Average as a stand alone, but essential for an AoA collectio Welcome to hell on earth. North America is ruled by an evil mutant called Apocalypse. His kingdom only lives by one rule: Survivial of the fittest. Humans are regarded as the lower class and even not all mutants will be survive in this world. This all happened because Professor Charles Xavier never existed. Thus he never got to form the X-Men to appose the self-appointed ruler Apocalypse.
Remy LeBeau (aka Gambit), the modern Robin Hood of this timeline, leads his team called the X-Ternals, to steal from the rich and give to the poor. They're the best thieves there are.
And on assignment of the X-Men, they go after the biggest jewel of them all: the M'Kraan Crystal. This crystal is a way, perhaps the only way, to stop the horrible graps that Apocalypse has on America. But it will be dangerous as there are a lot of obstacles in the way, like the Imperial Guard who serve the Shi'ar empire by protecting it and the crystal.
The art is average and the story is okay. There is an intersting plot twist though. So this is quite an average TPB as a stand alone. But essential if you're collecting the rest of the AoA books. But you can also do without. You find out they get the crystal in the other books anywayz.
What? There are more? Yessiree. These stories won't mean much if you haven't read this AoA storyline from the start. If you get this, I recommend you get all the other AoA TPBs too. For a complete reading list of it, see my X-Men: LegionQuest review.
The Robin Hood of the Age of Apocalypse! I initially got into X-MEN by watching the TV series. This inspired me to read more and more X-Comics and I got to say, this has been one of the very best! This story occurs in a timeline where Professor X is no more and America is being ruled by the evil mutant Apocalypse. Humans are being destroyed in countless thousands by his ruthless infinites and there isn't a living soul to stop this genocide. The only hope for this world are the X-Men. Led by Magneto the X-Men fight for a better tommorrow to rid themselves of this nightmare their world has become. In such a world, the Externals led by Gambit make unexpected attacks on Apocalypse's empire. They steal supplies of food and other items to give to the humans. After revelation of another timeline that should have been, Magneto sends Gambit and the Externals on a Journey to the Shiar Empire to steal a shard of the Mkraan crystal so that they can repair the fractured continium. The action comes faster than ever and the ending is very shocking. If you are are definitely going to buy this, I recommend you to get all the other Age of Apocalypse ones as well. They are absolutely brilliant!
The rise of a most unlikely hero. What can be said about this book. Well, first Gambit is one of my favorite X-men and that is because he is a mystery. It was so good to see a Gambit story told without ruining a degree of this mystery. This book tells the story of the Age of Apocalype's alternate universe Gambit's rise from the ranks of a lowly sewer dwelling theif to an enter galactic hero. In the begining, Gambit has never made it away from his past as theif, which he has in the real X-men universe. However, Gambit still has his heart gold which he does in the regular continuaty. He leads a small rebelion of theives through the sewers that strikes at Apocalype's bases, steeling from the mutants giving to the refugee humans. Our Robin Hood like hero's life is flipped up side down when Magneto, leader of the renegade mutant outlaws, the X-men, comes to him with a mission that could save all of exsistence. He presents him with the greatest jewel hiest ever. To steal the M'krran crystal from the Shi'ar empire before it consumes the universe. From here we witness Gambit's rise from a small time theif to a man. The universe is placed in his hands and he must rise to the occasion or have the blood of every being who has evern lived on his consious. Fabian Niciez tells the epic struggle of the most unlikely of hero's rise to greatness. We see Gambit struggle to keep his X-ternal's moral up while on the inside he struggling not to give into his own fear that he is ultimately unworthy of such a great responsibilty. Mr. Niceaz presents Gambit's epic struggle with style, grace and a story full of deeper meaning. Why should Gambit fight so hard and risk himself for a universe that has rejected him and forced him to hide in the sewers? The simple answer hits him like a brick wall - for a love he lost a long time ago. Through the almost non stop action, we see a struggle for a man to become what the is destined to be, an attemp to make past wrongs right, and the betrayal at the hands of a close friend that could mean the end of the universe as we know it. I recommed this book and encourage X-men fans to e-mail me. I love to hear others opinion and views on the characters I love.
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