"The Beginning Of The End Of Krakoa"

[JB]

There were parts to X of Swords that I greatly enjoyed. The beginning, middle, and ending one-shots I found fantastic. In between I loved learning about the Arakkii, Saturnyne's dinner especially the Storm/Death dance, the gorgeous R.B. Silva Excalibur issue, and Jean and Scott deciding to restart the X-Men. However most of the tournament contests I found really silly and often boring.

[Kitty&Piotr<3]

This ESPECIALLY!!! I do not understand how anyone in Marvel thought THAT was the best idea to run with. It killed most my interested in the Krakoa era at first and did nothing to get back on track. I said it then, and I'll say it now X of Swords should have been a "summer blockbuster" type event, where the mutants essentially threw their weigh around with an enemy we weren't familiar but in a familiar setting. Instead, we got a jumbled, half-jovial, half-serious, incompatible mess that did no favors to the goodwill the start of Krakoa elicited. I do not get how their first major crossover was such a confusing, nonsensical, unfulfilling mess!

Call me a curmudgeon, but the quickest way to make me lose interest in something is to give it a silly tone (besides Quire, for reasons not even I fully understand) and that's what X of Swords was; silly.

[JamJams]

Reading this substack made me go through and evaluate my enjoyment of the Krakoa era so far


Dawn of X
House of X - Very good set-up for the Krakoa Era premise with great heroic moments in the Mother Mold attack
Powers of X - Fantastic sci-fi re-invention of Moira to re-introduce her and the stakes of Krakoa Era

X-Men - Felt very disjointed issue to issue and not like a flagship book
Marauders - Fun but felt like nothing happened issue to issue
Excalibur - Really wanted to like it and read all of it but it felt like nothing happened
New Mutants - Space half was good, earth half was not. Felt liek this was the book Hickman wanted to write instead of X-Men
X-Force - Didn't like it, dropped after 3 issues
Fallen Angels - Didn't like it, dropped after 2 issues
Wolverine - Didn't read it
Cable - Didn't read it
Hellions - Didn't read it
X-Factor - Overall my favorite of Dawn of X but quality wise it was "OK"

X of Swords - I couldn't believe the way they went about solving the Apocalypse family invasion was with a fighting tournament in Otherworld. It played out a lot like an anime which felt weird for an X-Men book and also around this point I started to question if Hickman had planned Krakoa past HoX/PoX since it was lacking Orchis/Moira

Overall Dawn of X - I was initially excited for the new premise set-up in HoX/PoX but by the end of the year I was far less excited for the brand
--
--
Reign of X
Hellion - Started reading and was surprised at how great this book is
X-Factor - Accepted that the book was just going to be OK and not be any better or worse issue to issue
SWORD - Great, it felt like the X-Men version of Ewing's Alpha Flight run
Marauders - Felt like the series was starting to come together, loved the Kate/Emma/Shaw revenge arc
New Mutants - Like Marauders the series felt like it hit its stride here. The Shadow King arc on Krakoa was very well done.
X-Force - Tried it again and still don't like it. Start hoping that Percey will get rotated out on this book.
Exalibur - Read five issues then dropped it.
Wolverine - Didn't read it
X-Men (Hickman) - Hickman brought the story back a bit to the premise of the Era with the Vault story and creation of Nimrod so it felt better than Dawn of X's arcs
Cable - Didn't read it
Children of the Atom - I thought would be the absolute bottom of the barrel book but turned out to be my favorite of Reign of X
Way of X - A fun nightcrawler book looking at his place in Krakoa, great ending
X-Corp - Not good, i heard this one was in the making for a while so i wonder if it's original premise was the same or not
X-Men (Duggan) - Treehouse X-Men was a good upgrade to the Hickman run. Good monster of the week punching with a good team composition. The only downside for me was the Captain Krakoa bit.

Planet Sized X-Men - Loved it. Great showing of the mutants of Krakoa all working together to terraform a planet and wrap of X of Swords

Trial of Magneto - Good way to wrap up X-Factor but like X-Factor it was middle of the road and not really event worthy
Inferno - I was super excited for this book as the halfway point of Krakoa and it was...OK. The twist that Omega Sentinel was from a future where mutants were successful so was sent back to ruin that was a good twist but the Mystique/Destiny/Moira stuff was ...a choice.

