Despite the fact that the House of M grew out of an Avengers-centric crossover event (Disassembled), it has the greatest impact on the X-Men. Not only do mutants rule the world in this alternate reality, they suffer the greatest consequences when that reality is dissolved. This made reading some of the tie-ins a challenge because I do not follow any of the X-Men comic series. I only know the main characters from the movies and some time spent on Marvel's wiki. I was completely confused and could not follow the mutant section of "House of M: Spider-Man, Fantastic Four & X-Men," so I was initially wary of this tie-in. And though it was a challenge, the writing was cohesive and provided enough context to make this a very enjoyable and essential tie-in to the event.

The title would suggest that the book covers the aftermath of the HoM, and it does, but it also shows the fates of a few X-Men teams not previously covered: The New Mutants, The Hellions, The Exiles and Mutopia. Though I wasn't familiar with most of these characters, the introductory recaps capably set the stage and the writing was so well done, and downright exciting, that I was captivated. The action scenes were explosive and the dialog full of wit and genuine emotion. I came to care about these characters in a very short time. HoM is meant to be a mutant utopia, but in their hearts, these people are heroes who are horrified when the shiny veneer is pulled away to show the ugly truth of Magneto's paradise. The New Mutants, visionary leaders-in-training, are pitted against the Hellions, SHIELD agents-in-training, over the fate of a sapien terrorist. His motives are not unjustified and the dirty work SHIELD has been engaged in makes the teams question just who are the good guys. The Exiles are parallel universe-hopping saviors who are ready to send one of their team back home, only that home is not the same anymore. This story was completely unnecessary but still interesting none-the-less as a glimpse into how the new reality is for characters at the ground level. Finally, in Mutopia we follow the fate of a human police officer in his life before, during and after the HOM reality. This story was essential as it gives us the aftermath for the X-Men who helped stop Wanda, such as Emma Frost and Scott Summers. Each section concludes when the world burns white again to see that millions of mutants have been reduced to only hundreds. The book has one final, tiny status check on Ms. Marvel who finds that she is not the great hero she thought she was, but has decided that she now wants to be.

Overall, this tie-in was amazing. It was intriguing to see that even the ruling mutants have that same uneasy feeling that the Avengers have - that the world is not right. Moreover, it expands on the HOM storyline and how the various pieces are connected through it. Highly recommended! ( )