The Fall of the House of X #3 continues the epic end of the Krakoa Era. So far we have seen the X-Men do everything in their power to bring the fight to Orchis. There has been no more waiting around or planning. This is it for the mutants as they are retaking their destiny. Though that continues to prove difficult with Orchis not being the only threat. As both this series and Rise of the Powers of X has shown there is a third party that has spun out of Orchis in the form of the A.I. Sentinels. With how things are going it appears that the Marvel Universe is heading towards a direction reminiscent to the Terminator future. Can the X-Men stop this from happening? Let’s find out with Fall of the House of X #3.
CREATIVE TEAM
Writer: Gerry Duggan
Artist: Lucas Werneck and Jethro Morales
Colorist: Bryan Valenza
Letterer: Clayton Cowles
SOLICITATION
“THE END HAS TRULY BEGUN! The X-Men have taken all they’re willing to take from Orchis… Now it’s time for them to do the dishing out. Unfortunately, just when it seems like one threat is over…another rises to take its place. The final battle of the Krakoan age rages as two series that are one move toward a crash that will echo across the universe…” – Marvel Comics
REVIEW
Fall of the House of X #3 is the most focus chapter of this entire X-Men crossover event. Even with Rise of Powers of X spotlighting Charles Xavier’s group, there has been a clunkiness to this crossover. A lot of that has to do how spread out the X-Men have been throughout the Krakoa Era that it is tough to narrow in one a few elements. Which is where Fall of the House of X #3 comes in to capture that missing feeling. We still have a ton of X-Men in this issue, but it never feels overwhelming.
Having Dr. Stasis as the main villain helped make the objective clear for what this issue needed to accomplish. Throughout the last two years Dr. Stasis has been built up as one of the bosses the X-Men had to defeat. It is certainly credit to how well this clone version of Dr. Stasis was built up.
All of this made Emma Frost and Shadowcat defeated him rewarding. It was appropriate that it was Emma Frost and Shadowcat to do this as they are the two X-Men that Orchis sent over the edge. Their experiences, especially during Fall of X, made it so they no longer had their hero limiters. They have developed into being willing to cross the line that normally was saved for Wolverine.
At the same time, we do see part of their heroism still is part of them with how they couldn’t decide to fully finish off Dr. Stasis. It made Firestar, after being saved by Synch, charging in to burn Dr. Stasis body to complete cinder a payoff moment. Firestar has been far from a fan favorite but the moment Emma Frost and Shadowcat embraced her she really felt like part of the X-Men. While it doesn’t completely wipe the slate clean it did feel like a fresh start.
Along with this we see how Rogue, Manifold, and Apocalypse rally all the mutants on Arakko was a great moment. Apocalypse has definitely been one of the characters that has benefited most from the Krakoa Era. His character has come far to be a leader that stands with the rest of the X-Men rather than against them. He uses his influence too rally others rather than control.
This is seen with how the mutant Woofer is the first to step up to fight by Apocalypse side. This certainly helped Woofer elevate to a level that not even a spotlight issue could do. Which is all thanks to the gravitas that Apocalypse carries.
Which transitions well into Manifold, Rogue, and Gambit appearing with another SWORD base. Manifold spoke effectively to completely rally everyone on Arakko that was stepping up to fight Orchis. It was all a big moment that Lucas Werneck and Jethro Morales captured well with the big team shot we got a few pages later.
Given how bad things have been for mutants so far Fall of the House of X #3 did feel to clean. Dr. Stasis being the main villain seemed odd given how Orchis has been built with multiple big bosses. That is shown to be true with how Nimrod quickly reminds us that the threat mutants face is far from over. Duggan, Werneck, and Morales handled the transition from Orchis to the Sentinels and A.I. being the big bad well. Nimrod killing Dr. Gregor was brutal and effectively transitioned who the big threat is of this crossover. This helps connect Fall of the House of X to what we are seeing over.
That said, Dr. Gregor’s death does come across as a cheap heat builder. There has just been very little build up by Duggan and the X-Men staff for us to feel any sort of way about Dr. Gregor. If Duggan knew this was where he was going to end Dr. Gregor’s arc more should’ve been done to build her up as a villain. She’s been background character at best so the impact of what Nimrod did.
Though on a more positive note, revealing that Cyclops purposely stayed locked up by Orchis was a cool reveal. While he had to go through all forms of torture Cyclops revealed he did that to learn more about Orchis from the inside. Cyclops not letting this period to change him showed that his capture became a plan. It shows how he is able to adjust even as things were going south for the X-Men during the recent Hellfire Gala.
Now with the Sentinel City has fully been activated we still have a lot of questions as to how things well end up. The presentation of the Sentinel City is a moment that feels like all of Marvel’s heroes need to unite. This isn’t just an X-Men and mutant problem. We already have Iron Man involved so the Avengers, Fantastic Four, and Spider-Man entering the story is the right moment to happen. It certainly does feel like we are at the endgame for the Marvel Universe like we saw in Infinity Gauntlet.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Fall of the House of X #3 is easily the best issue of this X-Men crossover thus far. The story had a much more focused presentation. This helped make the war between the X-Men and Orchis have its maximum impact. The spot this issue leaves us increased the curiosity of how things will turn out when all is said and done.
Story Rating: 9 Night Girls out of 10
Art Rating: 8 Night Girls out of 10
Overall Rating: 8.5 Night Girls out of 10
