Hickman's Run - What could have been, and what it did for the Franchise...

[gambit2051]

Now that it has been a few months since Hickman officially left the franchise, and the Krakoa Era continues in many of the same hands that were already working on it with Hickman post-House/Power of X (or they have worked with Hickman before, like in Gillen's case. Pick-up Immortal X-Men if you have not already...and I am now starting to think that many of the plot threads that Hickman may have dropped could have been picked up by Gillen for the Eternals series and being tinkered with in fun ways in Immortal X-Men and could even be the crux of the idea for the EaX event...sorry, WAY out there with that thought, please ignore lol)

Anyways...I feel like it is a great time to reflect on what Hickman managed to accomplish, yet again, with, at worst, the 2nd best franchise wide reboot in X-Men History. Regardless of your feelings about it, due to how Successful the Krakoa Age has become, there are now 3 distinct ages for the X-Men. Golden Age (Original X-Men), Claremont (Wolverine, Storm, Nightcrawler, Colossus, etc..), and now Hickman (Krakoa + Villains into Political Allies).

That comes from someone that believed
1. the destruction of the Mansion was a new age...nope
2. then Utopia...nope
3. then Regenesis...nope
4. then Bendis and there is no need for the ... for that trainwreck
5. then there was Limbo, Central Park, Young Versions, Old Versions, then a random clean up with eXtermination
6. straight into the Great Mutant Hope Nate Grey/The Last X-Men Story (based on the timelines I have seen, I am not sure if Editors gave that writing team 3-4 months (starting in Nov 2018) to see results OR if the Editors knew they would be handing things off to Hickman by July 2019...regardless they used 3 of those months on that Terrible Nate Grey becomes Savior/Destroyer storyline, then the Parallel Pocket Universe and Cyclops & Wolverine "gritty street DEPRESSING" X-Men storylines (the main thing most people remember about those are that Wolverine and Cyclops reunite to butcher some Enemies in their reunion after they were both Dead, they Killed Evan in the pocket universe (Teen Apocalypse Clone...) and Betsy loved Blob and Blob loved Betsy).....

None of the above, even with incredible creators and stories buried in there, hold a candle to what Hickman did in 12 weeks with House and Power of X.

Which had me wondering how Hickman originally intended it to end...and have had many ideas about that since Inferno, but the one that sounded the most plausible, due to how little Hickman was using Moira, was that Inferno would have really been THE END for Krakoa and MOST of the Mutants...at least until Moira intentionally kills herself after realizing that SHE was the Problem the entire time. Just think about her 1st lifetime...I do not seem to remember any End of the World type of War occuring when she peacefully died in her sleep...so I think Hickman originally planned to have her realize this and for her 11th (and Final Life) she would have stayed in her Village this time. She might have sent Xavier, Magneto, and Apocalypse some cryptic notes about how "if I did things right this time, you will not know who this, how I know what I know, or why I am sharing it with you, regardless you will never know my name and you will never find me so do not look...here is what you need to know" It would be the Confession of Moira X in 3 parts basically. But the end of Inferno would have seen us right back to the founding of Krakoa...but this time without Moira. I can even see Charles thinking about that Letter as he introduces the Resurrected X-Men at the end of Power of X #6, how "none of it would have been possible without you....X" (since Moira would have just signed her confession X...bc of course she would have...goosebumps just thinking of how corny and PERFECT that would have been...it could have even explained 1 of the Major Reasons they left Moira OUT of so much of the story...it could have always been the plan to remove her and then act like the rest of the Krakoa run went pretty much the same way except for Inferno of course...this time....oooooo, that would have been goooood....this time, when Xavier is revealing Resurrection to the Mutant Population, he does it with Destiny at the head of the queue. Xavier would have stated that he wanted to make sure every Mutant knew that Resurrection was not only for those called X-Men, but for every Mutant that had been lost...)...I love my imagination.

