The new era of the X-Men is off to a great start. House of X #1 certainly met the hype for me. I came away thinking that you essentially need to know Xavier, Magneto, and that there are mutants going in, and it gives you pretty much everything else.

I particularly enjoyed how the creative team worked in the infographic elements that are a staple of Jonathan Hickman’s books, and mutant language angle they introduced.

“One cannot create a distinct culture without it.”

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Jonathan Hickman and Nick Pitarra’s The Manhattan Projects always leaves me with a lot of questions. Chief among them: How does this series keep getting better? Issue #4 featured an encounter between the Projects‘ scientists and some unexpected and unfriendly extraterrestrials, and issue #5 gives a clear indication of how far this story can go. It’s clear things are moving into uncharted territory, but in actuality Hickman has been leading us there all along. The universe should be very afraid.

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New from writer Jonathan Hickman and artist Ryan Bodenheim is Secret, a series that aims to combine industrial espionage with political conspiracy.  Though I’m glad I read its first installment, the book left me somewhat underwhelmed.  Admittedly, Secret #1 was my first introduction to Hickman’s writing.  Given the high level of praise he receives on various comic book forums across the internet, my expectations were rather elevated.
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In The Manhattan Projects, writer Jonathan Hickman proposes that the historic Manhattan Project, which focused on the development of an atomic bomb, was instead a high profile cover for the true nature of the program. In this reality, Oppenheimer and company were working on a variety of conspiracy-inspiring super science projects to aid in the war effort and far beyond. The first issue of Hickman and artist Nick Pitarra’s new series from Image Comics introduces a wild alternate history and some terrifying characters.

Spoilers for The Manhattan Projects #1 will follow.

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