HoX/PoX is one of my favorite comics ever. I often go back to reread them, maybe 2 or 3 times a year. I always recommend them to people when I want to get them into comics. I Trojan Horse them into every conversation I have when I first meet people.
I liked a lot about Krakoa itself, but nothing has hit me as hard as X-Factor. The book had great team chemistry, we had action and downtime, we got a lot of continuity and references to the past, while still building the characters and pushing most of them forward. And you know what?
Yeah, we got Hellion's first lines of the era here. But we also got Wind Dancer's return after almost 15 years, real-time. She was back and she was getting focus. The New Mutants were reunited. For once, these kids were happy and finally safe. And while Rockslide was screwed over, even he was mourned by the characters.
That's so funny you say that because I do the same thing with All-Star Superman as the quintessential American Superhero Comicbook, I may have to try it with HOX/POX.
Have people responded positively or were they confused with some of the characters? That would be my only fear of introducing a non-comic reader to a dense book like HOX/POX.
Most people never actually get around to reading books. It's like when you recommend a show to someone and they say they'll put it on their watch list, which is just a polite way of saying, "I'm never going to look at it."
But I did get a couple of people reading, and at least one of them has been sold on Krakoa as a whole because of it. I feel like it's good for non-comic readers, since you can just need to have a general understanding of the X-Men as a concept to follow. It's the themes in the book that really make it or break it for the people I suggest it to. Some of the exposition and science put off some people from reading it, while others adored all of that work put into creating the lore. The Moira reveal is usually the moment where people decide if they like the series or not.
Hellions, X-Factor and, to a lesser extent, Sabertooth & the Exiles, really managed to elevate some cool less-seen mutants. I'm a huge fan of Cyclops, Nightcrawler, etc. but I *never* in a million years expected to add Nanny, Greycrow, Eyeboy or Nekra to that list!
X-Men Red, and any other bit that focused on the Amenthi/Arakki was also a real treat for me. Loved Xilo and Sobunar from the jump, and Lactuca seems ridiculously powerful, which is kinda cool, some sort of Omega teleporter (able to teleport all of Arakko and it's populace to Mars!). The culture, the concept of the mutants sent to fight the demons having to then endure centuries of conflict and oppression as the most powerful among them basically surrender to the demons (Genesis surrendering to and becoming Annhilation), the horrible-ness of Tarn and his 'School of the Vile.' Great stuff.
In a formulaic medium that retells stories from the 70s like 'Batman punches out the Joker for the billionth time' or 'the X-Men are hated and feared and there are Sentinels for the billionth time,' it was a real breath of fresh air.
From a purely distant view, this whole Krakoa experiment reads like a story that was built for the Inhumans (who already have their own culture, city, tech, 'secret history,' etc.), and sort of got pigeonholed onto the X-franchise. But I don't mind that so much. The Inhumans property was too badly bungled and burned to work for this, and it being tied to the mutant population allowed them to do interesting things with ancient mutants like Apocalypse, who was, IMO, a little too all-over-the-place and didn't really make a lick of sense as a character, IMO, before.
This! It’s why I’ll never get behind the narrative that this era was a failure as so many gems came out of it.
I reread Hellions recently and it was amazing. The Hellfire Gala issue is a masterclass in comedic comic book writing. X-Factor and Ayala’s New Mutants hold a special place in my heart for trying to bring emotions back into these characters when plot developments are so often the main priority for runs these days. The Steves and LaValle have done wonders for some neglected mutants. And without Ewing’s books I probably would have dropped the line a long time ago, but he kept me coming back and invested in our merry mutants.
Last edited by Kingdom X; 05-06-2024 at 07:55 AM.
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I'll always be grateful to Krakoa for this moment
Gonna miss the island. It had it's short comings and seriously missed some opportunities. Messed up a few characters for who knows why but there was a lot of promise and the beginning was so exciting!
At the very least I have to thank this era for this:
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“After all, it could only cost you your life, and you got that for free!”
~*Earthbound.
It's so sad that a promising era like Krakoa is having an agonizing ending.
I've been questioning myself if it was even worth it.
All the time I spent reading comics and articles, creating theories about what would happen next, and discussing on the internet seems wasted while reading these awful conclusion titles.
I’m nervous about the new era, but Fall of X has been so bad and needlessly long that I can’t wait for it to be over.
I love Krakoa as an idea, but they missed so many cool opportunities. And starting with Inferno everything just crumbled and the whole line became a mess, with a few bright spots like Red.
(But even Red wasn’t really allowed to tell it’s original story. We never got the payoff to the new Brotherhood, characters like Thunderbird were supposed to have big roles but just disappeared…)
I’m hoping Brevoort’s era is better and more innovative than it looks. After months and months of convoluted the FoX mess, I’m just ready for Krakoa to end.