Overall Reign of X - It felt like it they were trying to give it more of a direction than Dawn of X but it still felt like more tossing ideas at the wall to see what sticks with some books. I will admit when I heard that Hickman was leaving and they were still going to continue it I started to attribute all the negative portions of Krakoa to editorial meddling messing up Hickman's plans.
--
--
Destiny of X
X-Lives of Wolverine - This is by far the worst Krakoa era book I read and put Percey firmly in the "Do not read anymore X-Books from this writer" category
X Deaths of Wolverine - This was not as bad as X Lives but it was still pretty badly cobbled together as a follow-up to Inferno

Immortal X-Men - I love Gillen and I love this book, the Quiet Council was a disaster idea and this book really goes into why that is
Marauders - Didn't read it
X-Force - Didn't read it
X-Men Red - A good read that integrates the Arakkoa mutants and the cosmic community into the X-Men books via Storm and Magneto trying to integrate into their society and everything being all up to Nova.
X-Men - The Cordyceps Jones and Childrn of the Vault follow-up storylines were good. The Judgment Day tie-ins were not
Wolverine - Didn't read it
Knights of X - Read two issues then dropped it
New Mutants - A great Magik solo but a bad New Mutants book
Legion of X - Didn't read it
Betsy Braddock: Captain Britian - Read one issue then dropped it, I finally accepted that Tini's take on Otherworld was not very good

X-Terminators - I'm torn. It was a really, really fun story but I can't say if it was good or a 'car-crash TV' read
Bishop: War College - I was never sure what the point of the book was as I was reading it

Sins of Sinister - Gillens love letter to Sinister. If you like Gillen and Sinister its a fitting event. If you dont care for one, the other or both it's not going to be for you.

Overall Destiny of X - I went into Destiny thinking this was going to a terrible period for the X-Books but it turned out overall to be the opposite. I didn't read as many books but the ones I read I enjoyed a lot. The X-books without Hickman also felt more like they were all working on the same page with story elements and themes rather than just a hodge-podge of teams and ideas tossed out each month.
--
--
Fall of X
X-Men - Haven't read it
Immortal X-Men - Still enjoyable but feels kind of dour now
X-Men: Red - Haven't read it
Invincible Iron Man - I didn't like the art so I just skim the monthly summary out of curiosity for the Emma/Tony story
X-Force - Haven't read it
Wolverine - Haven't read it
Astonishing Iceman - Haven't read it
Children of the Vault - Cable/Bishop using their powers in neat ways is neat but the re-tread of them still fighting over Hope is tiresome. Also a nice look at the evolution of the Children of the Vault from their transformation in Reign of X.
Dark X-Men - Haven't read it
Uncanny Avengers - I didn't think anyone could match Remender's morose writing in his UA run but Duggan is doing a good job so far. Is that a compliment? Probably not.
Jean Grey - Sets up interesting 'What if' scenarios for Jean's life
Realm of X - Haven't read it
Ms. Marvel: the New Mutant - Was OK so far. Premise of being a superhero while at summer camp/school is fine but when mixed with the Fall of X stuff it feels like two clashing themes in one book.
Uncanny Spider-Man - Haven't read it

Overall Fall of X - The books seem to match the theme: Everything sucks for Krakoa. Which is probably why my initiative to read any of the books is at an all time low.

[Frontier]

Conceptually I get why a lot of people enjoyed the Krakoa era and breathing new life and direction in the line and characters.

For me while I liked a lot of the stuff I read there were a lot of instances where it felt like the writers were forcing me to take things at face value (like characters mending fences off-panel, characters reuniting/reconciling off-panel, relationship revamps, or characters being okay with some of the shadier and problematic parts of Krakoa or not doing anything about them, turning death into something that happens super frequently) that I could never completely jive with it. Or anything Ben Percy did with Beast and X-Force.

But I hope it ends well and the next era of the franchise is a good one and not doom and gloom (because even Krakoa wasn't immune to that in the end).

