X-Men: Age Of Apocalypse Omnibus Companion

X-Men: Age of Apocalypse Omnibus

by Marvel Comics

It’s a return trip to the dark, dystopian Age of Apocalypse! Untold tales of Apocalypse’s rise to power and the beginning of the X-Men’s underground resistance! Blink’s extradimensional exploits! The desperate struggle of Earth’s remaining non-mutant heroes! And after Apocalypse’s defeat, a deeply scarred Earth tries to rebuild…but some of the AoA’s most powerful mutants have escaped into the Marvel Universe! All the orphaned AoA adventures are collected in one oversized volume!

COLLECTING: X-Men Chronicles (1995) 1-2; Tales from the Age of Apocalypse (1996) 1-2; X-Man (1995) -1, 53-54; Blink (2001) 1-4; X-Universe (1995) 1-2; Exiles (2001) 60-61; X-Men: Age of Apocalypse (2005) 1-6; What If? (1989) 77, 81; What If? X-Men Age of Apocalypse (2007) 1; material from Hulk: Broken Worlds (2009) 2, X-Men Prime (1995) 1, X-Man Annual '96, X-Men: Endagered Species (2007) 1, Exiles: Days of Then & Now (2008) 1, Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe: Age of Apocalypse 2005

Genres: Comics, Marvel, X Men, Graphic Novels, Graphic Novels Comics, Superheroes, Science Fiction

992 pages, Hardcover

First published April 15, 2014

About the author

Marvel Publishing, Inc., commonly referred to as Marvel Comics, is an American company that publishes comic books and related media. Marvel Entertainment, Inc., a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company, owns Marvel Publishing (since 2009).

Marvel counts among its characters such well-known properties as Spider-Man, Iron Man, the X-Men, Wolverine, the Hulk, the Fantastic Four, Captain America, Daredevil, Thor, the Sub-Mariner, the Punisher, Ghost Rider, Doctor Strange, and the Silver Surfer; antagonists such as Dr. Doom, the Green Goblin, Dr. Octopus, Venom, Magneto, Sabretooth, Galactus, the Red Skull, the Kingpin, and Bullseye; and others. Most of Marvel's fictional characters operate in a single reality known as the Marvel Universe, with locales set in real-life cities such as New York, Los Angeles and Chicago.

The comic book arm of the company started in 1939 as Timely Publications, and by the early 1950s had generally become known as Atlas Comics. Marvel's modern incarnation dates from 1961, with the company later that year launching Fantastic Four and other superhero titles created by Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko, and others. Marvel has since become the largest American comic book publisher, surpassing its longtime competitor DC Comics.

On December 31, 2009, The Walt Disney Company acquired Marvel Entertainment for $4.24 billion.
--from Wikipedia

Note: Although currently owned by the Walt Disney Company, this author is kept separate due to it's long history prior to it's acquisition - over 70 years.

Reviews

[Chad · Rating 2 out of 5]

A bunch of ancillary material tangentially involved with the Age of Apocalypse setting. Either characters reentered that world or it was about some of the characters from that world who escaped. None of it was all that great. I'd only recommend it to completists.

[Relstuart · Rating 3 out of 5]

Collects several mini-series from before or after the events in the main AoA story. If you are a huge Blink or Exiles fan the Blink mini-series is one you will want to check out. While some of the stories do really build more story into the main event it a real mish-mash of styles and characters. Not really needed to enjoy the main event but if AoA is one of your favorites this could the type of thing you want to check out. Can't recommend if you haven't read the main event.

[Courtney · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a amazing graphic novel to read! Some of the art work in a few issues are definitely from the early 90’s. But the rest is superb! Do read it for more adventure and daring action in the aoa!

[Dan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Magneto: No Gambit, you need discipline! And you need to start following orders and not let our friendship stand in the way of what we must do--

Quicksilver: Father, please? Take it easy. The bottom line is that Gambit's call was the right one. We saved the family, and managed to keep you among the living as well. What more could you ask for?

Magneto: Possibly a world free of Apocalypse's rule?

