I'll be the first to admit that I was a little worried after reading the Age of X book. As a lifelong X-fan, it appeared to me that the House of Ideas might be trying a little too hard to recreate the success that was Age of Apocalypse. And while that might still be true, Chapter One (X-Men Legacy #245) got me pretty excited!
Mike Carey starts off the issue with our future mutant resistors engaged in a full out battle with the humans. Turns out the humans declared the mutant X-gene illegal and this is the 1000 day of fighting. The resistance is exactly as I would picture it myself: lethal mutant force crushing wave upon wave of human aggressors.
Carey does a fantastic job of capturing some really unique mutant personalities. But best of all, he flips the status quo on its ear. Scott Summers is a hothead who has a hard time following orders. Wolverine is a pacifist who is not involved in the fighting at all. Best of all though is Rogue's role in the book. Cannonball refers to her as Reaper even though she insists on being known as Legacy. I won't give away the manner in which her powers are utilized, but let me just say that it is in a way that I never thought of!
In actuality there are way too many surprises for me to go over here. So know this, Age of X might be an Age of Apocalypse knock-off, but is is a darn good know off so far!