thoughts on: krakoa
The Krakoan Era: a period of reinvention for the X-Men franchise; a time for homo superior to confirm its taxonomy among the human denizens of the Marvel Universe over the course of one long-form storytelling experiment the likes of which had never been done before. It's new! And for me that was especially true.
Following in the wake of the cultural advent that was Avengers: Endgame (that itself marking a summit of the rapid consumption of MCU media I went through after getting into the franchise a year prior with Infinity War), for the first time in my life I found myself compelled to read mainstream American superhero comics, latching onto X-Men as the one that would be mine. As your typical neurotic completionist, I went directly to 1963's Uncanny #1 and gave up almost immediately. Shortly after I would try again, looking for something more palatable in 1975's Giant-Size X-Men; I failed again after about 15 issues. A few years later, in early 2024, following a chance encounter with 1990's New Mutants Summer Special, my interest was temporarily renewed such that when I heard of the so-called "Krakoan Age," and how it was ending soon, I was primed to jump in.
What follows are some thoughts and tidbits associated with four months and over 500 issues of modern comic reading, collecting my original reflections following each major act of the era, as well as the type of relevant data I find interesting. I don't currently have the need or desire to do a proper retrospective on the whole thing, but know that I am still left excited to return to the franchise when the notion hits me.
Act Retrospectives
Dawn of X
Initial thoughts - 6.25.2024
It was kind of hard at first, figuring out what to read and who most of the characters were, but now I am INVESTED. Very different storytelling than I've experienced elsewhere, with the many concurrent storylines and absolute abundance of characters. Aside from the awesome X of Swords event, my favorite title is New Mutants, since I really like most of the characters and humor there, but I think there's something of value in all of the titles, even the ones I dropped. Looking forward, I'd say I'm most excited to read about Nightcrawler and his mutant religion.
Reign of X
Initial thoughts - 7.19.2024
Lots of thoughts about every series included here, but I can't write them all.
Highlights:
The Lost Club arc of New Mutants was not consistently great, but I think it pulled it off enough throughout and at the end for me to say that its message of community and compassion is emblematic of some of the core themes of the Krakoan Age. S.W.O.R.D. conveys another core idea in this act: expansion/dominance and the variform friction that comes with it.
On another note, I loved Hellions for being a fun romp no matter what they were doing, and for possibly doing the strongest team characterization in the shortest amount of time. Nanny is peak character design.
The Hellfire Gala and Inferno were obviously the peaks of Reign. Emma and Moira are two of the most important women to X-Men at this moment, even if I feel like one of them got done kinda dirty right at the end.
Overall, I'm amazed at how many rich characters there are in these books. Although the play-by-play may not be totally consistent, this world feels like it's the most lived-in I've ever read - a little baffling considering the X-Men brand is only one facet of the larger Marvel universe.
Destiny of X
Initial thoughts - 8.15.2024
In trying to read the Krakoan Era as a single cohesive story, the destiny phase could be the climax that precedes the fall. While the A.X.E.: Judgment Day event and X-Men: Red series continue to expand the world, they do so while advancing the outside perception and stature of mutants in it. Meanwhile, within the bubble of Krakoa, it's runs like Immortal X-Men and the fallout of the absolutely amazing Sins of Sinister event that show us the frustrations of this great experiment's internal components coming to a head. The many problems and fears for the mutant nation were already apparent before this phase began, but after the passing of another 150 issues (depending on what you read), the destiny of the island looks clear.
More on A.X.E.:
My introduction to the Eternals! Lots of interesting characters here I wouldn't mind exploring more.
More on Sins of Sinister:
Most fun run of Krakoa issues by far. Sinister is my favorite villain and I love watching him scheme against copies of himself.
To me, my me's.
Also shoutout to the New Mutants 40th anniversary celebration issue, I'm excited to read more of their classic issues eventually!
Fall of X
Initial thoughts - 9.14.2024
Krakoa is over! It was huge; it was messy; it was definitely substantial enough to work as a solid introduction to the X-Men! The final phase may have been the weakest but I still had a good time here. Rise of the Powers of X and Uncanny 700 offered a conclusion I am satisfied with, and I was happy to follow storylines with two of my favorites, Rachel and Nightcrawler.
I do think it's interesting that the big bad of the whole era ended up being a particularly sinister AI, what with the advent of ChatGPT and its ilk arriving roughly in the middle of the Krakoan publication period. Not that there's anything I want add to that though.
I'd like to say I'm taking a break from X-Men after this, but as of current I'm still only about 1/3 through with reading Excalibur classic (loving that btw); that is to say that I will be back for more. I just don't know what yet!
Regarding the selected cover image:
It is important to note that the cover images I've been using for the Krakoan Age entries are from a collected edition that holds no bearing on the material I selected to read, and was discontinued before collecting the Fall of X material; as such, the image selected for this entry is one I made myself based on previous covers and material in Rise of the Powers of X #5. Thank you!
Reading Stats
90 #1's
45 writers
73 colorists
60 cover artists
171 interior artists
6-page-long issue checklist
(at font size 11)
Most Read Characters By Issue
Wolverine
-177 iss-
Professor X
-171 iss-
Cyclops
-164 iss-
Storm
-160 iss-
Emma Frost
-157 iss-
Character images and data provided through League of Comic Geeks
Skipped Issues
Below are the 102 issues that made it onto my list that I ended up skipping, either due to lack of interest or, in the case of the FCBD issues, an inability to get my hands on them. For reference, I curated my checklist of issues to read from the relevant Marvel and Wikipedia pages for each "publishing initiative".
At the start, I had no issue skipping something if it didn't catch my eye, although I do feel a little guilty for dropping X-Force, which looking back was undeniably a core title of the Krakoan Era.
- Fallen Angels (2019) #2-6
- X-Force (2019) #9-12, 15-50
- FCBD: X-Men (2020) #1
- X-Men/Fantastic Four (2020) #1-4
- Emprye: X-Men (2020) #1-4
- Juggernaut (2020) #1-5
- X-Corp (2021) #1-5
- X-Men: Curse Of The Man-Thing (2021) #1
- The Death of Doctor Strange: X-Men/Black Knight (2022) #1
- Devil's Reign: X-Men (2022) #1-3
- Marauders (2022) #2-12
- FCBD: Avengers/X-Men (2022) #1
- A.X.E.: Iron Fist (2022) #1
- Deadpool (2022) #1-10
- Invincible Iron Man (2022) #1-8
- X-Men: Unforgiven (2022) #1
- FCBD: Avengers/X-Men (2023) #1
- X-Men Annual (2023) #1
hmmm, I am NOT italicizing all those titles
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