Who the hell put out this collection? I admit my understanding of X-Men culture is largely based on a few films and a cartoon--I never read the comics deeply. Seeking to rectify this, I saw this at the library and decided to just jump in and see how convoluted the X-Men canon was. And Holy Christmas! What the hell was this?

First of all, it all takes place in another universe and the characters are redeployed in new configurations and alliances. Then this collection is NOT the main story--no: This collection consists of individual pieces where authors investigate niches of this universe to clarify an ambiguity in character motivations or delight the reader with a glimpse of events which were off-screen during the main telling. In other words, this is a collection for a tiny group of diehard X-Men fans. Which, truth be told, is not me. And I was perpetually perplexed with each page.

Then again, when I decided to not understand the big picture and concentrate only on character and event, many of the stories were, if anything, mildly interesting. However, I fear I have been bitten. I want to read more X-Men, perhaps the main story from which these threads were torn. The world of the X-Men is a befuddling, confusing mess, yet it is also arresting and intriguing. While choosing this as a start was foolish, I believe the overall canon worthwhile exploring.

[Neil · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an interesting read. It has the two issues of X-Men Chronicles and the two issues of X-Universe as well as a host of other issues that "revisit" the Age of Apocalypse, some of which were (apparently) written to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the alternate storyline. It also has some of the "What if . . . ?" storylines that spun out of Age of Apocalypse specifically, the stories involving Magneto being killed, both Magneto and Xavier being killed, and the coming of Galactus. The art work is (again) hit-and-miss in the various issues. Also, I did not realize that Blink had become such a popular character as a result of the various runs of The Exiles, but she factors into the Age of Apocalypse more than I realized.

I thought the storyline of Christopher Summers being reunited with this two lost boys was both interesting and sad; sad mainly because Christopher has been infected by a Brood Queen and Scott is forced to kill his own father in order to save the planet. Alex hates Scott for killing their father, which further divides the two and lays the foundation for the split to come "later". The "biggest question" I had was: did the Brood infect only a portion of the Shi'ar Empire? In the Gambit and the Externals series, Gambit and his team travel to Chandilar and then on to the planet that houses the M'Kraan Crystal in order to obtain a portion of the crystal so that the crystal can be used to repair the past. No mention is ever made that the Brood had infected the Shi'ar Empire; neither do any of the characters from the Shi'ar Empire manifest any characteristics of the Brood race. At the same time, neither Christopher nor Sinister would know the extent of the Shi'ar Empire, so it was probably a small, isolated portion (group) that was infected and not the entirety of the Shi'ar Empire.

Some of the stories take place "ten years after" the Age of Apocalypse (at least, that is how I interpreted it), which was "okay". Obviously, a lot has happened of which the readers are not privy, so it was up to the writers (and the artists) to try and bring the readers up to speed without bogging the stories down with too much exposition about what has gone on "before". I suppose the writers did well in their exposition; they tended to either ignore "the lost history" from the passage of time or briefly mention something having happened in the past that may (or may not) have had some influence on an event currently "happening" (that the reader was reading about).

I did enjoy seeing the return of the Guthrie clan and, to a lesser extent, Aurora and Northstar. Moreso the Guthrie clan. I always hated that Paige and the other Gen X'ers were left behind to die in the "original series" (and I always wondered why Colossus could never break the doors to get inside to save "his" team of trainees). Paige was found and rescued by her siblings, the very ones she had turned her back on to join the X-Men, and they welcomed her back. Rogue's response was equally interesting upon finding out that Paige was still alive.

I have to admit, I never quite understood why Erik Lensherr was arrested when it was revealed that Jean Grey actually saved the world from the thermonuclear bombs and not Magneto. It just did not make any sense to me (unless it had something to do with his lying about it in conjunction with whatever oath he swore when he took office; perhaps he was seeing as 'aiding and abetting criminals' by ignoring leads that pointed towards Sinister being alive and Sinister's whereabouts? I do not know; either way, I did not 'get it' after finishing that storyline.

So Jean Grey survived the thermonuclear bombs going off and getting blasted by Alex Summers in the back? Why am I not surprised.

