Writer: Al Ewing
Art: Luca Pizzari, Pepe Larraz, Stefano Landini, Raphael Pimento, Ceci De La Cruz, Marte Garcia, VC’s Travis Lanham, and Tom Muller
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Price: $4.99
Release Date: June 28th, 2023
The Origin of Arakko! In ancient days, Genesis turned back the hordes of Amenth. In ancient days, Genesis forced Annihilation in to a parley. What words were spoken in her mind? Now, finally, Apocalypse will know…and the echoes of those words might destroy him…and Arakko with him. Let’s dive into X-Men: Before the Fall – Heralds of Apocalypse #1 by Al Ewing and find out!
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THE DISPATCH
I honestly feel like you couldn’t make this stuff up. Apocalypse now goes by the Revelator? Really? And then Apocalypse (or I should say the Revelator) goes on this intense, philosophical diatribe about strength and ponders if a rock is moral, which again makes me wonder how far off the reservation we’ve come from HOXPOX. What in the world is Ewing going on about as X-Men: Before the Fall – The Heralds of Apocalypse #1 opens? We haven’t seen or heard from the Big A in quite some time and now we sit on the opening pages confronting the morality of rocks. Give me a break. And by the way, if you ask an Evolutionist, since we all came from the great soup that turned into rocks, and since we have morals now, I guess by the transitive property the rocks have morals. So, I hope that answers that question for you!
Needless to say, Ewing continues this tale by swirling up more Apocalypse mumbo jumbo AND providing fans with a history of the two lands splitting apart. It was actually pretty cool to see a different side of the Big A. He was… happy. However, we see that Genesis happens to be the true villain of this story, which was quite a clever wrinkle by Ewing. However, not only was much of the dialogue too deep and convoluted causing much difficulty in deciphering its meaning BUT the continual jumping forwards and backward in time without rhyme, reason, or direction made X-Men: Before the Fall – The Heralds of Apocalypse #1 equally as difficult to understand.
Moreover, Genesis leaves this issue through a gate. I think, and I’m not sure about this, but I think that she left to head back to Earth and the Big A (the Revelator himself) let her go after a fight that just… ended. Nothing came from the fight. Actually, it was rather pointless. They just ended without a winner and Apocalypse yielded for no reason adding even more layers of confusion to this story. Fans, X-Men: Before the Fall – The Heralds of Apocalypse #1 is not something to aimlessly jump into without any knowledge nor did Ewing make it easy to follow. So, be heavily warned before taking the trek through this issue.
FINAL THOUGHTS
X-Men: Before the Fall – The Heralds of Apocalypse #1 is a hot mess. Super deep attempts at philosophical nonsense open this bad boy which later leads into a battle between Genesis and Apocalypse that amounts to nothing. Sure, Ewing provides a little background on Genesis and how it wasn’t necessarily the mask that caused her to do what she did. Nevertheless, if you can comb through the thick swamp of trivial dialogue to even figure out any of the conversations delivered in X-Men: Before the Fall – The Heralds of Apocalypse #1, more power to you.
Now, my initial thought is that Genesis is on her way to Earth because she is utterly in love with violence and war more than Apocalypse and Peace. However, that’s not entirely laid out for readers either. The battle and conversations were so convoluted, your guess is as good as mine. Ultimately readers, I absolutely hate when people try to sound smarter than they actually are. It comes across as forced, fake, and frankly way too phony. Everything doesn’t need to be poetic or some glowing masterpiece of fiction. Just give us a good story that we can escape into without the pomp and circumstance. That’s not X-Men: Before the Fall – The Heralds of Apocalypse #1. Readers need to go into this being prepared for multiple rereads in hopes to understand what the heck is going on. Let me know what you think, have a great week, and God Bless!