Search for Cyclops, which was actually kind of good. It could have been extraordinary, but after all that came before, "kind of good" will do.

I guess I just wish that this series had creative teams that could have done the concept justice. Three stars, but mostly on behalf of the Search for Cyclops.

[Judah Radd · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ages of Apocalypse would have gotten 3 stars, but the inclusion of Search for Cyclops saved it.

Let’s talk about the titular story. There are some random and relatively unengaging stories that eventually amount to “it was a dream.” Kinda boring. Although, the overarching reason for them actually ends up being kinda cool. The final issue of Ages is a huge let down. The story goes out with a whimper.

The Search For Cyclops is pretty awesome. The art is really good, and the story provides some much needed cluster to the Apocalypse story.

This as a whole is essential due the the significance of the events, but it’s not exactly thrilling. Read, but manage expectations

[Daniel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Parts were silly. However, the Search for Cyclops was outstanding. Art was excellent.

[Jon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well, that wrapped up reasonably well.

[C · Rating 3 out of 5]

Continuing my X-men catchup project - a slightly ridiculous (and ridiculously expensive) project wherein I collect and read the X-books from roughly the point at which I quit reading in my younger days. I have been slowly amassing these books over the last few years and am now at a point where I can begin reading without major gaps...

Meh. There have been much better alternate reality stories in the X-men comics in my opinion. That said, the threads from the various alternates come together in a fairly interesting way. The story is entertaining if not particularly literary or life-altering. (Personally, I found this to be a more fun read than its predecessor.)