My main reason for making this post is to discuss what you believe was actually Hickman's plans for Moira and Inferno and everything, while also discussing how this is one of those cases where, as much as it sucks, it might have been for the best that the story just be allowed to continue. There are STILL soooooooooooooo many ideas that he planted that have not NEARLY been explored enough even though they are a central theme for his run (Mutant Circuits, Hybrids, THE CHILDREN OF THE VAULT(!!!!! UGH I JUST REMEMBERED THEM and what I am pretty sure Darwins "sacrifice" will mean for all of that going forward...or would have...sigh...Still one of the best arcs in an X-Men Comic though. Wolverine (Laura), Synch, & Darwin spend Centuries in the Vault....incredible!) and I am really hoping that we see them explored some more.

With the reveal of that last page in Immortal X-Men, it definitely looks like Gillen will be toying with the idea of what Moira's Powers could sow in sinister hands....and I am REALLY looking forward to that series now.

But anyway, what are your thoughts about Hickman's run? What it meant to you, the line, etc...? What do you think was Hickmans original plan?

[cranger]

While I do not have the same opinion of where this era sits in the rankings of X-eras, my thoughts on where Hickman was originally going with this story are very similar to yours. One difference is that I do not think resurrection was ever supposed to be true immortality but instead a means to preserve what they had more as a resource, and to me the smoking gun for that was always that first scene where Xavier welcomes the new resurrections but is clearly crying because he knows that the X-Men who died truly died and are lost. So the Krakoa that might have been in the real continuity after the story finished would have been a little different and the resurrection protocols would have been missing.

[Spiderfan001]

Hickman said his plan was of of 2-3 years IIRC, and he had a safety exit in the lives to reboot if it all went awry and/or wasn't well received.

Great run diluted by what other writers were doing and in the end ruined by that and will never be finished.

For what it's worth Gillen and Al Ewing seem to be delivering so not a complete loss

[Rev9]

https://community.cbr.com/showthread...highlight=Rev9

I posted this months back (post #12) and I feel like I was very close to the general gist of the story.

I feel like my reading of the books up to that point hinted that Moira was indeed a villain, I'm not sure if Hickman wanted to undo the future through a clean slate in life 11, or he left clues to reveal we are actually in life 11 already.Because Moira was depowered we are pretty locked in regardless. I feel personally revealing we are in life 11 already would be better(assuming this is what he wanted to do)

[LordUltimus]

I'm pretty sure everything from House of M to Rosenburg's run counts as an "era". Not going to pretend it's good, but it happened and you can easily tell it from all the other "era's" mentioned.

[Viteh]

I'm pretty sure everything from House of M to Rosenburg's run counts as an "era". Not going to pretend it's good, but it happened and you can easily tell it from all the other "era's" mentioned.

I'd argue the era that started with House of M ended with AvX, everything after that and before HoXPoX was its own mini-era of "the X-books don't have a clear direction"

[Kingdom X]

I'd argue the era that started with House of M ended with AvX, everything after that and before HoXPoX was its own mini-era of "the X-books don't have a clear direction"

Yeah definitely agree with HoM to AvX being it’s own era. I kind of consider Marvel Now X-Men (2012-2015) it’s own mini-era because even though the books didn’t have a ton of direction, Marvel was still publishing a ton of X-books (some that were pretty good), writers were allowed to create new mutants again, and they even put one of their biggest writers on the flagship (which I know some might view as a punishment).

It wasn’t until after Secret Wars that the number of X-books dramatically dropped and of course they went straight back to extinction stories. Everything between IvX to HOX/POX was Marvel pretending like they weren’t screwing the X-Men by being less blatant about it, but forcibly keeping the franchise stagnant.

[LordUltimus]

I'm just saying, HoM was the start of the constant genocide plots.

[mbm721]

Not here to argue eras so going back to the op….

Hickman clearly had the hox/pox krakoa and Moira as the set up for act one and then the reveal that she has actually a baddie was going to be the end of act 1/start of act 2. I feel this explains the initial coldness/shady ness of Xavier and the resurrection protocols.

