Summary
As an avid reader ofX-Mencomics for nearly 30 years, I can’t remember a time I’ve felt more disappointed in the franchise than I do right now. Marvel’s line of X-books just wrapped up an epic five-year storyline that changed everything about the X-Men as we know them.Now, a new relaunch is on the horizon, and I’m bummed out about it.
To be clear, the writers and artists tasked withending the Krakoa Era of theX-Menfranchisedid an admirable job, especially under what I’m sure was a lot of pressure.They had to wrap up five years’ worth of stories, tying together disparate plot threads involving dozens of characters. It took a vast team of writers (chief among them Kieron Gillen, Gerry Duggan, Al Ewing, Benjamin Percy and Si Spurrier) and an even larger team of artists (Lucas Werneck, R.B. Silva, Luciano Vecchio, Phil Noto, Joshua Cassara and many, many more). The work they produced was exciting and made the pill easier to swallow.
My issue is with Marvel Comics, which rushed to the end of this era to launch a new one scheduled to start this July. The result is a dissatisfying ending to one of the most exciting times to be an X-Men fan that I can remember.
Wolverine Gives His Official (& Very Surprising) Verdict on X-Men’s 2019-2024 Krakoan Era
Wolverine has held a strong opinion about Krakoa that he’s expressed throughout the X-Men’s five-year Krakoan Age, making his final verdict shocking.
Krakoa Was Exactly What The X-Men Needed
TheX-MenFranchise Was At An All-Time Low BeforeHoX/PoX
The X-Men’s Krakoa Era gave fans something completely new at the exact time that the franchise needed it. You’d be hard-pressed to find anX-Menfan who says that their favorite comics were published in the period right before Krakoa. Sure, Marvel had stopped actively trying todestroy the X-Men and replace them with Inhumans,but the X-books were still struggling. The line had already gone through several relaunches in just a few short years. Now readers were stuck with Cyclops and Wolverine running a mutant hit squad, Professor X resurrecting himself in the body of Fantomex, andwhatever the hellAge of X-Manwas. It was time for an overhaul.
The books launched during the Krakoa Era gave us political intrigue, epic fantasy, spy thrillers, pirate adventures, meditations on religion and so much more.
Enter: Jonathan Hickman, R.B. Silva and Pepe Larraz.With two concurrent miniseries,House of XandPowers of X, this team totally changed the face of the X-Men. Mutants launched their own nation on the living island of Krakoa, creating a paradise for the characters and readers alike. We got new settings and character dynamics with more than just the standard superhero fare;the books launched during the Krakoa Era gave us political intrigue, epic fantasy, spy thrillers, pirate adventures, meditations on religion and so much more. After the X-Men had spent years languishing in Limbo (literally, at one point), they were suddenly back on top of the world.
10 Things You Should Never Say to an X-Men Fan
Every X-Men fan has their hot takes, but some hot takes are just too blasphemous to let slide. Let’s disprove the worst ones and why they’re wrong.
Krakoa Is For All Mutants (But Not All Readers)
The Most RecentX-MenEra Was One Of Its Most Controversial
It’s important to acknowledge thatnot everyone loved the Krakoa Era. That’s understandable. The stories could be confusing, with even diehard fans like myself having to re-read issues and check online to keep track of what was going on. Issues now had “data pages” with diagrams and text that were supposed to help explain concepts. However, they sometimes felt like you were reading an instruction manual in the middle of your comic book.
For many readers, this was not the X-Men that they recognized. The Krakoa Era took the mutant heroes out of familiar settings like the X-Mansion and put them on an island where they lived next door to their former villains. Whenmutants developed the ability to resurrect their dead, some felt that the stories lost stakes and that death became a joke. And the mutants went from being an oppressed minority to one of the greatest superpowers on Earth, with Magneto pointedly telling a group of human leaders, “You have new gods now.” Everything was different.
The persecution of mutants in the Marvel Universe has long been seen as a metaphor for many groups of people who face oppression in the real world. Some fans felt that, by placing the mutants in a new position of power, the Krakoa Era robbed theX-Menfranchise of that central theme.But it also gave fans a chance to see their favorite heroes experience more than just constant struggle and hatred. On Krakoa, being a mutant was not something to hide or be ashamed of. Mutants were instead embraced and celebrated, and they finally got to enjoy the acceptance and peace that they’d fought so hard for. It was refreshing and hopeful.
The 15 Best Comic Covers of the X-Men’s Krakoan Era
As the X-Men’s visionary period on the nation of Krakoa draws to a close, it’s worth revisiting 13 of the best covers from across its tenure.
