X-Men, Vol. 1, Homecoming by Jed MacKay, Ryan Stegman (Illustrator), Netho Diaz (Illustrator)

 

X-Men, Vol. 1, Homecoming, by Jed MacKay, Ryan Stegman (Illustrator), Netho Diaz (Illustrator), is the first one of the two main X-Men titles for the “From The Ashes” which is the new branding for the new X-Men era. The second is Uncanny X-Men by Gail Simone which I have nothing good to say about that other than it has pretty art. While the art is good, none of the characters are remotely right, so I am choosing not to review it. There are several plot holes in this era because the geniuses at Marvel decided that they would have the people who are writing this new era not know how the previous era was going to end. So, try to ignore that since that is not the creative team’s fault.

 

This book occurs sometime after a time skip from the previous era Cyclops, Magento (who is now old and wheelchair bound), Magik and others and living in Alaska and dealing with trying to save mutants now that Krakoa is gone. An alien invasion is happening in San Fransico with an adult mutant at the center of it. Thus, it is up to the team to investigate. The plot synopsis for the book only covers the first part of the book. There are six issues and things get a lot more interesting and complicated from there.

 

The art is rather good and there is plenty of action. This is a team that is trying to gel a bit. For those who do not know, one of the main character’s is Beast who has gone through a lot of changes over the years from hero to villain. Basically, since the character had become irredeemable, they killed him off and replaced him with a clone from far back in his history. Wiping away all that character development which turned him evil.

 

This means the new Beast is struggling with all this trauma. In addition, Magneto has lost control of his powers and struggling with his health. Cyclops has PTSD and could use the help and support of his wife. Instead, she is in outer space. Pretty much every member of the team has issues. They all should be in therapy.

 

There is a lot going on in this series. There are some plot holes with Rogue who is now being written by Gail Simone who clearly does not know the character’s history. So Rogue is an antagonist in this book. What is going on with Magneto don’t make sense because of the previous era. That isn’t all of it.

 

There is what is going on with Wolverine here despite him and Cyclops having moved on from having issues with each other. They were getting along so well that the Summer’s family dinners had Wolverine considered a member of their family. In fact, they were living to together and both sleeping with Jean. Now for some reason Wolverine has had all his character development thrown away and is back to his 90s self. This is even though Wolverine was rescued by Cyclops and the team from being tortured earlier in this series. He is now mad at him in Gail’s series. Makes zero sense.

 

Most of what happened in the in between period of the old era and this new era is left rather vague. This volume ends on a cliffhanger which promises answers in the next issue. Not knowing how the previous era ended really hurt this creative team in how should they handle this new era.

 

I have read up to the next issue and there are still little answers to be had. The second volume will tie into an X-men crossover called Raid On Graymalkin. I have not read but based on the internet reaction it is not good. It has been universally criticized. I hope it’s better than I have read.

 

Amazon Associate Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/4gYhZ4f

 

 

I read this through the Marvel Unlimited App.

 

 

Scott A. Tipple ©2025