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House of M
House of M: Wolverine, Iron Man & Hulk
Wolverine is on the run, Iron Man has sold his soul to the man, the Hulk is a hero of the people, Cable is M.I.A., Captain America can only bear witness and Hawkeye lives! Join them as they attempt to navigate their way through a world where mutants rule, and Homo sapiens are considered second-class citizens - a world ruled with an iron fist by the master of magnetism himself, Magneto!
Collects: Wolverine #33-35, Iron Man: House of M #1-3, Incredible Hulk #83-87, Captain America #10, The Pulse #10, Cable & Deadpool #17 and material from Hulk: Broken Worlds #1.
Collects: Wolverine #33-35, Iron Man: House of M #1-3, Incredible Hulk #83-87, Captain America #10, The Pulse #10, Cable & Deadpool #17 and material from Hulk: Broken Worlds #1.
344 pages, Hardcover
First published February 10, 2010
1 person is currently reading
98 people want to read
About the author
Greg Pak
1,648 books581 followersGreg Pak is an award-winning Korean American comic book writer and filmmaker currently writing "Lawful" for BOOM and "Sam Wilson: Captain America" (with Evan Narcisse) for Marvel. Pak wrote the "Princess Who Saved Herself" children's book and the “Code Monkey Save World” graphic novel based on the songs of Jonathan Coulton and co-wrote (with Fred Van Lente) the acclaimed “Make Comics Like the Pros” how-to book. Pak's other work includes "Planet Hulk," "Darth Vader," "Mech Cadet Yu," "Ronin Island," "Action Comics," and "Magneto Testament."
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
May 20, 2013
Here, then, are the reviews for the individual parts comprising this overall strong collection:
Wolverine #33-35 - 4 stars
Wolverine's jumping ship (literally - from the House of M mini-series) is investigated by SHIELD Director Sebastian Shaw. Through flashbacks, Mystique explains some of Wolverine's past, as Shaw is trying to determine how long Wolverine has been... "unstable" (more than usual, I guess he means). All in all, it is a pretty (but good) sad story.
"House of M: Iron Man" - 2 stars
Written by Greg Pak, with art by Pat Lee. The story itself is so-so: it involves Tony Stark's father (Howard Stark) and Henry Pym in a convoluted plot to kill Magneto by exposing him to a "Gene Bomb", triggering in him a genetic meltdown. Pym has also put gene bombs all over Chicago, to kill as many mutants as possible. Tony and his pal Johnny Storm (yes, that one - although in this reality he's just a regular, powerless guy) have to come in in suits of armor and disarm as many bombs as they can before they go off.
The art is Manga-ish and not always pretty (the human faces, especially), and the robots look like they're Transformers (understandably, since Pat Lee's big claim to fame was the Transformers comic book series at IDW in the early 2000's).
Oh - did I mention there's arena fighting, "Gladiator"-style? Well, there is. Guys in suits of armor go up against Sentinels, and the whole thing is broadcast on TV and very popular with the masses. What won't they do for ratings?
Captain America #10 - 2 stars
(Yawn) This one's about Steve Rogers' life, from World War II to 2005 (without him spending years/decades frozen in the Arctic/or wherever that was). Of course this is skewed through the House of M reality, where mutants eventually become the big dog on campus, and homo sapiens become the oppressed minority. Steve Rogers is old, and of absolutely no use to our intrepid heroes, who're recruiting en masse so they can take down Magneto and his kids.
Pulse #10 - 4 stars
Hawkeye. He's dead. He's not dead. He's both. Huh? Wait. Back up. This stand-alone tie-in is interesting on many levels: Hawkeye, who bit the big one in Avengers Disassembled, shows up very much alive in the House of M reality, and he's got 2 sets of memories: his own (pre-"death"), and a brand-new set (supplied by the Scarlet Witch's reality-altering shenannigans). These two sets of memories are distinct, concurrent, and Hawkeye thinks the reason he was allowed to remember his existence pre-"death" is so that he realises that this reality is only an illusion, and that Wanda (the Scarlet Witch) wants him (on some level) to take her out of her misery (by way of death-by-arrow, of course, as this is Hawkeye we're talking about).
Cable & Deadpool #17 - 2 stars
This ultimately forgettable stand-alone tie-in is good for a few yuks, par for the course with anything involving Deadpool. Other than that, well...
Incredible Hulk #83-87, Hulk: Broken Worlds #1 - 4 stars
In the House of M reality, Bruce Banner had joined the tribe of the Aborigines in Northern Australia, where he can live in peace and just "be left alone". Trouble starts when government troops show up and start hassling human refugees & the Aborigines. Hulk takes care o'biz and eventually makes his way to Sydney, disposes of the mutant governor in charge of the continent, and takes charge of running the country and making it a safe haven for humans from mutant oppression.
I like the way Peter David writes, the situations he puts the characters in and how they eventually resolve issues/problems. And let's not forget the dialogue & the play on words, at which he excels. All the things that I love about his writing techniques from his current X-Factor run (starting with X-Factor Vol. 0: Madrox - Multiple Choice and currently at X-Factor - Volume 19: Short Stories) are here. It should be noted that this Hulk book was written just before the X-Factor re-launch (the first arc dealing with the "No More Mutants!" fallout).
Overall, this is one of the better "House of M" tie-ins, even though it takes place far away from the main storyline (geographically, that is!) and there is no involvement whatsoever from the other Marvel heroes.
Wolverine #33-35 - 4 stars
Wolverine's jumping ship (literally - from the House of M mini-series) is investigated by SHIELD Director Sebastian Shaw. Through flashbacks, Mystique explains some of Wolverine's past, as Shaw is trying to determine how long Wolverine has been... "unstable" (more than usual, I guess he means). All in all, it is a pretty (but good) sad story.