[Anduinel]

I agree w/ this. I feel like there was so much cool world building to be done at the start of this era, and even when they extended things w/ Hickman gone, once Judgement Day hit it’s just felt like a slow march to tearing things down. Even when they created a new concept like the Waiting Room or the Phoenix Foundation, it’s like the books were unwilling to explore it.

I’ve accepted the fact that we might see something more “traditional” after this, so my only concern is the creative team and quality of writing.

The whole Krakoa era feels like a lot of wasted potential. Here's a lot of neat ideas, no we're not interested in exploring most of them that deeply, how about another helping of genocide? Just...doesn't leave me excited for whatever's coming next.

[Frontier]

The whole Krakoa era feels like a lot of wasted potential. Here's a lot of neat ideas, no we're not interested in exploring most of them that deeply, how about another helping of genocide? Just...doesn't leave me excited for whatever's coming next.

"Also everyone's just chill and friendly...until they're not!"

[Til]

I really, really loved Krakoa as a setting. The mutants FINALLY being on top for once was great. It's what got me back into the X-Books after IvX made me quit altogether. I also loved the Resurrection Protocols. Personally, death in comics is meaningless to me. It's just an arbitrary time period until I can see the character again. I loved that many dead or depowered mutants got brought back.

As for things I wasn't wild about: the lack of world building. Krakoa Atlantic might as well have not existed. The only times it ever appeared was as X-Force's base and now in the White Hot Room. Also, how they never had a city on Krakoa, even though both Xavier and Forge envisioned one. Those are just two examples of many. Krakoa as a setting and a society had tons of untapped potential. Another complaint is the lack of character moments. Hickman is great with big ideas and plot, but he struggles with characterization.

Even though I wish things had been done a bit differently, I'm still going to miss Krakoa a great deal. I honestly believe that as a setting, it could've become a permanent status quo going forward. The X-Men themselves could leave and be based other places, but having Krakoa as a permanent mutant nation would've been fine by me.

[Slicknickshady]

Just give me Ziggy and Rico. And Trevor and Lin.

[Fokken]

"While you Slept, the world Changed"

Krakoa was more than a story. Krakoa came to readers at a time when many people were feeling isolated, detached, afraid-- a very resonant mutant experience, honestly.

Krakoa became HOPE for a lot of people.

These writers and artists and creatives brought all of mutant kind together -- united in a common goal -- and whether conscious or not, that unity and sense of community pulled at the heart strings of many readers, at a time when they were feeling really vulnerable. For a lot of us, these stories emotionally healed and nourished feelings we couldn't articulate, and that appeal swept through social media and comic shops like wild fire-- igniting podcasts, discord servers, message boards, and even tiktok personalities, lol. The community fostered within the stories became communities fostered in reality. That is why Krakoa is more than a story to so many readers. It represents those bonds and shared experiences and relationships made.

Was Krakoa perfect? Of course not. Is any family? lol
That was half the fun of its creation. The DRAMA.

This era of X-Men comics was an elaborate house of cards, continually being added to and continually raising curious eyebrows as to HOW TALL ARE YOU GOING TO GO?!
It was impractical at times but undeniably captivating. This era sparked questions about life and death and souls and psychology. It titillated curiosity with data page blue prints and lethal lesbian love affairs. Bridges were built, Blue Daddies were born, and Beasts went bananas.

I will forever treasure the way this era changed and enriched my life.
Is that dramatic? Perhaps. But so are the X-Men.

I don't want Krakoa to end. I want Krakoa to evolve
The xmen deserve to have nice things

Same.
The X-Men DO deserve to have nice things.

[IN-a-Synch]

I really hope they don't go back to the Mansion. Unless Xavier and Jean are doing some major mindwipe. Everyone knows they are there and we seen defenses is lacking major in Westchester.

[myownlittleusername]

I really hope they don't go back to the Mansion. Unless Xavier and Jean are doing some major mindwipe. Everyone knows they are there and we seen defenses is lacking major in Westchester.

There are no fictional defenses that can stand against the story choices of a writer. So no real difference between Krakoa and Westchester in that regard.