Everything Ends All At Once
Marvel Rushed To End All Its Krakoa Storylines At The Same Time
For those who complained that the franchise was not what they were used to, they need not have worried, becausethe sad truth of mainstream comics is that everything reverts to the status quo. We get big, dramatic stories like a character dying or a hero losing their powers, but it’s all part of the “Illusion of Change.” That’s what Krakoa was. There probably weren’t a lot of fans who deluded themselves into thinking that this was going to last forever.But the way that it all had to end, all at once, made theFall of Xfeel like Marvel was especially in a hurry to be done with it for good.
In another era, any of these stories could have been a big event that involved a core limited series and multiple tie-in books across the whole X-line. Instead, they all happened at the same time, creating a sense of whiplash.
Fall of Xkicked off in July 2023 withan attack on Krakoa’s annual Hellfire Gala. From there, the end came hard and fast for the X-Men.Ongoing storylines across five individual series had to be wrapped up. Some of them, like the battle against the anti-mutant Orchis, had been building since the beginning of the era. Others were more recent, like the battle against Mr. Sinister and his quest to achieve Dominion status (a sort of godhood). This story had mostly been playing out in Gillen and Werneck’sImmortal X-Menseries.
Those were the two main stories that drove everything inFall of X, but there were a lot of other tabs that needed to be closed. There was Storm’s life on the planet Arrakko (formerly Mars) and the coming war against Genesis. X-Force was contending withbetrayals from both Beast(who’d fallen to the dark side in order to keep Krakoa safe) and Colossus (who was being mind-controlled by his evil brother). That’s not to mention stories that were teased, like Sabretooth getting revenge for being thrown in the Pit;Ms. Marvel dying and being resurrected as a mutant; and Iron Man’s promised wedding to Emma Frost.
In another era, any of these stories could have been a big event that involved a core limited series and multiple tie-in books across the whole X-line. Instead, they all happened at the same time, creating a sense of whiplash. Every week, big things were taking place in the ongoing series, as well as miniseries and one-shots. A character’s actions in an issue ofFall of the House of Xwould be confusing until readers learned about their motivations the next week in an issue ofX-Men Forever. It was hard to keep track of anything and know how it all fit together.
Why Did Marvel Need ANOTHERX-MenRelaunch?
Blame The MCU
So, what was the big rush? Why did Marvel need to end the Krakoa Era anyway? Some fans (myself included) suspect thatMarvel Studios played a big role in guiding the franchiseto where it’s going.Deadpool & Wolverinecomes out this summer, finally bringing the X-Men into the MCU. Combine that with the huge success ofX-Men ’97, and you can see why Marvel would want to revert the X-Men back to something more recognizable for those who haven’t been closely reading the comics for the past five years.
This has been a constant theme withX-Mencomics over the years.Any time they stray too far from the norm, they always snap back. In the 1980s, the team left New York for the Australian Outback while Professor X was off in space and Magneto was running the school. But at the start of the next decade, they were back in the X-Mansion fighting Magneto again. A decade later,Grant Morrison’sNew X-Menradically changed the series. Professor X publicly came out as a mutant and the X-Men replaced their spandex superhero costumes with black leather jackets. But after a couple of years of that, they went back to wearing superhero outfits and punching bad guys in the face again.
There have been other major changes in the years since – Scarlet Witch wiped out nearly all the world’s mutants; the X-Men relocated to an island off the coast of San Francisco; and Cyclops declared war on the Avengers and murdered Professor X before becoming a mutant revolutionary.Each time, Marvel brought the franchise back to what’s familiar, usually whilethrowing in a healthy dose of nostalgiafor classic stories likeDays of Future Past,Age of Apocalypseor theDark Phoenix Saga.
Now, we’re going back to the familiar, with the X-Men returning to America and once again fighting for a world that fears and hates them.
WeX-Menfans have endured a lot of low points over the years:Onslaught, theRevolutionera of the early 2000s, Chuck Austen’sUncanny X-Menrun (the less said about the Church of Humanity, Stacy X, or the romance between Angel and Husk, the better).Wiping Krakoa off the map for the upcoming relaunch (dubbedFrom the Ashes) is just the latest blow. It was fun while it lasted. Now, we’re going back to the familiar, with the X-Men returning to America and once again fighting for a world that fears and hates them.
The last issue of this current era,X-Men#35, ends with a narration box reading,“Thus ended the First Krakoan Age.”The silver lining of the new relaunch is that Marvel has assembled some top creative talents to write and draw the series that encompassFrom the Ashes. So, hopefully, this will be a jumping off point for something equally new and exciting. But for a lot ofX-Menfans like me, the Second Krakoan Age can’t come soon enough.
X-Men
The X-Men franchise, created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, centers on mutants with extraordinary abilities. Led by the powerful telepath Professor Charles Xavier, they battle discrimination and villainous mutants threatening humanity. The series explores themes of diversity and acceptance through a blend of action, drama, and complex characters, spanning comics, animated series, and blockbuster films.