Maybe the xmen would have become more of their heroic selves(idk) post Moira turn, but who knows…

Obviously krakoa set up was a hit with fans and sales so end of act 1 was changed/extending. Hickman left without the pox stuff and future phalanx timelines explained which prob would a been end of act 2/start of 3.

[cranger]

The OP really should have not spent all the time talking about era's, and since we are derailed I wouldn't even say HoXPoX was the biggest X-Men story anyway. A decade of Marvel selling garbage just made it look that way.

[Writerblog]

While I do not have the same opinion of where this era sits in the rankings of X-eras, my thoughts on where Hickman was originally going with this story are very similar to yours. One difference is that I do not think resurrection was ever supposed to be true immortality but instead a means to preserve what they had more as a resource, and to me the smoking gun for that was always that first scene where Xavier welcomes the new resurrections but is clearly crying because he knows that the X-Men who died truly died and are lost. So the Krakoa that might have been in the real continuity after the story finished would have been a little different and the resurrection protocols would have been missing.

I can agree with your take on ressurrection. It always seemed to be a way to keep heavy hitters alive and get bigger number of mutants in a short time. Download memories from a computer seems very robotic and artificial.

The OP really should have not spent all the time talking about era's, and since we are derailed I wouldn't even say HoXPoX was the biggest X-Men story anyway. A decade of Marvel selling garbage just made it look that way.

For sure marvel underselling X-men for years made it easier to HOXPOX be a bigger deal. Rosenberg run right before Hickman was a very grimdark and hopeless.

[Jackraow21]

I don’t disagree that there are three distinct ages for the X-men books, but disagree with the OP as to which three they are.

“Golden Age (Original X-Men), Claremont (Wolverine, Storm, Nightcrawler, Colossus, etc..), and now Hickman (Krakoa + Villains into Political Allies)”

IMO the Golden Age hardly counts. The O5 X-men was not a popular team and ultimately got cancelled. So the X-men really didn’t “begin”, in terms of being a pop culture phenomenon, until 1975 with Giant-Size X-men #1 and the subsequent Claremont run with that team mentioned above (or some variation of it). You could argue that in the 80s the Outback Team was another X-men age, but as it did not dominate all of that decade or have the staying power of the Claremont/Cockrum/Byrne/JRJR years I would say it doesn’t really qualify as an “age” so to speak.

No, to me the X-men’s three ages are:

1. The Classic (Claremont) era (1975-1990)
2. The Blue/Gold era (1991-2018)*
3. The Krakoan era (2019-????)

*Yes, you could argue the Grant Morrison New X-men run was a huge turning point, where the X-men moved away from their blue/gold colored costumes and put on black leather to look more like the movies, but they quickly went back to the blue/gold color schemes and dynamics when Joss Whedon came on to do Astonishing X-men with John Cassaday. And, of course, they continued to try to play “greatest hits” from the Classic and Blue/Gold era mixed in with some of the concepts Morrison gave them during his New X-men run from that point on, hence why I don’t think the Morrison run constitutes an entire age or era on its own. There was too much “cover band” action going on before and after that run which only went from 2001-2004. So in that sense, I consider the Morrison NXM run a brief interlude that injected some fresh life and energy into the franchise, coinciding with the X-men’s debut on the big screen, right in the middle of the Blue/Gold era which began in the 90s when the X-men really took off in popularity (with video games, toy lines, cartoons, etc.).

[Rzerox21xx]

It be funny for Next year 30th Anniversary of X-MEN, Hickman announced he will return with book like Uncanny and proceed his next phase once the other writers had their in 2022.

[Writerblog]

It be funny for Next year 30th Anniversary of X-MEN, Hickman announced he will return with book like Uncanny and proceed his next phase once the other writers had their in 2022.

X-men are older than 30. X-men #1 from Lee made 30 in 2021

[Jackraow21]

Next year will be their 60th Anniversary… 1963-2023.