"House of M: Iron Man" - 2 stars
Written by Greg Pak, with art by Pat Lee. The story itself is so-so: it involves Tony Stark's father (Howard Stark) and Henry Pym in a convoluted plot to kill Magneto by exposing him to a "Gene Bomb", triggering in him a genetic meltdown. Pym has also put gene bombs all over Chicago, to kill as many mutants as possible. Tony and his pal Johnny Storm (yes, that one - although in this reality he's just a regular, powerless guy) have to come in in suits of armor and disarm as many bombs as they can before they go off.
The art is Manga-ish and not always pretty (the human faces, especially), and the robots look like they're Transformers (understandably, since Pat Lee's big claim to fame was the Transformers comic book series at IDW in the early 2000's).
Oh - did I mention there's arena fighting, "Gladiator"-style? Well, there is. Guys in suits of armor go up against Sentinels, and the whole thing is broadcast on TV and very popular with the masses. What won't they do for ratings?
Captain America #10 - 2 stars
(Yawn) This one's about Steve Rogers' life, from World War II to 2005 (without him spending years/decades frozen in the Arctic/or wherever that was). Of course this is skewed through the House of M reality, where mutants eventually become the big dog on campus, and homo sapiens become the oppressed minority. Steve Rogers is old, and of absolutely no use to our intrepid heroes, who're recruiting en masse so they can take down Magneto and his kids.
Pulse #10 - 4 stars
Hawkeye. He's dead. He's not dead. He's both. Huh? Wait. Back up. This stand-alone tie-in is interesting on many levels: Hawkeye, who bit the big one in Avengers Disassembled, shows up very much alive in the House of M reality, and he's got 2 sets of memories: his own (pre-"death"), and a brand-new set (supplied by the Scarlet Witch's reality-altering shenannigans). These two sets of memories are distinct, concurrent, and Hawkeye thinks the reason he was allowed to remember his existence pre-"death" is so that he realises that this reality is only an illusion, and that Wanda (the Scarlet Witch) wants him (on some level) to take her out of her misery (by way of death-by-arrow, of course, as this is Hawkeye we're talking about).
Cable & Deadpool #17 - 2 stars
This ultimately forgettable stand-alone tie-in is good for a few yuks, par for the course with anything involving Deadpool. Other than that, well...
Incredible Hulk #83-87, Hulk: Broken Worlds #1 - 4 stars
In the House of M reality, Bruce Banner had joined the tribe of the Aborigines in Northern Australia, where he can live in peace and just "be left alone". Trouble starts when government troops show up and start hassling human refugees & the Aborigines. Hulk takes care o'biz and eventually makes his way to Sydney, disposes of the mutant governor in charge of the continent, and takes charge of running the country and making it a safe haven for humans from mutant oppression.
I like the way Peter David writes, the situations he puts the characters in and how they eventually resolve issues/problems. And let's not forget the dialogue & the play on words, at which he excels. All the things that I love about his writing techniques from his current X-Factor run (starting with X-Factor Vol. 0: Madrox - Multiple Choice and currently at X-Factor - Volume 19: Short Stories) are here. It should be noted that this Hulk book was written just before the X-Factor re-launch (the first arc dealing with the "No More Mutants!" fallout).
Overall, this is one of the better "House of M" tie-ins, even though it takes place far away from the main storyline (geographically, that is!) and there is no involvement whatsoever from the other Marvel heroes.
August 1, 2014
While this is a FAR superior set of stories compared to the drivel in House of M: Spider-Man, Fantastic Four & X-Men, it just further goes to show that the House of M spin-offs were largely a cash grab with no real forethought put into planning out this alternate world. There are some fun ideas, but there's just way too much contradiction from story to story to really build out a connected universe. I mean, even the simplest stuff gets overlooked, like the fact that in the Wolverine story Nick Fury is shown to be relatively young and eyepatch-less, and Dum Dum Dugan is also young and healthy, but in the Captain America story we see that Nick Fury is long dead and complete with eye patch, and Dum Dum Dugan is a geriatric old man giving speeches about what World War II was like. Did editorial even try to line up the characters in here?
This is the last of the House of M stuff I'll read. I'm just tired of the lazy world-building and haphazard character development. I still love Bendis's central series, and will keep that on my favorites shelf for sure, but the rest of this stuff just doesn't hold up on the whole. Anyway, now I'll go story by story, like you do.
Wolverine #33-35: 4 Stars
This is one of the better spinoffs, as it manages to acknowledge the events of House of M without having to directly deal with them. This one's told mostly in flashback, letting us know what this world believes about Wolverine, and presenting a pretty cool spy thriller along the way. In the central House of M, Wolverine is the only person to know that the world is an illusion after Scarlet Witch screws everything up. So, if we saw a bunch of him in action in this world, it wouldn't make any sense. Instead, we see his House of M self through Mystique and Sebastian Shaw's eyes, everything told via memory, so that it can still be seen as true for them, while definitely not true for Wolverine.
The story itself is kind of been-there-done-that (Who is the REAL spy?! What aren't they telling us?!) but the detailed, action-oriented art helps set it apart. Daniel Way (who I normally can't stand, so maybe in the House of M world he's a good writer?) does a solid job moving things along without wasting any time. It's like watching a solid episode of Spy Law & Order or something.
Iron Man: House Of M - 1 Star
While this could never hope to sink to the doldrums of Spider-Man: Hose of M (that was originally a typo, but I thought it was fitting so I left it), it still failed to really do anything interesting or make a ton of sense. It's very unclear how humans are actually treated in this world. In some of these stories they're essentially slave labor, and in some they're respected but seen as second-class citizens. The problem with this story is, it kind of shows us both? For instance, Tony Stark and his father are both highly valued and respected human businessmen, and Hank Pym is a brilliant scientist with his own, unmonitored lab. Doesn't sound like the Nazi Germany we see sometimes.
