Krakoa Detox (Part 1)

 

The dust has started to clear on the first great Krakoan Age. People who know me are aware that I have largely been a fan of this period of X-men comics...up until the hard nose dive all the stories took post Inferno. So I'm going to present something I've been noodling on for a while.

A part of the big appeal of this comics experiment was the idea that all of these comics were telling one big story. I don't think every part of that story is worth investing in. And I think any honest fan or critical appraisal of these comics needs to be brutally honest about which of these stories is actually re-readable. 

Because to me, that's comics. 

I keep you on my shelf for a quick laugh or cry or to get pumped up, or I hand them off to someone who'd enjoy them more than me. There is nothing sadder than a comic that just collects dust because nobody wants to look at it again.

The following list of comics are runs from the Krakoan era that I would (and have) happily reread. These are the ones I think you should spend your money on, or at least grab at the library.

I'll give a short explanation of my thoughts on why I think those stories are worth investing it, and a brief explanation where there might be gaps.

 

 

HOUSE OF X/POWERS OF X

The mini series that kicked this whole thing off. Here, Hickman & Larraz soft-reset the X-line, introduces the new status quo of Krakoa, the rudiments of mutant technology and the looming threat posed to mutant kind by the arrival and apotheosis of artificial intelligence. It's high concept, sci-fi fun. Great comics with unsettling undertones.
 

X-MEN

 

Hickman exploration of the X-men in the new status quo. Largely single issue stories with singular or dual POVs - Cyclops, Mystique, Apocalypse and Nightcrawler all get standout stories. A lot of hints and seeds at the stories that will take place throughout this entire era are laid out here. 21 issues and I would read them all except

 

 NEW MUTANTS

 

 

A look at what the next generation of mutants does in this brave new world. The stuff Hickman didn't write kind of gets a bad wrap, but I truly enjoyed Ed Brisson and Vita Ayala's turns on this book. I would not recommend Ayala's Maddelyn Pryor centric arc (#25-29) that only exists to set up Dark Web & Dark X-men, nor would I reccomend Charlie Jane Anders' stories (#31-33)
 

 EXCALIBUR

 

I'm just gonna say before anything else: Tini Howard gets a level of shit hurled at her I have not seen heaped on a female comic creator since Devin Grayson. And it was still hard for me to put this on the list. 

It's incredibly load bearing if you want to understand the X OF SWORDS event. The gist of this series is that Apocalypse attempts to lay claim to some of the world's magic for mutantkind, including claiming Otherworld for Krakoa. Betsy Braddock becomes the new Captain Britain after another of Saturnyne's bizarre plans to suck off her brother.

Lots of great Apocalypse content. But I have never liked Otherworld or any of that Captain Britian bollocks. Still, this series reads really well collected....but the stuff after the big crossover is really just not as compelling as everything leading up to it.

If you're a D&D nerd, you definitely want to read this one. But I would truly skip the follow-up series

 GIANT SIZE X-MEN*

A series of one-shots of varying qualities. Interesting only in the sense that a lot of hints are dropped for Inferno and the Hellfire Gala. I think if you're one of those people who obsessed over the mythical "Hickman 3rd act" you'd probably want to read over these like the Dead Sea Scrolls. Would honestly say just skip these but they are currently like $9 on Kindle. That feels like a good price for all these stories.

 CABLE

Teen Cable investigates the kidnapping of mutant babies. Very basic setup that takes us to some places. Lots of jokes, big guns and sword fighting. I love Cable and I love Phil Noto so you can never make me hate this comic.
 

 HELLIONS

Maybe you read HOXPOX and thought "isn't having all those villains live on Krakoa a terrible idea?"  this is the series that explores why you were correct to think that.

This series is a labor of love that shines a light on some odd background characters and manages to flesh them out in a way that most other books in this era really failed to do for their leads. It's en vogue to bash Wells because of his current turn on Amazing Spider-man, but don't let them deceive you. Read every issue of this. A must read for Maddie Pryor stans as well.

 

 Special Mention: X OF SWORDS

I honestly only mention X OF SWORDS because so many other series crossover into this 22 part beast.

