X-Men #13
Hickman retcons Apocalypse in X-Men #13, by writer Jonathan Hickman, artists Mahmud Asrar, colorist Sunny Gho, and letterer Clayton Cowles. Part ten of X Of Swords, this issue serves as a lore dump for Apocalypse and what happened at the sundering of Okkara and… it’s fine but also kind of infuriating at the same time.
Apocalypse isn’t doing well at all after his battles with the First Horsemen. Nothing they’re doing is helping him, so Xavier tells Hope to use her powers to enhance Healer’s. Healer says that could kill Apocalypse but since he can be resurrected, no one has too many qualms and Apocalypse himself tells them to go ahead. He begins to tell the story of Okkara and how the Twilight Sword of the enemy came and sundered the island. A group of mutants went through the portal to keep the fight up, including Apocalypse’s wife, Genesis. They were able to fight the invaders to a standstill and the invaders agreed to a parley. At the parley, one of the enemies brings forth a golden helm and puts it on, becoming possessed by their leader and tells the mutants that they have a gift for them but they can’t just give it to them. Genesis takes charge and kills the members of the delegation meant to test them. Apocalypse doesn’t know what was whispered in her ears, but whatever it was ruined the chance for a simple victory and messed all of them up. Genesis decides to lead her sister, her and Apocalypse’s children, and an army through the gate and tells Apocalypse to prepare the world for the return of the enemy, to make sure it’s fit to fight. In the present, Apocalypse is finally healed and goes to the pyramid he built as a memorial for his children so that he could retrieve his sword, Scarab.
Let’s get this out of the way- Hickman retcons Apocalypse in this issue to fit X Of Swords and to explain his whole presence on Krakoa and it’s kind of terrible. Dawn Of X started on a huge retcon of Moira MacTaggert that was one of the biggest moments in comics of the 21st century because of just how unexpected and revolutionary it was. It was a retcon done right, one that was perfect and a huge surprise and also just made sense for why Xavier allowed Moira to have such a say in things beyond they were old friends and she was a good biologist. This retcon? This retcon is bad because it kind of destroys everything that readers ever knew about Apocalypse. Basically, Apocalypse’s whole survival of the fittest thing was there not because he actually believed it but because his wife told him to make sure the world was strong so when the Amenthi forces came back, the world would survive. Apocalypse has not been an evil genocidal maniac all of these years but a concerned caretaker of the world just trying to build a strong army so that it would survive the coming invasion.
This is the kind of retcon that spits in the face of everything readers knew about Apocalypse, everything they were shown about him, everything he said about himself all of these years. This isn’t revealing something about Moira that everyone who knew would keep secret because it’s kind of shady in a lot of ways; this is telling readers they and all of the creators who worked on the character up until this point were completely wrong. It’s disrespectful to everyone involved and it’s done to serve a story that is lackluster and bloated at best. However, to divorce opinion from this review- the whole thing is well done and works for the story being told. It’s just kind of terrible and insulting to fans and past creators on a conceptual level. That said if after reading this issue no one guesses that Genesis will return wearing the Golden Helm of Amenth and leading the bad guys hasn’t been paying attention to anything ever.
The art by Mahmud Asrar is alright. The only thing that really stands out about it is he doesn’t draw backgrounds unless he absolutely has to. There’s some cool panels with Apocalypse, Genesis, and their children killing Amenthi invaders but other than that, nothing stands out as good or bad.
X-Men #13 is a competently done issue and that’s pretty much the best that can be said for it. Structurally, it’s sound and everything in it works towards the story it’s trying to tell. Hickman and company do a fine job with it on the level of putting together a comic that plays into a larger saga. However, it also contains a terrible retcon that changes everything fans knew about a character in the worst possible way to sell a story that isn’t all that good. If one doesn’t care about Apocalypse as a villain or isn’t that well informed on his lore then there is nothing wrong with this retcon. For fans who are, it’s one of the worst things ever done to Apocalypse.
Grade: D+
