House of M (Marvel Comics) | Brian Michael Bendis | Brian Michael Bendis turns the Marvel...

House of M (Marvel Comics) | Brian Michael Bendis | Surprisingly good!

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House of M (Marvel...

	House of M (Marvel Comics) Brian Michael Bendis Marvel Comics, 2008 - 312 pages average customer review:based on 27 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Brian Michael Bendis turns the Marvel universe into the House of Magnus

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 what happens in the first of the eight issues, and touched on the first couple of pages of the second issue and the crux of what is to come. The importance of the story comes from the general idea, but the fun in reading the story comes in the details. Oliver Coipel did the pencils, with Tim Townsend with Rick Magyar, Scott Hanna & John Dell doing the inking. The cover art is by Esad Ribic, although you will find alternative covers by a variety of Marvel artists, from Joe Quesada to Chris Bachalo. As I indicated above, the fact that not everything is neatly tied up at the end of this one, which ends with a big question as to what happens next, will proven maddening to some readers.

On the side binding of this volume there is the "H" and the left side of the "O" of "House of M," which means if you get all of the "House of M" paperback collections up on the shelf in the right order it will spell out the title. That sort of marketing ploy could set you off as well, but having read "House of M: Spider-Man" (in the original comic books), I know that you do not need to move beyond this one unless you really want to. But at least from this one you get the set up for the brave new world Bendis has created in the Marvel Universe.

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Surprisingly good!

I'm always a little wary of "Major Events" in the comic book industry. Batman getting his back broken, Superman dying, Age of Apocalypse, and other events that are going to "Change the ____ Universe forever" always worries me a little bit. It seems set up more by marketing than by the writers.

House of M seems to be of the later. Bendis delivers a great story that makes old characters seem brand new again, keeps you on the edge of the seats, and totally changes the mutant community forever! Wow! If you don't finish this book and just feel totally blown away by the ending then you aren't a Marvel fan. So go pick up Infinite Crisis and stop wasting our time...

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Not Just An Alternate Reality

This will be half review, half correction. A few of the previous reveiws have claimed that this is a standard alternate reality book, and were confused as to why Wolverine was the first to become aware of what was going on.

The answer, is that this is NOT a standard Alternate reality book. In this book, Scarlett Witch has given everyone what they wanted. Peter Parker has Gwen, and she never died. Scott and Emma are married, and, most importantly, Wolverine remembers every day of his life. This includles the normal reality, which is why Wolverine is the first to realize something is wrong.

This run, while largely a marketing ploy by Marvel, got me back into comics, and I read every House of M Issue, and sideplots. It's well written and suspensful, and slightly more important than a standard alternate reality. At the end of the book things arn't exactly as they were before, changes happen that actually effect the real marvel universe (quite a bit actually). I'd advise anyone to pick up this trade, and any of the side story House of M trades if you like this one.

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A promising return to more classic-type Marvel stories

After years of mediocre to bad to (frankly) horrible stories and crossovers within the company, Marvel has recently started to turn things around. Ironically a big reason for the turn around is avoiding the major crossover that "House of M" is and was. However, "M" is one of those stories that seemed to be coming for awhile and was executed very well.

After the Scarlett Witch went insane and killed Avenger teammates Hawkeye, Vision and Ant-man, Professor X and Captain America call together all the X-Men an Avengers to discuss how to deal with her and its determined she is a threat and must be killed. A threat her brother Quicksilver hears and then sprints off to warn her about, and to plead with there father, Magento, to prevent. Magneto refuses, and the super-teams arrive on Genosha when all the sudden a bright light envelopes everything and the heroes all wake up in a new altered reality where Mutants live in peace with the humans and the world is more or less a good place for all the heroes, each seemingly having exactly what they always wanted.

Wolverine seems to be the lone hero to realize something is wrong and he slowly gathers up the rest of the heroes, and reveals the truth to them. (special note: it is awful and heartbreaking when peter parker/spider-man realizes the truth) The heroes gather and a final battle ensues, and in the end everything is set right...well not quite.

The results of "M" are truely epic, and unless Marvel follows the mistakes of its past, and undoes every major decision they ever make, the effects will be felt in the Marvel universe for a long long time. "M" is a return to the great storytelling the company had going for it in the '70s and '80s, and is a welcome addition to the small group of classic stories that must be talked about with things like "The Dark Phoenix Saga".

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it's alright

its ok. the art work is good. the writting is good. the reason it doesnt get five stars is because it feels rushed. it could have been longer. i wish it was longer. instead of having like 5 spin off books they could have gone into more int detail on spiderman's life in the house of M world, but instead they reserved all of that in a separate book. the ending is pretty good. the plot is good. not bendis's finest but good read.

reviews: 1, 2, 3, 4, page 5, 6

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