Giant Size X Men. So what really happened during the Krakoa battle?

[Phoenixx9]

See, the thing is - I never got the impression it HAD to feed off "Mutant Energy" in order to survive. It merely thrived off of it. Similar to how we technically don't need to eat meat, we could live off vegetables and fruit, but those of us who do eat meat, do so because we enjoy the taste of it. The island of Krakoa already had a lot of unique things about it (like the giant sized crabs from the radiation and what not). So I think when it "discovered" it could devour mutant energy, it became what it preferred. I'd wager that it probably fed off the abundant and large creatures that lived on the island, in some regard (perhaps devouring their carcasses and what not into the soil).

This.

I think that with so few natural life forms on the island, the island slowly fed off of almost all the natural life present. Also, the island was not "doing" anything but sitting and waiting for intruders to discover it.

Perhaps other humans had found it/came ashore on it and it also fed off of them as well.

As is the case with Sauron, mutants super-charge the island.

[yogaflame]

I didn't like the retcons. Vulcan was effectively useless to the overarching story, Darwin too(to say nothing of the others), so their introduction was not needed. Moreover, we already have seen Xavier's evil side. The O5 days are full of Charles doing shady stuff, including the faking of deaths, mass mind-wipes, and manipulating his students. We knew that already. We also had that Dark Xavier story right there in the early Claremont era, at the very beginning of his run. And of course later variations of that as well(the early New Mutants, and of course Onslaught). Really, the only use for this story, and others like it in that era(Danger Room from Astonishing) was to tarnish Xavier so the morally upright Scott-Emma-Mags could take over the school free and clear. I really loathe that era of X-Men.

Giant Sized X-Men launched the X-Men into a new era, their greatest era, one that would never be equaled. Trying to completely change that story was crass and ultimately fruitless.

[DiamondQueen]

Thanks for the answer Phoenixx9

The wide scale mind wipe that Professor Xavier would have accomplished would have been nauseating. It would have included members of the Shi'ar Empire, as well as all of the mutants, and their families. Sure, he wouldn't have to mind wipe Corsair, because he was unaware of Gabriel. But Professor Xavier would have had to mind wipe anyone and EVERYONE who knew Sway, Petra, or Darwin. This would have included all of their family members (mother, father, brothers, sisters, uncles, aunts, etc), including their teachers from school, all of their classmates that ever interacted with them, etc. This also included Cyclops (and must have included Marvel Girl, and the rest of the original X-Men, as well as Havok, Polaris, etc - who were on Krokoa and must have been aware of Vulcan). And then, there's probably some Shi'ar he'd have to mind wipe as well; possibly Lilandra who probably knew what her brother was up to; and had to have mind wiped Gladiator, since he is loyal to the throne, and at the time, had been serving D'Ken, so he was probably aware of D'Ken's doings with Vulcan. Do you really think he went that far to "remove all evidence" of his failure? And if so, why on Earth would he recruit another team to march them off to their deaths, if the previous team (who had some training with him!?) perished - he'd send a completely inexperienced team that's never worked together? WHAT?

It simply does NOT make sense. At all. Vulcan was Brubaker wanting to make "a big, powerful character" and tamper with an original story, and do a retcon, so that his "new" character has some importance. That's all that was. And it may have been at Marvel's discretion to do so; I don't entirely blame Brubaker. They may have said, "Do something with this lingering Summer's brother thing, just don't make it Fabian's Adam-X, which he had already set the ground work for - disregard all of that, borrow a lot of his ideas, but make it your own."

Adam-X. He did not have to go to that extreme. First, those students where Moira's, so the last anyone knew of them it was she who had contact with them. Also, all of them where outcast and had no significant connections. Petra was a runaway foster child that was homeless. Darwin's mother only cared about the money and then didn't want to have contact with him. Sway's parents were killed in gang shooting. And Kid Vulcan, killed his nanny. D'ken wasn't actively looking for him, neither was Lilandra. And Gladiator isnt one to gossip. So he would only have to mind scrub the original team and Moira. It was shown through the video he did Moira, and the others could be done easily when he reestablished his psychic link.

[Adam-X]

I didn't like the retcons. Vulcan was effectively useless to the overarching story, Darwin too(to say nothing of the others), so their introduction was not needed. Moreover, we already have seen Xavier's evil side. The O5 days are full of Charles doing shady stuff, including the faking of deaths, mass mind-wipes, and manipulating his students. We knew that already. We also had that Dark Xavier story right there in the early Claremont era, at the very beginning of his run. And of course later variations of that as well(the early New Mutants, and of course Onslaught). Really, the only use for this story, and others like it in that era(Danger Room from Astonishing) was to tarnish Xavier so the morally upright Scott-Emma-Mags could take over the school free and clear. I really loathe that era of X-Men.

Giant Sized X-Men launched the X-Men into a new era, their greatest era, one that would never be equaled. Trying to completely change that story was crass and ultimately fruitless.

You speak words of wisdom.

