X-Men Omega, the epic finale to Marvel’s Age of Apocalypse storyline, depicting Magneto’s X-Men fighting a final, desperate assault against Apocalypse’s brutal regime.
I had only recently begun collecting comics from my local newsagent when Age of Apocalypse launched, and the impact was epic — the stakes were high, the characters felt larger than life, and the action and colors exploded off the page. One drawback of relying on a newsagent, however, was their inconsistent stock; one-shots were rarely available. As a result, I had to wait until I could get into town to visit a dedicated comic shop before finally picking up X-Men Omega. By the time I read it, the added anticipation made for a fitting, emotionally charged conclusion.
This issue was released during a transitional period in the comics industry, as publishers shifted from traditional hand-painted color guides to fully digital coloring. At the time, Steve Buccellato worked alongside his team of digital colorists collectively known as Electric Crayon. While Buccellato continued to produce painted color guides for his team, when he colored pages digitally himself, he worked directly in the digital medium, without creating a corresponding physical guide — relying instead on imagination and experience.
As a result, many color-guide sets from this era are incomplete, and those that do exist often appear looser and less refined than earlier examples. This particular group of guides was also produced on card stock rather than standard paper, a surface that absorbed color poorly and further contributed to their rougher appearance.
For reference, the first names or initials of the Electric Crayon digital colorists who worked on each page can be found handwritten in the page borders.
