House of M

The House of M was my return to the comics world and I was not disappointed. The Scarlet Witch has a nervous break down and has lost control of her powers to alter reality. Vision, Hawkeye, and Ant Man are dead. Wanda starts creating an alternate reality for herself where she becomes a mother. Professor Xavier and Doctor Strange try to help her but slowly come to the realization they can not. What's worst is if she has a fit or a bad dream all reality can end. The Avengers and X-Men met to decide her fate. While they argue, Wanda's brother argues with their father Magneto to save her. "What would you have me do?" is his only reply. A white light and the world is reborn to where mutants are the dominant race and the sapians (the regular people) are slated for extinction in two generations. This was an interesting story overall. We get to see the world that is laid out for people. Spiderman finds the dead alive again and has a happy family life. Several like Kitty Pryde, Stephen Strange, and Matt Murdock live normal lives doing their jobs. Scott Summers is married (I won't spoil the surprise), while others like Logan remember all that was and have to battle madness as their minds try to deal with the new world. Logan finds he runs a special unit for Shield and is dating well I won't spoil that as well. A surprising change was Captain America. He is in the story for only a little bit but he gets a explained latter on. Then there is a little girl who also remembers the past. She has a unique power and could very well be the key to correcting things. This was a fun story and kept me wanting more. I would suggest that it's not for somebody new to the Marvel world as if they don't know the characters, the nuances and changes will be lost on them.

House of M is the first graphic novel I've bought & read. I bought it because I've always been an X-Men/Marvel fan and being that it seemed to revolve around Magneto, I was sold. The book did not disappoint. The art is amazingly beautiful and the story places you in a fantastic marvel story. I won't give anything away and I'll just say that I was completely satisfied. If there is anything negative to say, it's that I found the story a bit short but that is greatly made up by a slew of extra content (Character Bios, Artwork, and a cool newspaper from the House Of M time). Overall, I'd recommend this book to any X-Men/Marvel fan. After reading House Of M, I became obsessed with reading more Marvel books. I've purchased X-Men: Deadly Genesis, Endangered Species, & Messiah Complex. All deal with events that happen after House Of M and are all also worth a read. After reading Deadly Genesis (I loved it), I purchased Rise & Fall of the Shi'ar Empire. My point is that House Of M is a great starting point for anyone that wants to jump into the Marvel universe.

House of M revolutionizes the Marvel Comic World and, in a way, starts the X-Men series over again. While House of M does not move particularly quickly (not many flashy battle scenes), it certainly adds a lot of psychological depth to many familiar characters like Wolverine, Magneto, Quicksilver, Spiderman, Scarlet Witch, Hawkeye, and a host of others, as we the readers witness what the world would be like if each mutant had their ideal life. Even more interesting, perhaps, is the round-about way the social schism of mutant vs human changes in this altered world. With mutants now on top, humans experience the same persecution placed upon mutants in the non-House of M world. I rarely read comics just for their fight scenes (although who doesn't love them!), so for someone into more of the psychology and social aspects Marvel brings to the table, House of M is a perfect fit. As has been said in many other reviews, it's also a perfect starting point for new readers. Highly recommended, and Excalibur-House of M Prequel, Decimation- The Day After, Son of M (this chronicles the aftermath of Quicksilver), and the subsequent Civil War cross-over event are also recommended. HUGE SPOILER! *****Keep your eyes and ears open, though, because House of M and the Decimation's effects are far from over. The Scarlet Witch returns in Civil War: New Avengers #26!!!!