It was kind of interesting to see how involved Sinister was in Nate Grey's "creation", birth, and growth as a young child. Looking back, I realize how silly it sounds to say "I had no idea . . . " because of course Sinister had to have been deeply involved in Nate Grey's development. Sinister would not have allowed such an important "project" to have proceeded without Sinister's personal close attention to ensure its successful completion.

I also enjoyed Forge's comments about how Nate had reappeared to him before in order to warn him (Forge) about what was to come. It was both funny and sad, that Forge required Nate to implant a subconscious "trigger" that would ensure Nate would "return to the future" instead of staying behind to grow up with Forge and fight Apocalypse. Forge's "mental comment" was bittersweet [about how, if Forge did leave with Nate to the "alternate future timeline", Forge would not be there for when Nate reappeared in the past to help Nate defeat Sugarman and thereby save the world and the future]. It was kind of a crazy paradox, and a bittersweet moment.

The story about Blink popping up in the Negative Zone and falling in love with Annihilus while trying to sway Blastaar and the Baluurians to join in the fight against Apocalypse and his minions was pretty crazy. We learn that Earth has been visited by many alien species in during throughout the Age of Apocalypse; apparently it is partly because of the Dark Beast's study/torture of the Impossible Man that helps sway Scott Summers toward Scott's ultimate betrayal of Apocalypse. Blink suffered temporary amnesia upon entering the Negative Zone, but her memory did come back to her in fragments over the course of her own mini-series. She did return to her homeworld after Annihilus was returned to power; it was interesting to see Annihilus being given a 'more humane side' as he and Blink would come to love each other. It was touching, in an odd way, that Annihilus would speak of how Blink brought a bright spot into his existence, and he did not want her memory soiled or sullied by what was about to happen next.

I found myself wondering if there was going to be a 'second' companion omnibus that was going to be released. There were some "ads" scattered throughout this omnibus where it mentions "other stories" about the Age of Apocalypse, including what appeared to be collections taken primarily from Uncanny X-Force. We'll see what happens, if these other stories are collected into an omnibus and released as a second companion or not.

Overall, I enjoyed reading this companion to the Age of Apocalypse omnibus. It was a 'fun' read and it definitely expanded on the "primary titles" of the main narrative. It was also 'fun' to read about the characters, how their lives had changed and how they had helped create a 'brave, new world' in which homo sapiens and homo superior were attempting to learn to live together in peace and harmony, and how hard this goal/dream truly was. I think I enjoyed this compilation more than I thought I would (considering it is composed of stories spread out across a good chunk of time that are compiled together into this omnibus edition). I could not quite decide if the stories were told in "chronological order" or not, but I did enjoy most of them [even if I did not care for all of the artwork].

[Matt Sautman · Rating 5 out of 5]

The entries in this volume fill in many of the gaps that I felt take away from my enjoyment of the Age of Apocalypse Omnibus. I feel like the best way to read these two books is somewhat simultaneously. Starting out with the main omnibus provides the events that establishes the Age of Apocalypse timeline, but switching over to this omnibus enables a person to read about the early years of this alternative universe's X-Men before the main Age of Apocalypse storyline begins. While there may be a couple of stories that run concurrent with the main Age of Apocalypse run, the stories in this companion volume can be read all the way up until the What If? storylines, which continue the universe beyond the conclusion of the main volume. Aside from improving the reading experience of the main omnibus, there is also value in this companion regarding both the preview guide and the Marvel Age of Apocalypse handbook that is included in this. While these sections might be a little more dense for the average reader, for any comic scholar, these sections contain information that could be useful for any critical study of this text.

[Gary Rhodes · Rating 3 out of 5]

I��m giving it three stars because a few of the issues contained within this very large volume are pretty good. This is a bit of a mish-mash collection, and coming into this right after reading the main story in the Age of Apocalypse Omnibus probably didn’t help my enjoyment of this book. If you’re a Blink fan, or really, really like the What if…? comics then this is a good read for you. Overall, I’m glad to have it and to have read it, but I don’t see myself revisiting this omnibus very often.