However, in this same story, humans are shown to be forced to engage in gladiator-like combat, and then a bunch of humans are carted off to concentration camps so that Tony can save them. Which is it? Are they accepted or are they oppressed? To be fair, Tony does mention that his business could come under fire if any seemingly anti-mutant sentiment was expressed, but that isn't enough for me. It just doesn't feel like a real world, it feels like a couple of worlds mashed together for the sake of plot devices.
As for the actual story here, it's incredibly stupid. Eventually, it becomes abundantly clear that the writer wants us to believe that mutants are Nazis here (despite the stuff I already mentioned). So Tony decides to fight back. Once we get to this point, we see example after of example of the mutants oppressing and even murdering humans for no reason, and it gets slammed home how evil they are. So what does Tony do? He puts on his Iron Man suit, powers up... and tries to make peace with the mutants. What? They're killing all of your people, you idiot! You can't just slip into the tired superhero trope of "I don't kill people." This would be like if we sent in thousands of ground troops in World War II with the intention of striking up a nice conversation with the Germans. No, we had to fight, and people were killed, but it was what had to be done. Instead, Tony LETS MAGNETO LIVE. Not only does he let Magneto live, the status quo changes IN NO WAY. So, essentially, Tony saves Magneto's life and then says "Go on doing what you're doing, what with the killing all of my people, and I'll just kind of hang back and try to think of something to do to help humans later." THE END. That is the end of the story. Great job, Iron Moses.
Captain America #10: 5 Stars
Despite the aforementioned conflicts with the world, this is by far the best House of M spinoff story. Brubaker does a fantastic job holding to the themes and tone of Captain America, but imagining a world in which Cap was never frozen, and just lived to a natural old age. We see him deal with corrupt governments, McCarthyism, the moon landing, and many other events that we just never got a chance to see in the normal Marvel universe. There's something intensely nostalgic and melancholy about this story, but it only serves to highlight both how great of a character Captain America, and how great Brubaker is at writing him.
The Pulse #10: 3 Stars
I've never read The Pulse before, as the idea of a series about a newspaper from the Marvel universe just always seemed boring to me. But this one's written by Bendis, so it feels incredibly connected to the House of M world, and tells a pretty unique side story. In this one, we get a better sense of how humans are treated (definitely the second-class citizen thing, not the Nazi Germany thing), and we also get a glimpse at Hawkeye, who's dealing with the fact that he knows he's dead in the real world. It's a little weird, but has that typical Bendis flare for character, so I very much enjoyed it. I also feel like this one should've been collected in the central House of M hardcover instead, since it directly ties in to that story, and is written by the same author. But I'm not an editorial genius, I'm a guy who reviews comic books on the Internet.
Cable & Deadpool #17: 2 Stars
Good thing I read all of Cable & Deadpool a few years back, or I would've had zero idea what was going on in this story. It shouldn't even be collected in here. At the time, Deadpool was jumping around to all sorts of different worlds, trying to find the missing Cable. One of the worlds he enters happens to be House of M, and thus the story picks up right here. So, if you hadn't been reading anything before this, you would be completely lost except for the MOUNTAINS of exposition Nicieza piles on, which is inadvertently hilarious. I mean, he has an entire recap page devoted to explaining stuff, but then Deadpool continues to exposit in his own dialogue for the next, oh, 4 pages? It's utterly absurd. Luckily, it's still pretty funny, otherwise it would be a huge turd. Oh, also, the story continues into issue #18, which is not included here, so I guess go hunt that down if you want a conclusion.
Incredible Hulk #83-87 & Broken Worlds #1: 1 Star
I don't even know how to review this one. I feel like everything that happens in this Hulk story is tied directly to what came before and after it. It does not at all feel like it's intrinsically linked to House of M, even though they do say the word "Magneto", oh, twice. It's just a really terrible, impossible to follow Hulk story. I had no idea who any of the characters were or even what side they were on. The Hulk is written like a smarmy douchebag, and Banner is written like Bruce Willis or something. The characterizations seem insane to me, but again, I wasn't reading the other Hulk stuff at the time. This one is supremely missable.
This is the last of the House of M stuff I'll read. I'm just tired of the lazy world-building and haphazard character development. I still love Bendis's central series, and will keep that on my favorites shelf for sure, but the rest of this stuff just doesn't hold up on the whole. Anyway, now I'll go story by story, like you do.
Wolverine #33-35: 4 Stars
This is one of the better spinoffs, as it manages to acknowledge the events of House of M without having to directly deal with them. This one's told mostly in flashback, letting us know what this world believes about Wolverine, and presenting a pretty cool spy thriller along the way. In the central House of M, Wolverine is the only person to know that the world is an illusion after Scarlet Witch screws everything up. So, if we saw a bunch of him in action in this world, it wouldn't make any sense. Instead, we see his House of M self through Mystique and Sebastian Shaw's eyes, everything told via memory, so that it can still be seen as true for them, while definitely not true for Wolverine.
The story itself is kind of been-there-done-that (Who is the REAL spy?! What aren't they telling us?!) but the detailed, action-oriented art helps set it apart. Daniel Way (who I normally can't stand, so maybe in the House of M world he's a good writer?) does a solid job moving things along without wasting any time. It's like watching a solid episode of Spy Law & Order or something.