[Kingdom X]

Reading this substack made me go through and evaluate my enjoyment of the Krakoa era so far

This is such a fun idea! Dropping mine below:

Dawn of X
House of X - 10/10 great starting point for the era.
Powers of X - 8.5/10 because I wasn't 100% on the Moira retcon and needed to see more of what some of the hi-concept sci-fi led to.

X-Men - "Felt very disjointed issue to issue and not like a flagship book"- agree
Marauders - Fun, but nothing revolutionary.
Excalibur - Started off very disjointed, but was a necessary read to understand XoS.
New Mutants - "Space half was good, earth half was not. Felt like this was the book Hickman wanted to write instead of X-Men"- agree
X-Force - Really enjoyed the first couple issues and was overall pretty solid.
Fallen Angels - Read the whole thing... actually started improving near the end when they were expanding the team to include Bling! and Paige. Got stuck w/ bad art and was the most disconnected out of the line.
Wolverine - Solid.
Cable - Okay, but didn't know why it needed to exist.
Hellions - Surprisingly great from the start.
X-Factor - "Overall my favorite of Dawn of X but quality wise it was "OK"'- I completely feel this, even though the quality wasn't fantastic I really loved this book.
Giant-Size X-Men- The art was GREAT on the Jean/Emma and Storm issues, but overall these were kinda a waste.

X of Swords - The one-shots were all great, but the event was just too long. They really shouldn't have extended it past it's initial scope. The fallout was interesting though.

Overall Dawn of X - While nothing matched the heights of HoX/PoX, this was still a very solid start. COVID did kill some of the momentum though.
--
--
Reign of X
Hellion - Continued to be fantastic. The Hellfire tie-in is one of my favorite issues EVER.
X-Factor - Had a lot of love for this book, but the execution of the finale was a mess.
SWORD - Amazing first issue and overall high quality book. It did lose a lot of it's identity tying into other events.
Marauders - Liked the conclusion the Kate/Emma/Shaw revenge arc, BUT the book's cast problems became obvious and it got real boring.
New Mutants - Loved Ayala's take on this title. Only flaw was that the Shadow King arc could have been cut an issue or two.
X-Force - The cracks in this run started to show with the constant plant monsters and lack of resolutions. The surfing issue is what lead me to drop my first Krakoa book.
Excalibur - Quality actually improved post XoS, but the book still had a lot of flaws.
Wolverine - Quality remained the same, but once I dropped X-Force I ended up dropping this book the books overlapped plots so much.
X-Men (Hickman) - "Hickman brought the story back a bit to the premise of the Era with the Vault story and creation of Nimrod so it felt better than Dawn of X's arcs" -agree
Cable - I liked the conclusion and return of Zaddy Cable, but in hindsight the book was somewhat forgettable.
Children of the Atom - I enjoyed this book as a came out, but in hindsight it was very irrelevant to the Krakoa tapestry.
Way of X/ Onslaught Revelation - Really enjoyed the first half of this book, but ultimately it had some weird writing choices and odd moral lessons it was trying to drop.
X-Corp - Really awful.
X-Men (Duggan) - I always felt a little bamboozled by this book because when we all participated in the first vote, everyone assumed that team would be in Hickman's book because the idea popped up in his ongoing. The art was good and it served as nice palette cleanser, but never seemed strong enough to center the entire line.

Planet Sized X-Men/ Hellfire Gala - I loved the excitement around the first Gala and even though we all guessed what Planet Sized would be about, it was still a great issue.

Trial of Magneto - I thought this was an awful wrap up to X-Factor and seemed very editorially mandated.
Inferno - Some very cool ideas here, but ultimately a very bittersweet ending as the man behind those ideas left the office.

Overall Reign of X - We had some high highs, but also a LOT of the books stagnated.
--
--
Destiny of X
X-Lives of Wolverine - This was just another arc of Percy's Wolverine ongoing, which I dropped for a reason.
X Deaths of Wolverine - Messy ass follow-up to Inferno that ruined Moira (I blame the X-office more than Percy for that bit).

