Welcome back to Mutantversity, a class offered at the Krakoan Akademos Habitat. This isn’t a place to find big reviews of X-books, (that’s what our Review section is for!) but it’s a great way to keep up with one of the most complicated superhero series around. We’ll learn, we’ll laugh, and we’ll probably give up our powers in exchange for a robot arm. We’ll do all those things, but most of all, we’re going to dive into the deep end as we try to parse all the secrets of this new era of “X-Men” comics. As your designated X-Pert, I will do my best to help you work through everything Marvel’s Merry Mutants have to offer!
And welcome to a very special Mutantversity, where we will sift through the ashes. Not of Krakoa, as some of us thought, but of the Jonathan Hickman run of “X-Men,” which for all intents and purposes, is over. Sure stories are set to continue- this is still comics after all- but, this is the first project Hickman has ever started and then handed off without some sort of conclusion. The final words of his run are, “To be continued, forever.” He knows what he’s doing! But I thought we would take this chance to focus on the finale, and what it means for the future of Krakoa.
End of the Era!
Well “Inferno” is over. So is “Trial of Magneto.” So are “Hellions” and “S.W.O.R.D.” and lots of other fun books. There is a bunch of new stuff on the horizon. I know I can get carried away by excitement and anticipation, so it would be good to take a beat to sum up what happened.
Destiny is back. Not only alive again, but young and with a seat on the Quiet Council. Moira was the victim of the same device that once de-powered Storm; Moira is now a human. And the secrets are out! Emma Frost was let in on Xavier, Magneto, and Moira’s secret plan, and now the whole council knows too. Krakoa was never just supposed to be a nation. It was part of a massive scheme to prevent the robot singularity apocalypse. Without Moira now, it is unclear how interested the mutants are in her big picture. It seems that there are lots of more pressing threats. Aren’t there always?
The mutant who maybe was the biggest hero in this story was an unlikely one: Cypher. Doug Ramsey was famously killed off in the 80s because readers and writers didn’t like how action-lite his powers tended to be. But Doug’s ability to communicate with anyone and anything is augmented by his kindness, and in the end he has the love and allegiance of Warlock, Bei the Blood Moon, and Krakoa itself. In fact, Cypher had Warlock infect Krakoa with the T-O virus. All those flowers all over the island are also listening devices. Doug knows what everyone is always up to, because he is spying on them all.
In her final showdown, Moira was down one arm, and then her reincarnation powers. Doug helped her with one of those things, by having Warlock build her a cool new robot arm. Given what we know about Doug lending tech to organic material, it stands to reason that he is the one who could track down Moira if need be.
Meanwhile, we also learned a lot about sinister mutant hating science cult Orchis. Mainly that they were a result of time travel. We know that Omega Sentinel was working with them. What we didn’t know is that Omega Sentinel is more than she seems. Her body contains the echo of a mind of a Dominion- a machine god with a brain bigger than a planet. She is in fact, a Dominion from Earth-811 (The Days of Future Past timeline) and she came back to the 616 to inspire Dr. Killian Devo to found Orchis.
But Omega Sentinel and Nimrod aren’t servants of humans. They’re not tools. In fact, in a moment of good good Hickman writing, they echo moments from HOXPOX. Omega Sentinel twisted Charles’ words and she repeated Cyclops’ refrain: “Did you honestly think we were going to sit around forever and just take it?” Mutants are oppressed by humans. But machines are also oppressed by humans and hated by mutants. This war is far from over.
Continued belowIn fact it can continue forever! There was part of me that thought that Krakoa wouldn’t survive Hickman’s absence but not only will it perpetuate, there’s a new wrinkle! One brought to us by a non-mutant superhero, the Scarlet Witch.
Toad took the fall for Wanda’s murder, but the real story was more complicated than that. She sorta was her own murderer… but to an ends! Using her chaos magic, Wanda hijacked the resurrection protocols… and augmented them. You see, resurrection is made possible by the records of mutant souls Professor X copies with Cerebro. But Cerebro hasn’t always been a thing, and any mutant who died before it was invented is just dead.
But well, Wanda has changed that. By spinning the Wheel of Fortune, Wanda has brought the lost mutant souls pre-Cerebro back into play. With magic. The point is, now long-dead mutants like Thunderbird can be resurrected. Also, Petra and Sway (though due to an as-yet-unexplained continuity mistake, they’ve been around). And I assume like, mutants who died during the French Revolution and the Bronze Age and in the Khmer Empire. My point is, this new status quo lends itself well to some wacky shenanigans, and I am here for them.
Wanda seems to have been forgiven for this gift to the mutant people. And looking forward, Krakoa has never been stronger. Good mutants like Cypher are taking their place in society and difficult ones like Exodus are learning to compromise. Sure there is friction between different factions, but that was always going to be the case. And now, there are more mutants than ever with the potential to live forever on this island paradise. That is what X-Men comics will be about going forward.
So what does this all mean? I think this has been the most exciting 3 years of comics in my lifetime. The writer’s room approach has reignited my love for monthly superhero comics. But I think the real miracle is what a swerve this entire era has been, and how much impact it has had. Before you could ask anyone and they would tell you that “X-Men” is a story about sexy weirdos who live in a mansion that is a school in upstate New York. But that’s not what “X-Men” is about now. Now it’s a story about a team of ruthless weirdos building their own nation state on a sci-fi tropical paradise.
I don’t know if we are going to get live action X-Men movies that take place on the island, or a cartoon series, or whatever. Maybe this story will stay in the comics. But Hickman’s legacy on these books is going to be about more than just “X-Men.” It’s proof that an idea that is big enough, bold enough, and different enough, can be successful in superhero comics, a genre which loves endless status quo. That mature and intelligent science fiction soap opera is hotly in demand.
Next month, we will return with regular coverage of ongoing X-Men books. There will even be some new titles to welcome in! But for now, I want to take a moment to appreciate Jonathan Hickman, the wonderful team of writers and artists who came together with him, and the tremendous success they found with Krakoa. This has been a career-making run of comics for a whole bunch of talented people, and the best the “X-Men” comics have been in 20 years. See you back on Krakoa!