Iron Man: House Of M - 1 Star
While this could never hope to sink to the doldrums of Spider-Man: Hose of M (that was originally a typo, but I thought it was fitting so I left it), it still failed to really do anything interesting or make a ton of sense. It's very unclear how humans are actually treated in this world. In some of these stories they're essentially slave labor, and in some they're respected but seen as second-class citizens. The problem with this story is, it kind of shows us both? For instance, Tony Stark and his father are both highly valued and respected human businessmen, and Hank Pym is a brilliant scientist with his own, unmonitored lab. Doesn't sound like the Nazi Germany we see sometimes.
However, in this same story, humans are shown to be forced to engage in gladiator-like combat, and then a bunch of humans are carted off to concentration camps so that Tony can save them. Which is it? Are they accepted or are they oppressed? To be fair, Tony does mention that his business could come under fire if any seemingly anti-mutant sentiment was expressed, but that isn't enough for me. It just doesn't feel like a real world, it feels like a couple of worlds mashed together for the sake of plot devices.
As for the actual story here, it's incredibly stupid. Eventually, it becomes abundantly clear that the writer wants us to believe that mutants are Nazis here (despite the stuff I already mentioned). So Tony decides to fight back. Once we get to this point, we see example after of example of the mutants oppressing and even murdering humans for no reason, and it gets slammed home how evil they are. So what does Tony do? He puts on his Iron Man suit, powers up... and tries to make peace with the mutants. What? They're killing all of your people, you idiot! You can't just slip into the tired superhero trope of "I don't kill people." This would be like if we sent in thousands of ground troops in World War II with the intention of striking up a nice conversation with the Germans. No, we had to fight, and people were killed, but it was what had to be done. Instead, Tony LETS MAGNETO LIVE. Not only does he let Magneto live, the status quo changes IN NO WAY. So, essentially, Tony saves Magneto's life and then says "Go on doing what you're doing, what with the killing all of my people, and I'll just kind of hang back and try to think of something to do to help humans later." THE END. That is the end of the story. Great job, Iron Moses.
Captain America #10: 5 Stars
Despite the aforementioned conflicts with the world, this is by far the best House of M spinoff story. Brubaker does a fantastic job holding to the themes and tone of Captain America, but imagining a world in which Cap was never frozen, and just lived to a natural old age. We see him deal with corrupt governments, McCarthyism, the moon landing, and many other events that we just never got a chance to see in the normal Marvel universe. There's something intensely nostalgic and melancholy about this story, but it only serves to highlight both how great of a character Captain America, and how great Brubaker is at writing him.
The Pulse #10: 3 Stars
I've never read The Pulse before, as the idea of a series about a newspaper from the Marvel universe just always seemed boring to me. But this one's written by Bendis, so it feels incredibly connected to the House of M world, and tells a pretty unique side story. In this one, we get a better sense of how humans are treated (definitely the second-class citizen thing, not the Nazi Germany thing), and we also get a glimpse at Hawkeye, who's dealing with the fact that he knows he's dead in the real world. It's a little weird, but has that typical Bendis flare for character, so I very much enjoyed it. I also feel like this one should've been collected in the central House of M hardcover instead, since it directly ties in to that story, and is written by the same author. But I'm not an editorial genius, I'm a guy who reviews comic books on the Internet.
Cable & Deadpool #17: 2 Stars
Good thing I read all of Cable & Deadpool a few years back, or I would've had zero idea what was going on in this story. It shouldn't even be collected in here. At the time, Deadpool was jumping around to all sorts of different worlds, trying to find the missing Cable. One of the worlds he enters happens to be House of M, and thus the story picks up right here. So, if you hadn't been reading anything before this, you would be completely lost except for the MOUNTAINS of exposition Nicieza piles on, which is inadvertently hilarious. I mean, he has an entire recap page devoted to explaining stuff, but then Deadpool continues to exposit in his own dialogue for the next, oh, 4 pages? It's utterly absurd. Luckily, it's still pretty funny, otherwise it would be a huge turd. Oh, also, the story continues into issue #18, which is not included here, so I guess go hunt that down if you want a conclusion.
Incredible Hulk #83-87 & Broken Worlds #1: 1 Star
I don't even know how to review this one. I feel like everything that happens in this Hulk story is tied directly to what came before and after it. It does not at all feel like it's intrinsically linked to House of M, even though they do say the word "Magneto", oh, twice. It's just a really terrible, impossible to follow Hulk story. I had no idea who any of the characters were or even what side they were on. The Hulk is written like a smarmy douchebag, and Banner is written like Bruce Willis or something. The characterizations seem insane to me, but again, I wasn't reading the other Hulk stuff at the time. This one is supremely missable.
January 28, 2019
A quick aside: I love libraries, but I fucking hate the assholes who rip pages out of books. According to the librarians at my local library branch, this is an issue with cookbooks, but it is also an issue with comic books for some reason. Since my primary purpose was to read Captain America #10 (which was excluded from the Winter Soldier volume) and to my knowledge that issue had no pages ripped from it, I am living with the fact that the copy I read was damaged. If you can live with the fact that I missed a few of the pages in this volume, by all means read on...
So the issue with giant comic book universe spanning "events" is that they tend to come off as incredibly uneven--this is because the brains behind the main "event" are not the people writing the crossovers, and if the "event" is also uneven, it usually translates into the crossovers. So for every Crisis on Infinite Earths you get a Secret Wars II. I read House of M volume 3 because I wanted to read Ed Brubaker's Captain America #10--this issue fell toward the end of Winter Soldier and didn't fit that narrative and I will tell you that this one off is not indicative of Brubaker's spectacular work on Winter Soldier--it felt like he was half-assing it because he was pissed that Marvel editorial forced him to do a House of M one off in the middle of an epic Captain America story arc. I don't blame him.
