X-men #1 reviews (spoilers)

[Exodus]

The teleporting gates are nonsense, I can hardly believe it isn't a bigger plot point. Why are nations allowing an instant back door to Krakoa?

As to your point, as long as they are transparent about not taking orders from Krakoa, they should be fine. I'm sure there'll be accusations of corruption or something - if the story is written with narrative logic in mind.

I really wished the idea of the gates would be taken more seriously in the books. I wished it would be more clear that for mutants Krakoa is a nation without borders. A nation that is not confined by geography but is creating a "global pan-mutantdom society" that lies in every nation worldwide.

I think one of the truly revolutionary aspect of Krakoa would be to articulate clearly that national borders does not exist anymore. You can live in New York City, Berlin, Dakar or Caracas and still be part of Krakoa's nation.

Jean Grey articulated this idea in X-Men: Red but the editorial X-Men team unfortunately seem to have forgotten all about it.

[Grinning Soul]

I brought that up when this series first was announced, and wasn't going to bring it up here because the story just seemed to ignore the implications, but your right. From a logical standpoint, this is a paramilitary team of a nation that the US government does not trust at all setting up a giant base in the middle of an American city. Realistically, they would never have been allowed to build that gigantic structure in the middle of a public park, especially since those Krakoa plants can be literally controlled and expanded pretty much at will. To say nothing about the gates that they just plant all over the place in every series; those things would be a national security nightmare and would probably be torched on sight.

They might argue that they are not beholden to the Krakoan government, but that's an almost laughable argument when 1) they are appointed by the people of Krakoa, 2) a former leader of the nation is on the team 3) Current leaders of the nation are popping in to help set everything up. The story doesn't look like its going to even acknowledge how this would go over and how nonsensical it is in the current status quo, so I'm honestly not sure what to think of it. But it does contribute to me not taking any of the political intrigue of this entire run seriously. Its just so poorly thought through.

I agree with your every point. But like everything in this Krakoa era, it won't be addressed because it's not convinient.

Every success and failure of the mutants so far has been ridiculously convinient it you think about it. The thing to fully enjoy this run is *not* to think about it.

The Krakoa drugs deal that's why. The drugs were not given to humanity for free it was in exchange for recognizing Krakoa and other perks. If nations don't want the gates (Wakanda, Latveria to name a few) they don't have to have them.

Even worse than the gates (and I know it's a high bar) is the fact that the country has to recognise *every* mutant as having diplomatic immunity.

No country should have ever accepted that deal. It requires us to suspend disbelief like it'd never existed.

I really wished the idea of the gates would be taken more seriously in the books. I wished it would be more clear that for mutants Krakoa is a nation without borders. A nation that is not confined by geography but is creating a "global pan-mutantdom society" that lies in every nation worldwide.

I think one of the truly revolutionary aspect of Krakoa would be to articulate clearly that national borders does not exist anymore. You can live in New York City, Berlin, Dakar or Caracas and still be part of Krakoa's nation.

Jean Grey articulated this idea in X-Men: Red but the editorial X-Men team unfortunately seem to have forgotten all about it.

She articulated that idea in X-Men: Red indeed, but she also said: "And every time mutants have come together to live in one place -- Genosha, Utopia -- we have simply made ourselves a bigger target. Whenever mutantkind tried to live alone, apart, we have been slaughtered".

So I still don't know who is that Jean Grey living in Krakoa, but her dream in X-Men: Red wasn't about portals and an island. It was about actually living amongst the gene-typical humans as equals ("I'd like to show you. A world where no one is left behind. Where no one is shunned. Where no one is less than. No humans and mutants. No us and them. Just "us"."), while being considered a nation made of its people so they could have a voice on global politics.

It's not the same at all.

And even if it was, it still doesn't address the issue that the human nations would be okay with those gates. Those portals allow any mutant who is not a citizen to walk in their countries whenever they want. Imagine an airport without any security check, allowing whoever - with diplomatic immunity - to just waltz in their territory.

It's bonkers. Like pkingdom said: if there was any realism whatsoever in these interactions, the gates would be torched on sight.

[hairys]

I really wished the idea of the gates would be taken more seriously in the books. I wished it would be more clear that for mutants Krakoa is a nation without borders. A nation that is not confined by geography but is creating a "global pan-mutantdom society" that lies in every nation worldwide.

I think one of the truly revolutionary aspect of Krakoa would be to articulate clearly that national borders does not exist anymore.You can live in New York City, Berlin, Dakar or Caracas and still be part of Krakoa's nation.

Jean Grey articulated this idea in X-Men: Red but the editorial X-Men team unfortunately seem to have forgotten all about it.

Oh, they exist if you're a non-Krakoan trying to enter the country of Krakoa. It's just cool that the borders can teleport you virtually anywhere if you're Krakoan.

[JB]

No country should have ever accepted that deal. It requires us to suspend disbelief like it'd never existed.

Ah, the very reason why I enjoy comic books.

[jmc247]

I brought that up when this series first was announced, and wasn't going to bring it up here because the story just seemed to ignore the implications, but your right. From a logical standpoint, this is a paramilitary team of a nation that the US government does not trust at all setting up a giant base in the middle of an American city. Realistically, they would never have been allowed to build that gigantic structure in the middle of a public park, especially since those Krakoa plants can be literally controlled and expanded pretty much at will. To say nothing about the gates that they just plant all over the place in every series; those things would be a national security nightmare and would probably be torched on sight.