[Adam-X]

Thanks for the answer Phoenixx9
Adam-X. He did not have to go to that extreme. First, those students where Moira's, so the last anyone knew of them it was she who had contact with them. Also, all of them where outcast and had no significant connections. Petra was a runaway foster child that was homeless. Darwin's mother only cared about the money and then didn't want to have contact with him. Sway's parents were killed in gang shooting. And Kid Vulcan, killed his nanny. D'ken wasn't actively looking for him, neither was Lilandra. And Gladiator isnt one to gossip. So he would only have to mind scrub the original team and Moira. It was shown through the video he did Moira, and the others could be done easily when he reestablished his psychic link.

You're right, Adam-X didn't have to be that "extreme." Which is why I would have done a slight redesign if I had my way. But that's neither here nor there.

So, Professor Xavier also mind wiped Cyclops/Scott Summers of knowledge of his brother. When the X-Men are captured by Krakoa, Xavier assembled Vulcan, along with Darwin, Petra, and Darwin. This new team, composed of students of Dr. Moira MacTaggert, was sent to rescue the original X-Men from Krakoa. However, after rescuing Cyclops, McTaggert's former students were seemingly killed. Upon Cyclops' return, Xavier removed Cyclops' memories of the death of Vulcan and his teammates, and began assembling yet another team of X-Men.

As for D'Ken not actively looking for him; he sent Vulcan down to be Erik the Red's "servant" - and escaped. You don't think that'd interest D'Ken? And Lilandra probably wasn't looking for Vulcan, but would have certainly known of him, as she was pretty savvy to D'Ken and his madness and plans.

And that Krakoa, a massive living island, felt "threatened" by Vulcan, so he attempted to kill him (and managed to kill the others, except for Vulcan and Darwin), seems utterly out of place. He certainly had no problem capturing Havok (who has massive power), Lorna (with her magnetic ability), Angel (okay, probably easy to take down), Iceman (would Krakoa have sensed he was an Omega Level Mutant before that was even a thing? If so, wouldn't that place him in the same danger as Vulcan?), Jean Grey (granted not all that powerful yet), and Cyclops (again, another massively powerful mutant for dealing potential damage). And then, while feeding off them it also managed to handle fighting off Wolverine, Nightcrawler, Banshee, Storm, Sunfire, Thunderbird, Colossus, and Cyclops (who had "escaped").

So the previous team being killed because of ONE mutant, who at the time, wasn't actually all that powerful (when you compare him to all the other mutants the island was siphoning and fighting) - it makes absolutely no sense. It was a "forced" hand in order to make the "Vulcan" story work.

I hate what it did to Giant Size X-Men, and I did _hate_ Vulcan as a character. I did, however, I admit, enjoy the War of Kings and all of that (as I love the Shi'ar). I just wish Vulcan wasn't introduced by ruining what I consider the Bible of X-Men lore.

[DevilBat66]

I don't like the retcons of Deadly Genesis but, I do really like the Shiar war and all the cosmic stuff afterwards.

GS-X-Men is also my favorite single comic of all-time.

I just pretend that the DG didn't happen when I reread the old stuff.

[Adam-X]

I don't like the retcons of Deadly Genesis but, I do really like the Shiar war and all the cosmic stuff afterwards.
GS-X-Men is also my favorite single comic of all-time.
I just pretend that the DG didn't happen when I reread the old stuff.

We are of similar mind; all the Shi'ar War stuff that happened with Vulcan was very cool. I enjoyed that story, and was able to release my hatred of the character (which stemmed from ruining GSX).

[anyajenkins]

Huh, I never really bothered with the shiar war stuff afterward, but Vulcan and the retcon annoyed me.

[Adam-X]

Huh, I never really bothered with the shiar war stuff afterward, but Vulcan and the retcon annoyed me.

From someone who utterly hated Vulcan... I would... actually recommend it. (It takes a lot to recommend anything with Vulcan). But if you detach the fact that his story interrupts GSX, and just assume he was always out there, and just showed up... then... the War of Kings and all of that is... actually a really good story. There was only one thing that really upset me that had to do with Corsair (I won't say it, but if you read it, you will know what I mean).

[paurru]

All I asked for was was the original Krakoa battle short or whatever.

I didnt ask for long winded discussions about the long long third Summers brother yada yada

[Adam-X]

All I asked for was was the original Krakoa battle short or whatever.
I didnt ask for long winded discussions about the long long third Summers brother yada yada

Welcome to what people call a "public conversation." If you talk about Giant Size X-Men, you unfortunately, will probably get into a discussion about Vulcan, because of the Deadly Genesis retcon that "interrupts" the story of the original Krakoa story.

As you can see, people are passionate about it. Probably means the book is really good. And probably worth reading. Sure, Giant Size X-Men might be out of your price range. But thankfully, they have reprinted it so many times - like the X-Men Special Edition, which you can pick up for as low as $3.60. Consider getting it. And if you want to get the "complete" story, order the (IMO horrible) retcon "Deadly Genesis" that talks about Vulcan and his team on Krakoa before the "new" X-Men show up.