I feel like Jonathan Hickman's plans for the X-Men was lost circa X of Swords, clearly ruined by editorial pressure, so it's no surprise to me that his run on the X-Men is already wrapping up. House of X/Powers of X was such a massive hit that the suits at Marvel decided to greenlight as many spin-offs as possibles to cash-in on its success, and this lead to a massive shift in direction.Reign of X have not been as good as Dawn of X, and this last volume of the core series was no different, while...

Stepping forward. In some ways this usca transitional books to msny man of the events going on with the Xmen, but it is slightly more of a step forward then just a transition. I would have given yhus 3.5 stars but I think it edged a round up, definitely not a drop down.The book contains four stories over five issues. The first is the fall out from the X of Swords. This includes Krakoa, Arakko, the Quiet Council, the residents of both islands, and the Xmen.The second story is more of a classic st...

Well Hickman’s main X-Men run is over and sadly it never picked up the way I hoped it would. HOX/POX was one of the best X-Men stories ever it’s such a shame Hickman’s main X-Men book couldn’t keep up. The thing that bums me out is that we are told this is all set up and then Hickman announced he’s leaving the franchise so I doubt we’ll see a lot of the stuff he planned in here except for what Inferno ties up.

Muddling ever onward into mediocrity, the X-era that began with such promise now in turn promises to be promptly forgotten. The Forge? The Vault? Arakko? Who caaaaaaaaaaaaaaares...You know things have gotten just too weird when even the time-displaced Summers clan are at a loss.

Like the previous two Hickman volumes, this one feels a little disjointed, with standalone or 2-issue story arcs that only seem loosely connected to the overall narrative. The first story explores a little bit about how the two halves of the island Okkara, Krakoa and Arrako, are now supposed to join together after the Tournament of Swords event, but the two islands are unexpectedly not getting along and showing no interest in rejoining. The Quiet Council has some seats to fill but there's no res...

Another volume of loose X-stories featuring obscure characters. Hickman writes it, so it feels like rich, dense content when it's not really, and no plot threads are ever resolved. Some parts are better than others: The Shiar issue is a fun aside, if seemingly a one-and-done with out-of-place 90s art. Similarly, the Krakoa/Arrako stuff in the first issue interested me, especially with Phil Noto's art, but was basically all introduction for a future narrative. The two issues about the Children of...

The main X-Men series still has the problem of following multiple, separate arcs. However, there is enough meat on the bones of these stories that they now feel more substantive and less chaotic. The story related to the vault is absolutely beautiful in both art and writing. But there is also an issue of utterly awful 90s style art within these pages. It is jarring and takes away some of the magic of the overall volume. The X-books have a lot of bloat across the expanse of releases, but these co...

So many great story threads. And the art seems to never fail this series.But as with much of this run, the many threads seem to set up so much and don't seem to go anywhere or come to any satisfying conclusion.I understand Hickman and the X writers room are trying to properly set up the X-Men for it's future storytelling once Jonathan leaves the series. But so many things happening that get dropped the next or a couple of issues later to be practically never mentioned again.

Vol. 3 is more of a placeholder than a complete story in the aftermath of X of Swords and leading into the Hellfire Gala. Hickman is planting a lot of seeds that will either be harvested or ignored by future writers.

Hickman's X-Men short stories really seem to come together in this volume, as we finally start touching back on some of his major plots, blending them into a tapestry. "Sworded Out" (#16) is a great coda to the Swords of X crossover, proving the event has repercussions; The Vault stories (#18-19) are a fine continuation of one of our early plots, with Synch's ending in #19 being terrific; and "Lost Love" (#20) is great not just for continuing the Orchis plotline, but also for finally giving us t...

X-Men By Jonathan Hickman Volume 3In a series of seemingly unconnected stories, Jonathan Hickman sets the stage for the next explosive stage of his X-Men run. What will be the aftermath of the Tournament Of Swords? What happens when three X-Men delve into the Vault? And then, to cap it all off, let's have a party - it's the first annual Hellfire Gala!I wish I could pick Jonathan Hickman's brain. He has such a way of telling stories, and the fact that most of X-Men has been single or two-part sto...

2,5*Seemingly disjointed stories (probably) paving the way for future storylines. A tad bit cryptic, as expected but no more than usual I guess.Best mini-story imo is the Vault, beautifully illustrated by Mahmud Asrar. Worst is the one with the Shi’ar, aggravated by Bret Booth on the drawing board, apparently stuck in a time loop sometime in the 90’s.As far as I’m concerned the whole series- and whatever related title- didn’t deliver what HOX/POX seemed to promise

A bit of a rushed ending to Hickman’s run and one of the few remaining issues feels wasted on a Brett Booth-drawn story about Shi’ar political drama, but the two issue resolution to the Vault infiltration from vol1 is spectacular and the follow up with Magneto and Xavier’s promised deal with Mystique (also revisited from vol1) is great too. Every issue is a blast to look at except the Brett Booth drawn one. I’m sad Hickman won’t be seeing through his full vision for the series himself, but hopef...

A volume dedicated to updating the many threads laid down in the first half-dozen issues and HoXPoX made for mostly great reading but it’s bittersweet because we already know that with Hickman leaving the X-line of books, the editors and other creators have no intentions of continuing those plot lines.No more OrchisNo More Children of the VaultMarvel never deserved Hickman’s genius

synch looking at laura the way tom cruise looks at emily blunt at the end of edge of tomorrow…more please

This contains issues 16-20, with chapters 12-15 in the X of Swords collection (still haven't read that.)Something weird is going on with Krakoa and this other island. The ramifications are talked about in Issue 16, but it just comes off as a little weird and yet another seed for future story. There's no recap for what happened in X of Swords.Issue 17 is a one-off (sort of) where Scott and Jean help out the Shiar. It ties in slightly with a New Mutants story arc, but the whole thing kind of comes...

Not bad, but very episodic, and the stories don't really seem to tie together very much. The art is good throughout.

Getting us from the explosive "X of Swords" to the upcoming "Hellfire Gala", this Volume has a few tragic tales and comes off much more dramatic than I thought it would be. Still amazing work by Hickman though.Highlights:- Krakoa and Arakko are having trouble merging, even after everything that was sacrificed in Otherworld. Doug Ramsey tries to help them meet and discuss, but "The Great Ring of Arrakko" (much like Krakoa's Quiet Council) must meet and vote as well.- Jean vacates her seat on the

Jonathan Hickman’s run started with a bang, there’s no denying that, but it has been losing steam and direction. This title in particular has no core and no spirit of its own. Taken outside of the entire background plot going on, it lacks a voice.The current volume finally gets some meat with the Hellfire Gala, but the rest… it is just a dragging experience.

If there's something Hickman will do, it's write a love story that feels bigger than life. Everything he writes is a big attempt at Epicness, and he succeeds at that in his Laura/Everett and Raven/Irene arcs. Hell, I even felt for the Nazi doctor and her dead husband. Like in the previous issues, Hickman is just planting some seeds for the future stages of his master plan, but the little closure he gives in his final X-Men volume is satisfactory.Could easily be a 5-star if X-Men #17 wasn't A HUG...