Review: X-Necrosha

The X-Men are no strangers when it comes to death. Over the years, they have lost many teammates and witnessed the demise of many of their greatest foes. However, what happens when all of these fallen are resurrected? That is the premise of the event known as X-Necrosha. The psychic vampire Selene mystically revives thousands of dead mutants and uses them as a pawn in her bid to become a God. It's up to the X-Men to stop her legion of the undead.

The trade paperback for X-Necrosha collects the relevant issues of this storyline from X-Force, New Mutants, and X-Men: Legacy, along with other bonus content.The main narrative occurs in the pages of X-Force. It is masterfully crafted and is as eerie as one would expect. Selene proves to be one of the X-Men's most dangerous foes and her cabal of henchmen are equally as ruthless. The supernatural elements fit remarkably well into the X-Men's universe, giving it a dark and gritty tone that adds weight to the story. Similarly, the art is captivating in its sinister style. Its detail and liquid colours give it tremendous character. The issues of New Mutants and X-Men: Legacy, however, do not fare as well. Neither title truly feels like it belongs in this collection. While both take place during the same time as the events in X-Force, both are sidestories and do not carry the same weight as the main narrative. This creates an unfortunate inconsistency with the overall tone of the trade paperback.

There is an even bigger glaring issue with this collection. Whoever assembled these issues did so haphazardly. The trade paperback opens with the X-Force issues then cycles into New Mutants and then X-Men: Legacy. There is no point of contention with this ordering since it doesn't disorient the reader too much. The problem, however, is that the bonus material is jammed into the back of the book. This is an issue since the narratives presented provide much-needed exposition into the events of the crossover. In fact, they should have preceded X-Force. There's also the puzzling exclusion of the Dazzler one-shot, which dealt with the aftermath of X-Necrosha. It's disappointing since this particular issue was much more interesting than the majority of the material outside of the main story in this trade paperback.

For anyone interested in tackling X-Necrosha, be ready for some minor confusion. The story itself isn't terribly accessible to new readers and will require some knowledge of the events preceding the crossover, particularly those that occurred in X-Force. There's also the issue of the skewed chronology of issues in this collection. That said, X-Necrosha is one of the more startlingly bleak events in recent X-Men history. The dark tone and supernatural themes are perfect for anyone who is a fan of sorcery, vampires and zombies. Of course, the real selling point for this trade paperback is its villain. Selene proves once and for all that she can be a Big Bad on-par with the likes of Apocalypse and Magneto. Not bad for a gal who struts around in lingerie.

Rating: B