Inferno’s ember ignites
"I picked up the X-Men: Inferno Prologue Omnibus because I already had the Inferno Omnibus and wanted to catch everything leading into it. But really, this era—late ’80s mutant books—hits my nostalgia hard. The mix of worldbuilding, team drama, and shifting status quos still holds up. This is a bridge book, pulling together X-Factor, Uncanny X-Men, and New Mutants as they all quietly gear up for the demonic chaos to come. The New Mutants might steal the spotlight here, with Illyana’s slow spiral into darkness and the team struggling to find independence after Doug Ramsey’s death. Their arc ends with a space misadventure that dumps them right into Inferno’s path. The X-Men, meanwhile, are living off the grid in the Australian Outback, but we still get some key missions—like their fight with the Brood and the intro of Genosha. At the same time, Madelyne Pryor starts to unravel. X-Factor shifts direction too, going public and moving into Apocalypse’s Celestial ship. There are some odd subplots (like Beast losing brain cells when he uses his powers), but the overall thread sets the table for what’s coming. It took me a few weeks to work through, and while not every story hits, the collection builds a lot of tension. If you’re reading Inferno or just digging into this period of X-history, it’s a solid piece of the puzzle."