The stand-outs in this volume are the Wolverine three parter (that I didn't get read part of thanks to the Library Ripper mentioned above, but I got enough of the gist of it) and The Incredible Hulk four parter by Peter David. The former is not so much a Wolverine story as a House of M universe's Mystique story, and I have to admit as obvious as the ending was, I didn't see it coming. Of the latter, David always seems to excel when dealing with alternate reality versions of the Hulk and this is a real gem. In addition, he gets a chance to deal with the consequences of the House of M universe changing back to the "normal" Marvel Earth-616 universe. That story feels rushed, but it's an interesting concept. The rest of this seems like filler mostly, especially the Iron Man story which I found completely disappointing (the Library Ripper hit this one too, but I didn't feel like i was missing anything.)
In all, if you are a fan of David's work on the Hulk, you should check this out, and if maybe if you want to be a completist of Brubaker's work on Captain America but honestly you can skip it and not miss a beat.
So the issue with giant comic book universe spanning "events" is that they tend to come off as incredibly uneven--this is because the brains behind the main "event" are not the people writing the crossovers, and if the "event" is also uneven, it usually translates into the crossovers. So for every Crisis on Infinite Earths you get a Secret Wars II. I read House of M volume 3 because I wanted to read Ed Brubaker's Captain America #10--this issue fell toward the end of Winter Soldier and didn't fit that narrative and I will tell you that this one off is not indicative of Brubaker's spectacular work on Winter Soldier--it felt like he was half-assing it because he was pissed that Marvel editorial forced him to do a House of M one off in the middle of an epic Captain America story arc. I don't blame him.
The stand-outs in this volume are the Wolverine three parter (that I didn't get read part of thanks to the Library Ripper mentioned above, but I got enough of the gist of it) and The Incredible Hulk four parter by Peter David. The former is not so much a Wolverine story as a House of M universe's Mystique story, and I have to admit as obvious as the ending was, I didn't see it coming. Of the latter, David always seems to excel when dealing with alternate reality versions of the Hulk and this is a real gem. In addition, he gets a chance to deal with the consequences of the House of M universe changing back to the "normal" Marvel Earth-616 universe. That story feels rushed, but it's an interesting concept. The rest of this seems like filler mostly, especially the Iron Man story which I found completely disappointing (the Library Ripper hit this one too, but I didn't feel like i was missing anything.)
In all, if you are a fan of David's work on the Hulk, you should check this out, and if maybe if you want to be a completist of Brubaker's work on Captain America but honestly you can skip it and not miss a beat.
March 31, 2011
The House of M story arc confuses me. It is the Final Crisis of the Marvel universe (my opinion, obviously). I get the gist of the plot, but I don't get it. So, in an effort to possibly understand it a little more, I decided to read this. I still don't get it.
August 12, 2010
Most stories are interesting as far as exploring this alternate Marvel universe, but ultimately forgettable. And the Iron man story was weak (or maybe the Saturday-morning-cartoon art just detracted all seriousness from the story). The high point was Deadpool, and Wolverine was worth reading.
January 5, 2020
📖 House of M by Brian Michael Bendis et al.
I’m a sucker for Elseworlds/What If type stories, so I had been looking forward to reading House of M for a while. The premise sounded great: Following the events of Avengers Disassembled, The Scarlet Witch, Wanda Maximoff, has gone berserk and lost control of her reality-warping abilities. Professor X and Doctor Strange do the best they can to contain her, but they fail. The Avengers and the X-Men get together to decide what to do with Wanda (aka kill her) before she breaks down and damages all reality. But…they fail again and we get the House of M - a new reality where Magneto, Pietro, and Wanda are in control of the world and humans are considered to be inferior and detested by mutants.
I have to say, the story reads much better when reading some of the tie-ins at the same time. I got the 4 oversize hardcovers just because I prefer the format, but I don’t think it’s a must read in a larger format.
• House of M, Vol. 1: by Brian Michael Bendis and Olivier Coipel
• This is the main title. It contains 8 issues that jumpstart the story and gives a glimpse of the new changes. We see how the Avengers and the X-Men regain their memories and have to deal with their new reality. They then gather to confront Magneto and his family, but things don’t end too well for anybody. The resulting end is that we see Wanda utter the infamous words ‘No More Mutants’, which changes things a bit more.... Overall, 7/10 for both the story and the art.
• House of M, Vol. 2: Spider-Man, Fantastic Four, and X-Men
• This is the collection I enjoyed the most. Spidey was with Gwen and had a son, Doom had his own interesting and sadistic F4 team, and Black Panther and Storm were still badasses doing their thing. Spidey acts a bit different here than in the main title, but I still really enjoyed this one. In a subsequent story in Son of M (issue 1) (that is not included in this volume) we see Spider-Man confront Pietro for his role in the events of House of M. It’s a short interaction, but I think it really works well as a continuation to the House of M storyline. The X-Men titles were okay-ish. Overall, 7/10 for both the story and the art.
• House of M, Vol. 3: Wolverine, Iron Man, and Hulk
• I’m gonna go with a 5/10 for this set and 6/10 for art. To me, the most enjoyable story is the one featuring Iron Man….and even then, that one felt a little undercooked. These were all mostly forgettable and didn’t really help with the overall story. I think this one can be easily skipped.
• House of M, Vol. 4: No More Mutants
• This was very inconsequential and felt like filler. I found myself being pretty bored by it so I skipped a lot of it. Can’t really provide a reliable rating because of it.
Overall, I expected a little more from House of M. I’d say it was an okay story that ultimately feels inconsequential now.
I’m a sucker for Elseworlds/What If type stories, so I had been looking forward to reading House of M for a while. The premise sounded great: Following the events of Avengers Disassembled, The Scarlet Witch, Wanda Maximoff, has gone berserk and lost control of her reality-warping abilities. Professor X and Doctor Strange do the best they can to contain her, but they fail. The Avengers and the X-Men get together to decide what to do with Wanda (aka kill her) before she breaks down and damages all reality. But…they fail again and we get the House of M - a new reality where Magneto, Pietro, and Wanda are in control of the world and humans are considered to be inferior and detested by mutants.