The idea is very fun: Picking up on threads from X-MEN, we learn that once Krakoa was joined with another living island, Arakko, and that together they formed the ancient mutant nation of Okkara. Apocalypse, his wife and children fought a war to repeal demons that invaded and when they couldn't defeat them, sent Arakko into another dimension where the strongest mutants could battle them until the mutants remaining on Earth were strong enough to assist them.

Everyone gets a sword. We meet a bunch of weird new mutants, including Apocalypse's family. 

It's really hard to recommend this story simply because of how big and silly it gets. I'm still on the fence about it. Gorgeous art though.

If you didn't like Excalibur you won't like this story.

HELLFIRE GALA (2021)

THE COMIC THAT LAUNCHED 1000 COSPLAYS!

This story features a lot of really big swings: mutants terraform Mars and claim it for mutantkind! Krakoa starts doing diplomacy with the various Marvel space empires. It's sort of the epilogue to X OF SWORDS as it gives all the new mutants we are introduced to a place to live. 

Oh there's also an X-men election that leads into Duggan's series. That series isn't on this list.

 LAST ANNIHILATION

All of the cosmic powers, including the X-men, team-up to stop Dormammu from burning his way across the stars. This story absolutely fucking whips. And if you read nothing else from it, you have to read the CABLE: Reloaded one-shot. 

INFERNO

The story that ends Hickman's tenure this era. The basics are: Xavier and Magneto have been colluding with Moira Mactaggart to prevent the resurrection of Destiny, the most powerful mutant precog to have ever lived. Moira believes that the presence of a precog will give the game away that AI is coming to destroy all life on Earth. Mystique has quite a few problems with this.
 
A decent story that fleshes out the mutant/AI conflict, transforms Moira Mactaggart as much as HOXPOX did, and starts laying the groundwork for the character fissures that will make future stories possible.

 

DEVIL'S REIGN: X-MEN

It's Phil Noto drawing lots of Emma Frost and Elektra. It's not a super crucial story, but the art carries and it's an interesting glimpse into Emma's past. Lays the ground for some plot lines that become crucial during Fall of X. None of the comics that pick up on this are on this list.

SECRET X-MEN

A story featuring the losers of the X-men vote going on a secret space mission for Xandra (Xavier's daughter with Lilandra, now regent of the Shi'ar.) Is it super important? Not really. But it's fun.

 

SWORD + X-MEN RED

S.W.O.R.D. follows the X-men post Hellfire Gala as they attempt to manage interstellar diplomacy and deal with the fact that there are now millions of incredily powerful, very fighty mutants living on a now terraformed Mars. If you like Abigail Brand, this series is for you.

Following the Hellfire Gala and the events of Trial of Magneto (big flop of a story, don't worry about it), but Magneto and Storm depart Krakoa for Mars to live among the Arakki mutants. Picks up on some plot points of S.W.O.R.D. and Hickman's X-men run.

You should read S.W.O.R.D. in it's entirety and then the first 11 issues of X-men: Red. Red features some fantastic character work and fights, but also the very dumb narrative thread of "well, maybe we can talk this martial society into being chill for a little bit?"

The back half of it is Genesis War, a very bad and dumb story you don't need to read. If you skipped X of Swords and Betsy Braddock: Captain Britain, you absolutely don't need to worry about it.

X-TERMINATORS

Boom Boom, Jubilee and Wolverine (Laura) kill vampires. Lots of blood, lots of silly jokes and near panty shots. I personally really enjoy this story.

CHILDREN OF THE VAULT + CABLE

These are the only Fall of X books I will put on this list. Both feature Cable shooting at people. Bishop is in the Children of the Vault book as well. Both books have their charms but I understand that nobody but me will automatically put any book featuring Cable on a must read list.

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Now if you're familiar with this era of comics at all, you will see there is a lot of stuff I left off or didn't talk around. I can't in good conscience recommend Duggan's X-men runs. I think Judgement Day is one of the worst crossover events Marvel has ever published. Percy's work on Wolverine & X-force was commendable but just doesn't go anywhere worth seeing. And I simply do not think Kieron Gillen wrote a single X-men book the last few years that was worth the paper it was printed on.

I'll have more to say about these last few years of X-books in some other posts.