Immortal X-Men - VERY interesting start, but I was disappointed that it led into an event so quickly after it's start.
Marauders - Read the first two(?) issues and dropped because of the art plus the odd Shi'ar premise. The Judgement Day tie-in, final 2 issues, and Before the Fall issues all had moments I liked.
X-Force - Dropped.
X-Men Red - MY RIDE OR DIE BOOK. Ewing did and does the thing every damn month.
X-Men - Monster of the week started getting old and the second Hellfire Gala was boring.
Wolverine - Dropped.
Knights of X - Improvement over Excalibur.
New Mutants - Liked the Magik arc, but the other characters got neglected and plots were dropped. Following runs by Anders were not at all my cup of tea.
Legion of X - First arc was an improvement on WoX, but also a bit too obsessed w/ itself. The second arc was all over the place, with huge plot developments regarding Nimrod and the Phalanx relegated to C-plots.

Sabretooth & Exiles: Both of LaValle's mini-series were among my favorite books in this era.
Betsy Braddock: Captain Britian - Nothing fantastic, bought a fine conclusion to the TH Otherworld trilogy.
X-Terminators - Dumb fun. Never pretended to be something revolutionary and just had a good time.
Bishop: War College - Very idiotic book. As someone who loves the New X-Men and seeing black characters in prominent roles, this should have been an easy sell for me, but it was all over the place.
Rogue & Gambit- Godawful.

Dark Web- Everybody in this crossover done lost their brain cells. Also undid the character work Ayala had just done w/ Madelyne.
Judgement Day- The first sign that we were heading back to extinction events.
Sins of Sinister - Some good ideas, but the fact that we're still dealing with the Sinister obsession has turned me off.


Overall Destiny of X - Immortal and Red came out swinging and REALLY did a good job of keeping me invested in the line after Hickman left. There were other bright spots, but they felt far more isolated and disconnected compared to when Hickman was the Head of X. Also, everything after SoS was just a slooow march to FoX.
--
--
Fall of X
X-Men/Hellfire Gala 3 - The third Hellfire Gala is the only comic to genuinely piss me off and make me consider boycotting these books. I read the next issue of the run, but have since dropped all of Duggan's books. IMO his writing was never strong enough to be given the reigns of the entire line like this.
Immortal X-Men - Now that the cast is smaller, I'm actually digging the character exploration that we're getting without the expectation to showcase a cast of 12.
X-Men: Red - I liked the previous era of Red more (I missed the SWORD cast and Caselli on art), but this is still 100% my top book.
Invincible Iron Man - Just no.
X-Force - Hell to the no.
Wolverine - Not even a chance.

Astonishing Iceman - Read first two issues and dropped. Starting to lose faith in Orlando.
Children of the Vault - Good stuff, but seems rushed due to only having four issues.
Dark X-Men - So far, so good!
Uncanny Avengers - Dropped. More of the same from Duggan.
Jean Grey - Interesting, but seems very supplemental to what Gillen is doing.
Realm of X - Read first two issues and dropped.
Ms. Marvel: the New Mutant - I like having a lighthearted book among all the death and concentration camps of the rest of the line, but I also think the whole "Death of Kamala" thing was so cheap.
Uncanny Spider-Man - Enjoyed issue 1, but undecided.
Alpha Flight- First Krakoa book that I didn't even try to pick up.


Overall Fall of X - Turns out the Fall of X was actually the Fall of my interest.

[Askani's Flame]

They could fix Wrongslide. Theres a battle across time and space..... maybe in one of those times or spaces they find the real rockslide.

Technically Rachel can fix Rockslide, they just haven't let her do it for whatever reason. Technically she could slap remove the three alt future OS mind/programming from Karima as well.

[JB]

"While you Slept, the world Changed"

Krakoa was more than a story. Krakoa came to readers at a time when many people were feeling isolated, detached, afraid-- a very resonant mutant experience, honestly.

Krakoa became HOPE for a lot of people.

These writers and artists and creatives brought all of mutant kind together -- united in a common goal -- and whether conscious or not, that unity and sense of community pulled at the heart strings of many readers, at a time when they were feeling really vulnerable. For a lot of us, these stories emotionally healed and nourished feelings we couldn't articulate, and that appeal swept through social media and comic shops like wild fire-- igniting podcasts, discord servers, message boards, and even tiktok personalities, lol. The community fostered within the stories became communities fostered in reality. That is why Krakoa is more than a story to so many readers. It represents those bonds and shared experiences and relationships made.