I have to say, the story reads much better when reading some of the tie-ins at the same time. I got the 4 oversize hardcovers just because I prefer the format, but I don’t think it’s a must read in a larger format.
• House of M, Vol. 1: by Brian Michael Bendis and Olivier Coipel
• This is the main title. It contains 8 issues that jumpstart the story and gives a glimpse of the new changes. We see how the Avengers and the X-Men regain their memories and have to deal with their new reality. They then gather to confront Magneto and his family, but things don’t end too well for anybody. The resulting end is that we see Wanda utter the infamous words ‘No More Mutants’, which changes things a bit more.... Overall, 7/10 for both the story and the art.
• House of M, Vol. 2: Spider-Man, Fantastic Four, and X-Men
• This is the collection I enjoyed the most. Spidey was with Gwen and had a son, Doom had his own interesting and sadistic F4 team, and Black Panther and Storm were still badasses doing their thing. Spidey acts a bit different here than in the main title, but I still really enjoyed this one. In a subsequent story in Son of M (issue 1) (that is not included in this volume) we see Spider-Man confront Pietro for his role in the events of House of M. It’s a short interaction, but I think it really works well as a continuation to the House of M storyline. The X-Men titles were okay-ish. Overall, 7/10 for both the story and the art.
• House of M, Vol. 3: Wolverine, Iron Man, and Hulk
• I’m gonna go with a 5/10 for this set and 6/10 for art. To me, the most enjoyable story is the one featuring Iron Man….and even then, that one felt a little undercooked. These were all mostly forgettable and didn’t really help with the overall story. I think this one can be easily skipped.
• House of M, Vol. 4: No More Mutants
• This was very inconsequential and felt like filler. I found myself being pretty bored by it so I skipped a lot of it. Can’t really provide a reliable rating because of it.
Overall, I expected a little more from House of M. I’d say it was an okay story that ultimately feels inconsequential now.
February 28, 2022
So while the main title hits the greater plot points of the overall story, this volume takes a step back to show us how the event is impacting other characters in the Marvel U.
So we have a pretty good roster of characters that we touch base on, but the three biggest stories are the titular heroes. Wolverine's memory is intact during this event, and we get the perspective of Mystique as she is grilled by her superior - Sebastian Shaw - about Wolverine's possible motives for abandoning SHIELD. Seems like Mystique had a bigger hand to play in some nefarious dealings (shocking I know), but in a twisted by kind of sweet way, her reasoning is because of her love for Logan. I enjoyed this because there's always been this kind of weird relationship between Wolverine and Mystique, and this kind of plays it out to it's end... or a version of it at least.
Next we have the Iron Man story, with Tony not really knowing who he is as a person and what his purpose is, until his dad sets up this crazy plan to make him into a hero for humans. He essentially sacrifices himself for this purpose, only for Tony to not go through with it because its a batshit insane plan. Then we have the Hulk story, about Hulk in Australia living in the outback and working his way up to be the ... president? Or relative ruler, of Australia at least. This was an entertaining story but I couldn't help thinking how for someone who likes to be left alone, Hulk definitely brings a lot of attention to himself.
The other stories were shorter and a bit more episodic. I think overall, the volume is a good snapshot of the Marvel U while under the spell of Wanda. I would recommend this for completionists and people are who are generally curious to see what others were up to while the main event happened.
So we have a pretty good roster of characters that we touch base on, but the three biggest stories are the titular heroes. Wolverine's memory is intact during this event, and we get the perspective of Mystique as she is grilled by her superior - Sebastian Shaw - about Wolverine's possible motives for abandoning SHIELD. Seems like Mystique had a bigger hand to play in some nefarious dealings (shocking I know), but in a twisted by kind of sweet way, her reasoning is because of her love for Logan. I enjoyed this because there's always been this kind of weird relationship between Wolverine and Mystique, and this kind of plays it out to it's end... or a version of it at least.
Next we have the Iron Man story, with Tony not really knowing who he is as a person and what his purpose is, until his dad sets up this crazy plan to make him into a hero for humans. He essentially sacrifices himself for this purpose, only for Tony to not go through with it because its a batshit insane plan. Then we have the Hulk story, about Hulk in Australia living in the outback and working his way up to be the ... president? Or relative ruler, of Australia at least. This was an entertaining story but I couldn't help thinking how for someone who likes to be left alone, Hulk definitely brings a lot of attention to himself.
The other stories were shorter and a bit more episodic. I think overall, the volume is a good snapshot of the Marvel U while under the spell of Wanda. I would recommend this for completionists and people are who are generally curious to see what others were up to while the main event happened.
August 31, 2016
The first House of M tie-in I read, “House of M: Spider-Man, Fantastic Four & X-Men” was very good with the glaring exception of the X-Men portion (which was a confusing mess). Wolverine, Iron Man and Hulk is a more balanced collection, with all three major stories being very strong.
In HoM, Wolverine is the catalyst for confronting Wanda & bringing back the true reality. This tie-in shows what his life was like in the HoM reality up to the point right before he learns the truth. With the mutant war over, Wolverine feels he has no purpose, until discovering Nick Fury is still alive and causing trouble. Wolverine sets off to hunt him down. This story was excellent, not only for setting up why Wolverine goes rogue and encounters Layla (who returns his memories of the true reality), but also for how the entire episode was set in motion. It’s rare that a plot twist truly takes me by surprise, but this one did!
