Age of Apocalypse #1

By Fabian Nicieza, Gerardo Sandoval and David Curiel

There were many crossovers that came from the 90’s, and many of them were pretty bad. The Age of Apocalypse however, is widely considered one of the best stories in X-Men lure. While there have been some revisits to this timeline, nothing has compared to the original story. This week we get an Age of Apocalypse tie-in to Secret Wars written by Fabian Nicieza. If that doesn’t get you excited, nothing will.

Fabian Nicieza is a writer who was around in the 90’s and had his hand in the X-Universe. He’s back and the merry band of mutants may never be the same. Age of Apocalypse sets the tone very early that characters are not safe. Many popular characters are disposed of in this issue and it’s actually a bit shocking. Nicieza gives us the action from Doug Ramsey’s point of view. He’s effective in his narration and it’s nice to see this not go to a more popular character. Everyone seems to be in character, which is cool, and Nicieza continues to keep the Summer’s brother feud ongoing. Fabian really captures the feel of the original series with this introductory issue and his dialogue is still on-point and as clever as it always has been.

The pencils in this issue are handled by Gerardo Sandoval with colors by David Curiel. This issue was drawn very well and Gerardo Sandoval makes very good use of a few full-page spreads. The page where the X-Men reveal themselves as they attempt to rescue Doug from Holocaust is one of the pages that will wow you. As the issue progresses Sandoval gives us a very good and descriptive look into New Cairo. As we near middle of the issue we get to see all the prelates, and the Summers’ and the Guthries’ look just as good as they did in the original. Sandoval really took the time to make sure everyone looks the best possible. The colors by David Curiel are excellent in this issue. He adds a great pop to the pencils laid down by Sandoval. The shading around Dark Beast’s face and the battle-worn look on characters like Carol Danvers really look stunning with Curiel’s colors.

So far this has been one of the most enjoyable tie-ins to Secret Wars. Even though this is only the first issue it feels like we’ve been here before thanks to the continuity in writing by Fabian Nicieza. The art looks spectacular so far and will hopefully continue to grow with the series. This is a very good start to one of the most iconic X-Men stories.