[Jameson · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sometimes you don’t need a companion; sometimes it’s better to go it alone. I hadn’t read most of this stuff (Blink, Exiles, and What If aren’t my drugs of choice.) But it’s a better batch of comics than I expected. The worst parts were basically anything that had to do with the non-mutant Marvel characters. The art ranges from good to abominable, keeping track of all the different AoA timelines and characters gets messy, and none of this is required reading for better AoA stories down the line. Overall, unnecessary. I’m not sure it deserves to take up the space on my shelf.

[Aildiin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Uneven.
There are some great parts and some really bad ones...

[Benjamin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not quite as good as the Age of Apocalypse proper but interesting just from the additional context of one of my favorite storylines.

[Ondra Král · Rating 2 out of 5]

Konečně je to za mnou. AoA Companion je mezi Marvel omnibusy unikát. Není to kompletní run nějaké série, není to event, nejsou to tie-iny. Tohle je sborník příběhů, které Marvel vyflusnul do řekněme roku 2010 a které se nějakým způsobem týkají reality Age of Apocalypse. Jelikož se mi původní event líbil, i přes varování Changer že je to blbé jsem se to rozhodnul prubnout. Výsledek je poněkud rozpačitý.

Takže copak tu máme? Na začátek dvě série, které byly součástí původního eventu, ale do AoA omnibusu už se nevlezly. X-Men Chronicles se soustředí na první bitku X-Menů s Apocalpysem a na milostný trojuhelník Rogue/Magneto/Gambit. Vcelku fajn, ale tohle mělo být narváno už v původní knížce, protože se na sérii často odkazovalo a musel jsem si tenkrát přečíst obsah na wiki. Na druhou sérii jsem se při čtení obsahu strašně těšil, ale stála dost za prd. X-Universe #1-2 se soustředí na lidský odboj proti Apocalypsovi. Jenže v téhle realitě nikdy nevznikli žádní superhrdinové (krom Hulka), takže je odbojářkou třeba Gwen nebo Doctor Blake. Super nápad, ale provedení poněkud skřípe.

Dál tu jsou dva dodatečné příběhy ze světa AoA (Tales From the Age of Apocalypse). První se soustředí na Cyclopse a Havoka a je asi to nejlepší, co v knížce najdete; ve druhým X-Meni zastaví pletichy jednoho Horsemana na Měsíci. Dobrá série, škoda že měla jen dvě čísla.

Dále přichází několik příběhů, který se točí kolem Nata Greye. Origin v X-MAN -1 byl docela zajímavý, zbylá tři čísla jsou bohužel srajdoiní. Divim se, že tahle série měla tolik čísel. Podobně špatný je i X-Men Prime o tom, co se stalo po návratu do naší reality.

Pak nám přichází do hry Exiles, tým složený z hrdinů z různých realti. Nejprve je tu solo minisérie Blink, která byla opět dost špatná, potom dvě čísla Exiles, kde hrdinové navštíví AoA a bojují s Magnetem. Další hodně dobrá věc, po které mám chuť Exiles vyzkoušet. Pak je tu ještě jedno číslo Exiles (Days of Then & Now), u kterého jsem nepochopil proč tu je.

Dále je tu několik krátkých příběhů - ať už pár stránek z Endangered Species (absolutně zbytečné), další osudy lidského odboje a podobné blbiny.

No a na závěr v tom Marvel udělal bordel. AoA byla původně považována za mrtvou realitu, která na konci eventu skončila. Jenže při desátém výročí se ji rozhodli obnovit a máme tady nejdelší příběh, šestidílný X-Men: Age of Apocalypse včetně minipříběhů. Občas je jednání postav poněkud podivné, ale je to jedna z těch lepších věcí.

No a na závěr několik What If? (žádná sláva) a tuny bonusů. Celkově tu je dost špatných věcí, dost průměrných a jen málo dobrých. Companion bych doporučil jen hardcore fandům, zbytek si někde sežeňte X-Men Chronicles a Tales.
2,5*

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

Every bit as excellent as the main book! Total classic. Love this stuff!

[B · Rating 3 out of 5]

A number of these stories were much more fun than they had any right to be.

Still, I think you would be hard-pressed to say any were good.