Few characters other than Magneto are actually better off in this alternate reality. Tony Stark, like Peter Parker, is anything but happy with his perfect life. He’s a champion robotic gladiator in televised games while also running Stark Industries - the main defense contractor used to build the tech used to oppress humans. His father is still alive and casting a long shadow over Tony. When he seizes an opportunity to act as a hero for humanity, the consequences will shake this world. This story has a dark emotional undercurrent and is an intriguing way to spin the Iron Man origin.
Though missing from the title, the book also devotes a section to Captain America, still a war hero but who was never frozen. He lives to become an old man in the HoM reality (even becomes an astronaut!). However, he’s a relic of a fading time when humans mattered. Once again, the story is a sad one. Captain America is a man of ideals fighting to hang onto them when the world would rather forget.
The last major section, which constitutes nearly half the book, is for the Hulk. This section alone makes the book worth purchasing. Bruce Banner has taken refuge with a tribe of Aborigines. Humans are oppressed the world over, but in Australia it is much worse. They are being rounded up: think Hitler, which the visuals & color palette heavily emphasize. Banner has been oblivious, until the mutant encroaches on the Aborigines’ land while chasing down A.I.M. (re-purposed here as a human rebel group). Hulk takes action, and ends up ruling! This story had some interesting turns, a couple betrayals and fun action sequences. The best part, though, is Banner’s relationship with the Hulk. The Hulk is portrayed here as intelligent, if single-minded. It made for a gripping story with a great conclusion.
Also included in the book is a brief story of Deadpool trying to locate Cable across various dimensions. He has a run-in with Mr. Sinister when the HoM reality overtakes him. This story added nothing to the main event, but was a fun respite from the darker tone of the other sections. Overall, this was an excellent tie-in to House of M, which expanded on the main characters and their place in that world. Highly recommended!
In HoM, Wolverine is the catalyst for confronting Wanda & bringing back the true reality. This tie-in shows what his life was like in the HoM reality up to the point right before he learns the truth. With the mutant war over, Wolverine feels he has no purpose, until discovering Nick Fury is still alive and causing trouble. Wolverine sets off to hunt him down. This story was excellent, not only for setting up why Wolverine goes rogue and encounters Layla (who returns his memories of the true reality), but also for how the entire episode was set in motion. It’s rare that a plot twist truly takes me by surprise, but this one did!
Few characters other than Magneto are actually better off in this alternate reality. Tony Stark, like Peter Parker, is anything but happy with his perfect life. He’s a champion robotic gladiator in televised games while also running Stark Industries - the main defense contractor used to build the tech used to oppress humans. His father is still alive and casting a long shadow over Tony. When he seizes an opportunity to act as a hero for humanity, the consequences will shake this world. This story has a dark emotional undercurrent and is an intriguing way to spin the Iron Man origin.
Though missing from the title, the book also devotes a section to Captain America, still a war hero but who was never frozen. He lives to become an old man in the HoM reality (even becomes an astronaut!). However, he’s a relic of a fading time when humans mattered. Once again, the story is a sad one. Captain America is a man of ideals fighting to hang onto them when the world would rather forget.
The last major section, which constitutes nearly half the book, is for the Hulk. This section alone makes the book worth purchasing. Bruce Banner has taken refuge with a tribe of Aborigines. Humans are oppressed the world over, but in Australia it is much worse. They are being rounded up: think Hitler, which the visuals & color palette heavily emphasize. Banner has been oblivious, until the mutant encroaches on the Aborigines’ land while chasing down A.I.M. (re-purposed here as a human rebel group). Hulk takes action, and ends up ruling! This story had some interesting turns, a couple betrayals and fun action sequences. The best part, though, is Banner’s relationship with the Hulk. The Hulk is portrayed here as intelligent, if single-minded. It made for a gripping story with a great conclusion.
Also included in the book is a brief story of Deadpool trying to locate Cable across various dimensions. He has a run-in with Mr. Sinister when the HoM reality overtakes him. This story added nothing to the main event, but was a fun respite from the darker tone of the other sections. Overall, this was an excellent tie-in to House of M, which expanded on the main characters and their place in that world. Highly recommended!
September 26, 2013
House of M: No More Mutants
House of M: Spider-Man, Fantastic Four and X-Men
House of M: Wolverine, Iron Man and Hulk
Group review for all 3 volumes, with a couple of side-notes.
3/4 of the time I didn't know what the hey was going on. I have no idea who 75% of these characters are. House of M has been over-hyped and is written in such a moronic way, that I could feel my disliking of it page per page.
2 stories that are the exception would be those of Spider-Man, where we are told an alternative history of the character all the while having it link to the character`s more known early history. And Hulk, where, even though the character of Banner seems completely outside his normal, well usual, self, but where the Hulk shines, the story may be somewhat outside the character`s continuity, but it was well written and nicely drawn.
Captain America - wait, I thought the Super-Soldier Serum also gave Cap his long years while maintaining his Young appearance - who the hell is this Dark Knight wanna-be?
Iron Man? - way too many daddy-issues for a man that is supposedly such a Genius.
Wolverine - I`ve pretty much already forgotten what the story was for this character - but then again, I make it part of my mission in life to forget just about anything written about Wolverine.
Black Panther - geez this was more a story about Storm and Pietro than that of the Black Panther.
Fantastic Four - Who the hell are these characters? Even Doom seems completely un-recognizable - and did I say Iron Man had daddy issues? Who knew Domm was such a mama`s boy?
No More Mutants and X-Men - I have absolutely no idea who these characters were.
A note on a lot of the writing. When the heroes use words like "what the *±¢&" or "$#!+", it isn`t very hard to decipher what they are actually trying to say... problem is, a good number of the stories go overboard on using starred-out cuss words and I already have a problem with people who over-cuss in the real world, I don`t need to read it in my comics. Isn`t it funny though that most of the "actual" books I read have ne need for cussing, yet when it comes to comics, it seems to be all right? Maybe comics wouldn`t be considered so juvenile if they started using actual non-cussin words?