Was Krakoa perfect? Of course not. Is any family? lol
That was half the fun of its creation. The DRAMA.

This era of X-Men comics was an elaborate house of cards, continually being added to and continually raising curious eyebrows as to HOW TALL ARE YOU GOING TO GO?!
It was impractical at times but undeniably captivating. This era sparked questions about life and death and souls and psychology. It titillated curiosity with data page blue prints and lethal lesbian love affairs. Bridges were built, Blue Daddies were born, and Beasts went bananas.

I will forever treasure the way this era changed and enriched my life.
Is that dramatic? Perhaps. But so are the X-Men.



Same.
The X-Men DO deserve to have nice things.

Beautiful post! Well said.

I also love what JamJams and Kingdom X did above so I'll take a crack at it later.

[Jackraow21]

For me, Dawn of X and Reign of X were really solid, and Destiny of X is where I started to get a bit bored. Fall of X has piqued my interest again, as I do love seeing the X-men on the run with their backs against the wall and doing underground resistance $#!t.

In terms of events?

- Loved HoX/PoX. Hickman nailed it in kicking off the new era.
- X of Swords had its moments, but just crammed in too much IMO and dragged on a bit too long. But it certainly established some really cool things, no doubt about it. And it was a very ambitious crossover, so points for that.
- Inferno, on the other hand, was short and tight but I really enjoyed it.
- And, as a Wolverine fan, I greatly enjoyed X Lives/Deaths of Wolverine. But if you're not a Wolverine fan, I get why maybe you didn't enjoy it as it paused the books for a couple of months. Plus what it did to Moira as a character, though I don't blame the writer (Percy) for that as it was always Hickman's plan apparently and was set up by Inferno.
- Judgment Day felt like a slog for me as a reader, and kind of forced. Like they were just trying to find some way to shoehorn in the Eternals and this conflict, and get them and the Avengers and the X-men all in a box together fighting. It was... fine, but nothing memorable.
- Sins of Sinister started off with promise, but just fizzed out. A bunch of alt timeline weirdness that I couldn't care less about by the end because I knew it was all being reset anyway. Cable + Xilo becoming the 616 version of X-man was kind of cool and had possibility, but then they killed him off and I quickly lost interest. And back in the present day 616 timeline, Ewing decided to go a different route and merge Xilo with Fisher King. Which I guess works better, but don't really care much about the character either way. *shrugs*

In terms of books?

- X-men has been a mixed bag, with some really good issues and also quite a lot of filler issues that didn't do much for me. The lineups have been hit or miss IMO, but I most enjoyed Laura (OG Laura), Synch and Forge on the team. Which is funny because I think Scott and Jean were supposed to be the anchor characters. Their appearances throughout this book have done nothing for me, though.
- X-Force started out really strong, with its first ten issues being my favorite run of any book throughout the Krakoan era pretty much; but then it quickly fizzed out and went downhill, and then Percy took Logan out of the book so I stopped caring at all.
- Wolverine has been solid, though nothing groundbreaking or status quo altering or even super interesting if I'm being honest. But it's been a steady diet for Logan fans of action and adventure. With good art work which helps.
- S.W.O.R.D. and X-men Red have had moments which made these books my favorites. Al Ewing is a phenomenal writer, and I really loved his use of Cable in both. As he began leaning more into the Arakki mutants and took Cable, Thunderbird and Manifold out of his cast, though, I lost interest and stopped reading. Sorry.
- Hated Cable until the end when they brought back the old man. 'Nuff said.
- Hellions was pretty good, though the cast wasn't all that exciting to me. But Wells wrote the hell out of it.
- Marauders was "meh."
- Immortal has been pretty good in spots, forgettable in others.
- Sabretooth & the Exiles was good fun, and so was X-terminators.
- All of the Planet-Sized Hellfire Galas have been interesting with big things happening in them, so I enjoyed them for that.
- Of the Fall of X minis, loving CotV and Dark X-men.

Nothing else worth talking about in terms of my personal enjoyment of the books. That's it for me.