Marvel is so close to the end of the X-Men’s multi-year Krakoan era of comic book titles. In order to end the era of comic books on a grand note, the publisher kicked off the ‘Fall of X’ initiative to show the X-Men losing their paradise. Marvel’s X-Men have organized a resistant effort against their attacker named Orchis. Now Mutants like Emma Frost are preparing to strike back along side heroes like Ms. Marvel and Wolverine. With so many titles shaping out the line, will “X-Men” #34 be able to stand on it’s own two feet? Plus, will longtime artist Joshua Cassara be able to render the visuals that lead so much personality in the Krakoan era? Will author Gerry Duggan be able to cement the issue in reality with such a large cast of characters? Find out in our review for “X-Men” #34!
Cover by Joshua Cassara and Marte GraciaWritten by Gerry Duggan
Illustrated by Joshua Cassara
Colored by Romulo Fajardo Jr.
Lettered by VC’s Clayton CowlesTHE END IS NIGH! The Krakoan Age is nearly at an end…and what might be the final battle of the heroes of Krakoa! One last stop before the fall and rise come to their conclusion…and everything changes!
Marvel’s “X-Men” #34 opens with an incredibly strong page referencing an important recent chapter of X-Men with Professor Xavier. The changing relationship and continuity toward Xavier and the rest of the Mutants is a brilliant piece of subtext lingering just in the background of the comic book. M.O.D.O.K. also makes a return in this installment, his supervillain instincts end up combining DNA manipulation and mysterious Orchis science.
“X-Men” #34 carries so much personality thanks to the decisive and curvy line from interior artist Joshua Cassara. Cassara’s beautiful facial expression for M.O.D.O.K. lends a sinister but silly nature to his interactions. Cassara’s experimental anatomy and layouts for the Orchis fight sequences in the issue is beautiful to behold. In his scripts, Duggan often likes to introduce levity towards the X-Men comics. Cassara does a wonderful job utilizing the page and expressions for individual characters to execute the humor in the script beautifully.
The DNA manipulation ends up being the catalyst to unite some of the disparate underground X-Men in the issue. While “X-Men” #34 is a sparse issue, Duggan finds clever ways to introduce cast members like Ms. Marvel into the narrative while keeping the plot of the issue intact. Emma Frost’s resistance message to the X-Men unites the heroes together and beautifully teases the plot thread lingering with Professor Xavier in a different context than what we got the last time.
“X-Men” #34 is able to implement negative space in astounding ways. When Laura Kinney as Wolverine fights the Orchis agents, Cassara and color artist Romulo Fajardo Jr. depict her with an impressive amount of style against a muted white background. This same technique is implemented in Ms. Marvel’s battles with the Orchis goons as well. A clever double punch from Kamala highlights her unique powers and personality as mutant hero. Cassara is able to pace the narrative reveal for Logan’s Wolverine impressively well. Kitty makes eye contact with him in a brief panel before Logan reveals himself to the camera. Cassara’s final page with Wolverine marks an important story moment for the X-Men titles. Cassara delivers a stoic, bold expression for Wolverine that shows just why this character is so endearing in the first place.
Despite the fact that Marvel’s main “X-Men” series isn’t billed as the double finale like “Rise of the Power X” and “Fall of the House of X” have been for the Krakoan comics, Duggan and Cassara are able to pack some important story moments for the line. The scene with Synch battling M.O.D.O.K. evokes a great sense of action in the issue. Also, the final pieces of conversation between Shadowkat and Wolverine tease a story element that may extend past Krakoa and into the upcoming ‘From the Ashes’ publishing initiative for the X-Men. Throughout this current era of X-Men, Duggan has done a great job emphasizing characters like Synch to show how unique they are. The subtle way this issue references Synch and Talon’s most recent adventures adds yet another beautiful piece of subtext in “X-Men” #34.
“X-Men” #34 is able to meld tons of unique ideas together to add more cohesion in Fall of X. Seeing the X-Men respond to the publishing change that happened so recently within “Rise of the Powers of X” #4 is fascinating. Duggan and Cassara continue to find fun moments of dialogue between Orchis and the rest of the Marvel Universe in this issue. “X-Men” #34 also places a strong emphasis on some interesting female Mutants in the line like Wolverine and Ms. Marvel. For my money, the true reason to embrace “X-Men” #34 is the ambitious ending teasing the final chapters of Krakoa and the future of the line. The strong plotting of “X-Men” #34 finds it difficult me to grasp the idea of letting of the Krakoan era go even despite the fact that’s its been running for multiple years at Marvel.
Final Verdict: 8.3 – “X-Men” #34 finds clever ways to navigate a few lingering plot threads for the ongoing series before the final curtain falls on Krakoa.