These three nicely bound over-sized hardcovers were given to me by fellow Goodreads member Martin - Thanks Martin.
House of M: Spider-Man, Fantastic Four and X-Men
House of M: Wolverine, Iron Man and Hulk
Group review for all 3 volumes, with a couple of side-notes.
3/4 of the time I didn't know what the hey was going on. I have no idea who 75% of these characters are. House of M has been over-hyped and is written in such a moronic way, that I could feel my disliking of it page per page.
2 stories that are the exception would be those of Spider-Man, where we are told an alternative history of the character all the while having it link to the character`s more known early history. And Hulk, where, even though the character of Banner seems completely outside his normal, well usual, self, but where the Hulk shines, the story may be somewhat outside the character`s continuity, but it was well written and nicely drawn.
Captain America - wait, I thought the Super-Soldier Serum also gave Cap his long years while maintaining his Young appearance - who the hell is this Dark Knight wanna-be?
Iron Man? - way too many daddy-issues for a man that is supposedly such a Genius.
Wolverine - I`ve pretty much already forgotten what the story was for this character - but then again, I make it part of my mission in life to forget just about anything written about Wolverine.
Black Panther - geez this was more a story about Storm and Pietro than that of the Black Panther.
Fantastic Four - Who the hell are these characters? Even Doom seems completely un-recognizable - and did I say Iron Man had daddy issues? Who knew Domm was such a mama`s boy?
No More Mutants and X-Men - I have absolutely no idea who these characters were.
A note on a lot of the writing. When the heroes use words like "what the *±¢&" or "$#!+", it isn`t very hard to decipher what they are actually trying to say... problem is, a good number of the stories go overboard on using starred-out cuss words and I already have a problem with people who over-cuss in the real world, I don`t need to read it in my comics. Isn`t it funny though that most of the "actual" books I read have ne need for cussing, yet when it comes to comics, it seems to be all right? Maybe comics wouldn`t be considered so juvenile if they started using actual non-cussin words?
These three nicely bound over-sized hardcovers were given to me by fellow Goodreads member Martin - Thanks Martin.
February 15, 2012
sigh.
Ok for those who don't know, Marvel comics does these big crossover events where all of their characters are involved, once or twice a year. Often the "status quo" is dramatically altered and a different yet familiar world is conjured up.
The House of M is a world created by the Scarlet Witch when she loses mental control and enters a whacked out fugue state in which she willy nilly alters everything we've come to know about the Marvel Universe.
In her conjured reality, Magneto and his family (The Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver) are royalty who lord over the entire world due to their consolidation of mutant power.
Usually these events are done too quickly with few if any consequences that last more than a year or so. This is mostly the case with the House of M.
Since Brian Michael Bendis became the current architect of all of Marvel's big events the core stories have tended to be really enjoyable. This is mostly a function of excellent artists and Bendis' willingness to throw every possible character into an all out brawl. His big stories are like when little kids play with their toys, anything can and probably will happen, many will die, only to return for the next play session.
On top of the main storyline, Marvel always forces the rest of its' books to exist within the new paradigm that's been created by the big crossover. Usually these books are far weaker, and only serve as a slightly interesting tie in. That is most definitely the case here.
If you really enjoyed House of M you might want to borrow this companion book. But $40 for a collection of incidental stories that don't connect to each other in any way? There's a little good art in here, a little good writing, but none of it is worth purchasing the hardcover. In fact you could probably pull most of these books out of the .25 cent box at your local comic shop or flea market. Please do us all a favor and do not encourage Marvel by buyng collections such as these.
Ok for those who don't know, Marvel comics does these big crossover events where all of their characters are involved, once or twice a year. Often the "status quo" is dramatically altered and a different yet familiar world is conjured up.
The House of M is a world created by the Scarlet Witch when she loses mental control and enters a whacked out fugue state in which she willy nilly alters everything we've come to know about the Marvel Universe.
In her conjured reality, Magneto and his family (The Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver) are royalty who lord over the entire world due to their consolidation of mutant power.
Usually these events are done too quickly with few if any consequences that last more than a year or so. This is mostly the case with the House of M.
Since Brian Michael Bendis became the current architect of all of Marvel's big events the core stories have tended to be really enjoyable. This is mostly a function of excellent artists and Bendis' willingness to throw every possible character into an all out brawl. His big stories are like when little kids play with their toys, anything can and probably will happen, many will die, only to return for the next play session.
On top of the main storyline, Marvel always forces the rest of its' books to exist within the new paradigm that's been created by the big crossover. Usually these books are far weaker, and only serve as a slightly interesting tie in. That is most definitely the case here.
If you really enjoyed House of M you might want to borrow this companion book. But $40 for a collection of incidental stories that don't connect to each other in any way? There's a little good art in here, a little good writing, but none of it is worth purchasing the hardcover. In fact you could probably pull most of these books out of the .25 cent box at your local comic shop or flea market. Please do us all a favor and do not encourage Marvel by buyng collections such as these.
June 12, 2011
Probably the least interesting book from the world of House of M I've read. Both Wolverine and Iron Man stories are kinda mediocre. Not that Wolverine and Mystique aren't an interesting couple, though. And I'm not the big fan of Hulk and not even Peter David convinced me in his story from Australia to buy any of Hulk comics. So probably the best stories from this book are one-shots about Captain America, Hawkeye and Cable with Deadpool. Still, it's a nice companion to the fantastic crossover named House of M.
December 24, 2011
It is excellent. I really enjoy it.
January 29, 2015
Didn't really like this crossover. The only decent comics in this book are Wolverine #33-35 and Cable & Deadpool #17.
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