Brian Michael Bendis' "House of M" is obvious an important event in the Marvel Universe, since virtually every comic book title has to deal with its consequences in some way or another. The eight-part crossover event is collected in this trade paperback volume is really just the beginning, so that the end is not so much the conclusion as it is setting the stage for what is to follow. So be forewarned, that if think picking up this book is going to get you totally up to speed on what is happening in all of the "House of M" titles, that is not going to happen. What is here, is prologue. "House of M" follows up on a previous set of story arcs, most prominently "Avengers Disassembled," also written by Bendis, in which Jack of Hearts detonating killing Ant-Man and destroying half of the Avengers Mansion, She-Hulk tore the Vision in two and put Captain America, Captain Britain, and the Wasp in the hospital, and Hawkeye sacrificed his life to save his teammates from a Kree warship. The Scarlet Witch, Wanda Maximoff, turned out to be behind the attacks, having lost control of her reality-altering powers and suffered a total nervous breakdown over the loss of her children. Stopped by Dr. Strange, Wanda is taken away by her father, Magneto, to the devastated island-nation of Genohsa. The story begins six months later with the New Avengers and the X-Men meeting to discuss the fate of Wanda. Professor Xavier has been working to aid Wanda in her recovery, but he has failed and Wanda is back to trying to alter her reality, now bringing back her children and her husband. So the superheroes have gathered to debate whether Wanda should live or die. Captain America, Wonder Man, and Spider-Man are against the idea, but Wolverine wants to know how many more people Wanda has to kill before they stop her. But when they get to Genosha, Wanda is gone, taken by somebody. Emma Frost finds Wanda, but when they approach the world goes white-and when it fades away Peter Parker is awaken from a sleep by the crying of a baby. When he gets up to take care of it we notice that the woman in the wedding picture and the one sleeping in the bed has blonde hair. "House of M" stands for the House of Magnus and the world that Wanda has created is one in which mutants rule the world and it is now humans who are the oppressed minority. Everybody knows that Peter Parker is Spider-Man, who is married to Gwen Stacy, and has a son named Richie. Steve Rogers is an old man, retired from the U.S. Air Force living in the Bronx, Kitty Pride is teaching grade school in Cincinnati, and Stephen Strange is a psychiatrist. We see what has happened to many of the superheroes who attended the meeting, and then Wolverine wakes up and remembers-everything (including, apparently, his real name). Now all he has to do is convince the others that they are former superheroes that they are living in a world gone wrong that needs to be set back to rights. All I have done here is sketch out

Alternate realities and other worlds are nothing new in the world of comic books. DC has the multiverse, where an infinite number of Earths exist, each with parallel versions of Superman, Batman, and all of the other major players in the world of DC comics. Marvel has the Ultimate universe, which serves as a way to retell the classic stories in a separate, but parallel world to the 616 universe, which is the "normal" Marvel world. There was also the Age of Apocalypse miniseries, in which Apocalyspe, in an altered reality, controlled the world, and Magneto was the leader of the X-Men. However, in most alternate reality storylines, the ending seemed to undo everything. The characters remembered nothing of the other world when things went back to normal. Such is not the case in House of M. Wanda Maximoff, also known as Scarlet Witch, is the daughter of Magneto. She and her brother Pietro, also known as Quicksilver, are mutants, and thus have lived a life of oppression at the hands of humans. It doesn't help that their father is a maniacal terrorist bent on making the world a mutant paradise. Wanda's powers to alter reality have served her well as an Avenger, but lately, they have begun to take their toll on her mind. Prof. Charles Xavier has tried to help her, but she is quickly losing her grip on reality, which means that she could unknowingly alter the reality of everyone around her. Concerned for the safety of the world, Prof. X asks the X-Men and the Avengers to help decide how to deal with the problem. Fearing that Wanda's death is imminent, Piertro asks Magneto to do something, and suddenly, in a bright flash of light, everything changes. Peter Parker (AKA Spider-Man) wakes up to hear his young son crying, and his wife Gwen Stacey (who died years ago in the 616 timeline) asking him to take care of it. Scott Summers and Emma Frost are married, Hank McCoy never took the serum that made him grow blue fur, The Kingpin has been taken out, Dr. Doom doesn't need to wear his mask, and Wolverine is a member of S.H.I.E.L.D. along with Rogue, Nightcrawler, Mystique, and Toad. And he has all of his memories of his life before the adamantium was added to his skeleton. Furthermore, mutants are the dominant species on the planet, and they oppress homo sapiens, and Magneto is the king of the world. While a few humans are respected, such as Tony Stark, Peter Parker, and Victor von Doom, most are terrorized by mutants, and human criminals are hunted down by sentinels. Operating out of Genosha, which is a sprawling metropolis as opposed to a desolate wasteland, Magneto and his children are the leaders of the free world. Every person that Wanda knew has had their greatest wish come true. So why is Wolverine suspicious? Eventually, a series of events is set into motion that allows the heroes to remember the truth while living in the lie. While everyone is upset that Magneto used the Scarlet Witch to take over the world, some are more affected t