X-Men #23 Finally Makes Something Good of “Age of Revelation” (Review)

X-Men fans aren’t exactly happy right now. While the diehards will defend the books, the “From the Ashes” publishing initiative hasn’t been burning up the charts, and the reviews aren’t great. “Age of Revelation” was the last event story of “From the Ashes,” and it was basically a failure. Readers didn’t really warm up to 2025’s wannabe “Age of Apocalypse” and many fans used it as an opportunity to take a break from the X-books. Well, those books are back for the new “Shadows of Tomorrow” publishing initiative, and X-Men #23 is somehow able to take “Age of Revelation” ideas and build an interesting story out of what’s left behind.

X-Men: Age of Revelation Finale was a disappointing comic for me, and I’ve never really taken to writer Jed MacKay’s X-Men — too many of the ideas have seemed like remixes of better stories, and I’ve struggled to feel hooked. But my expectations were roundly blown away here. “Age of Revelation” disappointed a lot of readers, but this issue actually uses the main idea behind it — Cyclops of the future switching places with the present version — much better than Amazing X-Men #1-3 did. Cyclops has been having a renaissance, and this issue plays off that beautifully because this is Cyclops’ story right from the start.

Rating: 4 out of 5

Pros	Cons
An engaging story filled with tension	If you didn’t read “Age of Revelation”, this story won’t really interest you very much
Gorgeous art with amazing action
Introduces some doubt about AoR Cyclops and his mission that could lead to some great places

MacKay kicks the issue off with an awesome action scene, one that shows just how formidable Cyclops could be. Scott Summers beating the X-Men by himself is something we’ve seen numerous times, but this is the first time we’ve seen him really cut loose in one of these fights. MacKay is able to build up some beautiful tension in the first fight and builds on that throughout the issue. The tone and pacing of this comic are awesome; it’s definitely a page turner that will keep you engaged. This is my favorite issue of MacKay’s X-Men; in fact, I would go so far as to say that this issue is my favorite thing that he’s ever done, especially in his team books.

Tony S. Daniel’s Art Is a Nice Change of Pace

Tony S. Daniel got his start to stardom with X-Force (including drawing several issues of the “Age of Apocalypse” series Gambit and the X-Ternals), so it’s fitting that he returns. Daniel has been doing some amazing work over the last 30 years, and this issue is yet another example of why he’s so great. One of my problems with Daniel in the past has been that he gets proportions wrong sometimes, but that isn’t a problem he has in this issue. Everything looks great, and it helps sell this issue and its events.

The opening action scene is dynamic and fluid, with the page layout making the fight easy to follow. It works so well thanks to Daniel and inker Mark Morales, their skills blending perfectly. His character acting really gets the emotions across, especially the cold, brutal nature of the future Cyclops. His rendition of Beast has quickly become one of my favorites, as well; he’s able to capture how scary he can be and does fantastic things with his hair. Daniel’s unique style looks awesome after Ryan Stegman and Netho Diaz’s art, because it’s an artistic change of pace. I think one of the ironies of Stegman and Diaz’s art on this book, whose artistic DNA comes from ’90s X-artists Joe Madureira and Roger Crux, is that an actual artist from the ’90s’ work doesn’t look like it was from the decade of extreme, while theirs does.

X-Men #23, plainly, is a breath of fresh air. This is just a plain great read, which, sadly, is something that I stopped expecting from this book around issue #6. It takes the disappointing ingredients that we got from “Age of Revelation” and still makes it all work. Clearly, MacKay can do great work with Cyclops, and this issue shows that off. Meanwhile, the art by Daniel, Morales, and colorist Fer Sifuente-Diaz fits the story like a glove, making it better than it would have been if it were drawn by one of this book’s regular artists. Even if you didn’t like “AoR”, this book will impress you.

X-Men #23 is on sale now.

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