They might argue that they are not beholden to the Krakoan government, but that's an almost laughable argument when 1) they are appointed by the people of Krakoa, 2) a former leader of the nation is on the team 3) Current leaders of the nation are popping in to help set everything up. The story doesn't look like its going to even acknowledge how this would go over and how nonsensical it is in the current status quo, so I'm honestly not sure what to think of it. But it does contribute to me not taking any of the political intrigue of this entire run seriously. Its just so poorly thought through.

If we are being realistic the US government would allow no such teams to openly exist on their soil except the Avengers and only then if Cap is running it and operating inside the US chain of command. Though yes allowing the elected representatives of a foreign power to build a base in the middle of your largest city would never happen without Xavier having some fun on American minds with Cerebro.

An argument can be made the US government might tolerate it on a very short term basis as a slew of aliens are falling from the sky that want to kill them all, but the lease on that will expire.

I do hope in time they do deal with the issue and not simply in a the council wants us to do X and we are going to do Y see we are really independent actors that the US government is content with. Part of the strength of some of Hickman's early stuff is he had Magneto and the world leaders discuss similar matters head on.

[Devaishwarya]

Ah, the very reason why I enjoy comic books.

IKR!!?

I mean...terraforming Mars in a matter of hours is like, totally plausible. Hardly any SoD needed there.

Back in the day BK (before Krakoa) the X-Men flew their Blackbird or teleported all over the globe when needed. Now, AK, the gates are more instantaneous and direct...cuts the response time down to mere seconds. And they still have to travel to where the gates aren't accepted or situated.

[loke13]

The gates aren't going to be am issue until a writer wants to make it a issue.

[Hizashi]

Ah, the very reason why I enjoy comic books.

Yeah, but there's a limit, my friend. Admittedly, everyone has a different threshold.

[Hizashi]

The Krakoa drugs deal that's why. The drugs were not given to humanity for free it was in exchange for recognizing Krakoa and other perks. If nations don't want the gates (Wakanda, Latveria to name a few) they don't have to have them.

That is a completely lopsided trade by my estimation.

I really wished the idea of the gates would be taken more seriously in the books. I wished it would be more clear that for mutants Krakoa is a nation without borders. A nation that is not confined by geography but is creating a "global pan-mutantdom society" that lies in every nation worldwide.

I think one of the truly revolutionary aspect of Krakoa would be to articulate clearly that national borders does not exist anymore. You can live in New York City, Berlin, Dakar or Caracas and still be part of Krakoa's nation.

Jean Grey articulated this idea in X-Men: Red but the editorial X-Men team unfortunately seem to have forgotten all about it.

Borders are mutual - Krakoa isn't only removing their own borders, they're doing the same to other nations. Except even that is a one-way street, and you illustrate that yourself in your example. Any nation that allows for the use of the gates, and especially as you've described, has placed their sovereignty second to Krakoa. Borders stop existing only for Krakoa.

Jean did articulate that idea, maybe she deserves acknowledgment or credit - however, I thought the idea was too vague as expressed in Red, and I don't like how it's come about through Krakoa.

[JB]

Yeah, but there's a limit, my friend. Admittedly, everyone has a different threshold.

The way I see it, with the majority of nations agreeing to official recognition of Krakoa they have agreed to the gates. That's enough explanation for me. Plus we saw how warm and welcoming the Avengers and FF were to the X-Men, and the crowd cheering for them. Makes me think they're not viewed as some hostile nation to the majority.

[Devaishwarya]

Sibling...Receipts will receipt and inform the masses.

[JB]

The heroes don't seem too pressed.



"Welcome back - we missed you guys." I could cry.

[Devaishwarya]

I teared up.
And this oldy aint ashamed to admit it.

[Kisinith]

Realistically why on Earth would and government NOT want the gates, at least once they get past knee jerk reactions. I understand the issues raised, but think about it from the perspective of a government within the Marvel Universe, not the real world. Without getting into every specific example, the various superhero AND supervillain teams have had the capability of superfast and unfettered travel to anywhere on earth regardless of borders long before the Krakoan era (blackbirds, quinjets, Fantasti-Car, superspeed, super-speeded individual flight, etc...). Then, even without those, you also have the preponderance of teleporters and teleportation devices. The concepts of "borders" as a requirement for national defense is a bigger joke in the MU than superhero death is, even if its not as frequently spelled out.

On the flip side, by accepting the Krakoan gates you have an official port of entry and a probable diplomatic agreement that the Krakoan's would generally restrict their own travel to the gates (Why fly/fly a blackbird etc... when you can use a gate) That alone, without any other kind of consideration, would be reason enough for a country who is at least not openly hostile to allow the gates. This would be even more true if the host country has the ability to restrict gate locations. If nothing else the host country can at least monitor gate traffic on their side.

I'm not saying they would be happy about them, but even without Krakoan drugs an official (even if seriously a-typical) port of entry is infinitely preferable over not having one, especially when the Krakoans are not restricted to traditional modes of transportation.

[Devaishwarya]

Exactatiously.