Earth X
by Jim Krueger
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Book Summary Information
Author: Jim KruegerBrand: Marvel
Illustrator: Alex Ross
Illustrator: John Paul Leon
Illustrator: Bill Reinhold
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2006-07-12
ISBN: 0785123253
Number of pages: 472
Publisher: Marvel
Book Reviews of Earth X
Book Review: Alex Ross and company's cerebral look at a dystopian Marvel universe
Summary: 5 Stars
After co-creating the "Kingdom Come" miniseries for DC, Alex Ross was asked by "Wizard Magazine" to sketch out a similar dystopian future for the Marvel Universe. Those published ruminations and illustrations eventually led Marvel to commission Ross to develop the "Earth X" series, which turns out to be the first of a trilogy that continues in "Universe X" and concludes in "Paradise X." This trade paperback collects "Earth X" issues 0, 1-12 and X, with Ross doing the story, character designs, epilogue and covers, while Jim Kruger contributed to the story development and wrote the script, with John Paul Leon doing the pencils and Bill Reinhold the inks. For those of you that want a comic book with the lofty density of an epic poem by Homer, "Earth X" is going to give you exactly that, with abundance.
"Earth X" is an alternative Earth in which the Celestials had implanted a gestating egg. So there are similarities to the "real" Marvel universe, but what is key here are the twists that Ross gives to familiar characters. For example, Ross looks at the irony of Captain America representing a country when "all men are created equal" when Steve Rogers is the first of a new race of super-humans. However, Ross is interested in a most ironic flip of this situation, because in an attempt to transform humanity into Inhuumans and thereby end the persecution of his people, Black Bolt released the mutagenic Terrigen Mists into Earth's atmosphere. When Reed Richards constructed a global network of vibranium power centers to solve the energy crisis, they combine with the Terrigen Mists to mutate humanity into a world where everybody has superpowers. Feeling responsible for what has happened Richards penance finds him taking over the role of Dr. Doom, and his long hair and flowing white bird offer an interesting contrast to the bald-pated Captain America with the "A" branded on his forehead.
The initial conflict is between Captain America and his allies against the Skull, who foregoes the red fright mask for the more simple blond-haired Aryan look, but in the end the Celestial egg becomes of prime importance. The framing device for the story has Uatu the Watcher, blinded by Black Bolt so that the alien could not bear witness to what he was doing, bringing X-51 (a.k.a. Machine Man) to the moon to function as his eyes. The strength of "Earth X" is in the twists that Ross and company give to the Marvel icons, although not everything works. Daredevil having a death wish sort of makes sense, but Thor being a woman as he endures Odin's latest lesson in humility is a toss away as far as I am concerned. Having Peter Parker be retired and his daughter fighting the fight does not payoff the way I hoped, but I did like that Tony Stark, one of the few Marvel superheroes who never had superpowers, has gone all Howard Hughes as the last "normal" human on the planet, creating armor suits based on members of the Avengers who have been killed. But in every single issue you will have a new take on a familiar face to consider, from the story of Clea the Sorceress Supreme and Czar Colossus to the Black Panther as a man-panther hybrid and President Norman Osborn.
The weakness here is the attempt to take the Celestials, the Norse gods, the Inhumans, and everybody else and make everything fit into a coherent theory. This attempt to connect the dots is ambitious, but hardly necessary, especially given the provocative reconceptualizations and the whole idea of a world in which superpowered beings are the new norm. I was trying to get into the flow of things, following how everything sets up an inevitable fate for the planet, and found that the resolution was a bit too deus-ex-comic-book-superhero for my tastes (although I certainly appreciated the irony of who Reed Richards pulls out a hat). This is one of the most cerebral attempts to play with the Marvel mythos I have ever come across, and that should be a clear warning that "Earth X" is not for casual comic book reader. When all is said and done it is not quite on the same level as "The Watchmen" or "The Dark Night," but it is definitely food for thought and I round up appendixes to each chapter, which continue the dialogue (literally) and fill in the backstories on characters that were not worked into the main narrative. However, I have the strong suspicion that Ross and company will have difficulty going onward and upward from here.
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